24 ms·

How to Make It on Craigslist

269 points by omarish 15y ago

midas 15y ago
It makes sense intuitively that heavy appliances would be the most profitable. People don't say, "sure you can have my iPod for $20" but I could see them being willing to part with a washing machine for that price if someone would carry it out of their third story apartment.
- adamc 15y ago
  Yes. They will take a lesser fraction of the value in cash when there is a positive value in getting rid of it. Small items are easy to get rid of anyway (you could just throw it in the trash), and if they have value they may be willing to store them and wait. My overall reaction to the article, though, was that he's doing a fair amount of work for a pretty so-so return, and it looks hard to scale it upwards. (That $1,000 for the week doesn't come with any fringe benefits, like insurance.)
  - josefresco 15y ago
    The way to scale it is to open a thrift store and increase his inventory on hand by buying in bulk.
    - michaelbuckbee 15y ago
      That's not a bad idea. IIRC many of the people on Storage Wars do exactly that.
  - dataminer 15y ago
    $1000 per week is actually quite good, remember this guy was unemployed and was getting occasional construction jobs so he didn't have any money and insurance in the first place. The experience he is gaining running a successful business also has a lot of value. I know a similar guy who started dealing in used items, after working for 25 years he is one of the biggest antique and scrap metal dealer in town.
  - chc 15y ago
    Lots of people do more skilled work for the same or less on oDesk or vWorker.
  - jfruh 15y ago
    Median income in the West in 2010 was $53K, according to the Census Bureau (via Wikipedia), and since "the West" includes California I'm betting it's lower in Portland. Considering he says he's only working 25 hours a week, 1,000 a week is pretty darn good, even if he does have to pay for health insurance.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - roseburg 15y ago
    It definitely will take a lot of work to scale it, but I think it can be done. I could probably be watching 3-4 cities at a time fairly easily. Portland has a very active Craigslist community and I have a lot of down time waiting for new ads to come up. On the other hand, if I'm always at the computer, I lose a good chunk of profit on items I have someone else pickup, so I have to increase volume to make up for it, which is not always easy. I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, as this is my main hurdle I'm facing right now.
    - Kluny 15y ago
      I'd say that a netbook with 3g internet would be a worthwhile investment, so you could check for new deals even while your out on the job. Then you'd always have your next destination, you could plan routes efficiently, etc.
      - roseburg 15y ago
        I have a 7" samsung galaxy tab with built in 3g from verizon. I also have a dash mount so I use it as a gps as well as to pull up emails, addresses and listings on the fly. It also acts as a hot spot to give internet to my laptop when I'm traveling.
        Luyt 15y ago
        Couldn't you make some application which scrapes Craigslist every 5 minutes and detects newly posted items, maybe filter them on some criteria, and SMS them to your phone?
        monirz77 15y ago
        The CL app can do that for you. Say, you save a search for "refrigerator" in a certain area, in the "Free" category, the app would notify you (it puts a # on the top bar of your phone) letting you know there's a new listing for "refrigerator". Same thing for "roommate" or "carpenter" jobs, etc. It's pretty cool, wish I've known this app when I was looking for a free carpet. Interestingly enough, just last month, I bought on CL and sold a pair of girl's snowboard boots for $15 more in a matter of 4 days. Mostly because I really didn't want it.I was just practicing on my selling skills. I'm more inspired after reading this.
- kalid 15y ago
  I'm curious how he's able to move giant appliances / half-ton loads of steel out of people's homes by himself.
  - aeeeee 15y ago
    I'm thinking he gets a little bit of free labor out of his kids :)
    - roseburg 15y ago
      Not yet :) They are all years old and younger. When they are teenagers though...
  - dataminer 15y ago
    Hand truck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_truck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_truck is a very simple machine and is part of any movers toolkit.
    - davidw 15y ago
      You really want one of these for the heavy stuff though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber It makes a world of difference.
  - roseburg 15y ago
    I have a really solid aluminum hand truck with stair skids on it. Most appliances weigh less than 250 lbs (I would guess average would be 175-200 lbs) and I'm able to move even the heavier ones up and down stairs by myself (not always easy!) It can be pretty physically demanding work sometimes, and I will ask questions to find out how difficult it might be to remove/deliver an appliance and bring help if I need it.
joshuahedlund 15y ago
I didn't see any discussion about the cost of driving around town all the time to pick stuff up. Still, depending on his average distance, if he averages three items per day he might not be much worse than a lot of people's average commutes.
- roseburg 15y ago
  The van I drive, a Toyota Sienna, gets pretty good gas mileage . I factor distance/time and what I will be able to sell the item(s) for before pulling the trigger. I listen to music and relax while driving around. I avoid rush hour traffic if at all possible. I drove approx 15-20k miles this past year picking items up and delivering them. It's by far the biggest cost. However, that's pretty much my only overhead, as I sell the items out of our garage/house for now. (I've gotten pretty good at knowing what will sell and what won't, so I stay away from items that I will have to sit on for a while or are difficult to store.)
redsymbol 15y ago
The greatest part of this story is what Ryan accomplished personally. From reading, he went from someone who consistently had great trouble professionally, to someone who is successfully able to support himself and his family financially. Ryan, if you're reading this, congratulations! This appears to be a major personal accomplishment and milestone for you. Best of luck as you grow into your next level of success.
- roseburg 15y ago
  Thanks! Appreciate it.
  - mey 15y ago
    Personally I've always considered craigslist to be sketchy from a buyer or seller point of view. Since I live in Portland, I'll keep you in the back of my mind if I need to get rid of anything I don't have time to handle myself. I'd rather work with someone trustworthy then deal with the unknowns of craigslist. (Welcome to self branding. :) )
    - roseburg 15y ago
      If you go to news.google.com and type in Craigslist you will get a vastly disproportionate number of negative/positive Craigslist stories. Muggings get reported, smooth transactions don't. Shoot me a message if you ever need help with something.
- larrydag 15y ago
  I also like the part where Ryan sought out mentors and advice from people he trusts. There is no need to tackle your problems alone. Listening is a great virtue.
iterationx 15y ago
Shouldn't post stuff like this, it invites competition.
- josefresco 15y ago
  The concept isn't new, and the competition is already there both for the scrap metal market and buying/selling people's unwanted crap.
- dataminer 15y ago
  Yes, but if you dig a little deeper, this guy is also running a blog. Stories like these raises his blogs profile and if the story gets picked up by a news outlet that can do wonders. With enough following he can write a book, publish articles in news papers or in very extraordinary case start his own reality TV series. History channel runs a popular TV series called American Pickers following two people who go around buying and selling antiques.
