Garage Sales

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Jeff V
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Garage Sales

Post by Jeff V »

More to the point, have you ever had one? Any tips or tricks you care to share?

Tomorrow I'm having my first-ever garage sale. In the past, my sister-in-law has sold some of my crap at her sales, but I never masterminded one myself. This is in conjunction with 21 other houses in the subdivision.

The weather is supposed to be scorching hot, so I will have a cooler of ice-cooled water bottles selling for $1 apiece. We have some kids crap, some purses and dresses from my wife, sweaters I never wear, shoes Ms. Imelda doesn't need anymore, baby transport devices (dual stroller, Burley), books, and an assortment of vases and wall-hangings. Might find more crap once it's all out there.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Daehawk »

Had a few over the years. Selling drinks is a good way to make money so you got that covered.

Have lots of change. Ones and coins. Lots.

People want it cheap. Doesn't matter if its brand new still in box. If its at a garage/yard sale then it better be less than $1...to them anyways.. Shirts and such .25 cents. Always be willing to bargain with them. People love to lowball ya. "I see ya want $10 for that. Ill give ya $2" . Its their fun.

Lots of folk that go to these are consignment store folk. They'll grab it up to make profit on it. Just get what you want for it and let them do as they plz.

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Re: Garage Sales

Post by McNutt »

People will always show up early. If you advertise it as starting at 8:00, expect traffic at 7:00.

Make deals like crazy for people wanting multiple items. Group similar items and have a sign (10 books for $5). Remember, you don't want any of this crap, so getting it off your property is a win. Getting anything for it is a bonus.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Smoove_B »

Don't fall for the "Ok, I'll pay $20" and then they reach into their wallet and say, "Oh no, I only have a $10 - shoot, is that ok?"

At some point you have to decide - do you want to get rid of things or do you want to make money. You can try to both, but there comes a point when you will start to look at everything unsold and wonder if it's time to just bargain-bin price it all so you don't need to figure out how to deal with what's left after the weekend is up.

Children's stuff and tools will likely be easy to sell. After that, it's a crapshoot.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by McNutt »

Also, if you post online, I've found that listing certain items will draw interest. Knives, old razors, and watches are a good way to draw some people in.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Kraken »

Daehawk wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:58 pm People want it cheap. Doesn't matter if its brand new still in box. If its at a garage/yard sale then it better be less than $1...to them anyways.. Shirts and such .25 cents. Always be willing to bargain with them. People love to lowball ya. "I see ya want $10 for that. Ill give ya $2" . Its their fun.
This. Anything over a buck is a hard sell. I tried to unload leftover Curio City merch at a yard sale and sold almost nothing, even priced at 10% of its original value.

Wife had a basket of little jars and vials and pots of cosmetics and soaps and similar lady things, and those all sold for 10-25 cents. Costume jewelry. Clothes.

Also, if you advertise or put up signs, specify "No early birds." Like Dae said there are people who hit yard sales for profit, and if you let them they'll clean out everything of value before you even open.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Holman »

Price cheaply. You're not a merchant; you're letting people pay you a small amount of money to wait while they clean out your storage.

If you have anything valuable, you should be auctioning it on eBay instead.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Jeff V »

My aversion to dealing with change means I'm unlikely to sell any crap for less than $1. I told my wife to price her shit higher than she is willing to part with it, maybe double so we could haggle down to half the posted price if necessary. A lot of the crap we are putting out would wind up at Good Will or the curb anyway, so we might as well try to get something for it.

My 4 year old is getting into it...she wants to sell every little thing she comes across, whether it's functional or not. She had a meltdown when my wife suggested selling her cat. As I mentioned earlier, in the past I've sold shit with my sister-in-law's sales and at the end I got most of my shit back and about $50. I have no idea whether she haggled prices for any of it.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by The Meal »

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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Daehawk »

Haggling is fun at first but quickly becomes tedious to where you'll just want to throw stuff at people's trunks. Take it take it take it!
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Kraken »

When we replaced our old oil-fired boiler with gas, I kept the burner because it was almost new. Put it out at the yard sale with a $100 price tag and let some guy haggle me down to $50. I have no idea what a like-new oil burner should be worth, but I was pretty pleased to get $50 for it and he was pleased to get it for $50. Win/win.

