Craigs List Woes

[Raymo]

About 3 weeks ago I tried to sell my 56 3100 on Craigs, with 5 pics. Now, I gotta say she is in excellent condition so my starting price was fair and was willing to negotiate. I expected some calls, but I knew money is tight right now, so I advertised in the Denver area about 250 miles from me in WY. I got one legit call that offered me a crazy low price over the phone without ever seeing my truck! This gripes me. I'd never make an offer on a car or truck without being there in person to look at it! Thats why ebay is out of the question for me to buy on. I like to touch it, get under it, drive it and shoot the s*#$ with the owner. Well there's the only real call. The others are from dealers wanting to sell my ride for me. Heck, if I wanted a dealer, I wouldn't have used Craigs right?! All in all it didn't work for me. Even worded the ad as "will also trade for 67-72 Chev truck". Thought that might get a little attention. I pulled my ad after one week.
How many of you have had success with Craigs List? And if you have, can you give us some suggestions on wording the ad etc.

[elf w/capital T]

Ill tell you this...one week isnt anything. I have seen trucks and or parts for one pricee, maybe a month or so later, is back and maybe much cheaper, not everyone uses CL, some do, relay it to their friend or family...if you want to sell, you must have patience...keep your head up.

[Raymo]

I got tired of the "Dealers" calling me. That's why I pulled it. I did make a mistake in listing though. I used my cell. Not on a zillion minutes cell phone plan so won't do that again.

[kcsa75]

My experience with Craig's list is everybody who has something for sale, thinks is made of solid gold. Everybody looking to buy wants to steal it. Having said that, there are some bargains, but elf is right, you have to be patient.

[mgchevyparts]

Cars and trucks don't sell real fast these days unless you're giving it away. Don't put your email addy on the ad and don't even use the email contact through CL as it's too easy for looky loo's to send email BS questions and low ball offers. Put your number with a fair price and be patient, do not negotiate over the phone, tell anyone calling to come see the truck and make a legit offer, all others can phuck off. The way it is.

[Raymo]

I thought the "will trade for comparable 67-72" might have pulled out the people like me who might just want to move on to something else, and or don't have the cash. I'd rather drive it than show it. I'm tired of having a "Prima Donna" in the garage(singe car garage) 95% of the year.

[mgchevyparts]

Originally Posted by Raymo

I thought the "will trade for comparable 67-72" might have pulled out the people like me who might just want to move on to something else, and or don't have the cash. I'd rather drive it than show it. I'm tired of having a "Prima Donna" in the garage(singe car garage) 95% of the year.

Trades are difficult, been there done that. Every one wants to trade you for some piece of junk.

[1968aj]

i do not put my phone number on craigslist without spelling out some of the numbers. i have had good luck buying and selling on craigslist. i just bought a 1959 short fleetside yesterday off craigslist.

[meter swinger]

CL is probably the wrong market for your truck. Most guys on there are looking for projects and parts, think online swapmeet. Your need to go to a nice online site where you pay to list your add, hot rod hotline etc. I see nice classic trucks on cl all the time and the adds are up for 6-8 mths. With asking prices from 15-30k. I just dont think the odds of finding a buyer in that price range on cl is all that great right now. You might even have better luck on facebook, instagram or varagesale.
The biggest mistake guys seem to make is pictures. If your asking 18k for a truck you better have 18k quality pics. A seller can have a description a mile long but it the pics are not proffesional quality it will not get a second look.
Posted via Mobile Device

[LockDoc]

-
I put this at the end of all of my c-list ads. It may look hokey but it works for me...

Scammers save your time and mine, I know all your tricks. Also, I don't need any help selling it. Thanks

Very few scam artists and no one wanting to help me sell.

LockDoc

[gale]

Originally Posted by Raymo

How many of you have had success with Craigs List?

I have looked at Craig's List a few times but haven't used it to buy or sell. It just looked like too much trouble to search, etc.

I have used eBay buying and selling all sorts of stuff including cars, trucks, and motorcycles.

When selling I try to be as honest as possible about the condition, and when buying I have learned to ask plenty of questions, mainly about rust and/or Bondo.

In my opinion eBay reaches a MUCH broader range of potential buyers. I sold a 2004 GMC stepside to a dealer in Kuwait. The money was wired to my bank and I dropped the truck off at the Port of Houston.

Several deals have been made with buyer and seller meeting at a halfway point.