- molecularbutter 15y ago
  Like sharing any other business idea you mean?
- swang 15y ago
  Most people aren't motivated enough to compete. They might start but they rarely go through with it.
  - roseburg 15y ago
    Exactly, I'm not worried about raising up more competition. A very successful business owner friend of mine said the same thing to me when I first ran it by him.
  - vellum 15y ago
    This. It takes a lot of work to follow up on leads for 20+ hours/week and lug around heavy items.
thinkdevcode 15y ago
> I started the year with almost nothing and ended with a used van, a new utility trailer, less debt, fully paid bills and money left to take the family to Hawaii. > less debt > family to hawaii Something does not compute here.
- chc 15y ago
  I think you're missing a variable that equals "Having zero debt at all times is not everyone's highest priority".
  - thinkdevcode 15y ago
    Let's rephrase your statement: "Paying back on things you've already purchased with someone elses money is not everyone's highest priority" Now we take this statement and multiply it by 34 million, and we have the reason why America's total US consumer debt is 2.43 trillion. I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it.
    - awj 15y ago
      > I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it. Everyone does. Good luck getting people to settle on your definitions of "extravagant" and "afford."
      - thinkdevcode 15y ago
        Your absolutely correct that we all have different perceptions of "extravagance" I think a vacation to hawaii from portland for a family of four while still in debt is clearly extravagant, and unaffordable. But's thats just my opinion, and I dont expect you, or anyone else, to share it. Debt shouldn't be seen as ok to have but I think that is sadly how most Americans view it now.
        ctdonath 15y ago
molecularbutter 15y ago
Interesting story, it's fascinating to see what people are doing to make ends meet in the new economy. Similarly, I know someone who makes well over $100,000 a year buying, fixing, and reselling things on Craigslist and eBay. They found a very specific (and obvious) niche that is highly profitable to be in, I imagine if this guy specialized more he will see greater returns as well.
- lancewiggs 15y ago
  This. Becoming the regional, local, or global expert in a tightly defined niche is a great way to lock in high margin revenues.
mahannay 15y ago
It's very impressive that he's able to earn so much money and support his family via Craigslist, but I can't help but think about how useful (or not useful, really) his job is for the overall economy. Basically, he's another middleman - buying goods for a low price and selling them higher. Without him in the picture, buyers could have purchased their items for less and saved money. I just don't see how this job adds a service to society.
- tocomment 15y ago
  Well, he is delivering them, and taking old appliances away when he delivers them. There is a lot of value in that. He is also adding "liquidity" to the "market" by immediately buying new listings, and holding them for a few days until the right buyer comes along. Without someone like him the seller would have to wait several days to find the right buyer.
  - jccc 15y ago
    I doubt very much that sellers would appreciate this liquidity "service" if it were spelled out for them. They would feel cheated, as would the buyers.
    - georgieporgie 15y ago
      Given how many utter flakes I've experienced when selling (or even giving away!) stuff on Craigslist, I think liquidity here actually has tremendous value. And unlike modern stock trading, not all Craigslist listings are created equally. He seems to be doing the dirty work that sellers don't want to bother with. Besides, everyone knows that if you want get paid a reasonable value, you put something on eBay, but that's too much hassle for these sellers.
      - wtvanhest 15y ago
        That is why he is able to make more on appliances which can really only be bought and sold on craig's list.
DustinCalim 15y ago
This is a cool article; it will be interesting to see how it scales up going forward. I also spend a lot of time on craigslist, and this extension has saved me hours and made browsing much more efficient: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aikbdokcmcbbeaadpdbhlcdcgghdkhja https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aikbdokcmcbbeaadpd... Chrome only though :(
kin 15y ago
People also used to do this with eBay. I also sometimes sell on Craigslist but I work full time so it has to be larger scale. Sometimes I buy event tickets and sell them on Craigslist for a profit if I know there will be high demand. The profit margin is typically at least 50%. And I make at least $100/ticket for simply printing a piece of paper and meeting someone at Starbucks.
- jeffclark 15y ago
  I do the same thing with tickets. And since I can make Internet, I made a site to handle accepting the payment and getting them their PDF ticket: http://www.boxrowseat.com http://www.boxrowseat.com Made selling on CL about 1000x easier :)
huuleon 15y ago
This encourages me to try it out in my area. I would like to see how much i can make if i try it part time if possible.
- sebphfx 15y ago
  even with electronics built with planned obsolescence in mind, it's doable somehow to fix them. My uncle will fix things like mini-stereos by ordering the parts, something that most people don't think about doing. It's easier to buy a new one.
fasteddie31003 15y ago
I made a tool that does something a lot like this that uses machine learning algorithms. I gave up on it a while back, but give it a look. http://ec2-184-72-247-63.compute-1.amazonaws.com http://ec2-184-72-247-63.compute-1.amazonaws.com I called it Eds-list
- JOnAgain 15y ago
  Seems to find all the fraud listings pretty well
  - fasteddie31003 15y ago
    Yea I found that fact too. I imagine that the fraud values are outliers which my algorithms think are good values.
- _delirium 15y ago
  The predicted numbers seem way off to me based on spot-checks. For example, I searched for "chair" in NYC, and for a number of normal office chairs listed at $30-50, the "Ed's list" price predicts that they're really worth $180-500!
joeblossom 15y ago
I did this in college, however, since graduating and getting a full time job I've quit. I mainly stuck with electronics, and even then it was mostly TVs. I found that I could very easily purchase TVs for $100-$200 less than what I could sell them for. It was fun, and I've seriously considered doing it on weekends again, however now that I live in a large city (Atlanta) I feel like there is a lot more research that has to go into an item... Mostly because people from an hour a way from the city center will claim they are within the city and so on. In college I was in a city of 150k people, and could get to the outer "suburbs" in at most 30 minutes. My current TV was one of the first 1080P 50" Plasmas... It still works perfectly and looks great. I bought it from a couple for $750. (Bought with the profits from selling buying and selling TVs)
gerggerg 15y ago
I really dig his attitude and sense of accomplishment. Who'd a known a pawn shop with free pickup would be so successful.
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  I wonder if it would be possible to scale the business. If you wrote a script that could flag potentially lucrative items for manual review, you would likely be able to cut out much of the searching, allowing you to target CLs in multiple cities. If he's making $38/hr in one city, he could hire someone for $18/hr in another to drive around and pick up / drop off items and pocket the $20 difference. I'd be interested to see how well this would work out.
