Adventures in Craigslist

Well in this no margin world of the stock market right now, I have found a new (old) savior. A lot of economic websites talk about achieving 10% - 20% profits on stocks or ETF's. My old side business was buying stuff cheap and selling it on eBay. I typically made 70%-130% on the stuff I found. It worked out for years, but starting out about eight months ago two things happened that made me all but abandon eBay. First, people stopped buying on there. Second, I have gotten totally fed up with eBay. Fees are absolutely out of control, and have ruined what used to be a great product. I'm sorry but ever since eBay went public, the fees have gone up, the gimmicky sellers are in control, and crap just doesn't work right at all.

Now I sold things two ways, eBay and garage sales. With eBay out garage sales became more important. Well last year was fairly successful garage sale wise, but I miss that eBay side of the money. It was like a steady extra bonus that occurred throughout the year.

So recently I started posting things on Craigslist and it is going pretty well actually. I started off with some of my GF's old car stuff, which was pretty unsuccessful, but kept reading and trying. This last week I sold roughly $200 worth of stuff and am supposed to meet up with a few people next week already to trade some stuff for dollars. The best part, CASH (making better margins than eBay) and no fees and no shipping. It is enough to bring a tears to a guy trying to squeeze a dime from a nickel. It may seem somewhat idealistic, but Craigslist represents everything that I think makes the Internet great. I remember being in high school searching for information on UFO's, KU basketball, and *cough* the girls of SI. As things have progressed the Internet has developed, and websites have changed, but the relevance of Craigslist remains. Free listings of crap in your town, when has that ever been not a good idea. The fact that it for the most part remains free (I think they charge LA and NYC fees for a few things) is amazing and helpful.

A lot of thought goes into companies becoming global, but when times are tough the companies that will survive become local. So I encourage you, to dig around in that back closet or garage and post something on Craigslist. Trust me, it is the easiest thing out there to do to make money.