garage sale experience

[couponingtosurvive]

Head out for some fun garage sale hunting this am. All in all the sales happening were pretty bad... items more fit for the pit than for sale. We did find one sale that had some albums for sale... yey... maybe we will find something to listen to this evening. And we did. The album covers were not in great shape, could tell that they had been stored somewhere for a very long time, but the albums themselves were ok and playable. Choose a stack of about 10. The lady says I just have to go inside to see what "she" wants to charge (selling for someone else who is inside). We wait and wait and wait and the lady comes back outside... no albums in her hand. Interesting. "She wants to think about what to charge you and needs to research pricing". Our brains took a few seconds to catch up to what she was saying to us... so they were out for sale and now they are not quite yet for sale? But might be for sale later on. lol. She asks if we want to leave our phone number. Ahhhhhh, probably not. Somewhat frustrating after sorting through tons of records for 15 minutes and then to be told they are not selling right now. Shook our heads as we drove away... at least it will make a good story right? Hoarder maybe? People are strange.

[Chantel]

Some people are really, really weird with prices. Some stuff I can understand but some people just think their crap is worth a lot more than it is.

Can't believe she made you wait while pricing things out. Do it beforehand, omg.

[Minou]

Most garage sale items should sell for about 10% of their original retail price. People who want more for their items should post them on Kijiji or sell at an antique/collectible sale. Most of the point of a garage sale is to get rid of a lot of items you don't need very quickly.

What you experienced is ridiculous. Most of the time, if I encounter a garage sale with no prices and nothing I absolutely have to have, I walk away. Too often, people expect that you're automatically going to buy the item if you've asked for the price. I once asked a guy how much his Thomas videos were, and he asked, "How many do you want? One, or the whole lot?" I guess it would depend on the price! If they were $1 each, I might buy them all, but I might limit myself to a few if they were $2, unless they were something I really wanted. I think he came back with a number of $5 each, and looked like he fully expected me to buy them up! I think these people don't go to garage sales!

I helped with a fundraising garage sale once, and the organizer asked me to help price. They had had a whole table of stuffed animals donated, and she wanted to charge $2 each. Of course, she didn't realize that most people won't buy these secondhand, except for pet toys. Donated clothes (several tables piled with them) were going to be $2-$3 each. I reminded her that she wanted to clear the heaps of stuff during the 2-day sale. We marked the stuffed animals at $0.50 each, and the clothes to $1.00. People started buying a lot, and plenty was made for the charity. An added benefit was that a lot of low-income families in the area were able to buy lots of clothes for very little. While $1 vs. $2 is not a big difference when it comes to the cost of clothes, it is a huge difference in the psychology of garage sale hunters.

[luckbealady]

Some people are really, really weird with prices. Some stuff I can understand but some people just think their crap is worth a lot more than it is.

Can't believe she made you wait while pricing things out. Do it beforehand, omg.

My parents are not good at pricing things. I remember a yard sale we had when I was younger. They were selling an old suit of my dad's (at least 10 years old) for $100. In their minds, since it cost them a lot more than that and it was in excellent condition, that's what it should be worth. They couldn't grasp the fact that it was out of style, and was maybe worth $10. But at least they had the price on it while it was outside!

[Insane]

I totally suck at pricing for our garage sale. I fully accept people haggling though. My husband and I usually have disagreements about it. I feel like I'm wasting my time if I price everything at like 25c, 50c might as well just donate it. But I do try to have nothing over $5 because I feel like if you are at a garage sale, it's not to buy expensive items.

[loftywater]

We loooove going to garage sale because as my hubby says we like to bring other people's junk home lol. But yeah I don't like when there's no prices and when I ask its like "how much do you want for it?" It's like how about you just tell me a price instead of playing mind games here. Or when things are clearly way to over priced or everything their trying to sell is outdated and just plain gross IMO and shouldn't be having a garage sale at all! I went to one where this lady was selling a pack of pull ups that was half used for $10... Hmmm I am pretty sure it's that price brand new and full! Anyways we just thanked and left seeing how overpriced everything was.

[secheltsaver]

I don't think I'll have another one due to the rude hagglers at the last one.I had a shop owner trying to knock me down to a buck or 2 for most of the vintage glassware I had out.She finally stopped being so persistent when I said loudly that she wanted 30 for the same thing I was only asking 5 for and no I wouldn't take 2.50.Sheesh.I try not to go to them,because I love vintage glassware,and have tote boxes full since I moved into this little house.I don't need temptation,lol.