  - r00fus 15y ago
    As he mentions several times in his posting, time sensitivity is critical. Minutes, even seconds can make/break a deal... automation may be much slower than a human who's constantly scanning. Furthermore, it's clear that it's not just "pickup" and possibly "delivery"... the author is making a clear buy/sell/bargain decision on the spot... what happens when the pickup results in a fraudulent item? Clearly this means that whoever is driving around needs to be trained, and once trained, can be your competitor (I see few barriers between a trained pickup-person and the author scanning craigslist) Kudos to the entrepreneurial spirit here, but I highly doubt it's scaleable.
    - roseburg 15y ago
      Your spot on with what I've been wrestling with over the past months. It's difficult, but possible. I did a trial with a friend in Houston and it worked out well. We made a little over $200 in a day on one laptop. Communication wise, it's definitely labor intensive at first as I'm trying to make wise decisions over the phone and looking at pictures. It is possible to pull it off, it's just going to take a lot of work finding the right detail oriented/trustworthy person in another city that's in the right situation to pull it off. Hopefully in a year I'm writing about how I was able to scale it to multiple cities. Thanks for the note!
driverdan 15y ago
Now he just needs to scale it. Hire a few people to go out and get the items, use software to help filter new leads, branch out into related areas.
unreal37 15y ago
A nice story. This guy found his inner "hustler" - hustler in the positive sense. I sell a lot of items on craigslist, and I have no problem with the idea that someone bought it from me to resell it because I underpriced it. Hell, if someone threw what I gave them in the garbage, they can do that too. I no longer want the item, I got what $ I asked for it, and I'm out of the equation. The only thing I'd have a problem with is if someone contacted me with a sad story about being broke, student, unemployed, sick child, or something, and asking for a discount. And I find out later they lied. That's where the ethical line is for me.
- roseburg 15y ago
  I'm straight up with people. Sometimes people will pick up on the fact that I'm not the average consumer joe buying their appliance and they ask what I'm going to do with them. I tell them and no one has ever complained. I show up on time, do all the work myself, pay cash, and people are almost always happy. I've actually got a lot of repeat business from buyers that felt I treated them right. One guy turned out to own a large apartment complex and ended up buying 30-40 appliances from me this past year.
josephjrobison 15y ago
He's got the spirit of a hustler and the swagger of a college kid. I love stories like this of people doing not ground breaking jobs and just hustling and making it happen. I work in a high skilled tech job that requires lots of thinking and analysis, and sometimes I over think and over analyze everything I'm doing, which is why I think I admire a job that requires pure hustle. Not saying that's my cup of tea to do full time, just something that I could apply to my everyday job to make me more productive and focus more on doing than analyzing!
- roseburg 15y ago
  Thanks man. Sometimes I over think things, or am too cautious. Out of 600 or so buys that I made this past year I would have probably been better off being a little more aggressive and taking a few more risks. I've learned more this past year of grinding it out than from all my years of school. (and some college) Thanks for the comment!
theblogdoctor 15y ago
Seems like a plug to lead HN readers to the site - http://priceonomics.com/ http://priceonomics.com/
DustinCalim 15y ago
I don't see why some consider this unethical and abusive to the CL community. It's just arbitrage; same as in Foreign Exchange markets. It tends to pop up because values are just opinions and to forget that leads to misdirection.
- InclinedPlane 15y ago
  It's not just arbitrage, he's providing pickup and delivery services as well. That alone is valuable.
- rb2k_ 15y ago
  That's exactly what I was thinking reading the post. It's nice that he is able to make a living and support his family, but he does that on the back of people looking for things on craigslist without providing anything of value (besides maybe transportation). The bad part is that I'd assume people buying things of craigslist tend to be on the lower part of the income spectrum and he's charging them more money by "playing the market". Does he actually tell people that he's just going to resell whatever he picks up? I'm sure there might be some people that are uncomfortable with that.
  - DanBC 15y ago
    Plenty of people just want to get rid of stuff. They need the room or they need to move and they don't care what happens to it. If this no-one takes it it'll go to landfill. He's providing a service to them. He takes the stuff away, and doesn't charge them to do so. He might even give them some money. (Compare that to hiring a dumpster / skip.)
    - rb2k_ 15y ago
      > If this no-one takes it it'll go to landfill. I don't think he takes landfill material since he is able to sell it on craigslist for money only a day or two later.
      - DanBC 15y ago
senthil_rajasek 15y ago
On a related note, I read this news article about "Craigslist robberies by appointment..." http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/01/craigslist-robberies-by-appointment-on-rise/ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/01/craigslist-robb...
dangrossman 15y ago
This sounds like a mess to keep proper tax records for. Assuming nobody's giving receipts on either side of the transaction, how do you keep proof of what price you paid and what price you sold for? Audits aren't that rare.
- paulhauggis 15y ago
  what about other cash-only businesses like a barber shop?
  - dangrossman 15y ago
    Every one I've been to has a POS computer/register where they enter every sale, no matter how it's paid. Enter the employee ID of the person that did the cut, the service, cash tendered, money drawer opens, provide change if applicable, offer receipt. Same as any other legit business.
    - bigbird 15y ago
      There's a grey market in "zappers", which are POS devices that keep two sets of books automatically. Lots of small retail businesses rely on this type of tax fraud to stay in business.
- kevinpet 15y ago
  Presumably the email would cover some of this. Records don't need to be something out of CSI, you just have to have them.
  - dangrossman 15y ago
    I was just reading a long comment thread about craigslist on reddit yesterday. It seemed like most transactions take place over the phone, not e-mail. Whoever calls first at the right price gets the stuff, a good deal will be gone before the e-mail would be read.
- dotBen 15y ago
squarecat 15y ago
Here, you're gonna want this: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=cache%3Ablog.priceonomics.com%2Fpost%2F16529584021%2Fhow-to-make-it-on-craigslist&pbx=1&oq=cache%3Ablog.priceonomics.com%2Fpost%2F16529584021%2Fhow-to-make-it-on-craigslist&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=19016l19774l0l20051l6l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&...
nate 15y ago
I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but roseburg, have you considered packaging up this wisdom you shared on this blog post as a class and make some money teaching? I'd think you could get a bunch of students to take at least a one session 2 hour class or something learning this stuff from you. Or even some class online. You could video some of the interactions you have on the phone and in person when doing the deals etc...
- bprater 15y ago
  Yerp, in this economy, I can see loads of folks willing to pay for your expertise in this. Make it an online class, teach folks over the phone.
