Have you ever wondered how some people seem to have all the luck finding awesome vintage furniture and accessories on Craigslist? I’ve had so many people tell me that I am extremely lucky to have found an item on Craigslist for a decent price so easily! Well, it isn’t always easy, and with the rise in popularity of shows set in the 1950s and 1960s like Mad Men, it isn’t getting any easier or less expensive. That’s why I am sharing my four tried-and-true tips to help you find the vintage furniture of your dreams on Craigslist.
1. Intentionally use typos and misspellings in your search.
I’m sure most of you type any number of the following search terms when you are hunting for the good stuff on Craigslist: Mid Century, Retro, Eames, 1950s, 1960s, Broyhill Brasilia, etc. but have you tried searching for variations in spelling? Craigslist doesn’t have spell check and let’s face it, many people either can’t spell, or are in such a hurry to get their posting up, that they make minor mistakes. This can work in your favor! Looking for a Broyhill Brasilia piece? Try searching for various ways that is could be misspelled like broy hill, broyhil, or broyhille. I found my $50 Broyhill Sculptra dresser by searching for “broy hill.” Also, be sure to try variations of common terms: for example, not just “mid century” but also “midcentury” and “mid-century.”
2. Search with vague descriptions.
This has worked wonders for me as well! I scored my Burke tulip style end table for $25 from an elderly couple who were downsizing. They listed their table as “small, white round table.” Funny thing was, they knew exactly what they had, but they didn’t want to sell it to someone who would just turn it around and make more money on it. They wanted to affordably sell it to someone who would use it in their own house, enjoy it and appreciate it as much as they had (and I do!).
3. Search early and often.
Another method that I use to score the awesome stuff on Craigslist is to seach early and often. I’ve had most of my success finding the good stuff between the hours of 7 and 9 a.m. Many sellers honor the first-come, first-served mentality. If you are the first one to contact them and set up an appointment, you’ll be the one to score their furniture. Just make sure you get there as soon as possible, so they don’t change their mind and sell to someone who contacted them second, but can get there first. (If you are on the hunt for something, always be ready to get there fast with cash!) If I am on the hunt for something specific, say my Broyhill Brasilia bedroom set, I will search Craigslist every day at least three times a day. By keeping up on the posts as they come in, it will only take a minute or two to check and see what’s new.
4. Ask for individual item prices on overpriced sets.
When I found my Broyhill Brasilia bedroom set, it was listed for $600 for the headboard/footboard, long dresser with mirror, one nightstand, highboy dresser and the mattress. I asked the seller if she would break up the set, and she said yes. After I heard what she wanted for each individual part of the set, I realized that she valued the mattress higher than the furniture (as it was nearly new and high quality). I ended up getting the set of furniture for $275!
With these helpful tips, some persistence and a little bit of luck, you too can find treasures on Craigslist.
Stephanie says
Thanks for the tips Kate! I am a little jealous of your bedroom furniture.haha. $275 is a STEEL!!!! Lucky gal!
Silvercat says
There are Craigslist search engines that can make it easier – you can select multiple locations and categories, and some of them save your searches for you. Most of them can also search the Craigslist wannabes like Kijiji at the same time. I like SearchTempest.com, but theres AllOfCraigs.com, SearchCraigslist.org and at least a few others.
Jenny says
Darn! you beat me to search tempest! I just posted it but really its awesome! I can’t craigslist without it! it cuts out all the junk!
TappanTrailerTami says
Great tips Kate – I think early and often is the best advice though. Desirable items are put up on Craigslist everyday, and if they are even remotely well priced, they usually sell pretty quickly. The early bird gets the worm.
As much as I love Craigslist – I have one major “despise” of their website. I don’t mind searching multiple times (plural, different spellings etc). My one beef is that sometimes people will put things in multiple categories, and then on top of that the cars/trucks/rvs for sale not being in a completely separate for sale section from the rest of the “for sale/wanted” is such a pain.
Maybe it isn’t such a problem with furniture, but if you are trying to hunt down building materials it is. Try putting “interior door” in the main search box so it searches all the for sale categories and you get a jillion car ads. So, you have to go to the actual category like Materials, but some are also posted to “general” category or “household” category, so now you have to do three searches to avoid getting the car ads.
Anyone else have that issue?
Tikimama says
Yep – try searching for “formica” or “dinette” and see how many RV ads pop up!
Kate says
Great tips everyone! 🙂
Kelly says
My favorite CG misspelling is “armwar.”
Kate says
That’s a good one! Some of the spellings on CL are very chuckle-worthy! 😉
Lee in Florida says
There is, or used to be, a site called “fat fingers”, where you could enter search terms, and it would give you common misspellings. It was originated for ebayers, but would work as well for CL.
Marcheline says
My trick for cheap yet great finds is to never search using words like “Eames”, “retro”, or “mid-century”… those usually indicate a seller who knows what they have and want to make some money. I only use those words if I’m searching for a particular vintage item that I’m willing to lay out some bucks for.
For the best deals, I search with words like “old”, “dated”, “used” and the like. Sometimes the word “funky” brings in good results, too.
Amanda says
In many major metropolitan areas, mid-century stuff tends to cost higher, just because the cost of living is higher and people there typically know what vintage mid-century pieces are in demand therefore they can sell them at a higher price.
But if you have a good friend or relative, that lives in a less populated town, where mid-century stuff may be referred to as just old crap, follow the craigslist in that town. And hopefully your friend or relative will be willing to pick up and ship an item for you. I’ve done this on a few occasions with my hometown’s craigslist feed. Mid-century stuff pops up on occasion and the listing price is very cheap. I was able to get a surfboard shaped coffee table for $45 and I had a family member pick it up and ship it to me. The same table probably would have sold for at least $150 – 200 on craigslist in the metro I live in.
Or alternatively, follow the craigslist in a smaller town that may be a few hours drive from where you live.
Marta says
I don’t know if it’s a colloquialism, or merely spelling how the accent makes the word sound, but I’ve noticed on the Rhode Island CL the word draw is used instead of drawer. So, if you’re not checking for six draw chest, or set of draws, you can miss out on a lot.
Also, people frequently aren’t familiar with standard terminology for different pieces of furniture. Rod iron is frequently used instead of wrought iron, small couch instead of loveseat, rocker instead of glider, etc. If you’re on the hunt for something, it pays to spend the time to go through the complete listings a few times to get a feel for how items might be mislisted in any particular area.
One other thing to keep in mind is an item might be listed in a completely different category than you would expect. My favorite category on CL is household. If someone has a dresser, a blender, and a lawnmower to sell, for instance, instead of listing separately under furniture, appliances, and farm+garden, they’ll just put a single listing under household.
Bridget says
RSS feeds and a Craigslist folder in my google reader…search for any combination of terms, press enter, scroll to the bottom of the page, and there’s a small RSS button. Click and organize as you will. It’s really nice since I find actually searching Craigslist to be a bit of a time suck. This takes that bit of it out of the equation for me. You can do the same with ebay, though unfortunately not with Etsy. 🙂
pam kueber says
Woah, good one, thank you, Bridget!
Natalie says
And now that Google Reader is going away, what will you use? I have been trying out several reader programs but none of them pull the feeds from Craigslist in quick enough (it is like hours after it has been posted). Any suggestions?
I am pretty sad about Google Reader to say the least.
maria says
FYI, inoreader.com is basically a copy of the old G reader, for those of us who loved it.