How to make money on Craigslist

Note that this is not "trying all the options in the sun". Some of these options for making good money on Craigslist are just right for you. Others may not.

Open your mind and try out the options you can to see what works. What brings the greatest benefit to one Craigslist entrepreneur may not work for another. And vice versa.

The location, skills, and tools you have are important. But if you're willing to follow these Craigslist tips and try a few different things, it's virtually everyone's benefit!

1. Find a lead for your business or a skilled sideline

Aside from buyers and sellers, Craigslist is a place where you can look for work opportunities. If you are more interested in making money by working for it, you should take clues from Claire, one of Ramit Sethi's Earn1K students.

Through Ramit's course, Claire was able to earn $ 8,000 from Craigslist in addition to her current graphic design work.

Claire already earned $ 50,000 a year as a designer. But she wanted to make up her income with a side hustle.

Given the fragile economy, Claire was looking for herself on the chance that she might lose her job.

One of the things she learned from the Earn 1K course is the Craigslist Effect. Lamit describes this as the process by which everyone identifies a horrifying situation for them. And by being semi-decent, you can dominate the market and make up the majority of your profits.

The image above is an example of a Craigslist effect in play. Lamit applies the concept of saving money by being spartan.

Next, create a quadrant that identifies the actions and allows you to classify them based on difficulty and range.

From the images, saving money and tracking your costs is under a difficult little win. Meaningful. Would you like to do something easier and more cost effective instead?

For Claire, it's about writing better emails for part-time job listings, asking for a salary increase from your current employer, and other easy and big winning jobs.

Important point

Doing multiple jobs may not be the most efficient way to make money on Craigslist. However, if you have nothing to sell and no capital to use, it is a viable option.

Below are the basics you need to follow to create a profile on the Craigslist job market.

Identify the weaknesses of your competitors – Competitiveness in the job market requires skills that contemporary people do not have. If you are at the same level as other professionals, developing your skills puts you in the position of a front runner that they do not have.
Take action on a simple / big win – dedicate your efforts to performing tasks that make a big difference in your job hunting. For example, if you want to save money, don't think about cutting costs. Instead, find the easiest way to increase your income so you don't have to compromise your lifestyle.

2. Flip the item

The concept of playing an item is not new. We deal with buying products at low prices, refinishing them to make them look good, and selling them at higher prices.

In some cases, you don't even need to improve the items you buy and sell to make money.

There are many items sold through Craigslist ads at very low prices. Those who sell often just want to get rid of it. The free stuff section of most cities on Craigslist also has a lot of lists.

This amazing post from Punch Debt in the Face details several items that the author bought and sold on Craigslist.

For example, he bought Lane Rhythm Credenza (above) for $ 250 and dyed it to polish and shine. Twenty-four hours after placing the ad on the site, he was able to sell it for $ 650.

You always take free stuff and don't have to do extra work to sell them for good money.

However, a little work and correction is often very helpful. Especially for vintage items.

Resale of goods is a large company. There's a reason why the entire YouTube channel is dedicated to creating objects that flip extra income.

Important point

Given the number of case studies he covered in his post, he followed a set of rules to make the seller's mistakes available.

He elaborated on all of them in his post, but the most important ones are discussed below.

Look for terrible ads – Ads with the fewest images and text usually scare buyers. However, this is also an indicator that the seller simply wants to get rid of the item by not trying to make the ad look good. Also, by posting unplanned classified ads, sellers don't care if they're receiving the right amount for the item. That leads to the next point ...
Always Bargain – Asking if you can buy a Craigslist item at a low price doesn't hurt. For half the time, they will accept your offer. If you can target silly ads, your chances are increased.
When posting in an ad, use a high-resolution image of the item – let the item speak for itself because you want to sell the item. At the same time, you need to apply photographic techniques to make your item stand out. To name a few tricks, blur the background to highlight items and increase the contrast and sharpness of high-resolution cameras.

3. Turn it over a little more! Invert free stuff from Craigslist

In the case study above, he details how to buy items from Craigslist and resell them to make money. In this post by The Flipping Ninja, AJ Hakimi buys a discounted item from a thrift shop and sells it at a higher price than the original price.

His process, similar to retail arbitrage on Amazon, helps him earn $ 2,700 per month, or $ 40ka or more per year.

4. Sell the phone

Smartphones and mobile devices sell like pancakes. Consumers throw away "old" phones they bought a few months ago to get the latest version, as all manufacturers frequently send out different models.

Given the electronics trends, selling on Craigslist will take advantage of the high turnover rates for mobile devices.

This post by Stephen of Cell Solo details the exact process he took to sell mobile phones on the site. He was able to get a 3-year-old iPhone 4s 32G buyer for $ 160.

Important point

Selling your cell phone can be difficult, given that you need to tweak your phone with the help of your service provider.

Below are some tips to keep in mind before selling on Craigslist on your mobile phone.

Unlock Phone – Call your service provider and ask them to unlock your phone. This service is usually free and the process doesn't take long. Also, this is the most important aspect of your phone that buyers are looking for. Usually, they prefer unlocked phones so that they can insert a SIM card from another wireless network.
Find the Right Value for Your Cell Phone – Use tools such as Mo valuate to find out the right asking price for your cell phone for sale. This allows you to figure out the price of the unit that will attract the buyer.
Create a description – The biggest differentiation for mobile phones is their specifications, so you need to elaborate on your job ads. It also attracts more interested buyers by referring to other information such as the condition of the phone, the actual image, and its content.