I very recently posted an auction for my old Dell Inspiron 6000 (take a look if you like). She’s obviously old and has seen better days, but hopefully somebody will find it useful as a parts laptop.

The challenge here was to make an older laptop look half-way decent in an eBay listing photo. How to do it? Here’s how:

Yes, I know the laptop is old and you can clearly see the paint rubbed off the palm rest from years of use (this is common to the older Inspiron series), but the blue backdrop makes the overall presentation look much more appealing.

Do I have some ritzy photo studio to make a product photo look good?

Hardly:

It’s a blue piece of fabric purchased from Wal-Mart and tacked up on the wall. I smoothed out the fabric in the area where the laptop is.

The camera I used? A cheap point-and-shoot. Nothing fancy.

Here’s some tips on using a proper backdrop and other things you can do to make what you sell more attractive in a photo:

1. Blue, black or white backdrops only

Even the cheapest of digital cameras "like" the color blue. Black is good also, but sometimes may not serve well if what you’re showing is also black. White works well as long as it’s actual fabric and not a towel from the bathroom (whenever I see that I laugh because it’s so obvious).

Red is bad. Psychologically this says, "WARNING!" Not good when you’re trying to sell something.

Green is bad because it tends to "fuzz" when you take the shot. It doesn’t matter how good your digital camera is because on upload to eBay or like service your photo will be downsized and compressed, resulting in a seriously crappy look (you will actually see the JPEG artifacts in some instances.. very bad.)

Patterns are also bad, because the first thing potential buyers will pay attention to is the pattern and not the product.

2. Angle it

For laptops or anything with a screen on it, shooting on an angle is always better. It literally eliminates the big white spot a camera flash creates due to reflection.

A very common mistake is that people will shoot products with screens on them from dead center. This makes the product look horrible. If you angle it, it gets rid of the aforementioned flash and you can actually show the screen turned on and in use.

You will notice that for any – and I mean any – dead-center shots of something with a screen in use, the screen will always look dim even at the brightest setting. But when you angle it, it looks proper.

3. Show what it comes with

You’ll notice in my photo that the XP Pro operating system recovery disc and the power brick is clearly seen. This lets any potential buyer know that yes, it comes with those items included. Both items are a big deal to anybody who purchases a laptop new or used.

Per my photo above, showing the power brick not plugged in while the laptop is turned on proves the battery still works.

4. Show it turned on

Many people also make the mistake of showing an electronic device not turned on in a listing. The immediate thought (at least for me) when I see that is, "Oh. I guess it doesn’t work." This is obviously not the impression you want to give. You want to show that yes, whatever you’re selling does work. So show it.

5. Don’t try to hide the flaws

In my example, the rubbed-off paint on the palm rest is a huge eyesore. But there was nothing I could do about that, so I left it as-is and in my description noted it. She’s an older laptop, anybody that looks at it will also know it’s older, and she’s nowhere near mint condition. Any attempt by me trying to convince a potential buyer otherwise would be a fool’s errand. Being honest with your product photos goes a long way with buyers because it establishes confidence, i.e. the buyer knows up front what he or she is getting with no guesswork.

Did you also know that your thumbnail will also look much better shooting product photos like this?

The blue really separates this from the other listings you would see for like products, and is done so in a way that’s not garish/tacky.

Will any of my tips above guarantee the sale of anything? No, because nothing is guaranteed no matter how good you make it look. But the likelihood of people actually looking at what you post does increase, and this may give you a better chance of selling whatever it is you have.

What photo methods do you use (if any) for the stuff you sell online?

Are there any "tricks" you use that have proven to be successful? Let us know in the comments.

craigslist, love it or hate it, is a great site to find.. well.. anything. However you’re limited to searching just one local area at a time.

However you can search multiple areas via the use of a particular web site and an RSS reader (like Google Reader, Feed Demon or even Windows Live Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird) to get the job done.

The web site to use is crazedlist.org, but from the moment you visit that site a big nastygram appears in the middle of your browser (which is not an ad). It says you can either mess around with your browser to disable referrers, or use RSS feeds instead.

