Wishing you a very good New Year! I'm putting my money where my mouth is to test my list of Ten Alternatives to Craigslist For Selling Stuff Online. As I mentioned, I haven't had much luck selling on Craigslist lately. The only listing I've gotten results with was posted in the Free section. So, to test out the effectiveness and ease of use of the Ten Alternate marketplaces, I've gone through the process to post the same item for sale on each of them.
Here's my item - a vintage Steelcase chair that I reupholstered in an Ikea cotton print and black piping.
In addition to being a charter member of the Garage Sale Army, I'm a confessed dumpster diver. I found this chair outside a classroom building on Northwestern's campus. It was in great shape, just a straight tear on the green vinyl seat. I took the chair apart, sewed a new back and seat cushion, stapled them on and put the chair back together.
I've posted the chair for sale on my Before & After site, Fine Diving in Chicago, in case you're in the market for a chair and would like more information.
Placing an ad on these free sites is like putting yourself out there on Facebook. If you want maximum control over what and who sees your information, you'll want to consider which services to use carefully.
1. Marketplace on Facebook
A snap to use if you're a Facebook user so you're familiar with the interface. Easy upload of photos, easy fill in the box for your text. The quote block is a nice feature, too.
2. Walmart Classifieds
Okay, so here's a tip: If you post first on the Walmart ad site, it can automatically go out to the Facebook Marketplace if you choose. With Walmart classifieds, after you write the post and upload your photos, you get the option to push the ad through your Twitter account, too. Your ad automatically shows up on Oodle, which is the platform Walmart uses. As a first-time poster, I ran into some confusion and a double-post
situation, and it took about twenty minutes for the second post to
delete.
3. Popsoc
Before signing up, I checked to see if my ad was indexed here,
since that's what the site claims to do---spreads your listings through the
viral social network. But as I browsed around the For Sale listings, I noticed only ads from commercial mass marketers --- in other words, no posts from individuals. And, not wanting my name and ad spread around the net without my control, I decided not to post here, and--dont' kick the puppy-- I've taken it off my list of 10.
4. Lushpad
This site has an interesting mix of high-end dealers and individually sellers, which maybe can give a little elevation to my little DIY chair. It wil be interesting to see if the chair gets any hits or offers on this site. I like the magazine blog display of the ads on Lushpad.
5. Apartment Therapy
A nice feature of Apt Therapy is your choice of duration from 1 week up to a month, so you can set it to expire quickly if you sell it elsewhere or forget it's listed here.
6. Kijiji
Straigtforward but with a drawback - only one photo per ad.
7. Backpage
No registration necessary---just click on Post and Ad and go for it. Up to four photos are included, but only a text link shows up on the page, so a catchier title than my Vintage Steelcase Chair would probably attract more clicks.
8. Reader Classifieds
A little upselling is involved in the process. As you verify your ad, the Reader offers:
Extra photos beyond the six free ones for $1 each
Premium placement of your ad $10
Reader classifieds placement on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace for $5
A featured classified ad on the homepage for $15
I stuck to the free plan.
9. Epage
I chose this site for the iPhone app you can download and instantly place and receive classifieds on your iPhone. But I decided to skip out on putting an ad here. Doing a search of Chicago listings, there are few, but among them are: Michael Jackson Swarovski Crystal T-Shirts, a chair shaped like a high-heeled shoe, ativan without a prescription.
10. Oodle
My ad was automatically up on Oodle when I put it on the Walmart site.
Results of this little experiment: I give it an 8/10 rating. Eight sites are worth using, two are not. I've deleted Popsoc from my original list, but Epage might be worth a try if the iPhone is your everything.
Below are what my ad looks like on the various sites.
Filed under: DIY projects, Sales and Events
Tags: Craigslist, garage sales online, Marketplace on Facebook, virtual yard sale, yard sale
Great article Diana! I loved that you included us in your assessment of classified ad sites. Just so you know POPSOC.com is quite unique and I promise it does exactly as advertised. It is is truly social media classified ads and designed actually as an alternative to all the sites you mentioned since we list your products and items on social bookmarking sites as well as on Twitter and 50 others. This is our own network where things you advertise are indexed by Google within a few minutes. You even get to see on your account how many clicks you got. That is something Craigslist and many others do not show you. I appreciate the mention and hope you will try our service again soon.