In my last post, I taught you how to use Google Reader to create feeds, and in this one I am going to teach you how to combine the power of feeds with the power of Craigslist. Using a site called crazedlist.org, you can "search craigslist like a madman".
On the homepage, enter in the description of the item you would like. For our purposes today we are going to be searching for my wedding dress, the "Watters 9055B". Unless you are searching for an exact item try to be a little bit specific, a little bit general. You may have to try a few different searches to find the right description. Select the sale/wanted category, set a price range (if you would like to keep from finding $10,000 used wedding dresses you can't afford), and check the "pics" box if you only want search results with pictures (I highly recommend this option).
Then scroll down and check all of the different areas you would like to search in. That is why this website is so fantastic, you can search the entire United States for something very specific if you would like. I am going to select every region available, and try my luck in finding a seller who would be willing to ship the dress to me.
After you have checked all of the area boxes hit "search". You will be able to scroll through all of the results in the different regions you checked earlier, but this isn't even the best part! Click on the orange button, "Get RSS Feeds". Right click on the blue underlined "this link" and choose to "save link as". Go down to the file name, and change the letters "cgi" to "opml". I save each of these to my desktop, and then delete them later.
Now open up Google Reader and click on "Settings" in the top righthand corner. Choose "Import/Export", click browse, and find the file you just saved on your computer. After you hit "upload" Google Reader will load it into your reader. Now, any time a wedding dress listed as Watter 9055B is listed on craigslist anywhere in the country, I will know about it automatically any time I open up Google Reader to read my newest updated feeds.
I have so many feeds set up for all kinds of things on Craigslist. I hope this works out as well for you as it has for me!
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7 comments:
I love Craig's! (well, you knew that...I feature it like every week) Thanks for the tip! Maybe you'll be my Craig's List Find this week. :)
Oooh, thank you. You just saved me hours of searching.
You are genius! My fiance will love this.
Wow!
I had no idea you could do such things. I will have to check this out!! Thanks for the tip!!
BTW - a couple of good restaurants, if you haven't tried them/heard about them: Suze, Blue Mesa Grill (any location) for brunch (soooooo good), Gloria's..... there's so many! Also, have you guys been to Fort Worth? There are some great restaurants there too (Reatta grill, Piranha Killer sushi, Del Frisco's, Lonesome Dove) and it may be worth the drive for a weekend night out.
omg. I set alerts on ebay all the time but now craigslist too?
angel-Glad I could help. I am loving those black lanterns you featured.
riley-I love these ideas you are giving me!
eastside-It can get really addicting.
Jenna - you totally rock with this tip! I had no idea. Already did it and love it!
My only advice for the rest of you trying this for the first time... don't do the entire country unless you are comfortable exchanging $$$ from abroad. I know I'm not so I'm staying local. That's it!
Thanks Jenna!!
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