The strange price of FREE

2/2/10 Food steamer & foreign voltage converters, given away on craigslist

Here's the biggest lesson I've learned about craigslist.com:

If you offer something for FREE, people will want it.

It doesn't matter what it is, if it's free, they'll be knocking down your door. Offer the same thing for $1 and the sound of silence will deafen you, but throw it up for free, and the clamor will shatter the windows.

The appeal of "free" is really a fascinating phenomenon (and one that Chris Anderson explores quite well in his aptly-titled book, Free. Go here if you want to download the audio book for -- you guessed it -- FREE!).

Here's an example of the power of free:

A few months ago, I put our virtually brand new food steamer on craigslist for $5. A paltry price, considering that the exact same product is selling on Amazon.com at this very moment for $34.99. After a few weeks, I hadn't had a single inquiry.

Guess nobody on craigslist could use a steamer, right? WRONG! There's just nobody on craigslist who wants to PAY (even a token amount) for a steamer.

I put it up on the site again last night, this time offering it for free. Brace yourself. Within eighteen hours I had over twenty different people falling over themselves to get it.

And here's a tidbit that makes it even more interesting: I put up a separate post offering some random voltage converters that you can use to plug items into foreign electrical sockets. A completely random and unrelated item, no?

And yet, I had no fewer than four people who decided they desperately needed BOTH of these items, ASAP.

One more twist: One of the first people to reply and the guy I gave them to (hey, if I can give them both away in one shot, I'm going to make that deal) turned out to be someone that I already downsized to. It was Richard, a guy who also took two random things off my hands back in November. It think I need to start direct-marketing to the guy. Rather than posting on craigslist, I'm just going to email my offers right to him.

Of course, if Richard doesn't want what I'm trying to get rid of, I know there are plenty of others who do. As long as I offer it for free.