The long awaited annual Ridgebacks & Friends yardsale is over and I’m happy to say we sold about 95% of the items that were donated and raised almost $3,000 for the Ridgies! At the end, we had about 15 boxes (mostly clothes even though we sold A TON) that went to Goodwill and non denotable items went straight to my curb. Afterwords we had a box of stuff that my rescue partner took to a consignment store near Carlsbad where she lives and three furniture pieces that I agreed to sell online to raise even more $$ for R&F.

I listed the three pieces on four different online selling places around 11AM on a Friday out of curiosity as to which selling place was the most popular. 10+ years ago, Craigslist was the only game in town but within the couple of years it seems like OfferUp and Letgo as well as Facebook Marketplace have become very popular.

Telephone Tables:

I thought for sure these would be the popular item but they took a little while for people to find. They were old, solid and would lend themselves well to the chalk painting trend. Since the measurements are a tad confusing since they have two levels, I included a diagram of the dimensions in hopes that it would cut down on messages asking about dimensions. (It did not). Also interesting, I did not have a single hit on these until about 4:30. It’s like everyone got off work and decided to look at side tables then BAM all at once, people started messaging me in rapid succession. I ended up having someone come at 7AM the next morning to pick them up.

Craigslist Inquires: 0

Facebook Marketplace Inquires: 9

Let Go Inquires: 1

Offer up Inquires: 0

Final Selling Place: Facebook Marketplace (Local Buy, Sell Swap Group)

Chaise:

This was the hot item right off the bat, unfortunately despite my clearly stating the dimensions on the post and warning people that it will not fit in most cars just because of the length/height ratio, many did not listen my warnings that you need a pickup truck or van to move it. I also had a lot of people that inquired but then never responded after I asked when they were available. I finally sold it to a couple who came the next day after some back and forth with scheduling.

Craigslist Inquires: 0

Facebook Marketplace Inquires: 0

Let Go Inquires: 6

Offer up Inquires: 3

Final Selling Place: Offer Up

 

IKEA TV Stand

This item truthfully was not a prize winning piece of furniture but it’s sturdy and functional and I thought for sure that it would sell quickly. It technically was sold at the yardsale, but the person who said they would buy it never came back. Normally we do not hold items without people paying but this person told one of my rescue partners they were my neighbor from down the street. I missed who it was and so I have no idea whose house to have the dogs pee on in the future (kidding, kidding). I thought for sure some young college kid would snatch this piece up but alas it turned out to be the one with the least inquires and hardest to sell. I had three inquires including one person that set a time but then discovered that he couldn’t take this TV stand on the bus (seriously). Finally a young guy purchased it and we jammed it in the back of his obvious hand me down from his mom station wagon.

Craigslist Inquires: 0

Facebook Marketplace Inquires: 0

Let Go Inquires: 1

Offer up Inquires: 2

Final Selling Place:  Offer Up

You read it right, out of all my pieces I received ZERO inquires from Craigslist (and yes, I’ve sold on there before and know how to use it). All of the titles, descriptions and pictures were the same. I think it just goes to show that so many people want instant gratification and the interface of some of the other apps is better. Even though I didn’t sell anything on LetGo, I just as well could have. Amongst the flakes there were a couple of very solid people and they were backups for the people who I initially made the deal with. I think Facebook Marketplace works well for small, local items where people don’t have to think a lot about them and plan and OfferUp and LetGo work better for everything else, especially where there is some negotiation room.

To recap if it wasn’t obvious, Craigslist is dead. It’s all about Offerup, LetGo and Facebook Marketplace!