Getting rid of a crib

Before I moved into my next apartment, I had a crib I desperately needed to unload. Even though I paid only $30 for it before Chez and Joad moved in, I figured I could get at least $100 for it. I figured the best way was through the classified ads in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

I went over to the classifieds department and submitted an ad. It cost $8. I put down that I was selling the crib for $120. I was pretty sure that someone would offer $100 and I'd be able to score with that.

The first thing I had to do was get the crib out of my bedroom and into the living room. You may remember that while we were able to get it through the front door, we couldn't get it through the bedroom door. I had to take some of it apart and put it back together again. I had to do that all over again, except in reverse. I wanted to make sure that if someone was going to buy the crib, they could just take it right out of the apartment and I wouldn't have to see it again.

I started getting phone calls early Sunday morning the day the ad first ran. One of the things that quickly became apparent was that I didn't put in enough information about it. I had one woman ask what color it was. I said it was light brown wood. She said she was looking for a white crib. WHAT? When I was looking for a crib, I just wanted it to properly function and hold the baby while he slept. Why would someone looking for a second-hand crib care what the color was? And if they cared that much, why didn't they just buy a new one?

I had people ask if I was the original owner of the crib. I said no, but the crib was never actually used while I had it. A couple of people asked me what I paid for it. I lied and told them $150.

I had some come by the apartment and check out the crib. One was an Asian couple with a three-year-old girl. She was actually a little too big for the crib. They thought that the mattress was good and wanted to pay me $90 for the mattress. I told them no, I wanted to get rid of the whole crib and there was no way I could sell it without the mattress. I never heard from them again.

I had another Asian gentleman come by and look at it. He also only wanted to buy the mattress and would pay me $90. I had to tell him no. And I never saw him again.

You've probably heard the theory that if you tell the same lie over and over, you start believing that it's true. That certainly happened to me. After telling several people that I had paid $150 for the crib, I started thinking that by accepting only $90 for it, I was really taking a bath on the deal. It took me a few minutes to realize that I didn't actually pay that much and $90 would have been a nice profit.

I ran the ad for another week. I changed the wording so that it included the color and that it was made of wood. The person at the newspaper suggested I use the phrase "Baby Crib" as the lead. I did get more calls this time, but still couldn't get anyone to buy it.

I had come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be able to sell it and I was going to have to bring it with me to the new apartment. This meant I was going to have to keep spending $8 every week to run an add until someone decided they wanted it. I had already spent more than half of what it cost me to buy in the first place and I wasn't looking to invest any more money.

I got a call from a local Spanish publication trying to get me to buy an ad from them and it would reach the Spanish speaking community. They said I would probably have a better chance of selling it through them. The only problem was that I would be dealing directly with the interested parties, with no offer from them to serve as interpreters. I turned them down.

A little bit later, I got a call from some man asking if I would take $100 for the crib. I instantly agreed and gave him my address. About a half-hour later, he arrived with his son, gave me the money and loaded the crib into his pickup. THIS SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED THE FIRST DAY I RAN THE AD!

This came just in the nick of time as I was able to use the money to pay down the rest of the deposit on my new apartment. My new roommate (about whom I will write tomorrow) was happy because it meant he could pay the deposit to his old roommate, who was in the process of moving out.

I was glad that it worked out so well, but I never sold anything through the classified ads again. However, I did sell a car through Craig's List in 2008. But that will be another post WAY in the future.