Last week I almost wrote a scathing review of how Craigslist has been left behind by Facebook market. I listed a hardtail mountain bike and Yamaha Raptor 700R on both websites. Sadly Zuck’s cancerous platform generated 32 potential buyers compared to craigslists 6 but then something surprising happened.

Craigslist came through for the win. I finally got an email from someone who genuinely seemed interested, had quality questions and didn’t try to offer 1/2 my asking price.

In just 8 days I managed to sell my hard tail mountain bike to a young man from Virginia for full asking price. We were both very happy at the end of the day.

The Yamaha Raptor is a much more expensive item so it will likely take longer to sell but given the massive number of shit responses I pulled the add from both websites and plan on doing a bit more work on the machine then listing it even higher. I did get one or two serious inquires from both platforms but to my shock Craigslist managed to generate more quality when it came to potential buyers.

I suppose FB market hasn’t killed off Craigslist just yet.

I haven't bought or sold anything on CL in a few years, but I do still monitor it regularly. It does seem possible that the significant reduction in traffic compared to FB Marketplace may have shooed away a lot of the scammers, leaving a larger percentage of real users than in the past.

On a related topic, is there anything more annoying as a seller than FB's autogenerated "Is it still available?" default response?

Listed my car on Autotrader, Craigslist, and Facebook.

Craigslist came out for the win.

I hear people all the time have really strong opinions about different platforms. It's all just dealing with "the public." "The public" comes in many different forms! I don't expect it matters that much how the introduction is made.

Speaking of, I need to list a mountain bike sale for sale and a window unit A/C. I expect the A/C unit will be sold before sundown!

The medium isn't the issue, we have scammers here on SF classified, it's the scammers, FBM, Craigslist, all electronic commerce has the potential for scammers, just as meeting someone in a parking lot you don't know based on any means of marketing...

It's just a function of listing electronically , bots can scan ads and create e-mail responses quite easily.

Most likely though Siri and/or Alexa heard you talking about selling something to your wife, and sold that information to the dark side of the internet on you...

Both have value and both require caution to be safe and useful.
Both also attract scammers and flakes like flies.
They also cost me nothing to use.

You have to learn what the market is like in your area and what the users are like on the platform in your area. FB Marketplace is platform that lends itself to more tire-kickers due to its built-in instant messaging.

In my area, I find that FB is good if you're willing to sell something cheap, i.e., on the low end of or below FMV. CL is more of a seller's market and better for niche & specialty items. For example, if I were selling some machinists tools, I'd have better luck selling them on CL.

FBM's search engine also sucks.

I've sold bicycles on CL & FBM and had much better luck w/ CL. Everyone on FB wants to lowball you right away even before seeing your item in person or asking relevant questions.

I've never used FBM. Never even seen it. Kinda curious about its regional efficacy but will likely never use it as buyer or seller. I just don't use FB at all.

CL is not what it used to be. It used to have decent products at reasonable prices. Now it seems like a lot of "vintage" (aka used crap) that is over priced. Like a 10 year old 2ch amp for 0.5X when I get buy a new one (newer version) for X without the risk of used issues, premature failures, DOA, etc.

When I use CL, I look for pricing for less than FMV given the enhanced risks of caveat emptor and fly-by-night sellers. Unless the product is picked up at their house; then the risk is reduced in my mind. I'm not buying a 2ch amp for anywhere near FMV if we're meeting at some random place. FMV would be okay if I get to test the unit at your house first.

Same goes for when I sell something - I price it under FMV but you buy it as-is since we're going to meet at a random place.

But the main problem these days, again, is that deals are rarely to be seen. Most listing are crap - prices too higher for the product. I don't get a lot of tirekickers but don't get a lot of offers anymore either. I usually just sell to the first person with a reasonable offer.

I wonder if CL is more for the 'old school' folks like me who used CL before FB even existed. The younger gen more apt to use FBM? Perhaps I'm missing out on deals?

Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard anyone say I’m not on Facebook and never will be. Those people don’t shop FB market.

I've sold on both platforms with good success. I don't the the non-english-first-language lowballers on Facebook though. Can't beat the cost. Remember newspaper classified?

It's been a minute since I've looked a my CL account. I've only used FBM once to post a bike and kept getting notices from FB if my bike was already sold (to remove it probably). It didn't sell. CL was very productive for me back in the early oughts when fixies were popular and store bought brands were fewer. I don't see nearly the bikes today (like guns I guess). I just look at FB these days and not any posting there. IF CL has more steps to use then it might keep most spam away. I require name and phone to authenticate. CL is also fairly anonymous. I'm actually surprised it's lasted this long but it's got some power behind it. It may actually be the last free local marketplace, well, until Google catches up anyway.

Don’t forget that if your aggregate sale(s) exceed $600 on Marketplace (not sure about Craigslist) you are going to be getting a 1099 for your tax return.

I do well on Craigslist. My pictures are much better than quick cell phone shots when I want them to be and being able to post 24 high def photos will answer a lot of questions. I am anonymous on CL until I want to reveal my identity, I never post a phone # and only use the cl email platform. I've been doing this long enough to have a feel for fakers and a feel for sincere buyers. Facebook is nothing to me.

quote:

Originally posted by MelissaDallas:
Don’t forget that if your aggregate sale(s) exceed $600 on Marketplace (not sure about Craigslist) you are going to be getting a 1099 for your tax return.

This would only be possible if you use FB's payment app, right? How else would they be able to documents funds transacted?

On CL, when you sell something, you're supposed to delete your post, but there's no difference between something that was sold vs given up on selling. You can do the same on FB rather than marking something as sold. Even if you mark it as 'sold', there's no telling what the realized price was, again, unless you're using FB's payment app.

I have bought and sold a lot of stuff on FBM in the last couple of years. I got Prime $$$ for a Beaver MH sold in 9 days last year. Definitely have a lot of lookers. My Nissan Maxima lasted 5 days. A lot of people looking at it. I just recently bought an exhaust for my 500 Beta from a guy in Virginia.

From my research I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about tax issues unless you sell with Facebook’s payment app (which I would NEVER do). Any intelligent person would realize it’s none of their damn business what two adults agree to buy or sell in person to person transactions that utilize cash. When you delete the listing you can select the “it’s none of your damn business” option.

I've sold on CL, FBM, and Offer up. Idiocy abounds on all 3. Lots of bored people on their Obamaphones who don't have anything better to do than haggle and string people along.

I used FB Marketplace/Yard Sale for a number of years with pretty good success before leaving FB last year. Was actually thinking of creating a fake FB profile just for FB Marketplace/Yard Sale again, with no friending or any of that BS

Craigslist always felt hinky to me, like a lot of scams and just never gave me a good vibe. I've never really used it.

My only issue with FB Marketplace/Yard Sale were the people who would eagerly message you about an item and sound like they wanted it, then would go completely radio silent. Some would even get pissed if you moved on and sold it and they finally responded like a week later. I swear some people just like to sit on FB all day long and fuck with people and play games.