How to Sell on Craigslist Tutorial

You can make money online by selling on Craigslist. I've sold a few items on Craigslist and these are some tips I've learned.

What to Sell
Craigslist is good for selling large items because you can avoid the shipping cost and people can pick up in person. These are some ideas of thing to sell:

- Furniture: Furniture is good to sell on Craigslist. If you want to get rid of furniture, you can even give it away for free and leave it in your alley. Some furniture that is good to sell are tables, chairs, couches and toasters.

- Bicycles and Cars: Bicycles, cars and boats sell well on Craigslist. Include a clear description of what you're selling.

- Artwork and Large Paintings: If you have large paintings or other artwork (either your work or artwork by someone else) Craigslist is a good place to sell them because you don't have to ship them. If you're an artist, you'll also help spread the word by posting on Craigslist.

- Handmade Items: Post about your handmade business on Craigslist. Even if you don't get sales, you can advertise your business by including a link to your website.

- Digital items: Craigslist is also good for selling digital items like eBooks. All you have to do is send them a PayPal invoice and email them the digital item. You can also post a link to your online store or website with the digital item.

- Services: Any type of service is good to post about on Craigslist such as dog walking or babysitting. You will reach out to the local community and many people are looking for some type of service.

- Anything else: It's free to list on Craigslist so you can sell basically anything you want. Some other items you might want to post about are clothes, media (CDs, DVDs, books), autographed items and electronics. Popular electronics like iPhones and laptops always sell well.

You can also look in the "free" section of Craigslist. Try picking up some free items and then reselling them.

Making a Listing

To make a listing, click on "post to classifieds" on the left hand side. You can register for an account if you want to, but you don't have to. Click "for sale by owner" or "for sale by dealer" and then choose a category.



Choose the location that is nearest to you. You are only allowed to post in you local city.


Give your posting a catchy title and description. You can also choose to set a price and specific location. Have the replies set to "use craigslist mail relay". This will hide your email address to protect your privacy. You can choose to show on maps. I recommend only doing this if you're offering a service or having an event like a garage sale.

The next page will let you upload up to 12 images. Add at least one photo! Take photos of your item and offer a few good quality photos with close up of details and shots from different angles. Upload your best photos first because you can't change the order. For more photography tips, click here to see my photo tutorial.

Then just click the "publish" button and you're done. Your posting expires in 7 days, but you can use the "My Account" section on Craigslist to renew it if you created an account.

Accepting Money

Always be safe. If you're worried about safety, consider meeting in public instead of having the person come to your house. You might get scam emails on Craigslist after posting so be aware of this. Know exactly what type of money you are going to accept. It's a good idea to accept cash only to be safe.

Selling on Craigslist is pretty easy and it's free to do so it's a good deal. 

Have you ever sold or bought on Craigslist?