Selling on Facebook and Craigslist
I moved back into my house after my kitchen and bath were finished. It was under construction for 12 weeks, and apparently, my contractor thought that every single box was important. He said, “yeah, I left the important boxes just in case.” Uhm, just in case what? (enter sarcasm) Just in case...I want to uninstall my toilet that you left the box for? Like I want to disassemble my kitchen faucet? Or, maybe you were talking about the tile boxes that I will try to chip away at. I'm pretty sure he was just didn’t want to take all the garbage to the dump, but because of this, my already full guest room (in a 900 sqft. house), is now jam packed with: boxes, paint cans, packing paper, cleaning products, and all the things from my kitchen that I’m still trying to find room for.
After a few days, I told myself that I was going to sell the things I didn't need on Facebook and Craigslist. Maybe I can get a little money out of them, right? Haggling and selling things is my least favorite thing to do. Nonetheless, I put up an ad on Craigslist and the Facebook local marketplace.
FOR SALE: GRANITE KITCHEN SINK, BOUGHT FOR $265, NEVER OUT OF THE BOX, $215!
No nibbles. $50 dollars off for something that’s never been out of the box? To me, that's a steal. One nibble. “I’ll buy your sink for $100 dollars, because I really like it.” $100? This is a 31” black granite sink that’s never been opened that I paid nearly $300 dollars for and can’t return, so I thanked the person for looking but passed on the offer. But....after a few weeks and my sink not moving, I got a little desperate and began looking at other sinks similar to mine.
FOR SALE: GRANITE KITCHEN SINK, BOUGHT FOR $265, NEVER OUT OF BOX, NEW LOWERED PRICE! $150!
One nibble. “I think your sink will work for me, but is that the lowest you will go? I saw you lowered the price already...” Now, had I had more than just two closets in my house, you bet your butt I would’ve kept this sink for a later date. However, I don’t, and some money is better than none and clutter. I reel this guy in, “The lowest I’ll go is $140”, I said to him. (I'm awful at bartering.)
Long story short, once I accept this person's offer, he proceeds to tell me he lives thirty minutes away and I’d have to meet him halfway to drop the sink off. Of course, only I would lower the price and then have to drive several minutes away to meet the seller on Saturday... through Nashville traffic. In addition to meeting him halfway, he tells me that I need to arrive at 3:00p sharp because he has somewhere he needs to be. Now I’m an anxiety ridden mess. I wrangle up my friend, Dallas, and we set out to meet this gent.
When the buyer pulled up, he arrived at 3:08pm, we swapped the sink and cash and I hopped back in the car to drive home, feeling like I took a total bath, for this deal. But, the plus side was, my guest room didn't have a large box in it and I recouped a little loss. Cheers to you all selling your trinkets and things on Facebook Craigslist or LetGo. They’re a good resource to get a little something and hey, more power to you if you can do this on a normal basis. My career of haggling lasted one day, but who knows? Maybe I'll get back out there, but I'm not going to hold my breath. How many of you are good hagglers and what's the best story you have!?
B.