[Cape Codder]

I just got a great 98 swb on Craigs list and sold my old truck there also. I have bought two boats and sold on there too. It works for me. If you list something for sale and don't get a responce just relist it a week or two later.

[mr48chev]

Hotrod Hotline dot com is spendy but I think they keep your rig on until it sells. Probably less than an add with photo in the local paper or drifty nickle though.

Lowballing you on the phone seems to be the trend for some Craigslist buyers or shoppers. It doesn't matter what the vehicle is or what the price is there are guys who must sit there and make one low ball call after another until someone bites.

A lot of rigs are hard to sell locally because of the stigma of having bought Raymo's or Rob's old truck hangs around all too long and local guys who have been in love with your truck for as long as it has been finished may pass on it because they would be driving Ray's old truck and not their "new" truck.
I'd take it to an event in the Denver or Salt Lake area that was far enough away that it is an all new vehicle to those hunting for a truck. Maybe put a simple add with a few really top notch pro quality photos in it saying that you will be at the event.

As my neighbor 60 miles down the road said the quality of your photos in your add are a real deal maker or deal killer. Cell phone photos in bad light don't cut it. I got the ebay bargain of the year 11 years ago on my sailboat because the seller posted some terrible photos and a terrible but actually fairly complete description. I bid a "this won't kill me if it's junk" bid and got the boat with one jump up from the starting price by a guy who tried to snipe me and ran out of time to bid again.

Two things that are deal killers for a lot of guys are rigs that are quite nice but obviously dated and you can look at them and tell exactly when they were built but the asking price is the going price for a nice up to date rig or a nice timeless traditional rig.

The other thing is over personalization. Gaudy pinstriping, murals on the tailgate that depict a personal event of the builder. The owner/seller may think that they are so cool but potential buyers are calculating the cost to remove them and clean the vehicle up.

I looked at a very interesting Model A roadster hot rod a year ago that was priced real friendly but the car had been a local painter's hot rod in years past and was too well known for the murals that covered the entire body and I figured I'd catch way too much flack from some of his fans if I hauled it to the media blaster and had it stripped.

[mechanixman]

I bought a go kart on craigslist for $75, spent $150 fixing it up, and found out it was worth $1300.
It took me 5 months (but it was out of season...) and I sold it for $650.


A week later, I bought a 52 chevy (also on craigslist )

[spinned]

I have bought and sold a lot on CL. Being 250 miles away is an issue and is likely why you are just getting the lowballers. I am not sure I would drive 250 miles to "look" at a truck. It would take maybe two days time (there and back plus time to check it out and eat)... so i know if I am going to that kind of trouble, it better be a sweetheart deal from the get go, especially since I dont know anything about the truck... and thus the lowball. Lets be real... You have to take some of the risk out of driving that far.

That is how I got my truck. The market is only as good as what someone will pay. I have sunk a lot of money into the hotrods that I have ownes. To be honest most of them have been a loosing deal at the time of sale. I get a chuckle when I hear people say "oh these parts and expenses are an investment". They arn't for most items. If you spend 8k on a paint job and body work, I doubt that you are going to recover that. A new IFS...hmmmm doubt it. New disk brakes... uh maybe a little. Certainly with those types of improvements the whole truck is going to look awesome and you will probably get top dollar for the truck, but I doubt you would recover your what you put into it.

If you really want to sell it, get some good pictures of it embedded into the CL page (instead of the crappy ones you can upload) and price it low enough that you will get calls. Simple as that.

[PDW HOTRODS]

Don't give up. More expensive things take longer to sell any where, and there are always flakey people and scamers, but there are good people willing to pay a fair price. Place your add in your local CL, and every couple days put it on a CL in an area near by. Update or delete and repost about once a week or so. Anyone looking sereously will look farther than there own town and will travel to see what they want. I live in the middle of Oregon and post only in towns within a 2 hour drive or so, and I have sold 2 trucks to people from Calif. Buyers will search for what they want.

[Raymo]

I see the point of leaving the ad up longer. Just got tired of the dealer calls. Thought I had some good pictures, took them w/digital camera on a sunny day.
Where I live, we're 100 miles from the nearest Walmart-no kidding. If you pull up Wyoming on Craigs you'll notice there are no choices of towns-just "Wyoming." Reason being not much population. So closest bigger populations are probably Denver or Salt Lake City areas. Originally this is how I bought this truck, by scouring the KSL website in Utah.
So I'll put it in again and wait a little longer. Some good advice on this thread.

