How to create a good online classified ads - Do's and Don'ts

Okay - so this brings up another lesson.  The more info you can put about your item, the better off you will be.  These are things you should describe in a good on-line classifieds ad...

DO:

• A flowery description of your item.  Please do not put "table for sale" in your description... use lots of adjectives.. is it solid wood, say so.  large, small, elegant, dainty, solid, rustic, antique, well-cared for, heirloom.. anything that is appropriate.  If you aren't creative and your item is still for sale in stores, considering cutting and pasting the text from their website into your ad.
• The dimensions/size of your item
• The condition of your item (like new, excellent, very good, good, fair, etc.)
• Whether it is from a smoke and pet free home (I've even seen "child free home" - very interesting but adds value? :)
• LOTS of pictures.. more than you think is necessary.  Take pictures from all angles but don't focus on problem areas.  I'm not saying to hide defects, not at all but if there is a scratch/nick/whatever I will point it out in person.  This way, they still can reject the item but they are already mostly committed to buying your item by then.

example of a good ad:

DON'T:

• Take zero pictures - either you are lazy or have no idea how to use technology - either way it makes it difficult for me to buy from you.
• Take and post one crappy picture of your item
• Leave no e-mail address for contact... the telephone is for old people - seriously.. I want to text or e-mail you about transactions - if I have to call you - I'll pass.
• Try to sell something that you couldn't GIVE away - seriously, sometimes I want to e-mail posters and tell them not to bother. :)
• Re-list your item daily to get it to the top of the page.  Okay, this will work sometimes but if you do it every day for a week - I will consider turning you into the kijiji police.  I don't want to see your king sized duvet cover every minute of every day.
• Put in your post "I just want this gone" or "moving, desperate to sell"... have some dignity.. have some pride.  

example of a bad ad:

The Art of Haggling

Okay, so - I am a very shy person.

Really.

It's true.

One thing I hate the MOST is face-to-face haggling.. whether it be at a marketplace, with a salesmen, with a buyer.  Hate it.

I'm getting better at it but I still don't like it - especially when you are least expecting it.

I bought this Bombay company table as part of a multi-buy with a fireplace mantle (not sure WHAT I was thinking - stay tuned for that one).  This relates back to my earlier tips of

1. Buying multiple items from the same person
2. Noting WHERE they are currently storing their item (note the unfinished walls with insulation - bingo!!)

Anyway - I offered a paltry $40 for this item and the mantle..  so effectively $20 for this table.  I knew that they retail for about $180-200 (I know - say wha?) so I figured I could make a quick buck on this.  I listed it up and reduced since it wasn't selling.. I thought I had a buyer coming in at full price but she did the oldest trick in the book - the bait and switch!  Oh yes, I will most definitely buy this at $70.. then when she shows up.. she's like "oooh, it's smaller than I thought".  Okay, that made me a little mad since I make a point of putting the dimensions of all my items (this is going to spawn another post I think)  She was like "I'll give you $50 since it's so small"  

ugh.

I'm buggered here - hate this stuff.

me: $60

her: $50

$50?  I think to myself.. dang, this girl is a legit haggler and I am out of my depth.

me: $55

her: "um... ahhhh" (she circled and touches the table some more) "okay"

<groan>

She happily pays for the table, picks it up and leaves...  man!

Summary


Purchased: $20
Modifications: $0 (just buy low, sell high)
Sold: $55

Profit: $35 (because I suck at haggling)

Try to avoid HEAVY items

First, a big shout-out to all our Canadian Veterans today past and present... thanks for making this country and planet the way it is today.

So the next "lesson" is... try to avoid buying really heavy and hard-to-move items.  This will

1. make it hard for YOU to retrieve the item 
2. make it hard for your buyer to get it from you

I suppose if I was doing this professionally - I would have a pickup truck and offer delivery service.. but, I'm not and.. I don't.

Anyway - this very wealthy gentleman was selling his EQ3 dining table (imagine, condo overlooking the Rideau canal wealthy... okay, so if you're not from Ottawa - here is the view that this guy was waking up to in the morning)

He was originally asking $40 for his modern dining table (retails for $499) because it had a bubble in the wood on one of the legs.  Honestly, this guy was just thinking about turfing it into the garbage.. insane.