75% of your customers will be older women carrying coin purses, but some of them will have husbands in tow. We've had three yard sales in the past 30 years and each of them netted around $150, always thanks to 2-3 big spenders...by which I mean people who spent $20+.

At our last yard sale, a shopper told me she'd been to a dozen sales that week and we had the most interesting stuff (unfortunately, "interesting" wasn't a selling point). When she left I told Wife "we have the best crap in town!"

BTW, what you call a garage sale is a yard sale in these parts and a rummage sale where I grew up. In Jamaica they call it a bend-down because everything's laid out on blankets on the ground.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by LawBeefaroni »

Our neighborhood organization is coordinating neighborhood garage sales for later this month. $20/free for members. We provide advertising, print maps for shoppers, and do all the paperwork for the city permits (yes, you need permits here). We're expecting 15+, all same day, same time. Must be a headache for the early birds. :dance:

Talk to me after, I'll probably know way too much about garage sales then.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Archinerd »

I've never thought garage sales were worth the effort, who wants to sit out in the sun just to make $20?
I got better things to do with my time.

Also, one time in Portland, OR I saw signs for neighborhood garage sale that starting at 11:00am.
Slackers, 9:00 am is the absolute latest you can start a garage sale.

I think I might be more JeffV than JeffV on garage sales.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Lassr »

Daehawk wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:58 pm

Have lots of change. Ones and coins. Lots.
I used to have a wide range of change, nickels to quarters and it was a pain going to the bank and getting it then redepositing it after the sale. I learned have only a roll of quarters and price everything in 25 cent increments.
I usually have about 60-80 dollars in bills for change, mostly 1's and 5's. Early buyers will have a lot of 20's

If you want to get rid of it, price it to move. The other stuff you don't mind keeping, price a little higher, then have a minimum offer in mind you would accept.
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Lassr »

Archinerd wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:10 pm I've never thought garage sales were worth the effort, who wants to sit out in the sun just to make $20?
I got better things to do with my time.

Also, one time in Portland, OR I saw signs for neighborhood garage sale that starting at 11:00am.
Slackers, 9:00 am is the absolute latest you can start a garage sale.

I think I might be more JeffV than JeffV on garage sales.
I pile the stuff in the attic and join my sister when we have a nice collection. I think the smallest amount i ever earned was $100, usually it is around the $200 range. If all i have is a bunch of small stuff then I end up just donating it and take the tax write off.

Around here there are a lot of shoppers that are looking to resale at a flea market. If someone shows up at the end of sale (usually lunch time) and I see they have a truck with a variety of stuff, I'll offer them a huge bundle deal, take it all for $30-$50 (according to what is left), or a huge amount of it for $25. Saves loading it back up and taking it to charity or stuffing back in the attic.
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

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Re: Garage Sales

Post by stessier »

Archinerd wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:10 pm I've never thought garage sales were worth the effort, who wants to sit out in the sun just to make $20?
I got better things to do with my time.

Also, one time in Portland, OR I saw signs for neighborhood garage sale that starting at 11:00am.
Slackers, 9:00 am is the absolute latest you can start a garage sale.

I think I might be more JeffV than JeffV on garage sales.
When I was growing up, my parents would have one every May and September (I think they started around 1980 and went at least through 1990). They'd make between $250-350 and clean out a ton of stuff in the process!
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by McNutt »

Right. We've done three and each one netted around $400 and, more importantly, got a ton of stuff out of our house.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Archinerd »

Fine, I guess, but I'm not budging on my disdain. :)
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Daehawk »

Some new neighbors had a yard sale going one day as we returned from town. It was noon by then. Everything my wife picked up to look at the nice lady said to ignore the price its only a dime. So my wife got a old vcr for a dime and some other stuff. They simply handed us a a osculating fan and a nice card table.

My wife used that fan and table until her death. Im still using them. That was about 6 years ago. The fan is a nice one from the late 70s or early 80s. They dont make them like that now.

Im still using canisters her mom picked up at one in the late 80s.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Jeff V »

Dear Octopus Forum,

I was holding a garage sale when an attractive redhead asked if she could try on a bikini my wife was selling. Sure, I said, and she proceeded to take off her top and don the bikini. "It fits!" she exclaimed. It sure did.

