posted on September 29, 2001 07:18:35 AM
I like nice things. One of the things that amazes me is when you go to an estate sale and it is obvious from what you see that the people did not own a single nice thing in their home. Not a decent picture or lamp or a nice set of dishes or furniture. The whole house is full of stuff you could not give to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. You know it was not just cherry picked by the relatives because the place is FULL.
On the other hand I get catalogs in the mail being in a high income zip code that show big and tall mens clothing at prices that flip me out. Dress shirts for $400.00 a leather jacket for $1300.00, ties for $200.00.
Who in the world can afford to buy stuff like that? I can get a shirt custom made to fit me in the fabric and styles of my choice for under a hundred bucks - so why would I want to spend 4 times that for a shirt that is ready made and I can't look at the fabric and tell them how I want the collar to fit and the cuff to hang?
I suppose if you were happy with 2 or 3 of everything you could do it, but I like to have a dozen shirts so I can change in the middle of the day and go a week without running out of clean ones.
Does anyone here honestly have a $400.00 dress shirt?
posted on September 29, 2001 07:33:43 AM
I know exactly what you mean about the estate sales. A month ago, I went to two sales that were so packed you could hardly walk around. I was so excited at first but, I did not buy one thing!!!!!!!
Junk Junk Junk. Bad taste, dirty, broken, and just such low quality merchandise to start with.
What is so amazing for me about these type of houses is that the people had some money just due to the sheer volume of stuff.
I am not so surprised when you go into a small house and there are not alot of things and you can tell the people had a very modest income, enough to survive, It is the more expensive houses filled to the rim with JUNK.
I am so amazed that so many material things could be in a house and I couldn't find one item that I could sell at a garage sale, flea market, ebay or shop. Glad it doesn't happen often. Interesting to hear that the same thing happens to others.
posted on September 29, 2001 07:40:03 AM
Estate sales have always given me the creeps. You can almost feel the spirits of the deceased hanging around and making you feel like their watching you touch their stuff.
posted on September 29, 2001 07:51:45 AM
Even worse Muriel, when I have been at Estate sales and see people pawing through the stuff in "wild abandon," I think so this is what is going to happen to my possesions! Total strangers making valuations as to the worth of my treasures. Makes me want to make a funeral pyre at the last moment...
posted on September 29, 2001 08:01:29 AM
zilvey - i am with you! Give me a Viking funeral. Pile all my papers and books, clothing and junk around me and light it off.
I have enough fat on me it should burn for a day.
I do locker auctions and you have the same thing. You can read the peoples lives by what they leave behind.
posted on September 29, 2001 08:07:31 AM
Going to Estate Sales has taught me to
Burn Candles, use fancy lotions, use up samples, wear my good clothes, rather than save for "special", use the good china and crystal (who cares if it breaks), toss away papers I don't want anyone to read, etc. etc.
posted on September 29, 2001 08:58:30 AMgravid-I have wondered the same thing about who really buys the outrageously expensive things that are mailed out in catelogs or made available at tradeshows. Does anyone really???
I was at the Dallas market center once and decided to just look around. I found a floor of nothing but dolls! Not ordinary dolls mind you (the cute-cheap walmart kind). These weren't even the usual "artist dolls", these were life size "dolls". Dressed in every conceivable "period" costumes. Some lavishly elaborate. They also had carts pulled by ponies that were made from real fur. The cost were $1,000s of dollars each! Some were so real looking, it would give you the willies! I kept wondering who buys this stuff? I have never in my life seen it even offered at any retail market I had ever been to. I kept thinking "Where's the market?"
How could they manufacture it, pay to house it at the Dallas Trade Center (taking an entire floor) when I appeared to be the only "living" person on the entire floor? I never even saw a rep! I wandered around about an hour and never saw anyone to talk to!
You can find those outlandishly priced oddball items in any "category". How many do you have to sell of a thing to make it worth manufacturing? How many do they think they can sell and how many do they actually ever sell? How can they continue to do it over and over?
If the stuff is purchased, where do they put it? As you ponted out, it doesn't seem to show up in anyone's "estates".
posted on September 29, 2001 10:40:21 AM
I would imagine some of the clothing is probably bought by very rich people who may be reclusive or ill and don't want to go out to shop. Beats me why, when you could have a tailor come in and custom make it for the same price.
As for sales, I've been to some estates where I've told DH that if this is all I have when I die, please burn it!
posted on September 29, 2001 07:02:58 PM
I, too, have thought about this quite a bit. I hope I'm not being unfair but I really suspect that the estate sales run by those professional 'Estate Sellers' bring along a pickup load of the crud leftover from the last half-dozen estate sales, and boxes of crud picked up at yard sales on closing day for next-to-nothing. The tip-off to me (in my tiny suspicious mind) is not that the stuff doesn't 'jibe' or go together ......... it's that often there is more than will fit into the house and garage COMBINED!