So, I took advantage of the situation - offered him $30 to pick it up within the hour and he said.... YES.

Poor Geordie went to go pick this up.. the ordeal lasted about 2 hours total.. trying to get this HUGE heavy piece of furniture from his condo, down the stairs, in and on top of our van and back home.

I would totally have kept this table - it was gorgeous - except it didn't fit in the space where I'd hoped to use it.  I didn't realize how MASSIVE 42 inches was? (no jokes please) :)  Anyway, I listed it up for $180 and had multiple buyers right away..  Now, here is where the lesson comes in.. the hardest part of this sale was not the marketing or finding the buyer - it was the moving of the item, in/out of the house AND finding someone with a truck to pick it up.  It took a couple of days to figure out the logistics with the buyer - they had a friend who had a truck, yadda yadda..  Anyway - finally - happy ending, they picked up the table, were thrilled with it..  Enjoy!

Summary


Purchased: $30
Modifications: $0
Sold: $180

Profit: $150

Find the cash cows

Cash cow

from wikipedia:

In business, a cash cow is a product or a business unit that generates unusually high profit margins: so high that it is responsible for a large amount of a company's operating profit. This profit far exceeds the amount necessary to maintain the cash cow business, and the excess is used by the business for other purposes.


What does this mean in the kijiji world?  Find the items that have a very high resale value even if used.  Everyone knows that certain car companies retain their value more than others - but only slight less well known is that some brands of furniture, baby equipment, clothing, etc. have similar reputations.  These reputations can translate into mondo cash in your pocket if you buy low and sell high.


One such cash cow for the reseller is any Chariot brand child carrier.. these are stroller and bike trailer combinations which also happen to be the most useful/practical/awesome product if you have children - FYI.  It is because of the durability of the product and the deserved brand reputation that these things retain their value for many many many years.

I was lucky enough to find someone selling their double Cabriolet CTS Chariot stroller for $50!  It was insane.. insane I tell you.. I knew these things sell for hundreds.. minimum.  This also happened to be the same make/model as my own Chariot for which I happened to have extra parts (bought a stroller kit with an extra handle, parking brake that I didn't need)  I feared the worst at $50 actually... but it was in near perfect condition except for a bit of mildew.  It also had no cover (or so they said).. oh well, still worth it I thought.. and brought it home.  I opened up the back of it -> and found, the rain cover!  BONUS!


SO - I kitted it out with my extra handle, parking brake and wheel and voila








I took loads of pictures.. under priced it slightly at $285 for a quick sale (since these things aren't small) and sold it within 2 days to a lovely woman... hope they have many years of use out of it. Interestingly enough, she was already a Chariot owner and was going to post up her older model Chariot for sale on kijiji... ah, the circle of life.

Summary


Purchased: $50
Modifications: $46.67 (the portion of the stroller kit that went toward this)
Sold: $280 (okay - so I didn't have change, she would have paid full price though - my bad)

Profit: $183.33


(best score so far - hope to do more like this!)

Assemble it and they will come.

Here is an easy one... this lesson fits in with

• Marketing your item appropriately
• Having enough time set aside to sell 
• Selling stuff once you move

Okay - so this guy is selling a table and six chairs for $200... It's actually a fair price if I was intending to keep the set, but I know that this guy has already failed the first three items mentioned above.. his pictures were crap (good for me - bad for him), he was moving (good for me - bad for him) and actually moved out of country while in the middle of the transaction (bad for both of us).  Also unfortunate for me was that he had completely disassembled the set.. nice to fit it in the car but not great since I was intending to re-market this set.

So - I assembled them (with the help of my father-in-law AND my hubby), filled holes/scrapes with putty, polished with beeswax and voila!  They looked REALLY good in the end.

Summary


Purchased: $120
Modifications: $0
Sold: $210

Profit: $90

Multi-item - Multi-money!

If you've read my earlier posts, you would know that buying multi-items is the way to go.  Not only do you save yourself time and gas to pickup from one location, you can make a killer deal on the purchase.  You can also make your own multi-item out of a single sale.

Case in point, I bought this - thinking I was getting a table and chair set.

but I when they got home, I saw this: (one of these things just doesn't belong here...)

