Classified Ads Becoming Wildly Popular

Classified Ads Becoming Wildly Popular

A website record was broken on Saturday, Jan 16, 2010. Normally, the new classified ads posted in a day is around 1,500 (for the Utah state area), but on Saturday it was 8,256. That's over 5 times the normal.

What's going on?

A quick poll to some of the user's who posted shows the following reasons:

1. Was too busy during Christmas to post, so catching up now.
2. Got this for Christmas but don't want / need it.
3. Ebay is too expensive and too much of a hassle, so I don't post there anymore. (this was from a business)
4. I need money and want to get rid of the junk I'm not using.

I think reason #4 is the most popular reason. Got to pay off those credit cards built up during Christmas, perhaps. I didn't want to ask and get any more personal.

One person who posted 22 items that day said his wife passed away and he was selling furniture and stuff to downsize and move to a smaller place. That's a lot of items for one person in one day.

Typically Thursdays are the biggest post day of the week, probably because people try to sell stuff by the end of the weekend.

The day after, Sunday, only saw slightly more than normal posts.

I do think classified ad posting is becoming more popular in general. I'll keep watching what happens and let you know here.

The data source used for this blog entry was from http://www.nearbyitems.com/.

Happy Posting...

Selling Items? Why you should tell family and friends.

Selling Items? Why you should tell family and friends.

An informal poll of several friends and family members has concluded the following:
A buyer that knows the seller will pay the asking price without much bargaining, but the seller will often lower the price from what would be posted in a classified ad.

So, the most effective way to sell something is to let family, friends, and neighbors know.

• Nearby, as in relationships, for family and friends.
• Nearby, as in proximity, for neighbors.

How to Let Them Know

1. Word-of-mouth: the most trusted form of marketing. Tell them about your for-sale items.
2. Email: the most convenient since the person receiving can click a link to get to the items of interest. Send them an email with links to online pictures and details.
3. Paper: least efficient, but needed for the super-nontechnical. Print out the pictures and details and deliver after the person has expressed interest.

Making It Easy
NearbyItems.com is designed to facilitate this type of sharing. Try using the “Send to Friend” feature which sends a formatted picture and short description with a link to learn more.

Thanks and Happy Posting.

If it's Alive, Heavy, Moves Fast, and/or Requires Inspection

What kinds of items are best served by a local, classified ad marketplace? Items that are alive, heavy, move fast, and/or require inspection are best served by a local market. Please let me explain.

Alive Items
Dogs are the third post popular selling item on www.NearbyItems.com. Animals are hard to ship so people want to pick them up locally. They have different demeanors. Prospective dog owners want to see the personality of the dog before buying.

Heavy Items
Anvils, couches, washing machines that are used are not worth the shipping costs. An anvil selling for $50 would require $72 in shipping because of postal weight limits. A couch is too bulky and would cost more than $100 just to ship. Same thing for the washing machine.

Fast Moving Items
Cell phones are listed and sold faster than any other item category. Cell phones are lightweight, so they are conducive to low shipping costs, but there are two reasons they are not: first, since it is used, people want to see the condition personally, and second, when you want a cell phone, you want it today. There are enough used cell phones all over so there is no sense in shipping one from two states over.

Requires Inspection
Would you buy a used diamond ring based on the picture alone? How about a car, clothing, a television, a rifle? Even when brand-new you want to inspect these things before buying.

That is why websites such as Ebay, Amazon, Walmart, and Craigslist don't work very well for these items. The items you buy need to be local (and that means a smaller area than a city, but bigger than a zipcode).

A person will go farther for a free item than they will for a blender.

NearbyItems.com was created to support this marketplace need.

Happy Posting.

Motherlode of Brand-New Items at Used Prices

One of the best sources for good deals is when someone is given a gift that they don't want.

An example is when a Christmas party at work has a prize that you win, an Iphone, and you and your spouse already have one. You “want” the gift in general, but you don't need it so you want the money instead.

How can you benefit from this dynamic circumstance?

Well, people with these extra items post them for sale on classified ad sites. The data source used for this analysis is taken from the http://www.nearbyitems.com website:

8,027 have the word “Christmas” in them, but this can be from ads that are indicating that they make good Christmas gifts. So to weed those out, use different combinations of terms.

2,368 have the phrase "for Christmas", as in “I got this for Christmas but I don't need it”.

The reasons given are:
419 gift from work,
60 already had one
32 gift from father/mother/buddy/brother/sister/friend
18 can't return it
17 replaced old one

When people post these items for sale, they pick a price about 10-20% below the brand-new cost. But they are willing to take MUCH less. If you are a buyer, try offering just below half the new cost, and be willing to negotiate up to just over half. High demand items may have to be closer to the new price.