Trust me when I say the RSS way is much easier. And more convenient.

Let’s say for the moment you want to perform a nationwide search of craigslist. If you do this directly via the crazedlist.org web site, so much data will be pushed to your browser that it will crash it, and your IP address will be flagged as "bad" by craigslist.

Instead, you do a nationwide search this way. For demonstrative purposes, we’ll use Google Reader to handle the feeds.

From the top left drop-down we select all. You immediately get a warning:

Click OK.

For our example search, we’ll use "1967 camaro". Here’s how I filled mine out:

• Search for 1967 camaro
• in sale/wanted
• cars & trucks (all)
• No price selected
• "Pics" checked for "ads must have photos"

DO NOT click the Search button. Repeat: DO NOT do that.

Click the big orange Get RSS Feeds button instead.

You will see this:

In Firefox: Right-click "this link" and choose "Save Link As"

In Internet Explorer: Right-click "this link" and choose "Save Target As"

When the save screen appears, change Save as type: to All Files, and type in the file name as 1967 camaro.opml, like this:

Now all we have to do is import this into Google Reader.

Note before continuing: Just about every RSS Reader has the ability to import standardized OPML files. Whether you’re using an app or a web site, they all should have some ability to import OPML.

With Google Reader it’s very easy to import an OPML file. You go to www.google.com/reader, login with your Google account (such as a Gmail account), then click Settings at the extreme top right, then the Import/Export tab, like this:

From here you click the Browse button, go to the Desktop where you saved the OPML file and upload it.

In a US nationwide search, this results in 328 feed subscriptions. When you click Back to Google Reader, it will look something like this:

All subscriptions will be listed by state abbreviation then locale for "1967 camaro", all with photos.

Why is it OK to multi-search craigslist the RSS way and not direct via crazedlist.org?

It’s for the reasons crazedlist.org states. Having a mountain of data sent to your browser has a high tendency of crashing it, and craigslist is very wise to those who make unreasonable search requests from their servers. And yes, performing a massive nationwide search is considered unreasonable and they will block your IP in short order.

RSS feeds on the other hand are much more "civil". Furthermore they act as a saved search of sorts. Once you import it all into Google Reader or other feed reader, any new listings that match your keywords will show up.

I am a fairly heavy user of Craigslist as are many of you out there. And most of you have the same complaint I do about the service, that being it can be a little difficult to get around and there’s more or less no way to search multiple areas at the same time.

Well, now you can. CraigsList Reader is a free app that makes it a whole lot easier to find stuff on CL. And you can search any number of combinations of different regions and categories.

However the software is not without its flaws. I’ll say up front it is a great app and you will like it if you use CL at all, but here’s my complaint list:

Location update takes forever

When you first start using the app you’ll want to update all the locations from the CL system. This can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, and I’m not kidding. Fortunately once it’s done you most likely won’t have to do it again.

Somewhat difficult to cancel a search

When a search is executed and you cancel it, the software "hesitates" a bit before canceling. And sometimes search results continue to show up even though you instructed it to cancel.

Using IE engine to display listings

The HTML engine the software uses is IE and not its own. Not really a big deal but I can’t stand the way IE renders web pages.

Interface somewhat confusing

The top left where the search options are "one for all" style. Would be nice if this was laid out in layered menus instead particular to category.

Here’s what the app looks like in action:

Even with my complaints I do sincerely like where this app is going. I really dig the fact you can search multiple states/locations at once. I like you can sort listings by date, category, name, price and so on. There’s a whole lot to like about this app.

IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE DOWNLOADING: This app does use the Microsoft .NET framework. Most of you already have this installed so you shouldn’t have to worry about it.

Link: CraigsList Reader.

Did you try this app? What did you think? Let us know by writing a comment.

Craigslist is not "Web 2.0". Heck, it barely qualifies as Web 1.0. The design of the site is Spartan and for a first-time user can seem a bit intimidating due to the fact there’s just so much stuff on it.

