Finally A Good Sale on Craigslist

I've read on other blogs and seen on TV ("Good Morning America," specifically) that people are making extra cash by selling things on Craigslist. I tried selling a few things that I thought may interest people, but I never got a deal to go through. I had a few bites, but they never materialized to finalize the sale.

My fiance and I are consolidating households in preparation for married life which will start in a couple of weeks. We needed to find a new home for his sofa. It was in great condition and looked good, but there is just no room for it in our new place.

He wanted to try giving it someone we know or a friend of a friend first. No takers. Then, he said, "Let's put it on Craigslist for $50." I decided to post it for $75 OBO ("or best offer"), thinking someone would bargain down to $50. For a sofa in good condition (albeit second-hand), it seemed like a really good deal. Of course, the catch was that the buyer would have to come get it.

I posted nice pictures of it and a little description. In less than 24 hours, I had emails from two different people who were interested in it. I was excited, but I tried not to get my hopes up since I haven't had luck with Craigslist sales in the past.

The one never panned out. The other one made an appointment to come that evening with her roommate to look at it. They were really nice twenty-somethings whose 3rd roommate recently got married and took her sofa with her. Needing extra seating and a deal, these girls contacted us.

I vacuumed the whole thing before they came, so it looked really good. (I wanted to try to maximize the amount they would pay.) They decided they wanted it! They were willing to pay $75 for it; however, the catch was that they were going to have to find someone with a truck to help them move it. Sensing a deal-breaker and knowing we had to get rid of this thing one way or another, I offered the use of the moving truck we were using this weekend if they paid the mileage. They left with the promise that they'd buy it -- and we promised to not sell it to someone else in the meantime. We were trusting they wouldn't back out.

One of the girls emailed me the next morning saying that they would offer us $100 if we could help move it in our rental truck. No problem. That extra $25 would more than pay for the mileage. And we were going to have to move it somewhere even if it didn't go to them because it had to be out of Michael's apartment. So, we struck a deal.

It was actually a great deal on both ends. We got rid of the sofa and made $100 cash even though we would have given it away if it came down to it. They got a great "new" couch, delivered to their home. They only had to move it from the parking lot into their townhouse. And we helped with that too.

The rental of the truck plus mileage and gas cost us about $85. Lunch today for Michael, my sister (moving helper), and me at McDonald's was $11. So, these roommates funded our move (with a few dollars leftover) by taking the sofa that had to go. What a deal!

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