DIY site Curbly has two great posts on how to get all the good furniture on craigslist before everyone else. And by good stuff, we don’t mean used IKEA crap, although if you are in the market for used IKEA, craigslist is the place to be.

The advice boils down to this:

• Know Exactly What You Want And Check Often. Knowing what you want helps to narrow your search. There’s a lot of crap on craigslist.

• Use Listpic. Listpic shows you everything on craigslist with pictures. Saves huge amounts of time.

• Pay Cash and Have a Way To Move Whatever It Is That You’re Buying. This increases the odds that the seller will pick you.

As always, be sure to watch out for scams and fraud and all that, as craiglist is a den of thieves and hookers. Craigslist can be a good place to find a deal, but make sure you ask questions. Lots of them. We once tried to buy a TV off someone, then found out the reason they were selling it was that the only way it could be removed was to somehow lower it 5 stories out of a window. Yeah, we didn’t buy it. —MEGHANN MARCO

More about How to Use Craigslist to Get Cool Stuff before Anyone Else! [Curbly]
Navigating Craig’s Waters: A Foolproof Guide to CraigsList.com [Curbly]

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