If you’re looking to sell your used items online, the Letgo app is a great platform that lets you sell and buy items locally. This is similar to buying and selling on Craigslist, only it features a very user friendly app that allows you to do it quick and easily from your smartphone.
But how well does it actually work, and will you really be able to make money buying and selling stuff through an app? The short answer is it really depends on a lot of different factors, but let me delve into the platform a bit more and you should have a better idea after reading this review.
How does Letgo work?
Letgo is a platform that lets you sell or purchase items from other people in your area. It’s free to join, and makes it easy to list items you own for sale, or to purchase second hand items from others. There are some restrictions on what you can sell (like no drugs, adult material, weapons or animals for sale) but for the most part you can sell pretty much anything. You’d have to refer to their prohibited items page to read the full list of what isn’t allowed.
An important thing to note is that Letgo does not involve itself in the buying and selling process at all, it only allows a platform for the sale to be advertised and the buyer and seller to discuss the sale. The actual sales are negotiated and arranged entirely by the seller and buyer, and they will have to meet in person for the sale to take place.
If you have ever used Craigslist to sell or look for used things, the arrangement is very similar, but the app is much more user friendly and visually appealing. The nice thing about using an app like this is you don’t have to give out your phone number or email to others – you can communicate entirely within the app itself.
Letgo is most popular as an app, but there’s also a decent website version as well if you aren’t much of a smartphone user. The website lacks a few app features, such as the ability to promote your items, but it’s still highly functional.
Selling items
Once you download the app, you can immediately start taking pictures of the items you want to sell. It will automatically generate a title based on your picture, but you might want to change it to more accurately fit the item.
Here’s a pub table I put up for sale:
(the map is scratched out because it showed where I live)
You will want to take several pictures from different angles, or of the different pieces and parts. If necessary, put another object in the picture for scale. Ideally, you’d also want to include a description.
You can set the price at whatever you wish, but if it’s too high you might not have anyone interested and if it’s too low you may be cheating yourself out of some extra cash. I usually set the price a bit higher than what I would expect to get, just because most people will try and haggle their way down in price no matter if it’s set at a reasonable price point or not.
I actually purchased the table for $500 only a couple years ago, so I thought asking $125 was reasonable.
You can also label the price as negotiable right away so the buyer knows it is ok to haggle.
The more pictures you have and the more descriptive you are, the better chance you will have of making sales. If you take a single picture of an item, leave the default generated title and include no other description, people won’t have a good idea of what you’re selling or of the condition it is in.
Boosting visibility
With the app, you can pay a $1.99 fee to feature your listing which will place it at the top of the listings in your area.
Buying Items
If you’re interested in buying things, they have a pretty nice search feature that lets you sort by category, distance, price and listed date. If you’re looking for something specific, you can also type that directly in the search bar at the top.
When you find an item you are interested in, there are a few pre-typed responses you can tap to automatically send to the seller, like “Is this item still available?” Or “Is the price negotiable?” You can also type a custom message.
With each item, you will be able to click on the user to see their profile. From there, you can see the current items they have for sale as well as any other things they have sold in the past. You can also see their reviews and ratings, if they have any.
This goes both ways – both buyers and sellers can look to see who they are communicating with. This can be useful, especially when someone has a ton of negative reviews because you know that person is up to no good.
Reviews are a total mixed bag!
What I find interesting is how varied the reviews are for this app. The reviews that appear in the app store are mostly 5 star, while the reviews on SiteJabber are mostly 1 star!
There were plenty of people saying they successfully bought and sold lots of stuff using Letgo, and others that said it was horrible.
Here are the main issues that users seem to have:
- People message with an interest to the item, but never respond back
- People asking a ton of questions and then backing down on the deal
- People trying to buy your items for a fraction of the cost you post it for (even if it’s something that is in like new or excellent condition)
- People backing out at the last minute
- People arranging a meeting time but not showing up
Obviously these are problems, but the one common element here is PEOPLE
It’s the people that use the app that make the issues, not the app itself. Although the app could use some improvements, it’s kind of hard to make the experience totally seamless for 100% of people when the human factor is such a big part of it. Your experiences will vary a lot depending on what you’re buying or selling, who you communicate with and where you live.
I’m no stranger when it comes to buying and selling things locally – I’ve used Facebook and Craigslist plenty of times to get rid of things or find a deal on something used. I will admit that I’ve have had issues with people not messaging back or backing down, and it can be kind of awkward trying to arrange a meeting with a stranger, but for the most part I’ve had sales go smoothly with no problems. And in the end, it is worth it if you can make extra cash.
Final Opinion – Letgo is a pretty decent app, but doesn’t have the best user base
The app (and website) are well designed and easy to use. However, there are some issues with the user base within the app, so be careful with who you communicate with and make sure to read the user ratings and reviews.
I wouldn’t recommend using Letgo exclusively, but rather in combination with other buying and selling sites online and cross post to get the biggest audience possible.
In my experience, it’s great if you have bigger or more expensive items you need to get rid of. If you can make at least $50 from a sale, it’s completely worth it assuming you’re not driving too far to meet up. I’ve made a few thousand dollars just this year selling off things I no longer wanted or needed, so it can be a great way to get some extra cash.
In the end, however, you can only sell so much stuff. If you need a more steady flow of extra cash, you might want to look into other options for steady extra income.