[SnowFlakey]

I love garage sales: both going to and holding. For the past 10 years we`ve held garage sales and they have always been successful. the key to this has been to advertise a few days in advance, letting friends and neighbours know and mark the entrance to your street with balloons. We price things moderately, if not cheaply, just to get rid of the stuff, but no matter how cheaply you mark your items, people always try to bargain. Thats the beauty of garage sales. Everyone does it, including me. I mean where else can you bargain for stuff? We never put prices on our items unless it is a big ticket item. Also if you want a certain price for an item, for example you want $5 for something, make the asking price $7 so that you can bargain. A few years ago, i picked up this ugly lithographe of a swan for a buck, because my friend said it would look great in our bedroom. When i got home and really checked it out, i found that it was signed and numbered. Checked it out on the internet and found that it was valued at a bit over $1,000. So you never know. Happy hunting.

[couponingtosurvive]

We had a good chuckle about this last night when it popped in our minds again. It wasn't a matter of haggling (we didn't even make it that far)... we just were told that she needed time to price them (as in a few days). Was odd to be sorting through records for 15 minutes and then they have to go inside to be priced my a mystery person, then wait another ten minutes and then be told that they are not really for sale today... but might be later if I want to leave our phone number. lol. That was a first!

[walkonby]

Yes, a waste of your time. I used to think people just wanted the " stuff " gone, as in purging the house to make space, but clearly some people have these garage sales to turn a profit at your expense.

So why did you not leave your phone number ??

[MagicalDreams]

Gosh, if they wanted to price it for what they felt it was valued at, perhaps they should have done it before they put it outside at a garage sale! I try to be reasonable when I price things, but it is really annoying when I place things up on Kijiji and people offer 10% of the cost, or come to pick up the item and then try to negotiate.

[mcon]

my family used to have huge garage sales (grandparents were thrift store hoarders, and people used to give them boxes of stuff to sell at flea market because they knew that my grandparents donate a lot of money to charity) and it wasnt junk stuff, it was quality merchandise

anyways they were huge , im talking 15+ tables full of stuff, the most expensive thing i think was $40 for a womans golf club set and bag.

our final sale we had, it was whatever we priced stuff at, next day we put everything half price, and if we really wanted to maximize we SHOULD have covered tables and just had "everything 25 cents each" the following weekend.

the worst was that clearly some people stole stuff because we would notice stuff missing when no one bought it.
also the scrap metals guys would pile up all those little brass statues and a brass clock, all individually priced maybe came out to $75, they would try to offer $10 for it all, was like ummmm..no...


pricing things at 25 -50 cents each DOES add up, we made around $300 a day (600 for whole weekend)

even though we made that much $$, there was still tons left,
boxes of books went to recycling
all the metal stuff left went to uncle that does the scrap metal thing
rest to different thrift stores

it saddens me to go to other garage sales that are full of junk (christmas decoration, old baby clothes, ratty kids toys)
^^ they will never compare to the ones my family used to have

[tjthemanto]

The key is to get rid of everything.

If you see someone walking away , you might as well give it to them for the price they want..otherwise its just going to lie around for ages ..and just keep on getting outdated carrying dust.

Forget selling stuff, just generating traffic and getting people to stop by at your garage sale is a huge achievement , so you want to maximize it and get rid of as much stuff as you can.

Never let anyone walk away empty handed, make sure they pick up atleast something ..one less item now left for you to sell

[krrosell]

I had a large moving sale before I moved to a different province. I had saved all of the stuff from my son since birth, incase we had a pregnancy in the family, but after 3 years there were no more, and it looked like none in the future. I had a major yard sale and only priced the expensive things. The toys and clothes were all .25-.50 each or $5 a box. I ended up hauling about 3 car loads to the salvation army after. Yard sales are so much work and I only made around $120 for the day. Was thinking about a day two but it was so crazy I just donated everything.

[smileyKT]

I picked up some yarn (a bag each of white and maroon) for $4 yesterday. Not sure if it was 10% of original retail price but I was very happy

I love going to garage sales but setting one up seem like so much work!