Selling pets and considerations to have.

When people try and sell their pets they should have several considerations before deciding to sell them. The first and most important should be in finding an acceptable person or family that will be able to take care of them and provide them a nice and comfortable home. The second should be any government or agency registration of the pets. This could include information contained on a micro-chip that is on the dog or cat. The last consideration should be providing the new owners of the pet with the appropriate information on the your pet's feeding habits, toys, and regular activities. These considerations are important to ensure your pet has a smooth transition into his new home.
Buy online

Mobile Phone classifieds

On several web classified sites I noticed a large number of ads selling mobile phones. These ads are mainly from private sellers who have are trying to sell these handsets. A number of potential issues are important to keep in mind when looking at these ads and deciding to purchase one of these handsets from any classified or auction site. Firstly you must check that the handset can be used in your country and desired network. Some of these advertised phones are locked onto one network or have been bought overseas and sold in another country for a profit. The next major issue is if the mobile phone has been stolen, this may raise ethical and moral issues such as supporting crime. Stolen phones may also be traceable by police or communication industry authorities, and could lead to trouble for the buyer. It is highly important that before to deciding to purchase a mobile phone from any classified ad or auction site, that the origins of the phone be known as well as the reason for the sale of it. At times this may be difficult or sellers may lie and not properly communicate these things to potential buyers. Caution must be exercised when deciding to purchase a second hand mobile phone, as the buyer may face potential legal or moral issues after the purchase has been made.

Car Classifieds

Garage sales

After reading the local newspaper over the weekend, I noted a few garage sales in my residential area. One of these ads caught my attention due to the ingenious idea that the seller had utilised. He had posted an ad advertising his garage sale but had also put a website reference URL to a classified website where he had advertised most of his big ticket items such as a bar fridge, tumble dryer and queen size bed. This is a great idea as the seller can expose his higher priced items to more potential buyers and he can potentially attract more people to his garage sale. This also allows him to post pictures up on the web where anyone can first have a look at the items as well as a detailed explanation of each item, which is better than a brief sentence or line describing these items in a newspaper classified section. This was a great example of how to use both print and online classifieds together as an effective marketing tool.

Different Item prices in classifieds

Recently I was trying to sell an old mountain bike through classifieds. I advertised this bike both in my local newspaper and in a few online classifieds, all were free sites, but had a fair amount of readers and traffic.
I tried to advertise my item with different prices between print classifieds and the online classifieds. The difference in price ranged from ten to about fifty dollars; the bike was worth around three hundred dollars. After a few hours of posting my ad on these online classifieds, I had already received eight responses to all my different ads and their different prices. Two days later my newspaper classified was published and I received only three responses even though the newspaper classifieds had the lowest prices for the bike. I exchanged some emails with potential buyers from my web classifieds that had the higher advertised prices, including some pics. I then emailed the interested people from the lower priced advertisements and told them that I had offers closer to the higher advertised prices. They all responded back and one way or the other submitted a better price offer, after exchanging more details about the bike through emails. I was then able to sell the bike at the highest price of just over three hundred and fifty dollars.
This example illustrates that classifieds are able to be used to gauge or negotiate an appropriate market price for an item. It can also be used as a bargaining tool for a seller in a similar way to an auction site. This technique also allows sellers to advertise to different group of readers and demographic markets as some users will prefer newsprint over online media classifieds. This also allows the seller to be in control of the transaction price by having multiple offers to select from.
online classified

Unused airfares advertised in classifieds

I was searching through an online classified site yesterday and noticed that there was an advertisement for a round trip flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. With regarding to “second hand” unused airfares, one must be very careful what is being offered. Most airlines don’t allow or have strict policies regarding name changes once the flight is purchased. And payed for and swapping the name on the ticket can be a costly task or not even possible in some cases. After seeing the classified ad I assumed the ticket was to fly with a major Australian carrier. So I proceeded to the carrier’s website where I scanned through all the conditions of each fare type. The conclusion of all the conditions was that name changes weren’t allowed on any fare not even first class. This is a good example of an ad that could potentially be fake or fraudulent. Before buying something online or inquiring about an item it is best to know exactly what you want, any legal limitations or risk in purchasing the item, and why the seller is selling the specific item. It’s always best to do some research in order to prevent being left short.
Look through classifieds

Advertising on auction sites

Further to my previous post, it is possible in a way to use Auction sites to set up a virtual mini store through which to introduce your products into the marketplace and advertise your brand.In an auction site depending how this is done and the popularity of the site, this may yield mixed results. with a classifieds sites you can expose your brand and product much more freely in different categories without having te sell anything.
classifieds

Auction sites vs Classifieds

Auction sites allow users to sell their items through an auction online. This provides some benefits and some pitfalls as the transaction of goods and money is partly done online in some cases and can lead to bad experiences of buying things from overseas sellers and not receiving the goods or receiving different or faulty goods. This is one of the trade-offs from being able to quickly buy or sell things online, versus advertising goods and services in a conventional manner on a classifieds website. The advantage of the classified site is that you can provide your preferred contact details and set a price at which your are willing to sell your item. There are many auction sites around some even specialize in a certain region, on some sites you can trade all over the world such as e-bay. Auction sites serve only as buying or selling mediums. Classified sites are more personal advertising mediums and spaces to place your ads to buy an sell goods and services. As I have mentioned in previous posts classifieds can be used as part of an effective marketing strategy, and not just to buy and sell things online.