I tried to tip her $20 but she insisted she was supposed to give me $2.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Jeff V »

Archinerd wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:10 pm I've never thought garage sales were worth the effort, who wants to sit out in the sun just to make $20?
Since yesterday was supposed to go until 7 pm and the front of my house faces west, I kept retreating my chair into the garage until finally there was no escaping the blazing sun. Did not have that problem today, it was warm in the morning, but around 1 pm a thunderstorm blew up, and heavy rain caused me to shut it down a few hours early.

I think I made $70 so far. Wife sold several purses (but just the cheaper ones, even if all of them were new or near-new) and some dresses at $5 each. I don't do change, so nothing is less than $1. Except the cat. I put a .25 sticker on her and my daughter panicked, thought someone might actually buy her.

So far I discovered several things...one, we didn't have as much saleable crap as I thought we did. Tomorrow is the last day, I've sold 7 books, all for $1 each. I have a number of audiobooks listed at $3-5 but no takers. Several people have looked hard at the Burley I'm selling, it needs the snaps rehabbed (there's a kit, I bought one, can't find it). Almost sold it twice, once to a guy who wants it for his dog, but wants a hard floor (he'd have to install such a thing himself) and another guy almost bought it but decided his 2 mo old baby is too young (yeah, they don't recommend for under 6 mo). A neighbor inquired about a double stroller, a few have checked it out but nobody has shown serious interest. Same with the boy's bike and the two tricycles. And the baby backpack. Those are all things I'd love to just be rid of...I suspect if they don't sell tomorrow, they're going to be listed free at the curb until the pre-garbage salvage truck comes by and snags the stuff (I imagine the have some sort of Sanford & Son place).

Oh, and Kraken, I know what you mean about trying to unload stock items. A year or so ago my wife was on a webstore kick, she sold maybe 3-4 pieces of crap, but our office is filled with boxes of the shit. We sold a few closet organizers for $1 a piece, but none of the other crap is selling.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Daehawk »

In the 1990s when my mother in law was alive she worked as a seamstress for a sporting goods store. When her boss found out we were having a yard sale he brought all his old stock of tennis shoes out that weren't selling to get rid of cheap. My God people were physically fighting over them things. We had new shoes in boxes for like $12. Mad house. We did that once more because it made a lot of money but man cars were parked all over and people fussing and rushing. That was enough. Years later we still had people to stop and ask about shoes.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Jeff V »

We have a whole rack of shoes thanks to Imelda Jr. Even a bunch of girls shoes, thanks to Imelda III. Not a pair has sold, although some guy was interested in buying the rack.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Kraken »

Around here, yard sales are almost exclusively on weekends. You might do better if you hold it over on Saturday.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Daehawk »

word
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Jeff V »

Kraken wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:31 pm Around here, yard sales are almost exclusively on weekends. You might do better if you hold it over on Saturday.
Tomorrow is the last day. For some reason, here they are Thu-Fri-Sat. No permits are needed for the town I live in, this wasn't the in the town I lived in years ago when my sister-in-law would host them twice a year.

I think next time we'll need to bring in one or two other families (that sister-in-law is a possibility). Wife took a bike ride around the hood and determined that everyone else had way more stuff. A few people stopped by looking for very particular things, like old video games or Coca-Cola signs and other paraphernalia. One lady came by before opening yesterday and asked about any perfume or costume jewelry. This inspired my wife to find some of both, we sold most of it but the sum total was less than $10.

So far, weather forecast for tomorrow isn't going to do us any favors. This morning they thought rain would likely be overnight and clear out by morning, now it seems a pretty good chance of pop up storms throughout the morning and afternoon. At least I might be able to take another day off water the garden...
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Jeff V »

Wife is offering me $50 to bag it at 11 am and drive her to a Filipino supermarket more than an hour away. Only sold 3 things for $1 each so far, I suppose that's an offer I can't refuse.
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Re: Garage Sales

Post by Kasey Chang »

Probably flippers, not collectors. Lots of flippers documenting their finds on Youtube... the probable destination is eBay, where the stuff they find at garage sales for $1 or $5 goes for $20-50 on eBay.

Shoes are great items, esp. if they are "new old stock" (i.e. new in box, out of production stuff). They flip for great profit on eBay.
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