ssharp 15y ago
What about operating in bigger markets, like cars, trailers, RV's, etc. ? Or are those markets too competitive? Having sold cars on Craigslist before, I know that there are people who are offering low values, fast sales, shortly after posting in hopes of finding a desperate seller, so maybe these people make profit much less likely for a trader.
- Kluny 15y ago
  Laws vary, but you can only flip a few cars a year, like a dozen or so, before you're required to get a dealer license. These generally cost thousands of dollars a year and come with a lot of paperwork overhead.
nir 15y ago
I always wondered how much one can make by buying AC units on Craigslist in December and selling them off in June, in a place like NYC where weather gets very hot/cold :)
- andrenotgiant 15y ago
  I do that in NYC with bikes (buy winter, from people who made impulse buys in summer and have nowhere to store them, sell summer, to people making impulse buys.) I think the NYC market has so many constraints and peculiarities (plus money!), its rife with these kind of opportunities.
int3rnaut 15y ago
I really like your story man, and I'm glad you're succeeding but I just wanted to voice my opinion on one of the things you said-- "Back at home I immediately found out the cards were worthless. I had paid the kid $100 for the cards, and eventually pestered him". Even if the kid knew, I think it's wrong for an adult to come back and reneg on a deal with a child. There's a big power imbalance there. You seem like a great guy, I just kind of found that a bit unethical.
- colton36 15y ago
  I disagree. Letting the kid get away with this teaches that there won't be any consequences to questionable actions.
  - roseburg 15y ago
    Exactly. The kid was a junior in high school. I'm 30 years old. It wasn't like I was picking on some little kid. The sooner someone gets called out for stuff like this the better.
- mapster 15y ago
  If a kid acts unethically, its your duty as an adult to correct a wrong, and if needed, discuss the kid's actions with his parents.
  - int3rnaut 15y ago
    You know what, I agree but there's a right and wrong way to approach the problem, especially with kids. I mean that's why parents should be involved in the first place in situations like this.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
- tsmith 15y ago
  The kid was old enough to engage in meaningful financial transactions. There's always _some_ power imbalance in any kind of meaningful transaction - that doesn't mean that the person on the weaker side has the prerogative to act unfairly.
dockd 15y ago
This is much more common than everyone here thinks. I posted a car for sale two years ago. My first two replies were people offering half my price in cash. While I didn't actually check with them, I assume they were dealers (self employed or part of a business) trying to buy something below Blue Book so they could sell it at Blue Book. It seems unlikely there are many people sitting around looking to buy any car as long as it was a "deal".
dmotz 15y ago
I built a free webapp that may be useful for such Craigslist arbitrage. It constantly crawls Craigslist for search terms in your price range and emails you the results (instantly or in a daily digest): http://lootlook.com http://lootlook.com
- Barnabas 15y ago
  Went to check it out. Pretty. I didn't see anything but yet another "create a login" screen, no sample of what the email looks like. Closed tab.
  - dmotz 15y ago
    Appreciate the feedback. No one likes blocking signups, myself included. Trouble is, the app can't serve the user without having his or her email address on hand. I suppose I could rework the process so the user can give an email address after seeing how the interface works. For those curious, the emails it sends are simple lists of links, sorted by keyword.
    - ars 15y ago
      What you should do is ask them what they want to search for, then go and do the search and show the results. (It's OK if you show old results - not sure what your technical architecture is.) Then invite them with: Have these results emailed to you every day, enter your email here: Also, I tried to sign up using the login form - that's not cool. If there is no match put up a page say, no such account, would you like to create it?
poorguy 15y ago
I find it interesting that you start off the article with a sob story about having no money and end with a vacation to Hawaii a year later. Shouldn't you be saving some of this and investing rather than spewing what would assumably be quite a bit on vaca? I am definitely not stingy and blow my money as I please, by my debts are dropping, investments growing, and I haven't(by choice) brought any hellions into this world to support that will need college tuition soon. Sorry to be a Debbie downer, but it irks ne to see people who have their long term priorities all out of whack(and they usually have way more kids than they can support)
- vidarh 15y ago
  Did you read the article? He has invested: " I started the year with almost nothing and ended with a used van, a new utility trailer, less debt, fully paid bills and money left to take the family to Hawaii. " At some point you need to make the decision to actually enjoy life too. > Sorry to be a Debbie downer, but it irks ne to see people who have their long term priorities all out of whack(and they usually have way more kids than they can support) Everyone hits tough times sometimes, but this is someone who clearly can support his kids, enough so that he's been able to afford investing in a van, a trailer, pay down his debts, and take the family to Hawaii. In that context this comment just makes you seem like an ass.
arjn 15y ago
Nicely done dude. Happy for you. Go Portlander!
Cash37 15y ago
Congrats Ryan. You rolled up your sleeves and made it happen.
jebblue 15y ago
Good work man I think it's awesome that you've found something that works for you.
rockford 15y ago
Great post good for you for hustling to take care of your family. Lots can be said from various moral points of view however simply put he's taking care of his family and not drawing on struggling Federal and State governments (while actually paying his share). A couple great points having grown up in the antique business the skill he's developed is the ability to know the local market (buy and sell-side) for a variety of local items. Roseburg - a suggestion that may help you're right about a clean listing good pictures etc... However one interesting twist I've experimented successfully with is using Copywriting techniques to drive attention to your ads. Mainly I did it for practice but its seems to work well having helped sell the items far more quickly than previous CL sales I've done. I'm happy to share/email a few examples of ads I've written with you if they would help. Not sure the best way to connect off the comments here (since I've just registered to leave this comment)
apw 15y ago
I admire this guy's work ethic, but I am a little uncomfortable with the fact that this post is pretty much viral marketing for Priceonomics.
Macsenour 15y ago
This makes sense to me. I bought a house full of furniture when I moved to North Carolina, all from CraigsList. Two years later I sold those exact items for a $300 profit.
92648 15y ago
I love the blg post. It's very inspirational and I emailed it to a couple of friends that might benefit from it. Question: What about buying on Craigslist and selling on eBay or other listings? I use both at times and noticed that each tailors certain genres better. Do you do that or have an opinion on that?
ilija139 15y ago
Very, very inspiring!
CoryMathews 15y ago
Is he reselling them on Craigslist or somewhere else? I seem to be missing that part.
ExxKA 15y ago
Thats a really great story. Im glad you finally had success :)

