Posting A Farm Classified Ad

Just about every day, I spend some time on the farm & garden classifieds on craigslist.org and bestfarmbuys.com. We have done quite a bit of business from both, whether looking for goats, chickens, ducks, equipment, feed or supplies, and most of those transactions have been great. I do have a few peeves about some things I see out there, though. I figure perhaps pointing out how these peevish things may cause a person to be disinclined to answer a person’s ad might be enlightening and helpful to some. And if you find this annoying, well, that’s fine, too. But we think these are some valid concerns:

1. So, you have the capability of posting an ad using Internet technology. Why then eschew responses via Internet technology? When I see ads that say, “NO EMAILS PHONE CALLS ONLY” I am hesitant to deal with that person. If you are a farming person, then you can probably appreciate that our schedules can be somewhat unpredictable at times – so we might not see the ad until it’s too late in the evening to make a phone call. Do you really want to miss out on a selling opportunity just because you don’t like email? To me, this attitude is kind of like leaving someone a voicemail and at the end of it, yelling, “NO PHONE CALLS POSTAL MAIL ONLY!” and then expecting people to send you a handwritten letter in response. It’s impractical. If you are going to use a medium to broadcast items for sale, you should be prepared to use it to communicate with potential buyers who see it there, too.
2. If you are selling livestock, most buyers are going to be interested in the breed and age of the animal(s) you are selling – please include this information. I often see ads that are as vague as: “GOAT 4 $ALE. NO EMAILS CALL 123-555-1212” This leads me to believe that you know nothing about the breed, age, history, or health of this animal, so why would I even consider adding this mystery animal into my herd? It creates a credibility issue. These free classifieds sites do not charge by the character, like a newspaper would – they are FREE after all, so make the most of the space you are provided! Give details – it is helpful to your potential buyers and demonstrates your knowledge and helps to instill confidence that you have cared properly for the animal.
3. If you have a bred animal, please state when they were bred and by whom – what breed, etc. This is obviously going to be a question that anyone who is going to be a capable owner of the animal will ask, so why not put that information out there up front?
4. Be prepared to provide contact information if a seller wants to come and see the item you are selling. It’s just a good practice to provide your phone number  and get the buyers once you’ve established that you’re going to meet up – that way if they get lost, run late, etc., you can be in touch and not miss out on the transaction because you couldn’t get in contact “in the field.”
5. Photos. I can’t stress the importance of these, whether it pertains to livestock or equipment. If we will  need to drive any further than 10 miles to come and see it for ourselves, I want to have some idea that we are not wasting our time or our gas, because both are precious to us. If you can’t figure out how to upload photos on these sites, ask someone to help. Once again, this is an issue of credibility – it is not that difficult to upload photos on craigslist or Best Farm Buys; in fact, they make it quite easy. So it leaves me wondering if the seller is actually reluctant to upload photos because of some problem with the animal or equipment, and they are hoping that a buyer will either not notice it or will go ahead and make the purchase anyway because of the long drive they already invested. Both are wrong assumptions in our case, and all that sort of practice will serve to accomplish is to create bad blood and make us feel obligated to warn others about the seller.
6. New Items. So, you bought an item at Tractor Supply, and never used it, it still has the original tags, etc., but you no longer want/need it and decide to sell it. If you are offering it at the same price I can go and buy it at the store, where, if there is a problem, I have recourse to return it for a refund – why should I purchase it from you? And digging a little deeper -why don’t you just return it for a refund yourself? What potential problem with the merchandise exists that you cannot do that? If I’m going to purchase something from an individual , I recognize that there’s caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) to a greater degree than if I purchase from a business with a refund/return policy. So if I’m going to take the risk in purchasing from you, there’d better be a good reason for me to take that gamble – and that’s going to be a lower price. Otherwise, I’ll just head to the store myself.
7. Time Constraints. So – you need this gone by Thursday, or it’s going in the trash? Well, clearly, it doesn’t hold that much value to you, does it? What time do you put your trash out, exactly?

Well, those are the things that are coming immediately to mind. I may come back and edit this post over time with additions. Do you have any suggestions in the same vein that you think should be added? We’d love to hear from you!

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