buy & sel l
Part diligence, part luck, shopping locally from your computer or smartphone is easier than ever. By Michael and James Fry Craigslist The Ins and Outs of
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t is a pretty good assumption that if you buy and sell on a regular basis then you have had some type of interaction on Craigslist. Most resellers have at least a few stories detailing their triumphs and tragedies with this online marketplace. In our Fall 2012 article, “The Art of the (Re)Sell,” we touched on the pros and cons of selling on Craigslist. With the selling side covered, we thought we should delve into the other half and focus on effective buying. Let’s start with the basics: Craigslist is the foremost online searchable database of classi- fied ads in the world. Everything imaginable is for sale, fromMid-Century Modern to motor- cycles — it is listed somewhere on Craigslist. The site is organized into geographical regions; if you live in the Kansas City metro area you would search at KansasCity.craigslist.org. One of Craigslist’s greatest attributes for buyers is that the prices are set, and you don’t have to bid against anyone else. If someone lists a vintage red Underwood typewriter on eBay for $50, the bidding system kicks in and the typewriter could end up selling for well over $150. Even though the seller may not have been edu- cated on the value, the system enabled the item to sell for more. If the same owner of the Underwood lists it on Craigslist for $50 and you are actively searching for vintage
Another effective technique is to run searches using common misspellings of a name or brand. If you are on the hunt for Broyhill Brasilia furniture, try searching Broy- hil. Also run searches for common variations of words/phrases like mid century, mid-cen- tury, and midcentury. Lastly, (this is our most time-consuming suggestion but possibly the most profitable) cast a wide net by searching with broader terms. If you are looking for Eames chairs, try searching with terms like “vintage chair” or “plastic chair” instead of searching “Eames Herman Miller.” A Brown Button regular told us he purchased three Carter Brothers Scoop Chairs this past year by running a search only using the keyword “retro.” He purchased all three for $425 and has since sold two for more than $400 each. Craigslist rewards those who put the time (and gas) into hunting down the deals. As with any treasure hunting activity, be safe, and use common sense. We wish you well on your Craigslist cruising. ^ Michael and James Fry are brothers and owners of Brown Button Estate Sales.
typewriters, the deal could be yours without the price increasing. The quest then becomes how to find those deals before anyone else. One of the keys is to search regularly. Often a really good deal will be sold within one or two days of it being posted, sometimes within hours. This means that you have a very small window of opportunity to find the deal, and searching often will increase your chances. There are two major options to stay on top of your Craigslist searches. Option one: Manually search Craigslist every day. Search early in the morning or whenever you have a few free minutes. This past winter a friend of ours purchased 10 Herman Miller parchment Eames fiberglass side chairs for $450. He got the deal because he took the time to search early one Sunday morning and stumbled across them first. The more often you search, the greater your chances for success. Option two: If you have a smartphone you can download one of several Craigslist apps (CraigsPro+, Craiglist Mobile) that enable you to set up alerts for custom searches. Say you are always on the lookout for antique doc- tor’s bags; you can create a custom search for “antique leather Dr’s bag” and any time one is posted in the Kansas City area your phone will alert you to the listing.
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VintageKC / Winter 2013 8
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