269 points by omarish 15y ago

midas 15y ago

It makes sense intuitively that heavy appliances would be the most profitable. People don't say, "sure you can have my iPod for $20" but I could see them being willing to part with a washing machine for that price if someone would carry it out of their third story apartment.

adamc 15y ago
Yes. They will take a lesser fraction of the value in cash when there is a positive value in getting rid of it. Small items are easy to get rid of anyway (you could just throw it in the trash), and if they have value they may be willing to store them and wait. My overall reaction to the article, though, was that he's doing a fair amount of work for a pretty so-so return, and it looks hard to scale it upwards. (That $1,000 for the week doesn't come with any fringe benefits, like insurance.)
- josefresco 15y ago
  The way to scale it is to open a thrift store and increase his inventory on hand by buying in bulk.
  - michaelbuckbee 15y ago
    That's not a bad idea. IIRC many of the people on Storage Wars do exactly that.
- dataminer 15y ago
  $1000 per week is actually quite good, remember this guy was unemployed and was getting occasional construction jobs so he didn't have any money and insurance in the first place. The experience he is gaining running a successful business also has a lot of value. I know a similar guy who started dealing in used items, after working for 25 years he is one of the biggest antique and scrap metal dealer in town.
- chc 15y ago
  Lots of people do more skilled work for the same or less on oDesk or vWorker.
- jfruh 15y ago
  Median income in the West in 2010 was $53K, according to the Census Bureau (via Wikipedia), and since "the West" includes California I'm betting it's lower in Portland. Considering he says he's only working 25 hours a week, 1,000 a week is pretty darn good, even if he does have to pay for health insurance.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- roseburg 15y ago
  It definitely will take a lot of work to scale it, but I think it can be done. I could probably be watching 3-4 cities at a time fairly easily. Portland has a very active Craigslist community and I have a lot of down time waiting for new ads to come up. On the other hand, if I'm always at the computer, I lose a good chunk of profit on items I have someone else pickup, so I have to increase volume to make up for it, which is not always easy. I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, as this is my main hurdle I'm facing right now.
  - Kluny 15y ago
    I'd say that a netbook with 3g internet would be a worthwhile investment, so you could check for new deals even while your out on the job. Then you'd always have your next destination, you could plan routes efficiently, etc.
    - roseburg 15y ago
      I have a 7" samsung galaxy tab with built in 3g from verizon. I also have a dash mount so I use it as a gps as well as to pull up emails, addresses and listings on the fly. It also acts as a hot spot to give internet to my laptop when I'm traveling.
      - Luyt 15y ago
        Couldn't you make some application which scrapes Craigslist every 5 minutes and detects newly posted items, maybe filter them on some criteria, and SMS them to your phone?
        monirz77 15y ago
        The CL app can do that for you. Say, you save a search for "refrigerator" in a certain area, in the "Free" category, the app would notify you (it puts a # on the top bar of your phone) letting you know there's a new listing for "refrigerator". Same thing for "roommate" or "carpenter" jobs, etc. It's pretty cool, wish I've known this app when I was looking for a free carpet. Interestingly enough, just last month, I bought on CL and sold a pair of girl's snowboard boots for $15 more in a matter of 4 days. Mostly because I really didn't want it.I was just practicing on my selling skills. I'm more inspired after reading this.
kalid 15y ago
I'm curious how he's able to move giant appliances / half-ton loads of steel out of people's homes by himself.
- aeeeee 15y ago
  I'm thinking he gets a little bit of free labor out of his kids :)
  - roseburg 15y ago
    Not yet :) They are all years old and younger. When they are teenagers though...
- dataminer 15y ago
  Hand truck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_truck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_truck is a very simple machine and is part of any movers toolkit.
  - davidw 15y ago
    You really want one of these for the heavy stuff though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairclimber It makes a world of difference.
- roseburg 15y ago
  I have a really solid aluminum hand truck with stair skids on it. Most appliances weigh less than 250 lbs (I would guess average would be 175-200 lbs) and I'm able to move even the heavier ones up and down stairs by myself (not always easy!) It can be pretty physically demanding work sometimes, and I will ask questions to find out how difficult it might be to remove/deliver an appliance and bring help if I need it.

joshuahedlund 15y ago

I didn't see any discussion about the cost of driving around town all the time to pick stuff up. Still, depending on his average distance, if he averages three items per day he might not be much worse than a lot of people's average commutes.

roseburg 15y ago
The van I drive, a Toyota Sienna, gets pretty good gas mileage . I factor distance/time and what I will be able to sell the item(s) for before pulling the trigger. I listen to music and relax while driving around. I avoid rush hour traffic if at all possible. I drove approx 15-20k miles this past year picking items up and delivering them. It's by far the biggest cost. However, that's pretty much my only overhead, as I sell the items out of our garage/house for now. (I've gotten pretty good at knowing what will sell and what won't, so I stay away from items that I will have to sit on for a while or are difficult to store.)

redsymbol 15y ago

The greatest part of this story is what Ryan accomplished personally. From reading, he went from someone who consistently had great trouble professionally, to someone who is successfully able to support himself and his family financially. Ryan, if you're reading this, congratulations! This appears to be a major personal accomplishment and milestone for you. Best of luck as you grow into your next level of success.

roseburg 15y ago
Thanks! Appreciate it.
- mey 15y ago
  Personally I've always considered craigslist to be sketchy from a buyer or seller point of view. Since I live in Portland, I'll keep you in the back of my mind if I need to get rid of anything I don't have time to handle myself. I'd rather work with someone trustworthy then deal with the unknowns of craigslist. (Welcome to self branding. :) )
  - roseburg 15y ago
    If you go to news.google.com and type in Craigslist you will get a vastly disproportionate number of negative/positive Craigslist stories. Muggings get reported, smooth transactions don't. Shoot me a message if you ever need help with something.
larrydag 15y ago
I also like the part where Ryan sought out mentors and advice from people he trusts. There is no need to tackle your problems alone. Listening is a great virtue.

iterationx 15y ago

Shouldn't post stuff like this, it invites competition.

