Perhaps you’ve heard of Craigslist? If not, please climb out of that hole right now and let me be the first to welcome you back to life here above ground. Craigslist is huge…and super helpful if you’re like me and have a bit of an issue with “overflow” in your home…i.e. “WE’VE GOT TOO MUCH STUFF!” But there is an alternative to Craigslist, as well. This alternative can work especially well for those of us who don’t live in, or super close to a big city, we’re gonna talk…
Facebook Online Yard Sales!
The best thing about using Facebook Yard Sale sites is that it’s like 1/100th of the work and effort of a typical yard sale. A traditional yard sale is such a drag. Literally, you drag everything from your garage and basement to the curb and hope that it doesn’t rain. And then, you sit around in your driveway for hours and have to hassle with the hagglers, face to face, during your valuable weekend time. No thank you.
I’d MUCH rather ditch all the drama, and do the yard sale thing from the comfort of my couch, watching American Idol, in my pj’s, with the old laptop. YES, IT’S POSSIBLE.
Got questions on how? I’ve got answers:
- How do I find Facebook online yard sales? Good question, easy answer. While on your Facebook homepage, search for the name of your town, or a nearby town + yard sale…here’s an example from my page…
On the top search line, I typed “Alexandria yard sale” and 8+ options popped up. So, your next question is…
- How do I join Yardsale Facebook groups? Some yard sales are so called “Open” or “Public” groups, which anyone can sell/buy on. I do NOT recommend using these types of sites. Why? Well, if you post something, or comment on an item found in an “open” group, that means all of your 43,657 Facebook buds will be able to see that you’re trying to ditch the Bed, Bath & Beyond dish towel set one of them gave you for white elephant Christmas gift exchange last December. Let’s just avoid this embarrassment and stick to the “Closed” or “Private” groups.
To join a “Closed” or “Private” yard sale group, there will be a “Join Group” button on their page. In the example below, for Des Moines’ site, there are two “Join Group” buttons.
Just click one, and as soon as the page administrator approves your request, you’re in! Once approved, postings for the group will begin to show up in your news feed. If aren’t super active on the site(s), they’ll start to not pop up in your feed as often. If that happens, just go to the page every once in a while to engage in some way so that Facebook knows you’re still interested in seeing that content.
- How does buying and selling on Facebook work? Piece of cake, my friend. But before you start rummaging through your basement, know that each site has house rules. Know them. If you don’t, you’ll probably get a nasty gram from the site administrator at some point. Most of the sites have very similar rules, so that helps.
As for posting an item, it’s no different than updating your Facebook status. Just go to the top of the group’s page (NOT your personal page) and write a post for the item, just as you would if you were updating your Facebook status.
Definite information to include in your posting:
- Price
- Condition
- Images (make them decent…no one wants to see your cat litter box or a dimly lit room with dirty laundry all over)
- Break the code Believe it or not, these sites have their own lexicon. SO ANNOYING, right? Why does everyone have to speak in code these days? Lemme break the code down for you so that you “look the part” when you hit the scene.
Commonly Used Online Yard Sale Abbreviations:
- P/U = Pick-Up, usually followed by the location you’d like to meet to sell an item. Typically, these transactions are done in a public space…such as “P/U Target parking lot, Wood Dale”
- PPU = Pending Pick-Up, sellers will write this in their listing when the item has been spoken for.
- Cross-Posted = lets potential buyers know that the item has been posted in more than one place (Craigslist, other yard sale sites, etc)
- Bump = Sellers use this term to comment in their own listing and “bump” the item back up to the top of the feed, to give it more exposure. There is usually a rule about how often an item can be “bumped”…typically once/day.
- ISO = In Seach Of
- OBO = Or Best Offer, if the buyer can’t get the price listed, they would consider other offers.
- Interested = What potential buyers typically write in the comments of your post if they want to buy your item
- Sending PM = Sending Private Message. This is how a potential buyer communicates with you as a seller. Typically, since these people will not be your actual facebook friends, any messages from them will be filtered into what facebook calls your “other folder”. This is found at the top of your facebook page, under your message folder. Here’s a picture…
- Go Make Some Deals! Now you’re ready to fly! I hope this information comes in handy! I know it’s been super useful in my neck of the woods.
Don’t be a stranger, we’d love to see you over at our place too so you can see some of my other decor ideas.
Recently, we put the final touches on our kids bath remodel…
And we can show you how we saved a boatload on door hardware by re-finishing them ourselves! You could do it too with the tutorial!
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