Making craigslist buying easier

Part of the reason that I feel strongly about buying used and/or less for kids is not just for the immediate green cred. It's also about setting an example for kids from the earliest age. I know that buying used can be a real drag, though, since you have to constantly comb for the item you're looking for. So here's a way to make buying used a lot more convenient.

You can subscribe to something called an RSS feed from craigslist. That lets you type in your search terms, even the geographic area you're looking in and you get live updates when an item is posted that meets your search query.

All you do is go to the craigslist home page for your area. Say you're looking for a used Maclaren Volo in the east bay. Click on "baby and kids" and then type in "Maclaren Volo" and choose the east bay tab. You'd get a screen like this:


That screen above is hard to read, but the key item is the small orange highlighted link in the lower right-hand corner. Clicking on that gets you to the RSS feed for that particular query. Once you click on it you can choose how you'd like the information delivered. If you have a google account you can have the updated search info delivered to your customized homepage. Or you can choose "Live Bookmark" and that will create a special bookmark tab in your browser that you can pull down occasionally to see if the item you're looking for has been posted and is available.

Any other helpful hints to buying used out there? I'm eager for them...