Why Can't I Sell on Craigslist? Help!

I'd agree with everything said. Saturn never inspired potential buyers to go on craigslist looking for them. They were just there, and they were decent deals, and people bought them to drive as a cheap civic/accord/camry/corolla/escort/E36 M3box whatever.

Its a little "on the sly" but it might help to put a few of its more popular competitors at the bottom of the ad to get you more search hits.

But moreover, its not the type of car someone searches for, so the only way someone will find it is if they just click on "autos" and view all. And for that to work, you need to be refreshing the ad (or reposting it) at LEAST twice a week. Probably more. Thats the type of car that will probably sell best by putting it out by the road with a for sale sign on it. Its the kind of car you need to market to someone who "just needs a car."

And its priced way too high. You are stuck in the middle of the $1000-$2000 thing, where ANY car that runs and drives and isn't totally trashed is worth at least $1000, even if its a '95 escort. So if I can spend $1000 for a driving E36 M3 box why spend $1000 more for yours? Versus $2000 is what people charge for decent cars that are ten years old that have over 100k on them because buying that car is a crapshoot so people don't generally charge more. Its not a toyota camry with the resale value. Its a saturn. and honestly anything could break on that car next week. I'm not gonna pay more than $2k for it. Miles aren't especially low and they aren't known for being dead reliable.

I know it sucks to hear, but for $2k I can buy something interesting from the last decade (like an acura or a v6 mustang) with about the same miles. If mileage was important I'd be looking at focuses and other tiny E36 M3boxes. The saturn just sits in the middle and being in the middle doesn't draw people in.

Its the same thing that made saturn go under, really.

In reply to andrave:

Nah, the thing that made saturn go under was GM.....they made good cars, but never had a marketing budget. Hence why my redline was a 1 of about 6000 ever made over 4 model years. Despite being more usable than a cobalt ss/sc and priced lower....

Regardless of the pricing, my thoughts on the ad is that it is missing a pretty critical item. A phone number.

There are still a large group of folks who would rather call and ask questions. There is still a large group of older craigslisters who hunt and peck type and it takes them half an hour to compose an email in broken misspelled english that most will dismiss as spam/scam so they just don't bother, and there are a lot of folks who consider any ad without a number a scam and avoid it.

Listen to any group of guys over 60 talk about craigslist and they all complain about not being able to just call and have questions answered.

ditchdigger wrote: Regardless of the pricing, my thoughts on the ad is that it is missing a pretty critical item. A phone number. There are still a large group of folks who would rather call and ask questions. There is still a large group of older craigslisters who hunt and peck type and it takes them half an hour to compose an email in broken misspelled english that most will dismiss as spam/scam so they just don't bother, and there are a lot of folks who consider any ad without a number a scam and avoid it. Listen to any group of guys over 60 talk about craigslist and they all complain about not being able to just call and have questions answered.

I heard the same thing from a co-worker. Put the phone number in and it was worse.

I got a 94 SW2 5-speed a couple of years ago for $400. No, I didn't forget a zero - four hundred bucks. It needed rear struts, and that's it. I bought it instead of a hardtop for my Miata, drove it through the winter, then sold it for $800 in the spring.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. I re-posted the Saturn last week at $2,400 and did a handshake last night at $2,100. [$100 deposit with sale at my bank on Wednesday.] Buyer insisted on not paying "more than book of $2,000" but he did finally offer $2,100. I think the utility of the car is more than that but the market says the value is what it is... Bottom line, I wanted to move it off the street and stop paying $50 per month to insure it. So I sucked it up and agreed.

Anyway, guess you all were right. And >that< is why I brought the issue to the hive-mind!

David

In reply to DWNSHFT: Craigslist is amazing when things are priced right. I sold my 1999 Saab 9-5 last year. I listed it @10am and had cash in hand @ noon.

Chris

Agreed, about the only vehicle I haven't been able to sell on Craigslist is the Wartburg although I did have some nice/interesting trade offers, but it's a bit too odd to be CL fodder.

Usually I can move a car in 30 days or less, usually much less, on CL as long as I'm being realistic with myself.

Glad to hear you got the sale, sometimes its just worth the stress reduction to take the price hit and be done with it.