I decided to just try and get rid of the chairs on their own, that same afternoon..  I listed them for $15 a piece or all for $50 and sold in one afternoon.  A neat $30 profit off the top.  This covered almost my entire cost of the table and chairs (purchased for $60 total)  Note - putting a "per item" cost as your ad cost is a GREAT way to get views/interest.. Seeing a picture of four chairs with a cost of $15 will draw people in like Boxing Day - then you hit them with the fine print.. $15 each.. but by then, they are probably have the adrenaline pumping and are hooked.

Unfortunately for me, the table was kind of in poor condition.. in retrospect, I should have not touched it and re-sold it for $50 or something but no.. I decided to refinish the top completely...

Here are some gratuitous pictures taken by my father in law of me refinishing the table.. stripped it, sanded it and stained it.. this is just mainly proof that

a) I exist

b) I do this stuff myself

Final product was a really nice dining table - pretty flawless top.  The lady who bought it seemed really happy... unfortunately I forgot to put a second coat of touch up paint on the bottom with the right sheen of paint (sorry lady wherever you are!)

Summary


Purchased: $60
Modifications: $3 (stripper) 
Sold: $190 ($50 for chairs and $140 for table)

Profit: $130

Don't spray paint furniture - it's not worth it.

 So - I bought this daybed thinking... oh - I totally like the way it looks and I can spray paint this and have it look fabulous.

WRONG

I bought about three cans of black spray paint, spent an entire afternoon covering every inch of this bed - probably three coats to get proper coverage and it came out looking like this:

Okay  - not bad in the end but it was a PAIN in the butt and cost me more to modify than I could reasonably ask for a piece of spray painted furniture.

I staged the bed with some pillows and a mattress I got for free (before you say ick - it was in really good shape - no worries)

I sold this to a nice gentlemen looking for a guest bed - he seemed happy with it but my $10 profit was my worst mistake yet.. it didn't cover the gas to pick it up nor certainly my many many hours of labor.  Alas, it could have been worse.. I could have lost $40, right?

Haven't lost money yet - knock on ... veneer? :)






Summary

Purchased: $30 (probably too much)
Modifications: $10
Sold: $50

Profit: $10

Week 5 - It's a hard way to make a livin'

 Week 5

Number of purchases: 2
Purchases: $60
Modifications: $0
Sales: $140

Profit: $80


Boo hiss... not a lot of money in week 5.  Granted, I only sold two items but still... it made me question whether or not this was worth while.. The following week, I kicked it into high gear to see exactly how profitable this thing could be.  I think you will be surprised at the results.. stay tuned!

Week 4 - Recap

Week 4

Number of purchases: 3
Purchases: $85
Modifications: $3.39
Sales: $245

Profit: $156.61


Another slow-ish week but had my biggest score/profit to that time.. making $110 on one piece had me starting to think bigger.. maybe doing $20 jobs isn't the way to make it in this business?

Have I created a monster?

Showing (and knowing) what your furniture is used for...

I just realized I forgot to blog about a little table/bench thingie I bought .. this includes some lessons learned about knowing how in the heck to market a potentially versatile piece of furniture.


I bought this .. something ... for $15.


I liked it.


I thought I'd made a good purchase but boy in the weeks to come did I ever not think it was a good purchase..  


So.. what is it?  


Truth is - I thought I knew.. but apparently whatever I thought it was - was not marketable. :)






I took the left over knobs from my dresser makeover - drilled some holes for these drawers .. and voila!

Now - I'm cooking with gas!  I'm ready to sell this (I think to myself).. I list it as a hallway bench - you know, a place where you sit and put on your shoes, etc.  I even take a crappy picture with a mirror over it to illustrate..


Okay so it's not a great photo - I hear ya on that.


Apparently no one wants hallway benches... like, nobody!


Poor listing sat, and sat, and sat.  Nothing.




I re-market it as a TV stand and remove my crappy photo... now we're getting somewhere!  I got some e-mails of interest, a little back and forth.. but alas.. still nothing.

Finally, I take another picture - steal Geordie's computer monitor and make it look like an LCD TV to stage my piece as a TV stand and...


it sold the next day.


Moral of this story - if you don't SHOW people how to use your item... they aren't going to figure it out on their own.

