Garage Sales

[iceman (Mike)]

Anyone had one of these before?

We had our first one today, after accumulating *loads* of baby furniture and kids toys over the last 7 years, it was time to get rid of some now that Abbey turns 2 in a couple of weeks.

Advertised in the paper, and with signs on the local roads nearby, start time of 8am.

7:15am the first few people turned up!! And then a steady stream until 8am on the dot when 6 cars pulled up!

I was told to beware of people coming before the start time, but I was very surprised! The "dealers" come early and grab handfuls of stuff, to go and on-sell later in 2nd hand shops, market stalls etc.

Had a fairly good day though, sold most of the stuff we wanted to offload.. a couple of strollers and the cot didn't sell unfortunately, but we can sell that thru the local paper at a later time.

What are your garage sale experiences?

I know some people got a bargain, probably could've asked for a bit more on some things, but then maybe it wouldn't have sold and you'd have to pack it away again at the end of the day. The idea of the garage sale is to get rid of it, so I was very flexible with prices

[matt]

Sounds like you had an interesting morning, mate. Sounds like you were fair with prices and that's no doubt the best policy if you want to offload your gear. I've never held a garage sale. Must be a strange feeling. Was it a weird feeling? Like being at the centre of a feeding frenzy??? LOL

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

My wife is the queen of garage sales Mike. She goes to them nearly every Saturday looking for books for her second hand book shop. I'm sure she is addicted.

We've had a couple and the one we made the most from was the one we had a sausage sizzle at. Also had tea and coffee for sale. The kids ran the tea and coffee stall and what they made they got to keep. I ran the sausage sizzle. We made a killing. Not just from the sausage sizzle, but because when people turn up they have often been out and about for a couple of hours, they are getting hungry, dying for a cuppa and a sit down (made up some stools out of logs). People are much more likely to buy something if their stomachs are comfortable and their caffeine levels are raised We probably sold 70+% of the garage stuff that Saturday

[Starkler (Geoff)]

I had one once. I found small trinkets are much more likely to go than big ticket items.
I had a certain ethnic gentleman wanting to haggle over the price of a perfectly good clock radio with a sticker price of $5

[Striker (Tony)]

Geoff I will give you $3 for the clock radio.

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

My experiences sound almost identical to yours. The curse of the garage sale - sometimes rude, in-your-face dealers rummage around your stuff at 7.00am as you set up for an advertised 8.00am or even 9.00am start.
One couple I talked to in Brisbane said that some dealers had turned up at 4.30am to their garage sale!!!
Everyone tells you to expect it - as it's the truth.

I did lots and lots of car boot sales - the UK equivalent - before we emigrated to Oz in 1996, and some guys would be looking into boxes in the boot of my car as I was unpacking. Still you're there to make a little cash, so you smile and accomodate them I'm afraid. The customer is always right!

I found that a lot of people expect you to give half decent goods away at ridiculously low prices though. A small cabinet that I couldn't get rid off to one guy for $5 went for $120 when I posted it on ebay!!!
They are lots of fun though - and help to fund the gear monster in all of us.
Cheers
Doug

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

garage sales/yard sales etc.

I have been in and helped out with literally hundreds of them. Always good fun if you have the right attitude...if you have the wrong attitude they can be horrible!

As 1ponders mentioned, the most succesful of them money wise I have been involved in always had some kind of food/drinks stand.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people have a need to haggle...it is a hoot! It is also amazing the nerve of some people trying to "scoop" your sale by turning up early...lots of fond memories...

Glad you had some success!

[asimov (John)]

Yeah, I've had 7 or 8 of them over the years. If they turn up early I tell them to bugger off & come back at the appropriate time if their seious. If you not serious, don't come back....see if I care lol.

I've had hagglers trying to knock me down on a dollar item, I solve that problem by grabbing that item & throwing it in the bin in front of them.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Pretty well the same here. Some years ago, after moving house, we collected all our unwanted stuff at the now empty old house. We advertised an 8:30AM start and got there at 7AM only to be confronted by a handful of fanatics who had arrived at 6:30AM and clouldn't understand why no one was at home. The thing that amazed us was the amount of money we raised, around $800 from stuff that we no longer valued. We did have a few items stolen as when the hoards arrived it was almost impossible to keep an eye on everyone.

[ving (David)]

never had a garage sale... we tend to use freecycle. you might want to consider it for your leftovers mike

[Mr Bob]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

My wife is the queen of garage sales Mike. She goes to them nearly every Saturday looking for books for her second hand book shop. I'm sure she is addicted.

If it werent for the Tasman Sea between us, I would swear we are both married to the same woman.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

You wifes a Kiwi too Bob, ay

[leon]

Hey Iceman
that's pretty nornmal at garage sales, you advertise 8.oo o'clock, they will be there at 6am, the dealers that is.

If you want to off load the cots, send them down to Vic..... Our baby shop.
we will sell them for you, we only charge 35% commision, you get the rest.

Bumble Bee baby Shop, The only one in Victoria, look it up.

Cheers, Leon

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Leon, thanks for the offer but the cost of postage would outweigh the benefits

Interesting to hear the same experiences of garage sales and the dealer frenzy! We got 1 dealer who came back later that afternoon and bought up most of the rest of the kids toys that were still left. So he was welcome

Good idea about the BBQ etc.. will keep that in mind for next time, but it won't be for another 10 years when the kids are all teenagers and we can get rid of all the kids stuff.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Yep, I have had quite a few of them too.
Same experience, you always get the early dealers & garage sale addicts !