Even a Kid Knows How to Sell Your Used Car on Craigslist
May 9, 2011 by Cliff
Morality and trustworthiness are not inherent in online classifieds. Those unfortunate enough to believe otherwise often become victims of a scam, or worse. Focus on ways to help those viewing your ad to trust you, and you’ll be rewarded with an increased number of interested buyers. It sounds strange, but it may help to think like a child.
Never Talk to Strangers
You are a stranger to all your prospective buyers, and even children know that strangers are not to be trusted. Your primary goal is to prove the validity of your product and yourself. Throughout your posting, focus on sounding like a real person so viewers start to trust you:
- Include complete sentences and paragraphs.
- Write like you would in a personal email. Don’t be overly formal.
- Consider sharing a personal anecdote or using humor.
Bulleted lists and specifications are informative but do nothing to convey your voice. Truly speak to your audience, as if they were a friendly neighbor stopping by after seeing a “For Sale” sign. Your buyers are real people, just like you.
Show and Tell
The next step is to wow potential customers by making your posting stand out visually. Any item being sold on Craigslist should include images, since interested buyers often skip over postings that don’t have photos and can even filter search results to only list postings with images. Showcase your car looking its best:
- Clean your car thoroughly and remove any personal items.
- Take both interior and exterior shots at a variety of angles.
- Take close-ups of the dashboard, odometer, and any obvious blemishes.
- Consider using an image hosting site to feature larger images.
By displaying every aspect of your vehicle and explaining any existing issues, you’re proving that you have nothing to hide. People may still be interested in your vehicle if there is cosmetic damage and it’s priced accordingly, but they’ll be suspicious if someone claims that his 1989 sedan is flawless and looks brand new.
Turn on the TV
Try to find a child that puts up a fight when you put him or her in front of a television. From Baby Einstein to Saturday Night Live reruns on Hulu.com, people of all ages are enthralled with video.
If you have access to a Flip camcorder or other small video recorder, including a video tour of your vehicle is a powerful secret weapon for turning your Craigslist post into a sale:
- Use a decent recorder and ensure adequate lighting for the best video quality.
- Upload the video to a hosting site like YouTube.com.
- Include links to the video in prominent places within your Craigslist ad.
Craigslist does not allow embedding YouTube videos directly on postings, but there’s a way around this. By including a screenshot of the video from its YouTube page and linking that image to the video itself, you will have what looks like an embedded YouTube video that takes people directly to your video tour when they click it.
Learn more about what you should and shouldn’t do when selling your used car on Craigslist by reading the site’s guide on recognizing vehicle scam attempts. Good luck!
Category: Buying Cars, General, Used Cars Online
Comments
3 Responses to “Even a Kid Knows How to Sell Your Used Car on Craigslist”
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Really great tips to sell a used car on craigslist. Thanks for sharing!
2007 Toyota Avalon Limited for sale. Fully loaded. Navigation, air bags, reclining back seat,Am FM radio with 13 speakers. remote controled rear window shade, perforated leather seats in front heated and cooled,6 disc cd player, moon roof,and in excellent condition. 55000 original miles. asking $18000.00. phone 3 609-889-0685