Craigslist is a convenient place to try and sell your gold jewelry. The word “try” is a key point that comes to mind when observing how people sell their jewelry on CL. There are important things to consider before just throwing your item on there to “see what happens.”

Most CL users blindly place their items in the jewelry section with terrible photos and no regard to specific details that will make their item sell.

Other CL users get everything right with great photos, perfect description and then totally botch the most important thing which is asking the right price. They remember what they paid for their item, but overlook the price that their potential buyers are looking for.

Hopefully this short article which should take less than 3 minutes of your time should help you save your time and earn extra money by sticking to these basic guidelines when selling on craigslist.

Photos

The first thing you want to do is take some good photos of the jewelry piece with different angles. You can use your phone for this because most phones take some pretty good quality photos.

You are going to want to take at least a few photos with a point of reference that everyone is familiar with. I like to place the item by a quarter so that the potential buyer can see what the size looks like next to a quarter.

Light quality makes a huge difference. If you are unsatisfied with the quality of your photos, it is likely because you don’t have the right lighting. I would suggest either taking the photos with enough natural lighting, or find some lamps that you can point directly on the item from multiple angles to avoid shadows.

If you still aren’t satisfied with the light quality and your item is of high value, you may want to consider building a light box which you can do for under $10.

Remember, your photos are your greatest selling asset you have to selling your item and there are ways that you can greatly improve the quality with minimal effort.

Description

After you are done with taking the photos, you need to add the story. The more descriptive you get the better. Make sure you are posting in the jewelry category in the city that you live.

The bare essentials for description are weight, karat, diamond type, length, and width.

From there you are going to want to tell the viewer how they would benefit from the item. Most likely you will be telling them it would look great with a wardrobe, be perfect for special occasions, gifts, etc. Whatever comes to mind to make the photo alive to the audience.

Pricing

One of the most challenging aspects of selling jewelry on Craigslist is that you most likely paid a substantially high markup for your item, and are most likely going to only get a fraction of what you originally paid. As a benchmark you can start with the current gold melt value of your item, and learn how to price it accordingly. You should never sell your item below 85% of the current spot gold price, as you should be able to get that at any local gold buyer. If you know the weight and karat of your item, GoldPay has a calculator on their page to find out the current price of gold, and what they are paying per gram which can give you an idea on how much above the current spot price you want to charge.

Meeting

It is important to use common sense when selling your gold. Never have someone meet at your house, and never go to the other persons house to sell your jewelry. Your best bet is to meet at a local coffee shop and make sure you are aware of your surroundings. You always want to make sure you are in a safe situation before meeting someone.

In addition, if you are dealing with text or email, make sure you call this person to hear their voice. You can tell a lot about someone when you hear their voice. Just by listening to their voice can give you hints weather they will actually show up to meet you or not (this is also a common problem).

Patience

Remember, you can always sell your item at a price based on the current gold price, but if you are unwilling to accept that price, you are going to have to exercise patience and might have to keep reposting your item to make sure it is fresh in the feed. It really does take the right buyer at the right time for the right price to purchase a used jewelry piece on CL. Hopefully the stars align in your favor!