josefresco 15y ago
The concept isn't new, and the competition is already there both for the scrap metal market and buying/selling people's unwanted crap.
dataminer 15y ago
Yes, but if you dig a little deeper, this guy is also running a blog. Stories like these raises his blogs profile and if the story gets picked up by a news outlet that can do wonders. With enough following he can write a book, publish articles in news papers or in very extraordinary case start his own reality TV series. History channel runs a popular TV series called American Pickers following two people who go around buying and selling antiques.
molecularbutter 15y ago
Like sharing any other business idea you mean?
swang 15y ago
Most people aren't motivated enough to compete. They might start but they rarely go through with it.
- roseburg 15y ago
  Exactly, I'm not worried about raising up more competition. A very successful business owner friend of mine said the same thing to me when I first ran it by him.
- vellum 15y ago
  This. It takes a lot of work to follow up on leads for 20+ hours/week and lug around heavy items.

thinkdevcode 15y ago

> I started the year with almost nothing and ended with a used van, a new utility trailer, less debt, fully paid bills and money left to take the family to Hawaii. > less debt > family to hawaii Something does not compute here.

chc 15y ago
I think you're missing a variable that equals "Having zero debt at all times is not everyone's highest priority".
- thinkdevcode 15y ago
  Let's rephrase your statement: "Paying back on things you've already purchased with someone elses money is not everyone's highest priority" Now we take this statement and multiply it by 34 million, and we have the reason why America's total US consumer debt is 2.43 trillion. I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it.
  - awj 15y ago
    > I dont mean to nitpick, but I get really annoyed when people do extravagant things when they can't afford it. Everyone does. Good luck getting people to settle on your definitions of "extravagant" and "afford."
    - thinkdevcode 15y ago
      Your absolutely correct that we all have different perceptions of "extravagance" I think a vacation to hawaii from portland for a family of four while still in debt is clearly extravagant, and unaffordable. But's thats just my opinion, and I dont expect you, or anyone else, to share it. Debt shouldn't be seen as ok to have but I think that is sadly how most Americans view it now.
      - ctdonath 15y ago

molecularbutter 15y ago

Interesting story, it's fascinating to see what people are doing to make ends meet in the new economy. Similarly, I know someone who makes well over $100,000 a year buying, fixing, and reselling things on Craigslist and eBay. They found a very specific (and obvious) niche that is highly profitable to be in, I imagine if this guy specialized more he will see greater returns as well.

lancewiggs 15y ago
This. Becoming the regional, local, or global expert in a tightly defined niche is a great way to lock in high margin revenues.

mahannay 15y ago

It's very impressive that he's able to earn so much money and support his family via Craigslist, but I can't help but think about how useful (or not useful, really) his job is for the overall economy. Basically, he's another middleman - buying goods for a low price and selling them higher. Without him in the picture, buyers could have purchased their items for less and saved money. I just don't see how this job adds a service to society.

tocomment 15y ago
Well, he is delivering them, and taking old appliances away when he delivers them. There is a lot of value in that. He is also adding "liquidity" to the "market" by immediately buying new listings, and holding them for a few days until the right buyer comes along. Without someone like him the seller would have to wait several days to find the right buyer.
- jccc 15y ago
  I doubt very much that sellers would appreciate this liquidity "service" if it were spelled out for them. They would feel cheated, as would the buyers.
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    Given how many utter flakes I've experienced when selling (or even giving away!) stuff on Craigslist, I think liquidity here actually has tremendous value. And unlike modern stock trading, not all Craigslist listings are created equally. He seems to be doing the dirty work that sellers don't want to bother with. Besides, everyone knows that if you want get paid a reasonable value, you put something on eBay, but that's too much hassle for these sellers.
    - wtvanhest 15y ago
      That is why he is able to make more on appliances which can really only be bought and sold on craig's list.

DustinCalim 15y ago

This is a cool article; it will be interesting to see how it scales up going forward. I also spend a lot of time on craigslist, and this extension has saved me hours and made browsing much more efficient: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aikbdokcmcbbeaadpdbhlcdcgghdkhja https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aikbdokcmcbbeaadpd... Chrome only though :(

kin 15y ago

People also used to do this with eBay. I also sometimes sell on Craigslist but I work full time so it has to be larger scale. Sometimes I buy event tickets and sell them on Craigslist for a profit if I know there will be high demand. The profit margin is typically at least 50%. And I make at least $100/ticket for simply printing a piece of paper and meeting someone at Starbucks.

jeffclark 15y ago
I do the same thing with tickets. And since I can make Internet, I made a site to handle accepting the payment and getting them their PDF ticket: http://www.boxrowseat.com http://www.boxrowseat.com Made selling on CL about 1000x easier :)

huuleon 15y ago

This encourages me to try it out in my area. I would like to see how much i can make if i try it part time if possible.

sebphfx 15y ago
even with electronics built with planned obsolescence in mind, it's doable somehow to fix them. My uncle will fix things like mini-stereos by ordering the parts, something that most people don't think about doing. It's easier to buy a new one.

fasteddie31003 15y ago

I made a tool that does something a lot like this that uses machine learning algorithms. I gave up on it a while back, but give it a look. http://ec2-184-72-247-63.compute-1.amazonaws.com http://ec2-184-72-247-63.compute-1.amazonaws.com I called it Eds-list

JOnAgain 15y ago
Seems to find all the fraud listings pretty well
- fasteddie31003 15y ago
  Yea I found that fact too. I imagine that the fraud values are outliers which my algorithms think are good values.
_delirium 15y ago
The predicted numbers seem way off to me based on spot-checks. For example, I searched for "chair" in NYC, and for a number of normal office chairs listed at $30-50, the "Ed's list" price predicts that they're really worth $180-500!

joeblossom 15y ago

I did this in college, however, since graduating and getting a full time job I've quit. I mainly stuck with electronics, and even then it was mostly TVs. I found that I could very easily purchase TVs for $100-$200 less than what I could sell them for. It was fun, and I've seriously considered doing it on weekends again, however now that I live in a large city (Atlanta) I feel like there is a lot more research that has to go into an item... Mostly because people from an hour a way from the city center will claim they are within the city and so on. In college I was in a city of 150k people, and could get to the outer "suburbs" in at most 30 minutes. My current TV was one of the first 1080P 50" Plasmas... It still works perfectly and looks great. I bought it from a couple for $750. (Bought with the profits from selling buying and selling TVs)

gerggerg 15y ago

I really dig his attitude and sense of accomplishment. Who'd a known a pawn shop with free pickup would be so successful.

