Craigslist VS. eBay: Why I Choose Craigslist for Most Transactions

Posted on | February 18, 2010 | 3 Comments

Craigslist is a staple service in a frugal lifestyle. I love to purchase and sell things using this free service. eBay essentially does the same thing as Craigslist—allowing you to sell or purchase used (and sometimes new) items from others—but there are fees involved.

What are some things about it that are better than using eBay? For one, you are not charged a fee to list what you want to sell, nor a percentage of your profits for selling. There is no shipping fee tacked onto a great find because you pick the item up yourself, and finally, you can find other things on Craigslist that you cannot find on eBay, such as money-making opportunities (research studies, jobs, etc.), or groups of people with common interests.

Here are some great things that I have gotten from Craigslist over the last year:

  1. Free Dresser: This lasted us the year that we lived in an apartment, and when we moved into our new home, we posted it back on Craigslist for free and gave it away. We did not need to purchase a new dresser when we purchased our home because of ample closet and storage space.
  2. Double Cast Iron Sink: This is for our laundry room renovation—Paul and I both love cast iron sinks, which typically run several hundred dollars. The price I bought it for was $80, and it is in excellent condition.
  3. Research Study: Right now I am taking part in a research study that will yield me a $75 Amazon.com gift card.
  4. Wooden Buffet: We needed a place to store some dishes and Tupperware in our apartment, and so we found a beautiful buffet for just $75 in great condition. It is now in our formal dining room in our new home.

Here are some items that I have sold on Craigslist over the last year:

  1. Television: $250
  2. Television: $30
  3. Laptop Bag: $10
  4. Chocolate Fondue Fountain: $15
  5. Guitar Hero: $50
  6. Proactiv Formula: $20

If I had sold the above items on eBay, I would be out $27.75 or roughly 7.5% of my profit due to insertion and selling fees assessed by eBay. Check out the fee schedule here for more information.

Having stated my strong case for Craigslist, sometimes it certainly pays off to purchase and sell things on eBay instead, such as when security issues are a concern, or you need a larger audience to find the right buyer, or to sell your item. Check out my new eHow article for more information on how to decide when to use Craigslist versus when to use eBay when buying or selling items.

What is your preference: Craigslist, or eBay? What are some great items you have found/sold using these services?

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Comments

3 Responses to “Craigslist VS. eBay: Why I Choose Craigslist for Most Transactions”

  1. Crystal
    February 18th, 2010 @ 2:35 pm

    I use Craigslist to buy almost all non-food items but DVDs and books. I’ll buy those for less than $5 including shipping on Amazon or Ebay. Even if I could find it a little cheaper on Craigslist, it’s worth it to me to have it delivered…driving to pay $3 for a DVD would annoy me.

    I’m about to buy a freezer for the garage from Craigslist since I can get a chest freezer for $50 instead of $180 at the store or an auto-defrost upright freezer for $200 instead of $550.

    I also use Craigslist to sell anything I have and Freecycle to give away whatever I want.

    We used Craigslist to sell a 7 year old particle board dresser for $30, a plastic rolling storage container for $20, an old digital camera for $50, and a 4 year old Posterpedic mattress for $100.

    I’ve Freecycled a bent bedframe, an entertainment unit with a missing door, throw rugs, a baby palm tree, and some fixtures we no longer needed.

    I’ve used Ebay to sell some Magic: The Gathering repacks since that where the buyers for those are located.

    As you said, you just need to find the right place for the right thing. :-)

    [Reply]

  2. Amanda L. Grossman
    February 18th, 2010 @ 5:47 pm

    Hi Crystal!

    Thank you for your comments. I actually have a bunch of Magic: The Gathering cards that I am looking to sell. How did you fare with these?

    [Reply]

  3. Crystal
    February 19th, 2010 @ 9:44 am

    We sold 100 card repacks – 80 commons, 15 uncommons, and 5 rares – for $6-$7 on average (this was 3 years ago…we’d start the bid at $4.99). This works well when you buy in bulk for pennies on the dollar, sort the cards into rarity, and then repack randomly.

    For selling your own cards, I’d first find out what expensive rares you have and sell them separately on Ebay or directly to a MtG online reseller – I’ll ask my hubby what site he uses and post it when he replies. You can also use this site to price out your rares and hard-to-find uncommons. This takes time, but I know of individual rares that easily sell for $20-$1000 depending on the set…it could be worth the time.

    For the rest of your collection, I’d list it on Ebay after pricing out what similar collections are selling for by searching Ebay for collections containing a similar number and mix of rarity as your own.

    Do you know what sets your cards are from? The oldest sets (Alpha and Beta) sell for much more than the others. A few sets sell for a lot less since most of their cards have been banned from tournament play (although collectors like my husband won’t care so it’s always worth pricing them out).

    Feel free to email me with what you have and I could price it out for you, or if you have a price in mind, I can see if my husband would like to buy it. We already have 60,000 cards…they could be added to the family.

    [Reply]

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