Here's a weird one for ya....... I bought a roll of fencing at an estate sale, very good price, too! Seemed like an odd item at the time but if my folks were to have one for me right now... woo-hoo! the weird stuff would be like a world bazzar!
posted on September 29, 2001 08:05:21 PM
I used to be married to a salesman, who said that to market an item successfully, the item had to have it's own niche--it had to be either the biggest, smallest, cheapest, most expensive, etc. Therefore, your $400 shirts fall into the "most expensive" category for people who think that most expensive=best. Items that are not successfully marketed are those that don't fall into a specific category, or they try to hit too many categories at once.
posted on September 29, 2001 08:36:48 PM
immykidsmom
I was in an estate today, just as you described. So much cheap stuff that walking was difficult. I imagine that it took a few days to haul so much junk into a house.
I usually look for first edition books and until recently, I was having good luck. But then I found out that a bookseller had made a deal with estate sellers to have a private review and chance to purchase books before the sale began.
And, some of the estate sellers who have their own business take advantage of the opportunity to increase their inventory.
There is a lot of shady shenanagans going on at estate sales...no doubt about it!
posted on September 30, 2001 03:01:08 AM
Ok, this is an excellent place for my story.
I went to a relative's house recently (close relative by marriage ONLY...can't say who...shhh) for dinner. Chatting in the kitchen with the crew. So I spot this THING that I can not recognize on the counter. "What is that?", I ask. "OH! It's my new toaster!" she replies. "I got it on sale for only $199, HALF PRICE!"
"Oh", I say, "well I guess since I have the $24 Wal-Mart toaster, I don't know what a $400 toaster looks like. Very nice."
"It's GERMAN!", she says. "I deserve it! And after ALL...GOD doesn't want my money since He won't let me take it with me....I might as well spend it on myself."
DELIGHTFUL visits we have there. But I can't complain. For Christmas I once got THREE genuine Coach bags. This was a Christmas years ago that I could not afford a loaf of bread (and unfortunately it was "pre-ebay" and you can't eat a Coach) Come to think of it, I opened my gift and said, "Purses, and look, THREE. Thank you!" Did not know what Coach was. BIG mistake.
Now that there is an ebay and she knows it...I don't get anything at all. Zilch. Zero. OH WELL. I do get to look at the toaster.
TRUE story. Happened last week. I bet they have a $400 shirt.
T
All my clothes were given to me in a cardboard box...and they are just fine. Don't need to buy any.
[ edited by jt on Sep 30, 2001 03:08 AM ]
posted on September 30, 2001 03:32:58 AM
That's funny - you won't get any brag gifts now because they know you can cash them out.
The only time I have ever spent big bucks on something is when it makes a huge difference in how it works. I spent $400.00 for a pair of Nikon binoculars, but the things make you feel like you are standing next to someone from 200 meters away. The imaige is bright and the colors true. You can practically count their nose hairs.
posted on September 30, 2001 03:51:31 AM
I "invest" in two things. Home, education.
We actually have more "stuff" than anyone we know..or have ever known...because of ebay. We call it "inventory", cause..LOL, most of it's in the house. We use it, enjoy it, sleep on it, cook in it, wear it, read it, sell it. It's like living IN the antique mall.
One thing that's so cool about doing ebay is that sometimes you DO find that great item in the "pile"...and you can oft keep it for free having made your money back on the "junk" but when you tire of it you sell it. I have amassed quite a nice assortment of common but still lovely antique furniture and an entire library of very nice (but not "very" expensive) books. My daugher is learning to play piano on "inventory".
We have 3 catagories for stuff: 1. Sell it NOW. 2. Sell it LATER. 3. It's mine. The "It's mine" group would be the smallest because ebay has taught me one thing. Stuff comes, stuff goes, stuff comes, stuff goes...
T
posted on September 30, 2001 04:25:22 AM
jt, you are my kind of decorator! We have 3000 sq ft of inventory. I buy what I like, use it in the house, and when I'm tired of it, it goes up for sale. Drives my kids crazy when they go looking for something and then ask-"Where's the cookie jar-Ebay?" But what fun, and the house never gets boring!
As my DH pointed out when we started doing our assets and liabilities sheet for the banker yesterday-if we have to, we can list the entire house as inventory and make our assets actually equal our liabilities!
posted on September 30, 2001 04:35:57 AM
Same here. Use it/enjoy it for awhile and sell it. After all these years in the antiques/used/pawnshop business, nothing means much anymore except for a few old things the kids made in school and pictures.
On to that $400 toaster. Mine came in a household lot and probably retails for $9.99 on sale at Wally World. So what does a $400 one DO?
