I’m regularly moving things out of my life.  If it’s too big, unused, or losing its value, I usually want to get rid of it.  I see little use on hanging on to things I’ll just wish I didn’t have later in life.

I used to use ebay almost exclusively for this.  Not only would I get a good price, but there was the occasion in which I would get an unreasonably good price.  More recently though, I’m noticing that the work involved in listing, packaging, and shipping items is more trouble than it’s worth.

Craigslist, on the other hand, is easy quick, and moves stuff quickly and painlessly out of my life.  The only problem is pricing.  With ebay the market naturally drives the price, but on craigslist, you’re guessing at its value, and hoping you did it right.  After a few moves, I’ve developed this formula.

First, look up the value of other sold, or successfully completed, auctions on eBay.  While this value is almost always certain to be higher than on Craigslist, this gives you an idea of what you could get if you went through the trouble of putting it up on eBay.

Second, estimate the listing, packaging, and bullshit of having to deal with eBay price.  For me, this usually works out to about $50 for items in the $200-$600 range.  Looking at the average price I could fetch for the item, I just subtract this from that amount and that is my Craigslist price.
All is left is to simply list the item with this price.  If it doesn’t sell after a few weeks, I’ll usually either ask myself is it work another $25 or $50 for me to just get rid of it on craigslist?  If so, then I’ll drop the price.  If not, I’ll list it on eBay and get the desired value.

There are a few caveats to Craigslist selling as well. I typically do not list on things on craigslist less than $50 or more than $600.  Usually, if the item is worth too little, I’ll just donate it and remove the hassle.  If the item is worth more, I’ll list it on eBay because the pain usually means I’ll gain a few extra hundred dollars.

The last pricing information I have is to respect the local market.  Online prices will differ from locally.  One good example is computers.  Online people hunt computer deals regularly and are typically unwilling to overpay for a used computer.  However, in person to person exchanges, someone is much more likely to shell out more for a computer.

Happy selling!