Thread: Craigslist Search Words ?

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I'm all about thrift store, yard sale, Craigslist finds. We seriously shop all year long, constantly on the lookout for things that can be converted or even used as is. We are just getting into building more elaborate props (animated, etc). We are all about spooky or crazy (no cutesy) and almost all rooms of the house (and outside) end up decorated.

I tend to search rather than browse so am working on creating a list of things to be on the lookout for and create feeds for them. I've got all the standards like Halloween, Coffin, Mask, Dungeon, PVC, Pallets, etc but am curious what words others search for. I know I am missing out on some cool things just by not knowing really what to search for.

Anyone want to contribute to making the ultimate search list we could all use?

Thanks!

I do the following:

halloween

skeleton

pumpkin

haunted

scary

medical (refine search in antiques - found an antique wheelchair... not fast enough as it was already purchased )

coffin

foam/insulation/pvc/plumbing

manniquin


Also, look through a few pages' worth of the free and antique stuff without any searches. I've found some pretty interesting stuff that had no direct link to prop-building (that the lister would have mentioned) but absolutely works for such.

Don't forget to check other close city Craigslists. If it is something really unique and awesome, it might be worth a few hours' drive.

AND if you don't already know about it - FreeCycle! I joined a group a while back and I've gotten some WONDERFUL FREE stuff and gotten rid of junk I didn't want any more. I have an inflated puffer fish that I mounted like a taxidermy sample (with aged label), an antique lamp I purchased a new plastic shade for and dripped blood over (i think there are pics of both in my albums somewhere) and lots of building materials... did I mention they were free?


Pic of the lamp - it's got a marble base and old brass fixtures.

I had not thought of searching medical in the antiques section...thanks! As for Freecycle, I moderate a group so very familiar with it. I can't really use my moderator status to jump on things but have found that I can normally get rid of the excess I accumulate fairly easy :-) I do troll groups nearby though and occasionally find some great free things. Great organization!

I've searched on the obvious like Halloween, Halloween props (these show up closer to the holiday rather than in January), mannequin.

Casket is also another one to search instead of just coffin, coffin tends to bring up a lot of speaker & stereo related things.

I also discovered that wig head is a good one for wigs, foam heads & those beauty school practice heads.

Blow mold is another if that's you're thing. If it isn't try inflatable if that's your thing. Jack o lantern is another good search term or even JOL. On Ebay you'll see JOL more often.

Paper mache or papier mache.

Black light/light fixture.


So far we have:

Halloween
Coffin
Mask
Dungeon (oy vey wonder how many weird sex stuff comes up with that one!)
PVC
Pallets
skeleton
pumpkin
haunted
scary
medical (refine search in antiques)
coffin
foam/insulation/pvc/plumbing
mannequin
casket
wig/wig heads/foam heads
Halloween props/prop
costumes/Halloween costumes
blow mold
jack o lantern/JOL
paper mache/papier mache
inflatable
black light
light fixture

I've been searching again recently & there's this one search, http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/m...208509923.html, that has been there since last summer. It's a pumpkin lamp. If I hadn't unloaded it in a year it'd be in the Goodwill box by now!! Although maybe it's something they're making & trying to sell, but all I know is that the lamp or one like it has been on Craigslist a loooooong time.

Sometimes it's just fun to search the free stuff for no other reason than to see the weird stuff people wanna unload.

Like this, they're giving away Febreze wall plug ins.

REALLY?!?

Or this one, free BETA TAPES!!! Not even VHS, but BETAS!! Kids today don't even know what that means!!bOh how I wish we had a ROFLMAO smiley!!

For Dungeon, it's basically Dungeon's and Dragons that comes up but I have seen some cool doors at times.

Here is one I come across occasionally - Holloween.

Originally Posted by sleah

Here is one I come across occasionally - Holloween.

Oh, my yes. Always try mis-spelling variations of the popular words. It's amazing how badly spelled some things can be.

Here is a CL search engine that may help you out!

Some of the words I like to use:
Gothic (This one is great, except here in Denver we have the Gothic Theater, so we see lots of tickets sold under gothic)
Haunted
Sword
Blood
Mannequin
DMX
DJ (gets you sound systems, LED lights, fog)
Tarps
Air Compressor (This is a good way to get motors)
...

I have always had trouble searching on craigslist, but this helps!