Thanks for the tips!

Incidentally, I use a very good spell check program, Spell Check Anywhere (SpellCheckAnywhere.Com). I works in all programs, including blogs, and comes with optional grammar check. Might want to look at it.

Has anyone ever taken a video of something they are trying to sell and uploaded it (perhaps to Youtube) and then embedded the link within their ad?

I’ve sold a video card, travel iron, chest freezer, and rented out my condo. I’ve also posted ads to give away an old TV, some wedding-themed bubble blowers, and leftover lava rock. The main lesson learned is that people will show interest in your item, arrange a time to come see it, and then never show up. So now I just go with a “first come first serve” policy, especially for the free stuff. I tell the interested people my policy, and give them my phone number so they can call and make sure the item is still available before they leave to come get it.
The other thing I’ve learned is that people don’t read your ad. I often get questions asked which are are clearly answered in the ad. A bit frustrating when I put in the effort to provide all the details!

What are some of the things you’ve bought and sold online? Anything you regret buying or any mistakes you learned from along the way?

If you have something that is from an online store and they still have it for sale their, include the link so that people can get more information about the item.

If you still have warranty on the item, make sure to prominently mention that – it could be the difference between someone buying your item or someone else’s.

You might want to take a look at Spell Check Anywhere (SpellCheckAnywhere.Com). It is a terrific spell checker that works in all programs, including blogs.

Very true about the dimensions of furniture or other items. People are going to ask anyway so posting it once in your ad saves time. It’s best to put as much info as possible in the ads.

I’ve never used the rss feature. That’s a great idea!

I also like it when a seller specifies a postal code or at least indicates what part of the city they live in. Gives me an idea of how far I would have to drive.

Most people will put in “PENDING” instead in the title and description.

Definitely delete the ad within an hour of selling something.

I think buying and selling cars on kijiji is fine, though you might have better success selling higher priced vehicles on car-specific sites. I’d say anything over 10K.

Kathryn’s suggestion for looking at existing ads to determine a reasonable price is useful, but only if you can find a similar enough item. To broaden your search across all of Canada, try a Google search with “site:kiiji.ca” followed by your keywords. Not only will you see results from all cities, it will also show cached versions of ads that have been deleted (but you can still see the asking price).

Great idea Mike about using an RSS feed to follow a search…Brilliant!

One comment I have to add though regarding etiquette though. I practice a first-come, first-serve on everything I sell on there.

If someone contacts me, I give them my contact info and what times I’m available to meet up and whoever gets a hold of me first and actually meets up with the cash gets it.

I’ve had far too many people say “I’m coming tonight” and not show for me to dick around with setting up a waiting list. If you’re at my house with cash, it’s yours. I don’t care if you were the 1st or the 50th person to email me.

On the other hand, I expect the same treatment if I’m trying to buy something. In fact, just this week a lady contacted me saying I was the first to contact her for something, but she had others interested. I knew I couldn’t get to her house until at least this Saturday, so told her to just let me know if the other people fell through.