redthrowaway 15y ago
I wonder if it would be possible to scale the business. If you wrote a script that could flag potentially lucrative items for manual review, you would likely be able to cut out much of the searching, allowing you to target CLs in multiple cities. If he's making $38/hr in one city, he could hire someone for $18/hr in another to drive around and pick up / drop off items and pocket the $20 difference. I'd be interested to see how well this would work out.
- r00fus 15y ago
  As he mentions several times in his posting, time sensitivity is critical. Minutes, even seconds can make/break a deal... automation may be much slower than a human who's constantly scanning. Furthermore, it's clear that it's not just "pickup" and possibly "delivery"... the author is making a clear buy/sell/bargain decision on the spot... what happens when the pickup results in a fraudulent item? Clearly this means that whoever is driving around needs to be trained, and once trained, can be your competitor (I see few barriers between a trained pickup-person and the author scanning craigslist) Kudos to the entrepreneurial spirit here, but I highly doubt it's scaleable.
  - roseburg 15y ago
    Your spot on with what I've been wrestling with over the past months. It's difficult, but possible. I did a trial with a friend in Houston and it worked out well. We made a little over $200 in a day on one laptop. Communication wise, it's definitely labor intensive at first as I'm trying to make wise decisions over the phone and looking at pictures. It is possible to pull it off, it's just going to take a lot of work finding the right detail oriented/trustworthy person in another city that's in the right situation to pull it off. Hopefully in a year I'm writing about how I was able to scale it to multiple cities. Thanks for the note!

driverdan 15y ago

Now he just needs to scale it. Hire a few people to go out and get the items, use software to help filter new leads, branch out into related areas.

unreal37 15y ago

A nice story. This guy found his inner "hustler" - hustler in the positive sense. I sell a lot of items on craigslist, and I have no problem with the idea that someone bought it from me to resell it because I underpriced it. Hell, if someone threw what I gave them in the garbage, they can do that too. I no longer want the item, I got what $ I asked for it, and I'm out of the equation. The only thing I'd have a problem with is if someone contacted me with a sad story about being broke, student, unemployed, sick child, or something, and asking for a discount. And I find out later they lied. That's where the ethical line is for me.

roseburg 15y ago
I'm straight up with people. Sometimes people will pick up on the fact that I'm not the average consumer joe buying their appliance and they ask what I'm going to do with them. I tell them and no one has ever complained. I show up on time, do all the work myself, pay cash, and people are almost always happy. I've actually got a lot of repeat business from buyers that felt I treated them right. One guy turned out to own a large apartment complex and ended up buying 30-40 appliances from me this past year.

josephjrobison 15y ago

He's got the spirit of a hustler and the swagger of a college kid. I love stories like this of people doing not ground breaking jobs and just hustling and making it happen. I work in a high skilled tech job that requires lots of thinking and analysis, and sometimes I over think and over analyze everything I'm doing, which is why I think I admire a job that requires pure hustle. Not saying that's my cup of tea to do full time, just something that I could apply to my everyday job to make me more productive and focus more on doing than analyzing!

roseburg 15y ago
Thanks man. Sometimes I over think things, or am too cautious. Out of 600 or so buys that I made this past year I would have probably been better off being a little more aggressive and taking a few more risks. I've learned more this past year of grinding it out than from all my years of school. (and some college) Thanks for the comment!

theblogdoctor 15y ago

Seems like a plug to lead HN readers to the site - http://priceonomics.com/ http://priceonomics.com/

DustinCalim 15y ago

I don't see why some consider this unethical and abusive to the CL community. It's just arbitrage; same as in Foreign Exchange markets. It tends to pop up because values are just opinions and to forget that leads to misdirection.

InclinedPlane 15y ago
It's not just arbitrage, he's providing pickup and delivery services as well. That alone is valuable.
rb2k_ 15y ago
That's exactly what I was thinking reading the post. It's nice that he is able to make a living and support his family, but he does that on the back of people looking for things on craigslist without providing anything of value (besides maybe transportation). The bad part is that I'd assume people buying things of craigslist tend to be on the lower part of the income spectrum and he's charging them more money by "playing the market". Does he actually tell people that he's just going to resell whatever he picks up? I'm sure there might be some people that are uncomfortable with that.
- DanBC 15y ago
  Plenty of people just want to get rid of stuff. They need the room or they need to move and they don't care what happens to it. If this no-one takes it it'll go to landfill. He's providing a service to them. He takes the stuff away, and doesn't charge them to do so. He might even give them some money. (Compare that to hiring a dumpster / skip.)
  - rb2k_ 15y ago
    > If this no-one takes it it'll go to landfill. I don't think he takes landfill material since he is able to sell it on craigslist for money only a day or two later.
    - DanBC 15y ago

senthil_rajasek 15y ago

On a related note, I read this news article about "Craigslist robberies by appointment..." http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/01/craigslist-robberies-by-appointment-on-rise/ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/01/craigslist-robb...

dangrossman 15y ago

This sounds like a mess to keep proper tax records for. Assuming nobody's giving receipts on either side of the transaction, how do you keep proof of what price you paid and what price you sold for? Audits aren't that rare.

paulhauggis 15y ago
what about other cash-only businesses like a barber shop?
- dangrossman 15y ago
  Every one I've been to has a POS computer/register where they enter every sale, no matter how it's paid. Enter the employee ID of the person that did the cut, the service, cash tendered, money drawer opens, provide change if applicable, offer receipt. Same as any other legit business.
  - bigbird 15y ago
    There's a grey market in "zappers", which are POS devices that keep two sets of books automatically. Lots of small retail businesses rely on this type of tax fraud to stay in business.
kevinpet 15y ago
Presumably the email would cover some of this. Records don't need to be something out of CSI, you just have to have them.
- dangrossman 15y ago
  I was just reading a long comment thread about craigslist on reddit yesterday. It seemed like most transactions take place over the phone, not e-mail. Whoever calls first at the right price gets the stuff, a good deal will be gone before the e-mail would be read.
dotBen 15y ago

squarecat 15y ago

Here, you're gonna want this: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=cache%3Ablog.priceonomics.com%2Fpost%2F16529584021%2Fhow-to-make-it-on-craigslist&pbx=1&oq=cache%3Ablog.priceonomics.com%2Fpost%2F16529584021%2Fhow-to-make-it-on-craigslist&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=19016l19774l0l20051l6l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&...

nate 15y ago

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but roseburg, have you considered packaging up this wisdom you shared on this blog post as a class and make some money teaching? I'd think you could get a bunch of students to take at least a one session 2 hour class or something learning this stuff from you. Or even some class online. You could video some of the interactions you have on the phone and in person when doing the deals etc...

bprater 15y ago
Yerp, in this economy, I can see loads of folks willing to pay for your expertise in this. Make it an online class, teach folks over the phone.

ssharp 15y ago

What about operating in bigger markets, like cars, trailers, RV's, etc. ? Or are those markets too competitive? Having sold cars on Craigslist before, I know that there are people who are offering low values, fast sales, shortly after posting in hopes of finding a desperate seller, so maybe these people make profit much less likely for a trader.