Fear not, CL is actually really easy to use. My personal opinion is that it’s far superior to eBay because there’s no sign-up required whatsoever (other than an e-mail confirmation) when posting a listing, and for most sections, posting an ad is absolutely free.

CL is divided into cities, states then countries. You pick your locale and go from there.

After that there are 9 major sections of the site, that being:

• Community
• Personals
• Discussion Forums
• Housing
• For Sale
• Services
• Jobs
• Gigs
• Resumes

I’m not going to cover all of what CL is, however I’ll touch on some areas you may want to check out.

Housing

I live in Tampa Florida. Some friends I have in northern states periodically ask me where to find information on vacation house rentals. The only link I ever give them is this one; it points directly where they need to go to look up information on that stuff.

Other times I’m asked how much it costs to rent apartments here. In that case I send this link.

For other locales on CL, they all follow suit.

Free stuff

Everybody likes free stuff, right? Well I can’t think of a better place to locate free stuff other than CL. You’ll find a lot of furniture, "curb alerts" (just drive on by and pick up what you want) and a whole bunch of other stuff. Tampa’s freebies is a good example of what you can get. Once again, other locales follow suit.

This is listed simply as the "free" subcategory under "for sale" for your locale.

Jobs

CL’s job boards are both known and unknown at the same time. They routinely command an enormous amount of web traffic yet there’s a good chunk of the internet populous that’s never heard of it. If that’s you, now you have.

Out of all job boards on the internet, CL’s is by far the easiest to work with. It’s also arguably the fastest place to get work right now.

And by the way, if you ever asked the question "Where do I find smaller businesses to work for instead of large corporations?", CL is it. If Big Corporate isn’t your thing (and it isn’t for many), look in CL to find your next job.

Computer gigs

Gigs are different from jobs. They are listed by people who need help with specific things computer related. Whether they pay or not is up to who posts the listing (and most are honest about it). It could be a web project or someone local that needs help with computer training. This is something you should look into if you’re adept at computers and want more options than just the job boards.

Computer gigs are listed under category "gigs", subcategory "computer".

Have you had good and/or bad luck with CL?

Let us know in the comments.

Occasionally we all need a good laugh. So whenever you are in the mood for some random humorous material, be sure to check out the Best Of Craigslist.

This page provides links to user nominated posts made throughout the Craiglist site. You can’t really categorize this stuff because the subjects truely are random, which makes it even better because you don’t know what you are going to get.

The page is updated fairly regularly, but not on a daily basis. Readers should be cautioned, however, because posts are not censored.

So whenever you are in the mood, give this page a look and enjoy.

Many of you may already know this, but many probably do not. When you are looking to either buy or sell some used stuff online, eBay isn’t the only game in town. For an equally great location, check out your local classifieds on craigslist.org.

Craigslist, while it’s appearance is overly minimal, is actually quite a valuable resource for buying and selling. There are no adds on the site and no fees to use it. Additionally, the site is used by millions of people every day which makes it an ideal marketplace. While the site’s appearance, again, is minimal the functionality is everything you need as you can search in categories by keywords and price.

The big drawback is you have no buyer protection like eBay and Paypal offer as typically people are going to want cash upfront for whatever you are buying. So just be wary of the scams and Craigslist will be a great resource for you.

Said honestly it’s amazing that if you ask someone, "Where’s the best place to buy or sell stuff online?", the the typical answer is "eBay".

I disagree with this. The best place is Craigslist (abbreviated commonly as just "CL").

First, a few facts about CL:

• It’s been around just as long as eBay has (since 1995).
• It’s far easier to use than eBay overall.
• It loads way faster than eBay does.
• You can place ads for free.

I don’t know about other countries, but in the United States people genuinely appreciate being able to conduct business on a local level. eBay has never really been able to accomplish that, but with CL you can quite easily.

For example, my local is tampa.craigslist.org and chances are your local is listed here somewhere.

My reasons for preferring CL over eBay when buying and selling items are as follows:

Staying local works

As noted above, with eBay it’s a challenge at best to go local and stay local. Sure, you can set options on your item when selling it to keep it regionalized – but why bother forking over cash just to post an auction when all you want is a quick local sale?