Summary


Purchased: $15
Modifications: $3.39 
Sold: $55

Profit: $36.61

Quickie coffee

So - the one item that I found seems to be always in high demand is the Leksvik coffee table.. you know - the one with all the cubby-holes.  If you can snap this up for under $40 - you have at least a $20 profit on your hands.

This one was a no-brainer... I probably should have haggled more up front - but oh well...

OH - and if you can stage this piece with some baskets in each cubby - even better (regardless of if you are actually selling the baskets or not)

Summary


Purchased: $40
Modifications: $0 
Sold: $60

Profit: $20

What to do when a bear attacks your furniture....

So - this next project had me cursing and stomping my feet.. I figured that I'd spent WAY too much time and effort into one restoration - and I was probably right.. but I was very happy with the end result.

I bought this coffee table because I liked the lines of the furniture - not necessarily my style but I new I could do something with it - paint the legs or something.  Only problem is.. when we got it home it looked like a small bear had clawed/ripped into the top of it..

Not to be deterred - I promptly took it apart and started it's transformation...

Step 1- remove the top from the base

Step 2 - paint the base.  In this case, I did a brown undercoat - then put beeswax - then a top coat in matte coal black paint.  The top coat will not stick to the waxed areas so it gives you an instant antique look.  Great.

Step 3 - Strip or sand the top.  Unfortunately for me, my sander had JUST bitten the dust (or so I thought at the time) so I borrowed my friend Stephanie's mouse sander (I will give it back soon Steph - I promise) It wasn't a heavy duty sander so I suffered a little bit to get it to a point where all the existing finish and deep scratches were sanded out.

Step 4 - Stain and varathane to your color of choice.  I chose a dark walnut stain - it looked stunning - yay me!

Step 5 - Put all the pieces back together again and sell for big money! :)  Seriously though I would have kept this in my home, I liked it that much.

Summary


Purchased: $20
Modifications: $0 (I had all the paint, etc. on hand)
Sold: $80

Profit: $60

Other kijiji bloggers...

I will add to this post later, but Geordie found a funny blog detailing some funny/outrageous/crazy kijiji ads.. check it out:

http://www.yousuckatkijiji.com/

How do I make money on kijiji? Buy more than one item from the same person...

The key to making money reselling on kijiji is fundamental... buy low.. sell high - just like the stock market.

How do you sell high?

Well - you either ADD value (fixing it, making it more marketable, etc.) or you simply are aware of the value of items and can pounce on a good deal when you see it.  Here is a classic example of an "oh my gosh" moment where I had to have this item... (I've had a few of these in the last few weeks.. kind of like in cartoons when the toon has dollar signs appear where his pupils used to be)

I saw this IKEA (yes, I know) dining table and two chairs for sale and I was like ka-ching!  They were asking $50 at the time.  A quick search on the IKEA website told me that the set retailed for about $350... excellent..




I knew this one would go like hotcakes.. it already had 90 some visits and it was newly listed.  So here comes surprise tactic #14 - offer to buy something ELSE the seller is selling - even write them an e-mail from the other (less desirable) ad.  By using my other techniques for grouping multi-items... offer on several of their items at once to reduce your overall expenditures.  In this case, I also offered on a baby swing - which I didn't need but knew at the price I was offering - I could at least make some money.. but the real value was if I could sway the seller to sell to ME first.. and.. it worked.  Psychologically and logistically it's a heck of a lot easier to sell to one person rather than a whole bunch of people..

So, using my 1/2 retail value formula I know I could sell it for around $175 so this was a no brainer.  It stayed up for a week without any firm bites so I was concerned.. but I eventually got a buyer who offered $150.. done deal. :) (oh, and I sold the baby swing for a tidy $10 profit on the side)

Summary

Purchased: $70 ($40 for the table - $30 for the swing)
Sold: $190
Profit: $120

Oh my gosh - a Kijiji thief is on the loose!

No joke - this was posted on kijiji yesterday:

Yesterday I posted an add for free furniture and stuff. My add specifically said that everything was in the backyard and to help yourselves, as well I posted a sign at the front door saying everything in the back help yourselves.

 

Unfortunately I stepped out for 20 minutes around 6:45 and a lady decided to let herself into my house and take MY dining room set that was not up for grabs...hence why it was not in the back yard!