Great article! I haven’t used Letgo but my wife and I have used offerup which is very similar.
It’s so crazy how in todays world there are so many options to make money from things it would have been impossible to do before.
Extra room becomes Airbnb, Second car turns into an Uber, extra junk goes on Letgo or Offer Up and the list goes on and on.
Great article look forward to reading more from you.
Yeah – it’s totally crazy! I have used Offerup as well and it is pretty much the same. I have never heard of Airbnb? Is that just like renting out your spare room for cash?
Lately, I have been hearing a lot about the Letgo app. I have never researched it before, so I really appreciate you doing the research for me 🙂 .
Based on what you said it definitely seems better than craiglist, so convenient and so user friendly. I regularly post items on craiglist so I will indeed check out this app. Thanks again Wendy.
Thank you for this review on Letgo. Your article is the first time I am hearing Letgo, and honestly it doesn’t sound that great of an app. So many bad users. I don’t like to hear of an app where people are setting up meetings and not showing up, waste of both of our times. What is your opinion on their boosting function? Are there a lot of people boosting or just a few? I am wondering if I post something there whether it will simply be buried under a whole bunch of other boosted listings quickly. Thank you!
Yeah but unfortunately dealing with flaky people is it’s just the nature of buying and selling used items locally. You get bad eggs on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace as well. I don’t think the boosting function is really worth it most of the time, because you can just post your items across multiple platforms if you want to increase the visibility rather than paying for it. I suppose if you are trying to sell something that you can get a lot of money for though it may be worth it if you are having trouble getting any interest.
I never heard of the app Letgo before. You made a very clear and honest post about it! This does seem similar to Craigslist, but to me it seems better. In my opinion Craigslist seems a bit dated. I would like it if they would update their site. This seems more handy because it’s an app too. I would imagine it’s quicker to create a post on the app then doing it on the computer. It’s too bad there are people who don’t use the app properly. Thanks for the review! Very Informative.
Haha yeah Craigslist is definitely like the caveman site of the internet! I can understand why a lot of people don’t like it! Craigslist actually has an app version I think, although I haven’t used it.
I actually have seen a commercial on Letgo here recently, but I knew nothing else about it prior to reading your article! It does seem to have advantages over Craigs List which is what I have used in the past.
After reading this, I think I will give Letgo a whirl! I will make sure I come back and let you know how it went after doing so! ((:
Dr Baker – I would actually really appreciate any additional perspective you could provide if you wanted to leave it here after trying out Letgo!
Hi Wendy.
I have to be honest I haven’t heard of Letgo until now so I had to take a look at their webpage and I must say it looks better than eBay.
I like the fact that you can connect with your,Facebook or G+ account saves you time from the regular sign up proceedure.
I also like the fact that the site is not cluttered with ads.
I did eventually join up to,Letgo and was pleasantly surprised that there are traders in,Australia using the site as well.
Thank you for your insight on this,Platform.
What would you rate Letgo personally out of 5 stars?
I think the platform itself is set up pretty good, although it has some minor flaws – probably at least 4 out of 5 stars. Most of the issues with it stem from the actual buyer and/or seller, not Letgo itself.
Thanks for this article. As an online business coach, I am always on the look for ideas I can recommend to my followers, and this Letgo thing looks appealing. So, this is both an app and a website, which means pretty good for millennials. There’s just something that I noticed and I’d like to clarify that with you…
You said it works best when combined with other strategies and not used exclusively? What other online methods do you think works fine with Letgo?
What I meant by that was if you are trying to sell your used items, you’re going to get the best results if you post your items across multiple platforms – Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist or other apps like Offerup, 5miles, etc (there are many more). This allows you to have the widest audience possible and the highest chance an interest buyer will see your things.
It also really depends what you’re trying to sell, certain types of things do better than others and if you live in a large city it also is much easier to sell things with these platforms.
Letgo reminds me of Spock, one of the most downloaded boot sale, flea market and classifieds apps in the UK. I think it has over 10 million users. I think they both work much in the same way. I wonder if Letgo is the US equivalent to Spock and vice versa? If that’s the case I can testify to how successfully the applications format works for selling your unwanted items so easily. I found that electrical items sold faster and for a better price that clothing, which didn’t seem to do so well. Also living in a big city helps. These sort of selling and buying apps work best when they have a lot of active users. The more the merrier.
I have not heard of Spock (I am not in the UK) however from what you describe it sounds pretty much like the same type of thing. It really does work if you use it right, but it is just a platform for buying and selling used items so it depends on a lot of different factors as to if it will work well for you or not. And you’re right – clothing is really difficult to sell online (baby and children’s clothing is a little easier) and obviously it is easier if you live in a larger populated area! There’s a lot higher chance someone interested will live near by!
I know a few people that use let go. Although i have not tried it, it seems like a good idea.
However i know that like Craigslist it can be shady having strangers come to your place. Even worse when your the one coming to buy something and you have a pocket full of cash, you could be a target for a robbery. Any suggestions on how to protect against that issue?
Yeah I know a lot of people that simply refuse to use Craigslist because of that issue. I know it can be weird having strangers come over. If you are scared of a situation like that happening, I would suggest you agree to meet the person in a public place such as a grocery store or shopping mall parking lot. You can also have someone come along with you so you’re not alone.