Analysis of a bad classified

I was scanning through a couple of free online classifieds today and happened to find the following ad in the general section of one of the sites:

Free pets to a caring home family

We are looking for a caring family to adopt a cat and a small Maltese-terrier dog. They are vaccinated and have been taken care of. They must live in separate areas of your house as they quarrel when together. They dog is going to doggie classes and has reached level 2. If you are interested please contact us on #### ####.

I did laugh when I read it I have to admit. What an ad, I hope the advertiser did get a response, even though I doubt anyone would be interested.
When one is selling or offering something, although honesty is the ethical approach, one should be careful in not discouraging potential buyers. The advertiser in this case wants to be honest and express what really the case is but he could have worded it a lot differently. The title of the ad isn’t the best either, it even sounds slightly funny. Maybe something along the lines of Pets seeking a caring home would have been a good alternative to the title. Another pitfall that people can fall into is included information that isn’t the most important or appropriate to grab a buyer’s attention. Although the advertiser’s mistakes seem logical now after reading the ad a few times, people still make these common mistakes when writing their ads.

classified ads

Selling University Textbooks

University textbooks are one of the most common advertised items on classified websites, specially the sites used by students. One of the major drawbacks with used textbooks is that they may become outdated very quickly. Every year it seems like you "need" to buy the new edition. This is just a way to generate more income for publishing houses. The bulk of the new editions only have a few new pages or one new chapter in them and different exercise problems (sometimes). This new edition frenzy also creates a bi backlog of unsold books which are related to one another, the only difference being their publish date.
For those students trying to sell their books after having used them and not wanting them this backlog creates a serious problem as first there is an extraordinary supply of the "same" textbooks on the market, and chances are that next year's class will use a newer edition. How can students advertising their books on second hand classifieds have a chance of selling their old books?
The answer lies in being able to harness the efficiency of online classifieds and other advertising mediums. One strategy could be to start selling your books just after you have completed your exam and advertising them in many places. Most students only advertise their second hand books on bulletin boards or only on A4 flyer posters pasted around the campus. Like any business the best results from marketing and advertising is by using a number of mediums to reach your target audience or buyers. Use the bulletin boards specially the ones near the lecture halls where the class is to be taught. Use online media as much as you can. Some of the best advertising results can be achieved by advertising on free classified websites. These websites can either be specialist textbook websites or general classified sites such as gopost, which is free to use and has a great university and general audience:gopost online classifieds. Use university related blogs and even social websites where you can interact with potential buyers. I have seen so many people try and sell their books without any success mainly because of how they have advertised them. Many didn't even know what classified websites were out there, and some suggested they wouldn't sell anyway!
The advice from my experience is that the more you advertise your books through different mediums, the more exposure you will get and the higher the chance of selling your books. Take advantage of free mediums such as online classifieds and social sites, remember hard work does have rewards and selling your old textbooks is no exception.

Free Advertising Methods

For small business owners, one of the major concerns about either succeeding or failing in a new small business venture is heavily reliant on their marketing strategy.
There are many advertising channels that can expose your business or product to the right consumers or buyers with minimal outlay. Some of these channels include:
Community Billboard Ads
Newspaper classifieds
Online classifieds
Trade magazines or community magazines
Specialty websites or classifieds
Using all or most of these channels can prove to be a success with minimal outlay or tight marketing budgets.

Hobby products advertising on classifieds

I was recently talking to hobby modelist who I have known for a few years. I enquired about his model airplanes and found out that he was in the process of selling some of his designs and models. His main advertising strategy consists of hobby fairs, and online specialist websites. I suggested him to use free classifieds and auction sites as means of advertising his products. He has just recently started this new advertising strategy through classifieds, and has already had many enquiries and interests. I will post further updates relating to his results from classified advertising

Hobby incomes

Following on from the previous post on people making other income from trade jobs in their free time or from odd jobs on weekends, a recent scan of some classifieds both print and online has found a variety of art crafts and hobby toys being sold by amateur craft makers and hobby enthusiast. There are a few websites dedicated to art crafts and hobby items where people are able to sell their crafts and hobby stuff by paying a small commission. The most cost effective ways to sell them is through free classified sites such as gopost.com.au or ozfreeonline. These classified websites allow you to post ads for free and they have a decent audience and traffic who could be potential buyers or consumers of your products.

Earning an income from your free time.

Many people are making a little extra income on top of their regular jobs through weekend or day-off trade work. Some of these people might work during the week and on the weekend they are able to do odd jobs such as painting, lawn, plumbing or even handyman jobs in their free time. This is now becoming common among shift workers who work rotating shifts and/or have lost shift hours due to the economic downturn giving them more free time. In many cases these odd jobs are sourced through word of mouth or other forms of free advertising, such as local classifieds, ad boards or online classifieds. This is another great way to make money in your free time and use free classified advertising to your advantage.