 

Thankfully my roomate got  the license plate number so if I dont hear from them or anyone that can help by tomorrow evening I will run the plates and go from there.

If anyone has any idea who this was please contact me ASAP...all I know is aparently her name is Diane?

 

Thanks for any help.

What the heck??  Seriously?  Oh man.. that is BAD.. I hope the guy found his stuff in the end.. 

Week 3 - Recap

Week 3

Number of purchases: 3
Purchases: $40
Modifications: $0
Sales: $175

Profit: $135.00


Slow week - not a lot of action - moral of this story - don't buy for the sake of buying.. buy the right things.. not necessarily a lot of things.

Pretend that your items are loved and cared for...

So - most people would think that people shopping on online classified sites are looking for a bargain... yes, I would say mostly this is true - but sometimes it isn't.. I would say a lot of buyers out there are looking to pay a reasonable price for a second hand item.  These people are not to be confused with the ruthless - offer them pennies kind of person (aka me)

At a garage or yard sale, though - people know you're desperate.. you've taken the effort to haul your %#$@ to the curb and now you don't want to take it back inside.  They've got you exactly where they want you... sure, they'll offer $5 for the piece of heirloom jewelry you're selling.. (sigh)

Online, however, you may have the upper hand.... let's say your coffee table is sitting there... you are enjoying said coffee table.. you have no real NEED to sell it, do you?  Okay - maybe you DO need to sell - let's say you have a pile of stuff in your garage or basement you need to sell.. the typical person would:

a) haul out item
b) take a picture
c) list it online

no no no no no... all wrong.

The minute (as a buyer) I see...

1. Garage walls or floors
2. Unfinished basement walls (insulation/vapour barrier)
3. A layer of thick dust

... I KNOW you are not using/loving/caring/wanting that item anymore and I can get it from you for nothing. So please even if you have something in your garage.. put it somewhere in your house to take a picture, stage it like it's in use and Bob's your uncle (where did that saying come from anyway?)

Anyway - that said.. staged my own coffee table for sale.. it was a great size for us and we started to use it again but the look was all wrong.  Sold it to a lovely woman? who asked for delivery - again was nervous - but it worked out and I made $55...

Summary

Purchased: $0 (I can't remember - so long ago..)
Sold: $55
Profit: $55

Dirty people earn less money

Did my title catch your attention?

One basic rule that kijiji-ers across the land are breaking - much to my satisfaction - they do not CLEAN their items before they sell!  wtf dudes... can you imagine going into a store to buy say a piece of furniture and it's covered with fingerprints, grape jam, old pieces of tape and unrecognizable crap?  Probably not, right?  Well, why on earth would you assume someone will buy your item online in that condition?  Seriously people... if you are dirty.. you will earn less money.

That said.. I LOVE buying from dirty people... they obviously don't value the item they own so they will most likely be trying to give their stuff away.  Plus, the items show like.. well, garbage so if you can see through the grime, you can make a real pay-off.  It is important at this point to differentiate dirty people from clumsy or careless people who damage their items.. stay away from these folks like the plague.

DIRTY

So anyway - this dirty ole bachelor guy was selling a dirty table (not that the guy himself was dirty, but his house was dirty, etc.. read hoarder) I forget what he was asking for it - but I negotiated him down to $35.. he wanted more for it but was probably confused by the lack of interest/offers.. so he accepted.

CLEAN

Geordie brought it home, I scrubbed it clean, Geordie waxed it.. that is literally all we did.. we re-listed it the following day for $100 and had a full price offer that night.

OH - this reminds me.. make sure you stage/show off your item in it's best light.. put a pretty decorative such-and-such on top and try and take photos on an angle.. let your inner artistic director come out and try a variety of shots until you find ones you're happy with. If I had an awesome camera - maybe I could take even BETTER pictures?  hmmm.. something to think about.







Here are the final deets on my tidy little score:

Summary

Purchased: $35
Sold: $100
Profit: $65

People will collect just about anything...

Okay - so this is a weird one... as part of a multi-item.. I got this chest/ottoman/box for $5...

