Hello Lovely Savers!
My blog posts have been pretty silent since last year, and that is because I have been focusing on the Sugar and Savings Facebook group- “Sugar and Savings: Budgets and Saving Money”. It is a Facebook group dedicated to working on our budgeting skills and money management, with a focus on paying off our debts! Each month, I also go live in the group and answer questions submitted by you guys, all around best money practices. It is a lot of fun and I would love to have you join us if you haven’t already, you can find our page by clicking here.
Today, however, I want to talk about selling items on the internet! When you need a little extra cash or are hoping to add a payment to your debt snowball, doing a deep clean of your house might be the perfect way to get there. Whether it is clothing you don’t wear, or baby items you don’t use anymore, or furniture that you want to upgrade- it has never been easier to snap a picture and put it up for sale online.
But which site do you use? An app? Facebook? Craigslist? In this post we’ll look into the pros and cons of Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist and compare the two. Let’s get started.
Facebook:
If you are like myself, you are already on Facebook a thousand times a day anyway. And there is a nifty little button right at the top that looks like a little lemonade stand (sorta?). That magical button takes you to the Facebook Marketplace, where you can search anything your heart desires and if someone is selling that item- you can find it, and usually for relatively cheap.
Fun fact: our entire dining room is furnished with items found on Facebook Marketplace, from our dining table and chairs, to two Pottery Barn accent chairs that I got for pennies on the dollar. Handsome Man said I couldn’t decorate our whole house by thrifting on Facebook or going to Goodwill- he was wrong.
You can also use this magical button to list your own items for sale. You take a picture, you name a price, and you describe it, and people can see the item and send you a message if they are interested in buying it. That being said, it is attached to your personal profile. So if they are looking at your item they can also see which city you are listed under and your profile picture. However, to that same point, you can also see who you are working with and your bases are covered as long as you are safe about it.
Craigslist:
Personally, I haven’t been on Craigslist since… 2015? I bought a dress for a costume party, but I know my older brother uses it quite frequently for home improvement items. And to be fair it was very easy to buy from Craigslist and there are a lot more options as far as if you were looking to purchase a specific item- comes with the territory of being around longer. So for the purposes of this blog post, I went through the process of listing an item for sale, to see how it works from that side.
It was fairly easy to set up but you have to use an email address, and while I like that it doesn’t share your email address with viewers, I also don’t check my email often enough for it to make that the easiest form of communication with potential buyers. I find emails get buried under my daily dose of 1,000 advertisements. And not only do I have to make sure I respond quickly enough, but then I have to hope they also respond back. My main issue with Craigslist is how dated it is, it gets the job done for sure, but hoping that potential buyers take that extra step to go onto an entirely different website and then reach out via email… it sounds like more work than it’s worth.
Overall, both sites work for when you are trying to purge and make a little extra side money. I prefer Facebook, but it is all about personal preference, and if you find an item not selling- try the other site! They are BOTH free, which really should be the top “pro” of each of them.
As always when working with strangers online- PLEASE BE SAFE. Don’t give out personal information, meet in public places, if something seems shady don’t do it, and always let someone know if you are going to meet a stranger alone. Text them when you get there, and call them when you are done. Or better yet, bring a buddy.
I hope this helps anyone who is looking to make some money online, for more money saving tips please check out my E-Book: “If I’m an Adult…Where is my Money?” available here on Amazon!
Thank you so much for all of your support, lovely savers, I love sharing my tips and tricks for money and how to deal with everything in between. Please join the Facebook Group: Sugar and Savings- Budgets and Saving Money to be a part of our community of other lovely savers! We share our thoughts, and plans with money, and we celebrate each other’s wins!
Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings,
Taylor
xoxo