[RootBeer 6117]

Before Craigslist I let the car/truck sell its self,I stuck a for sale sign in the window and set it on a parking lot.I was next to a car wash on a busy street and friends with the owner so it wasn't a problem. Other times I would leave it a Wally World for a few hours and move it some were else near a busy road. I sold a lot of them this way.
I use Craigslist all the time I currently have 4 ads on Craigslist for stuff, I think some were in the add is a code that says if you are a total idiot please call. I make it very clear I will Not answer email or text if you want it call me. Be patient it takes time but it will happen. I did not read every post so please ignore me if this has been suggested.

[Raymo]

RootBeer,
I'm "anal" about my truck, I guess. It's in excellent shape and I'd worry about someone scratching her up. Just ran into a fellow car guy a few hours ago that is selling a 65 GMC 4wheel drive truck that's a "beaut" only 1 block away from my house. He told me someone opened the hood to look at it, at his empty lot, and busted the hinge and latch, dented the hood too!
To be honest, that's the reason for me selling my truck. Don't want to worry about it. My daily driver is a nice 68 C10. No worries on her. Paints good but not great-you know like a comfortable pair of boots! Don't worry about taking a load to the dump or hauling 2x4's in the bed. The only thing in the 56's bed is a couple of lawn chairs and auto detail products. Ha! what a waste huh!!
You know having a show truck is nice. But I'm done w/the car show stuff. It was fun. Let someone else do it now.
Ah, I'll just try CL again a little differently. My rant's been too long.

[Raymo]

Oh, yeah. Our population is only about 9000. Small!

[gale]

Originally Posted by Raymo

To be honest, that's the reason for me selling my truck. Don't want to worry

I came to that conclusion years ago and I do my own paint and body work. I bought all new wood for the two trucks I'm currently working on and I promptly painted the wood black.

I also have two old motorcycles, a BMW and a Triumph, and all 4 vehicles are daily drivers.

It bothers me some to skin up something I've put time, money, and energy into but always in the back of my mind is the knowledge I can fix it.

Never restored a vehicle with the intent to sell it but that's usually what happens. Someone comments on how nice it looks and asks if it's for sale.

[vht]

Go on racingjunk.com and join, you get 2 free adds and it's free to join. They have listings for everything, under hotrods they have a chevy trk listing. Most of the people that call are serious about buying. I've had better luck there than anywhere.

[Raymo]

Your right. It's more fun to work on em & drive em daily.

[dwcsr]

I sell on CL a lot. I do get calls from people that talk price before they even ask to see the part or truck. I ask if they read the ad if they say yes then I say you already know the answer to the price and then don't say anything until they do. It will get them off the phone in a hurry or they ask for details.
Usually once they know you don't have to sell it they don't bother you with nonsense calls. Don't ever negotiate price over the phone until they have seen it. Most of the guys that come to purchase from me come with cash in their pocket. They don't know I know that so it gives me an edge. They don't want to have to come back and miss the sale.

Put as many pictures as you can

Describe it the best you can. Spelling is important so run a spell check on the text.

Clean what ever your selling. Nothing sells slower than dirty parts and vehicles.

Put your price and state that is a firm price if it is.

Don't put a phone number, Use CL mail to do the first few communications, once they ask about seeing it you can give them a phone number and a part of town its in not the actual address. A lot of people want to sneak around and look when your not home or worse come by a take parts off the truck while your at work.

Research your price. List at a reasonable price not what the items are advertised at but what they sold at. Ebay is great for historical sold prices.
This way you don't need to defend your price if its based on actual sales not listed prices, They have to convince you its not a fair price which usually they can't unless it a out of line number.

Never ever take a deposit of less than 25% and make sure they know its for a time limit and not refundable. Give them a receipt that states that. This makes them come back and pay for it. Losing $50 or $100 usually doesn't seem to make them come back and pay but $500 does.

Lastly be prepared to wait 4 - 6 weeks to sell a truck. Times are hard and there are a lot of choices out there. Just make your's the best choice. Air in the tires and clean windows will sell a truck that hasn't run in years and pull it out of the ditch.... that helps.

[PDW HOTRODS]

A sign in the window only works if there are people around to see it. Sounds like he needs the internet.