I mean, I would expect it to butter it, cut it,put it on a plate and serve it to me in bed and bring along the coffee too.( my hubby just said now he knows he's worth at least $400) LOL!
posted on October 1, 2001 05:59:38 AM
I know/knew several people who wouldn't blink an eye at the cost of a $400 shirt. Because they actually thought the shirt was WORTH $400, no, but because it was part of the status of owning/wearing that shirt. Personally, the most I ever paid for a shirt was $100. It is silk with leather appliques starting on the shoulders down to about mid chest. I wanted sooooo bad and at the time I could afford it, but oh how I sweated that purchase simply because it just felt obscene to spend that kinda money on a shirt. Every time I wore it, I felt like a million bucks!...Still have it, and wait (patiently) for the day it will actually fit agin'!
As for possesions good stuff vs junk, remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder OR one man's junk in another man's treasure. I had an uncle (may he rest in peace) who collected & truly treasured what an outsider would have called junk. Broken porcelain statues crudely repaired, dolls with ratty hair or a missing limb, glass dishes/cups, and his favorite, little things that sparkled, a single earring, an old ring, a pretty pin. These were his treasures. Nothing that would appear to be special, but to him, his world. When he died his estate totaled about $75k, which did NOT include any real estate or stocks, simply cash. So he had the means to purchase "good stuff" but he was happy with the treasures he had found.
If you were to come into my house & look around, you would probably not see alot of priceless "nice stuff", but rather my treasures, which only mean something to me....They are important to me while I travel this earth & once I'm gone, I simply hope that my family will keep what they remember as special & find good homes for the rest.
posted on October 1, 2001 06:52:52 AM
AS I go to grage sales , thrift stores , estate sales ect I am Struck by how much pure CRAP our socity makes.
We live near a High end shopping area with lots of Shoppees Occasinaly on a FRi night we will wonder into these shops and look around evan thoug this stuff is High end it is for the most part pure CRAP
spock here......
posted on October 1, 2001 07:23:57 AM
People who question, "who buys this crap"
are usually people who can afford any crap or even 400.00 shirts but who choose not to buy it.
It is generally known that in our area, crap will not be found in the wealthier neighborhoods and estate sales in that area are avoided by people looking for crap to sell on ebay.
posted on October 1, 2001 07:33:15 AM
The only answer I can come up with is: People who have so much money that money has become irrelevant.
I'm thinking about times in my life when I was flush (ah, the good old days). I remember buying clothes I didn't need because it was easier than taking stuff to the dry cleaners. Or buying something to wear on the way to work because I suddenly decided the skirt I had on was too short. Having my laundry done for me. Having someone clean my small house once a week.
Small things, but things you do sometimes because you can.
So, if my current level of income were my only reference point, I'd see the person I was when I was flush as completely wasteful. Maybe no matter how much money you have, the person who has more seems wasteful.
posted on October 1, 2001 07:47:28 AM
That toaster sounds so amazing I had to go out "google"ing for it. I didn't find it for $400, but i found one for $325.
posted on October 1, 2001 08:27:34 PM
I had to know...
If you go to Yahoo, click "Shopping", search for "toaster" then sort by highest to lowest price then you will find EXPENSIVE toasters.
$1300? $999? And they just toast? (Ok some have a "thaw cycle".
I found the one that I THINK is hers and it's tagged $500. She got a STEAL at under $200! Could not pass that up...
The likes of THIS thread is EXACTLY why she bought it...but we aren't going to tell her we are searching for her toaster, are we?
T
posted on October 1, 2001 10:32:33 PM
I often wonder why people buy such things that so clearly over priced. My mother would say they have more money than brains. The 400.00 shirt? The material can't be worth it. The tailoring? Probally not. It's the image of the item and nothing more. When they are finished wearing it, possibly in a month or two, it may fetch 5.00 at the Goodwill or Salvation Army.
About the German toaster costing 400.00. Another waste of money. I agree that some German products may be of higher quality than some others, but it would be a very cold day before I paid that much money for a toaster.
I couldn't resist it. Here's a real toaster bargain I found three years ago.
An early 1950's Sumbeam Automatic. No knob to push down. There's a bracket inside that senses the weight of the bread. It goes down automatically and works perfect. It still has the original cloth cord and a body so heavy, and MADE OF STEEL. You almost couldn't dent it with a hammer if you tried. The cost, only 10.00.
P.S. Because its chrome, I made sure I was fully dressed before taking the picture!
posted on October 2, 2001 04:07:58 AM
Yeager - You cheat anyway - you shot from the corner and your imaige must be one lonely dark little pixil somewhere right on the corner radii.
I must be that little spot on the corner of the body of the toaster. I wanted to show a 3/4 view of the toaster. Plus, I have a body shape similar to (but not as bad) as the tea kettle guy. I didn't want people to think we are the same person getting pleasure from taking pictures of chrome kitchen appliances in the nude.
posted on October 2, 2001 10:02:19 AM
I recently deleted a pic and started over because the plexigas sheet on what I was selling had a perfect reflection of my face behind Sony Mavica. Don't want to scare the paying customers!
