Question to Craigslist advertisers

[TAPtech]

Sorry but I don't say anything online that can reveal my true identity.

Well I could certainly pick you out of a crowd after looking at your avatar.

I think Craigslist is much different based on what area you are in. I post here because it is free, I have a simple recurring calendar event that reminds me to repost it once a week. Takes about 30 seconds. Before I did some tweaking, I would get a lot of calls to replace laptop screens or fix iPhones. I'm business support only so that was a nuisance. After highlighting the business services in the ad, that has gone away. I think I've obtained... 4 clients through CL. 3 of them very very small, and 1 of them is small-medium sized. One of them, though, ended up being a great source of referrals.

Lots of crazies out there... I can almost always tell right away if they got my number from CL.

 

[Krynn72]

Just remember, just like eBay, the more items you post, the more you'll sell and the more clients you'll get. Don't be spammy, but if you list a ton of stuff you'll get a ton of interest. That's just how it works. Fortunately most people are too lazy to put the effort in, so I'm eating their lunch!

Do you post prices on your ads? For sales and for services? I figure that's one way to weed out bottom feeders. And you have a storefront where people can come to, right? Would you change anything if you were working from a home office?

 

[sapphirescales]

Do you post prices on your ads? For sales and for services? I figure that's one way to weed out bottom feeders. And you have a storefront where people can come to, right? Would you change anything if you were working from a home office?

I post prices for products, and also sell my products directly through my website via WooCommerce. I get orders from out of state all the time directly from my website (no eBay or anything involved). As for services, I don't post any prices. Computer repair is just getting too complicated nowadays to post prices. In the past I could do all keyboard replacements for $99. But now with so many of the new computers that require you to take it apart to the last screw just to get at the keyboard, and others where you have to replace the entire palm wrest, there's just no way to flat rate that service anymore. Same thing with screens. Touchscreens are incredibly expensive, and finding just the digitizer is almost impossible. Basically, if their touchscreen needs to be replaced, there's about a 20% chance that it will be affordable. If I have to replace the entire display assembly, it's hundreds of dollars just for the part. No profit there anymore.

I don't get many cheap wads calling from my Craigslist ad. Never have. I have a storefront now, but I used Craigslist when I was working from home too. But I have ALWAYS been professional and had a kickass ad. I think the ad itself lets people know that I'm NOT cheap, but I know what the heck I'm doing.

I paid someone on Fiverr to design my Craigslist ad. For $5 it was well worth it. I'm terrible with design, but I have an ad now that makes me look like a million bucks. When I first started I designed my own ad. It sucked.

 

[sapphirescales]

I've decided to post a mockup of something very similar to what I use as a Craigslist template (with a real picture of a computer that I'm selling):

Does that look like a cheap pizza tech's ad? This is probably what makes the difference between me and my "competition" on Craigslist.

Oh, and please don't look up or call the phone number. It's fake. As is the website.

GOOD photos taken with proper lighting with professional photography equipment. It makes a HUGE difference. I mean, it's not perfect (shadows behind the laptop), but I throw these up really fast. I post at least 20 new systems weekly.

 

[Dave R Mason]

I try to use craigslist..
But here in Phoenix there are a bunch of teenage repair tech wannabes that "delete" and "report" tech ads. Once I get through the craigslist challenge concerning the "reported ad" craigslist reports it in its "original" position. Which put it Yesturday or the day before" - this means it isn't going to be seen.
..To be honest - I must point out what craigslist keeps telling me::: Jump through all the hoops, send scanned copies of your business license, your birth certificate ( my "legal name" is Dave R Mason, I am a PhD - yet there is always some self righteous individual who accused me of using a "Fake Name". The irony is that this person is doing so using the name of say, "Im1a" - I mean, who names their son or daughter "Im1a" ???
Recently I lost my Yahoo eMail address "daver1a@yahoo.com" because I had the eMail Registered to Dave R. Mason, some one complained to yahoo that I wasn't a real person. So the eMail was routinely shut down over a period of 3-months . Like 7 times !!!. Trying to get Yahoo to leave me alone was a long and drawn out process... Sent scans of my Birth Certificate, My Secret Service Retirement Certificate - you would think that would be "official enough", my military ID and a scanned copy if both my Military Retirement Certficate and my DD214, and my Arizona Drivers License..... A week or so later I was locked out again. Yahoo excuse: "A Serious concern about Identity Theft and Ficticious Identity has been lodged against this eMail account". They then gave all the steps and where to send the copies AGAIN - to resolve the issue.
...So now I use davemason@yahoo.com. Since this eMail is registered and owned by my corporation - it is legal. It is just illegal for me to use my real name as the owner of any Yahoo email account. The funny thing is, the federal statute that Yahoo uses, or misinterpretation was WRITTEN BY ME, just before I retired. THE AUTHOR on the statute is my old federal office ID with "Dave R. Mason PhD, POC at Department of Justice, Cyber Crimes, US Treasury, Washington D.C" doesn't phase them a bit. They still use the statute to cite their misguided actions to clean up the world wide wasteland...( ...

 

[tucsonpc]

I try to use craigslist..
But here in Phoenix there are a bunch of teenage repair tech wannabes that "delete" and "report" tech ads. Once I get through the craigslist challenge concerning the "reported ad" craigslist reports it in its "original" position. Which put it Yesturday or the day before" - this means it isn't going to be seen.
..To be honest - I must point out what craigslist keeps telling me::: Jump through all the hoops, send scanned copies of your business license, your birth certificate ( my "legal name" is Dave R Mason, I am a PhD - yet there is always some self righteous individual who accused me of using a "Fake Name". The irony is that this person is doing so using the name of say, "Im1a" - I mean, who names their son or daughter "Im1a" ???
Recently I lost my Yahoo eMail address "daver1a@yahoo.com" because I had the eMail Registered to Dave R. Mason, some one complained to yahoo that I wasn't a real person. So the eMail was routinely shut down over a period of 3-months . Like 7 times !!!.

That is insane and petty. Wow. At least it seems like you have pizza techs running scared lol!

Any reason you don't use (or grab) an email for your own domain?