 I thought it was interesting looking online and when I got it home I was like ... ugh.. ugly moustache (family saying for super ugly)

My idea was that I would rip it apart and paint it .. make a toy box or something out of it and re-sell it for a few bucks.. or keep it if I liked it enough.

So I went to go and start my deconstruction, flipped the box over and... saw ...



this

Electrolux?  What?  Why on earth would a vinyl chest have Electrolux written on it.. I put the chest back down and went on my computer to check..

I discovered a site http://vacuumland.org/ where people gather to talk about their collections of retro vacuum cleaners?  really?

Even MORE surprising is that people used buy these types of storage ottomans to store their vacuums in plain site instead of in a closet, etc.. novel idea.. I can see why it never caught on.  Anyway, these vacuum cleaner collectors apparently go crazy for these things to complete their "sets'... case in point.. this one dude had his full collection of complete sets.

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?4085

and here is the same set as mine!!

Anyway - hilarious... I talked to Luke who said that his mom had an identical "hassock" at her house.  I thought for about a day about trying to find such a collector and scoring the $150-200 they pay for these hassocks.. but who am I kidding?  I don't have that kind of time to waste/spend.. SO, I re-listed the item about a week later for $20 and had buyers right away.. crazy..  Good luck to the guy who bought it from me!

Summary

Purchased: $5
Sold: $20
Profit: $15

Week 1 and 2 - The Result - Show me the money!

I had intended to do a weekly breakdown and summary of profits after a series of posts.. so here is the week 1 and 2 results of this experiment:

Week 1

Number of purchases: 8
Purchases: $102
Modifications: $10
Sales: $335

Profit: $222.00


Week 2



Number of purchases: 4
Purchases: $60
Modifications: $10.17
Sales: $215

Profit: $144.83


So - with a reasonable amount of effort.. you can make between about $100-$200 a week.. You'll see that I've slacked off in future weeks but I'm learning that you don't need to do high volumes of sales.. you just need to be savvy and choose the *right* items to sell.. ones that can turn you a good profit versus just buying something because you know you can make $10-20.. I'm starting to not even consider it if I can't make at least $40.. and so.. the story continues..

Reselling Antique Furniture

DAY 11

So - this was by far my favorite purchase .. I was really sad to let it go.  It's always a good idea to buy things that you wouldn't mind having in your own house.  Unfortunately, this lends itself well to keeping/hoarding things as they pass through the queue.  This is dangerous.

Anyway - I ended up finding this antique dresser from a nice lady as a multi-item.  I ended up buying three of her items (I will write about those in later posts) I loved this dresser and so did a lot of other people too - although I was first to respond so it was MINE.  Luke asked me the other day how I find these good deals since when he looks it's always just junk.  Well, you have to be consistent and scan often.. if you can catch something within say the first 30 minutes or 20 or so views - you are usually golden.



She ended up effectively selling this to me for $15 (lumped in with a lot of other stuff - people lose track of what they actually sold an item for - isn't it grand?)

Basically - I cleaned it, touched up the paint, went to Home Depot and bought a pack of brushed nickel knobs for $15, removed the horrible paper drawer liners, and then hubby waxed the drawers so they slid easier et.. voila!

I listed it in within one day for $70.  This REALLY confused one buyer who had missed out on the first listing.  They e-mailed me and wondered why I hadn't responded to their first e-mail of interest and why the price had jumped substantially. :)

Usually this isn't an issue as there are a lot of different buyers who rarely see all the items available for sale (you'd have to be someone like me to see duplicate items, re-lists, etc.)  By the way - re-listing your own items twice is BAD.. and against the rules.  Obviously everyone wants to have the newest ad on page 1 but if you read the fine print of these ad sites, you cannot have a duplicate ad.  Some people do it anyway - at least try and change it up a little if you are going to cheat!

We ended up selling AND delivering this piece to a lovely same-sex couple in Orleans.  :)  I did explain that I was not interested in delivery due to the issue stated in my last post BUT made an exception in this case and crossed my fingers.  No problems though - full price payment - no complaints - they loved it - happy ending for all.

SUMMARY

Purchased: $15
Modifications: $10.17 (didn't use all the knobs)
Sold: $70
Profit: $44.83

The Dangers of Delivery

DAY 10

So - I've put off writing about this since I was too upset for many many days.. but now I think I'm healed enough to discuss it.

