posted on May 17, 2005 04:36:32 PM new
OK - I admit it - I have never held a yard sale and I don't go to them. That said - I am goingto be organizing one in a couple weeks. For those that go them regularly - is it better for us the just price things low (the price we actually want) or padded to allow for negotiation?
Back at the homefront I have come across some great new merch but need to check on a few things first... ease of shipment among them. The only thing I can think of is theligtwieght cardboard rolls that I have seen booksellers use that enable you to make custom packaging. Anyone know what they call this or a good source for it?
Thanks in advance for the help!
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on May 17, 2005 04:50:15 PM new
I'm getting ready to have a yard sale soon, and I generally price it slightly higher than the absolute minimum I am willing to accept. Most buyers will want it for less than you have it priced at. Also, in my area, at least, the quickest way to lose control of a sale and wind up in an asylum is to include toys or clothes. Under no circumstances would I ever have either of the two displayed at a yard sale. You can usually come out ahead to donate those two items plus what you don't sell to the Salvation Army or some other charity and take the tax write off. I know what you are referring to regarding the corrugated rolls, but the proper name for it escapes me at the moment. Maybe someone else can come up with it. It's available from any industrial supplier of packing materials.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on May 17, 2005 04:52:12 PM new
re Yardsale: Low. Your aim is to get rid of it, right? Afterwards, if you don't sell it then you can donate it and take off the tax deduction. Nothing we hate worse than going to a yardsale with retail or Ebay haha prices.
re Books: FIY your local furniture stores are glad to have you haul away bubble wrap which is very small compared to what you might think of bubble wrap. I've found it's perfect to wrap a book in. I'm sure you're thinking of B flute (?) or corregated cardboard but I even saw some of that at my last furniture store pick up. (I used my bubble wrap to go under the Easy Set Pool - aka Baby Pool) As the guys said - PLEASE take it with you! All you want - whatever you want!!! They had foam wrap too.
posted on May 17, 2005 05:11:39 PM new
As to prices, it depends what your goal is. I love going to garage sales, but hate holding them. Last time I held one was in 2001 before I moved to the NW - My goal was to sell everything that I had for sale, because I was not going to take it with me! I had decided anything that did not sell was not going back into the take with us pile, it would be donated. We prices low, and people still negotiated! The professional garage sellers loved it though, and we did pretty well.
I think no matter what price you put it down for, people will want to negotiate it lower, but if you price things too high, people just may not bother. It's a fine line...
posted on May 17, 2005 08:05:23 PM new
My experience in selling at garage sales is to price a little above what you expect & then you can come down to what is offered. This way you can come out ahead in the long run.
posted on May 17, 2005 11:04:46 PM new
Thanks guys - this will be the first of proably three that will be held between now and fall. The goal is to clear and nothing is based on ebay prices. The rule of thumb when going thru things was... if you don't want to keep it and you don't want to throw it away, is it something that you are willing to reasearch, photograph, describe and the most importantly PACK. If not, it went in a yard sale box. Since the yard sale boxes started to take over the one remaining space in the garage, it's sale time! This is going to be a penny ante sale I think. The good stuff is saved for fall mainly because it is all in the farthest reaches of the garage. Anyone ever sold a wood burning stove at a yard sale... or a boat?
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on May 18, 2005 12:27:40 AM new
Well, fenix, my friend, an antique dealer, ran a fancy sale with 9 other dealers. Rented a hall, did the advertising, did the accounting, put up the signs, hauled her stuff, set it up, spent three days taking care of customers, then cleaned the hall and loaded her things and went home to unload them.
The two highest sellers at this sale made less than I did at my two day garage sale. I ain't bragging ...just saying...don't want it ? Mark it 25 cents! It REALLY adds up
posted on May 18, 2005 03:13:58 AM new
Never sold a boat at a garage sale but I did buy one at a thrift store once. Oh no - I forgot we did get a Jon boat at a garage sale about a month ago.
Everyone is right about marking too high. If everything is too high, I won't even brother to make an offer.
If you don't want to have left overs after the sale - have some boxes ready at the end of the day. Let people fill them up and charge one price for the whole box. The later in the day the lower the box price!!
Just in case you didn't think about it be sure to 1. Have plenty of change 2. A secure place to keep your money - on your body is best. 3. Extra bags and old newspaper to wrap stuff 4. Someone to get your lunch and take over when you need a bathroom break.
posted on May 18, 2005 04:42:34 AM new
And - if it's at all possible - if you live in a neighborhood, try to get a couple of others to go in with you and have their own sale. We did that when we first moved in here and made SOME $$ by advertising a neighborhood sale. The next time we had one, hardly anybody came. You need traffic to make a good garage sale $$.
posted on May 18, 2005 04:48:30 AM new
We are yatd selling again this weekend. Alot of the collectible things and eBay-able things we do not have the time to try to sell before the move. So rather than take them with us, we have priced them so other eBayers will buy to resll. That way the item is gone we made a few bucks and don't have to pay to move it and then TRY to sell it.
Had a dealer from Vermont buy all our (20+)swanky swigs last weekend. Yippee, I am glad they are gone! Retail price $6-7.00. We sold them for $2.00 each.
I have to keep reminding myself that 25 cents is better than nothing, because after the sale it getting donated.
Have you tried Freecycle for larger items, before donating?
posted on May 18, 2005 10:31:31 AM new
We frequent yard sales on a weekly basis and usually have 2 or 3 of our own every year. If you want to get rid of everything then price it low. There are people who will ask you to come down no matter how low your asking price but there are others (like myself) who, if they think a price is too high will just pass on it. The sales I absolutely cannot stand are the ones in more well-to-do neighborhoods who price their items according to the brand name. I don't go to yard sales to get a $100 shirt for $20, regardless of the brand. Now, sell it for a dollar and I'll buy all you have! I usually just laugh at those and move on. But then, you will have people at your sale that will ask if you will take a dime for an item you have marked a quarter. I hate those people and will not negotiate with them!
Oh, one other thing. No matter what you say your starting time is, there will be the dealers out well in advance. At the last sale we had we advertised the starting time to be at daylight. Well, here they came and it was still dark, with their flashlights. And it's always the same people every time! To be honest, I hate having yard sales but my wife absolutely loves it.
posted on May 18, 2005 12:14:54 PM new
I went to a yard sale last weekend where nothing was marked, we were just told to "make an offer". I hate those, at least you need some starting point. I offered $2 for a teapot, and the vendor said "Fine, I don't like to banter". Well actually, I don't like to banter either, barter maybe, but certainly not banter!
posted on May 21, 2005 04:55:47 PM new
Thanks tapatti
I have had some of this and it works really well but like fenix I didn't know what it was called.
[ edited by ladyjewels2000 on May 21, 2005 04:58 PM ]