If you are looking for good deals of new items at used prices, check the classified ad websites after the holidays and ...

Happy Posting.

Whole Product Solution

I almost moved this blog to a new website because readers want to be emailed when a new post is posted. Before moving, I'm trying out this widget on the upper right for subscribing. Please use that rather than the "Follow" feature provided before.

The need for this for me, as a customer, is expected and should be supplied by the folks at blogspot.com. Since it isn't, I had to use a 3rd party, feedburner.com, to provide it. That means that  blogspot.com doesn't provide a whole product solution. The customer must cobble together their own solution. We, as customers, long for a whole product solution in all the areas of our lives. Successful entrepreneurs do their best to make this as easy as possible in their business.

Thanks and Happy Posting.

The “New” Discretionary Spending

The "New" Discretionary Spending

Where once, we as a nation bought things as soon as we thought of them, now, not so much. We are learning to be frugal. To be accurate, we are being forced to be frugal.

What was purchased during the time-of-plenty? Everything.

Now as unemployment creeps up, and as debt is being reduced, unneeded items are being sold. How can we tell how many discretionary items are up for sale? By searching http://www.nearbyitems.com/ for the following terms and looking at how many occurrences there are.

On the morning of December 21, 2009, out of 136, 979 total items, here are the counts:

Occurrences    Phrase
13,187   "brand new"
 2,350   "in box"
 2,055   "never used"
 1,444   "never been used"
 1,029   "don't need"
   510   "used once"
    81   "unopened"

If you are a buyer, this is good news since you can acquire like-new items for low prices.

If you are a seller, this sounds like bad news. But there is a silver lining, if you give it a little help. Used items have the best success of being purchased by the following groups in order of success:
    family,
    friends,
    neighbors,
    strangers.

The first three are likely to buy your used items for the asking price, however, with these you are likely to set a "good deal" price.

How can you let them know you have these things for sale?

1. Post them on a classified ad website (like NearbyItems.com), copy the URL to the list, and email that link to family and friends.
2. Talk with family, friends, and neighbors about what you have for sale to see if they are interested. Mention NearbyItems.com.
3. Get others to review the items for sale near them by using the "Within X miles" feature of NearbyItems.com.

I know this sounds like a sales pitch for NearbyItems.com, but keep in mind that the service provided is free when used this way. NearbyItems.com makes money through text advertisements (not wiggly kind) and by premium placement of ads.

Put yourself in the shoes of a neighbor: there may be things you want to buy but it isn't urgent so you put it off. But if you see that item for sale by someone you know up the street, and the price is below the new cost, AND NO SHIPPING charges, when then you are much more likely to buy now.

That is the "new" discretionary spending. It is something needed, bought used at a discount, and nearby.

How to Price a Classified Ad

Once,  when working at an auto-body shop at 14 yrs old (long time ago), I was putting on a new bumper and asked my boss how tight to make the nuts. He replied "as tight as you can, and then a quarter-turn more".

That's how pricing used items is done. Lower the price until it hurts, then 10-20% more. Basically, there is alot more selling going on than buying in this economy. The items selling are those that are real bargains.

I saw some solar panels for sale that were bought for $900 each. The seller was asking $700, a 22% discount since they were used for less than a year. Problem is, the seller didn't look at what the cost was brand new. Now the new panels are $695 each.

Here is a tip on pricing: The second-hand selling price has nothing to do with the original purchase price.

Now that your expectations are lowered, here is an example of what to expect.

If a new bike (current price) is $150, and the used bike for sale, if it is in perfect shape, just a little "used" a pawn shop will offer you $50, but be willing to go to $60. A classified ad site cuts out the middle man, you should post the item for $80.

If anything is broken, figure half of that or no deal at all. People like to buy things that are ready to be used. If that is too hard to swallow, then fix the bike first, then sell it.

Waiting for a better offer? I knew a man who had to sell an item for immediate money needs, but felt that the current offer was too low. So he turned it down, thinking he could wait for a better offer, if none came he would call the original offer back and accept.

The original buyer bought something else that was in better shape, but for more money. So the (apparently) only buyer was out of the market. The item was still for sale after 3 months.

With selling used goods, you must lower your expectations. The purchase price at the time you bought it may be much higher than current new prices, due to current economic conditions.

Tip: Never say you are firm on the price.

People like to feel like they are getting a deal. Something that generates that feeling is underbidding the current price. Don't be firm, be flexible and get the deal done!

If the price is below what you are looking for, try asking if the buyer has anything for sale, maybe a trade will help. You could mention things you are looking to buy. Barter is the new "in" thing.


Happy Posting.