How to Sell Furniture on Craigslist Safely and Fast

There is no need to wait for summer and garage sale season before you make bank selling your extra stuff. You can be like the savviest Craigslist sellers, who create online garage sales via Craigslist.

Here's what you want to do:

• Make multiple listings of the furniture you want to sell, plus the accessories that go with them. Think end tables, throw blankets, cushions, etc. to go with a couch or chair.
• Link your Craigslist sales pages to each other. To do this, add hyperlinks to all the other sales you're running at the bottom of each Craigslist listing.
• Write stellar descriptions. Start them out with a bulleted list of the item's features. Then add a full description on to the bottom. This structure allows you to capitalize on keywords and people's tendencies to skim over lengthy web pages.

One smart seller on the Apartment Therapy website points out that big items like furniture and most tech items do best on Craigslist. Try selling smaller pieces on auction sites like eBay.

Additionally, if you want to sell some smaller items in addition to your furniture (if you're running a virtual garage sale, for example), sell those items in lots like auction houses do. The key to making a salable lot is to include one or two things you know will sell in with the whole lot. Then, add items you know won't sell to that lot. Finally, make it a “rule” that if a person buys a lot, then he or she agrees to carry away the whole thing. That way you're not left with stuff you won't want, and in the process, you've made money on things you might have otherwise thrown away.

In some respects, Craigslist is no different from any other kind of auction site - you make more money if you include excellent photos of the furniture you're selling. Use these tips to capture great images:

• Good Lighting: When you're taking pictures make sure that the photos have good lighting so that the buyer can see the details.
• Include Imperfections: Speaking of details, be sure you include photos of the dings and nicks in your items. Showing these imperfections conveys honesty to shoppers.

To make sure you get the price you want for your things, the Well-Kept Wallet recommends that you do a bit of research. First, you want to determine what amount is considered the fair-market price for that item in your area. You want to do this for a couple of reasons. Although you're going to ask a slightly higher price for the item - we'll cover that in a minute - you also want legitimate buyers to know that you're not a scammer. People who scam on Craigslist will often price items so low that they're practically giving things away. For example, if you see a 2016 MacBook Pro on Craigslist for $100.00 would you think the sale is legitimate? Or would you believe that someone stole it and is probably trying to make a quick buck? If the price of an item is too reasonable to be true, it's probably a scam. Therefore, avoid looking like you're scamming buyers by pricing your pieces correctly.

The second reason to overprice an item is to leave wiggle room for haggling. Let's say you're selling a leather couch with a matching chair and ottoman and that you've determined the fair market price in your area for that is $900.00. Go ahead and price the couch for $1,000.00 or even $1,100.00. After your buyer haggles with you a bit, it's likely that you'll still get your desired $900.00 from the set.