PayPal is annoying

I’m sure there are more than a few readers out there who can say how much PayPal sucks at times. With eBay it’s more or less required to use PayPal just to buy or sell. How many auctions have you seen that state very loudly "PAYPAL ONLY"?

If you use PayPal, you only do so because you have to, not because you want to.

Better for the bargain hunter

Are you cheap? No, seriously.. are you really cheap? You’re in luck because CL has a "free" category for every local. Here’s an example from the Tampa local. You’d be surprised at the stuff people are willing to give away.

Some quick Q and A

Can you get scammed on CL?

You can get scammed anywhere, be it online or in person and CL is no exception. You know the old saying "let the buyer beware". If you think something sounds like a scam, it most likely is.

CL states very clearly to deal locally with people you can meet with in person, never wire funds, don’t do checks or money orders, don’t give out any of your personal fiscal information, avoid deals involving shipping or escrow and so on.

Even if you decide not to use CL, you should go to that link anyway just to get educated on how to spot scam stuff. It’s a good read.

Can you meet "scary" people from CL?

Of course. But CL has tips on that also.

Can I really post an ad for free and sell using straight cash in person?

Absolutely.

Can I get everything I want from CL?

Possibly – but I don’t know what you want to buy or sell. CL is free to use so you have nothing to lose by checking it out.

Are you doing your holiday season shopping now?

If you are you should definitely check CL out for yourself whether you’re buying or selling.

Craigslist has long been known as the free place (in most locales) to post your ads for whatever – stuff, relationships, services, whatever. I have used Craigslist several times and it always surprises me how this extremely CRAPPY looking website performs so well. For example, I have (several times) posted job openings on just the Tampa section on Craigslist and have gotten multiple applicants. Not bad.

Well, Craigslist has launched a blog.

The blog is, well, ugly as sin. It has that usual Craigslist look and feel – you know, the kind of 90’s web design that could have been done (almost) by my computer newbie wife. They don’t even offer an RSS feed. That, right there, makes this thing to where it is hardly even a real blog. The posts are in chronological order, making it a real blog. But, not having an RSS feed is naive.

It is almost as if they decided to be contrarian and program their own blog rather than use the infinitely more powerful (and free) Wordpress software.

I guess Craigslist likes to run minimalist blogs, similar to that of Dave Winer.

As Craigslist launches their sorta-kinda blog, they have decided to go after the unofficial Craigslist blog, run by Tim White This blog is much better than Craigslist’s official blog, but Craigslist CEO sent them a C&D letter which was posted to the web:

Tim,

We need you to stop using the infringing domain CRAIGSLISTBLOG.ORG immediately, and arrange for tranfer of it to us asap – using/selling/transfering infringing domains is illegal, and penalties up to $100,000 per domain can be applied.

Regardless of your efforts to find a new domain, you must stop using this one.

Tim then responded to Craigslist with:

Jim,

Thanks for your message. I think you have received bad legal counsel and that this is potentially a really bad PR move for cl. We will make some modifications to our “Best of” section to not include any of your content; just our take and a link to the actual post.

Are you going to ask these folks to shut down their websites, too?

http://craigscrimelist.org

http://www.craigslistmap.info/

http://crazedlist.org/

et al…

Regards,
Tim White

Personally, I think the letters from Craigslist seem REALLY unprofessional. Typos (assuming Tim indeed posted them unaltered) and really, really rude. The unofficial blog is great promotion for Craigslist. I can clearly see that the legal potential for name confusion is real, but I can imagine that there should be MUCH more constructive ways of dealing with the situation than the Craigslist CEO sending childish threatening letters.

Tim, the name you chose definitely puts you in legal hot water. But, Craigslist is ignoring an opportunity by going after one of their evangelists.

I don’t know if Tim can withstand the legal onslaught of Craigslist, but this kind of bullying is sure to piss off a lot of the internet’s rank and file. And deservedly so.