After reading this blog, you may think that I'm a heartless, cruel person who is only out to make a buck - well, you would be wrong about that.  I love kittens... break for squirrels crossing the road... feed the poor and heal the sick...  okay - so maybe no healing, but you get the idea.

Anyway - I am especially a sucker for a poor child, a hard working single mom, a military family, the list goes on and on.  So when someone needs my help - I have a hard time saying no and mostly trust that people do what they say they'll do.  I know I know... I should know better - living in a big city and all.. I guess I DO know better but I suppose it's my upbringing from a small town that takes over.  If someone in town lied to you - everyone would hear about it and their name would be mud forever.

Here?  Not so much.

Long story short - I got a wicked deal ($35) on a HUGE country style dining set... took it home, cleaned it up and took pictures.  It was a lovely set really and in very good condition despite not being to my own personal taste/style.  I had seen similar sets being listed for anywhere from $300-$400 online - used.  I figured I would give it a shot at $150 and see what happened.  I had a lot of interest right away - one lady who HAD to have it.. e-mailed me, called me to discuss and everything.  So, she wanted the set (or so she said) but then asked for us to deliver because she didn't have a car.  Poor her, didn't have a car - of course we could deliver it - no problem.

So Geordie and Luke (first shout out to Lucas - COO East End Operations) packed up the van with the table and six chairs, drove to her house and when they got there....



<dramatic pause>



she said she only wanted the chairs for $80

ugh.

This was extremely unfortunate - having lugged all the furniture across town for her to re-negotiate on the spot - VERY UNCOOL kijiji lady!!  VERY uncool.

Somehow - Geordie ended up negotiating with her to take the whole set for $120.  Still a good profit, but it sure left a sour taste in my mouth.  The moral of this story - DO NOT DELIVER YOUR GOODS UNLESS YOU HAVE THE MONEY IN HAND FIRST - or are willing to return with your items :(

Summary

Purchased: $35
Sold: $120
Profit: $85

IKEA - the universal donor

DAY WHO KNOWS?

So one thing I've discovered is that you don't necessarily need to sell anything unique or awesome (in fact - kijiji isn't the place to sell something like that - try an auction to get the most bang for your buck that way) and that IKEA furniture goes like hot-cakes.. here are my theories why:

1. Everyone in the city has been to an IKEA show room at least once in their lives
2. People have already seen/touched/smelled the item you are trying to sell
3. Probably more than a few have thought about purchasing the item you are currently selling at one point in time and now they can re-live that experience from the comfort of their own homes while looking at your ad on their screens
4. Buying an item that is currently for sale at 1/2 price is a nice alternative if you don't mind a few nicks here or there
5. It's easy to see if you are getting a good deal or not (the ability to lookup prices online)
6. Sometimes people are looking for a discontinued item or color of item to match whatever it is that they have in their house (use IKEA's success without having anything to do with the associated overhead costs) :)
7. Their furniture is just so darn practical

Honestly, whenever I sell IKEA furniture - I have trouble keeping it long - it turns over fast and if you bought using my aforementioned methods to get a deal in the first place... you can make a few dollars lickety-split.

Case in point:  Noresund tables.

I've wanted these tables for a very long time now (reference to number 3 above) so when I saw them come up in a listing for $10 - immediately I was interested.  They retail for $20 a piece so I figured they would want $10 a piece (using the standard 1/2 retail value equation) but NO... apparently this buyer (and fortunately for me - many like them) don't know about the equation so they said they would give me both for $10!  Excellent - knowing that I could sell for $20 for sure - done deal.

Now - here's where I push the envelope... 1/2 retail price is a fair price.. so I should have listed for $20 for the pair.  I was feeling particularly cheeky this night and decided to test the waters with a $25 list price.  Risky, I know - but to tell you the truth - I was kind of hoping they wouldn't sell and I could keep them around a little longer.

Okay - so I cleaned it, and staged it a little bit with some Lunaria and a mini Eiffel Tower (who doesn't like Paris?)

Alas - for probably a lot of the reasons above - I had a buyer almost instantly.. boo.  

$25 full price offer... how could I refuse?

Summary

Purchased: $10

Sold: $25

Profit: $15