Kluny 15y ago
Laws vary, but you can only flip a few cars a year, like a dozen or so, before you're required to get a dealer license. These generally cost thousands of dollars a year and come with a lot of paperwork overhead.

nir 15y ago

I always wondered how much one can make by buying AC units on Craigslist in December and selling them off in June, in a place like NYC where weather gets very hot/cold :)

andrenotgiant 15y ago
I do that in NYC with bikes (buy winter, from people who made impulse buys in summer and have nowhere to store them, sell summer, to people making impulse buys.) I think the NYC market has so many constraints and peculiarities (plus money!), its rife with these kind of opportunities.

int3rnaut 15y ago

I really like your story man, and I'm glad you're succeeding but I just wanted to voice my opinion on one of the things you said-- "Back at home I immediately found out the cards were worthless. I had paid the kid $100 for the cards, and eventually pestered him". Even if the kid knew, I think it's wrong for an adult to come back and reneg on a deal with a child. There's a big power imbalance there. You seem like a great guy, I just kind of found that a bit unethical.

colton36 15y ago
I disagree. Letting the kid get away with this teaches that there won't be any consequences to questionable actions.
- roseburg 15y ago
  Exactly. The kid was a junior in high school. I'm 30 years old. It wasn't like I was picking on some little kid. The sooner someone gets called out for stuff like this the better.
mapster 15y ago
If a kid acts unethically, its your duty as an adult to correct a wrong, and if needed, discuss the kid's actions with his parents.
- int3rnaut 15y ago
  You know what, I agree but there's a right and wrong way to approach the problem, especially with kids. I mean that's why parents should be involved in the first place in situations like this.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
tsmith 15y ago
The kid was old enough to engage in meaningful financial transactions. There's always _some_ power imbalance in any kind of meaningful transaction - that doesn't mean that the person on the weaker side has the prerogative to act unfairly.

dockd 15y ago

This is much more common than everyone here thinks. I posted a car for sale two years ago. My first two replies were people offering half my price in cash. While I didn't actually check with them, I assume they were dealers (self employed or part of a business) trying to buy something below Blue Book so they could sell it at Blue Book. It seems unlikely there are many people sitting around looking to buy any car as long as it was a "deal".

dmotz 15y ago

I built a free webapp that may be useful for such Craigslist arbitrage. It constantly crawls Craigslist for search terms in your price range and emails you the results (instantly or in a daily digest): http://lootlook.com http://lootlook.com

Barnabas 15y ago
Went to check it out. Pretty. I didn't see anything but yet another "create a login" screen, no sample of what the email looks like. Closed tab.
- dmotz 15y ago
  Appreciate the feedback. No one likes blocking signups, myself included. Trouble is, the app can't serve the user without having his or her email address on hand. I suppose I could rework the process so the user can give an email address after seeing how the interface works. For those curious, the emails it sends are simple lists of links, sorted by keyword.
  - ars 15y ago
    What you should do is ask them what they want to search for, then go and do the search and show the results. (It's OK if you show old results - not sure what your technical architecture is.) Then invite them with: Have these results emailed to you every day, enter your email here: Also, I tried to sign up using the login form - that's not cool. If there is no match put up a page say, no such account, would you like to create it?

poorguy 15y ago

I find it interesting that you start off the article with a sob story about having no money and end with a vacation to Hawaii a year later. Shouldn't you be saving some of this and investing rather than spewing what would assumably be quite a bit on vaca? I am definitely not stingy and blow my money as I please, by my debts are dropping, investments growing, and I haven't(by choice) brought any hellions into this world to support that will need college tuition soon. Sorry to be a Debbie downer, but it irks ne to see people who have their long term priorities all out of whack(and they usually have way more kids than they can support)

vidarh 15y ago
Did you read the article? He has invested: " I started the year with almost nothing and ended with a used van, a new utility trailer, less debt, fully paid bills and money left to take the family to Hawaii. " At some point you need to make the decision to actually enjoy life too. > Sorry to be a Debbie downer, but it irks ne to see people who have their long term priorities all out of whack(and they usually have way more kids than they can support) Everyone hits tough times sometimes, but this is someone who clearly can support his kids, enough so that he's been able to afford investing in a van, a trailer, pay down his debts, and take the family to Hawaii. In that context this comment just makes you seem like an ass.

arjn 15y ago

Nicely done dude. Happy for you. Go Portlander!

Cash37 15y ago

Congrats Ryan. You rolled up your sleeves and made it happen.

jebblue 15y ago

Good work man I think it's awesome that you've found something that works for you.

rockford 15y ago

Great post good for you for hustling to take care of your family. Lots can be said from various moral points of view however simply put he's taking care of his family and not drawing on struggling Federal and State governments (while actually paying his share). A couple great points having grown up in the antique business the skill he's developed is the ability to know the local market (buy and sell-side) for a variety of local items. Roseburg - a suggestion that may help you're right about a clean listing good pictures etc... However one interesting twist I've experimented successfully with is using Copywriting techniques to drive attention to your ads. Mainly I did it for practice but its seems to work well having helped sell the items far more quickly than previous CL sales I've done. I'm happy to share/email a few examples of ads I've written with you if they would help. Not sure the best way to connect off the comments here (since I've just registered to leave this comment)

apw 15y ago

I admire this guy's work ethic, but I am a little uncomfortable with the fact that this post is pretty much viral marketing for Priceonomics.

Macsenour 15y ago

This makes sense to me. I bought a house full of furniture when I moved to North Carolina, all from CraigsList. Two years later I sold those exact items for a $300 profit.

92648 15y ago

I love the blg post. It's very inspirational and I emailed it to a couple of friends that might benefit from it. Question: What about buying on Craigslist and selling on eBay or other listings? I use both at times and noticed that each tailors certain genres better. Do you do that or have an opinion on that?

ilija139 15y ago

Very, very inspiring!

CoryMathews 15y ago

Is he reselling them on Craigslist or somewhere else? I seem to be missing that part.

ExxKA 15y ago

Thats a really great story. Im glad you finally had success :)