Some fun at my garage sale

[jerrykr]

Had a garage sale last week-end to get rid of some of the usual stuff.

I set out a couple of my project bikes to attract attention, and they did attract a LOT of attention.

The look on people's faces when they asked a price and I said $400 on the red one, and $200 on the other one, was priceless!

I did sell a Pacific Schwinn 10 speed for a small profit, nice, because the only thing I did to it was cut the rusty chain off of it.

 

[Rat Rod]

And you could hear them mumbling under their breath as they walked away...."This guy's been watchin' too much American Pickers." :lol:

 

[kingfish254]

The thing is, people expect yard sale prices at a yard sale. If it was on CL they would consider it, but you're in a different mindset when you go saleing.

Of course even on CL you get bold buyers. I had a Trek for $330 and a guy told me, "If you get stuck with it, I'll take it off of your hands for $150." First, I told him I don't get stuck. Then 4 days later when I sold it for asking price, I sent him an email letting him know it was no longer available and that I got full asking price. Now that was priceless.

 

[scrumblero]

The thing is, people expect yard sale prices at a yard sale. If it was on CL they would consider it, but you're in a different mindset when you go saleing.

I'm guilty too. I expect people to be trying to get rid of stuff they dont want at garage sales., not their good stuff.. :roll:

 

[user 135]

I had my first and last garage sale this last spring. We had the whole line up of junk to lots of good stuff.

I tried to sell a couple of bikes with the same results.

 

[jerrykr]

I just set 'em out to attract attention, (re-read my thread title-- fun!).

I had absolutely no expectation that anyone would whip out $400.
(if they had, they would have gotten a sweet deal on the red bike).

The Schwinn at $25 was the highest price item that I had and that I sold.

Almost everything else was $1.00, and I sold a bunch at that price.
I remember the first garage sales in my area years ago. Most items were 10-25 cents. --- Inflation!

I had one guy trying to buy my EZ-Up, but I wouldn't take his offer.

Come to think of it, I had one guy, a local builder, who was interested in buying my House! :mrgreen:

Around here, garage sale mentality on both sides, the seller and buyer is:
Gather up all the stuff to go to Goodwill.
Price it much lower than Goodwill is going to.
What does not sell, take it to Goodwill and donate it.
Everybody wins, except Goodwill does not get the "good stuff".
.

 

[partsguy]

The last garage sale we had was a bust and we will never have another. We moved into a new house and all kinds of junk to get rid off and we went two weekends in a row and sold maybe $10 worth of stuff. We actually took a terrible loss. All of our time burned up for $10. Thats only 2 gallons of gas!

whenever I go to garage sales, if I see baby stuff in the drive way, I keep on going. If I see any mention of the word "baby" in the ad, I don't go. Whenever that word is mentioned, it is a couple in their 20's with all kinds of junk. Seems like that is all I see anymore. This year I scored a few items, but nothing really hit big. Heck, you don't even find HOT WHEELS at garage sales anymore. The last Redlines I found were several years ago. I think the days of the 25 cent Redline are far gone. I love American Pickers, but people are pricing thier junk at TV prices. That is TV, NOT real life. Notice how they always say "valued at" or "appraised at". They almost never say "sold for".

The last big hit I got was in 2009. I bought a whole mess of parts for 1957-1966 T-Birds for $20. A Western Flyer Wildcat, 1987 Schwinn Freeform EX, and a bunch of parts for $10. I honestly wish I knew Michael Jackson was on his farewell tour then, otherwise I would have snapped up all the rare MJ stuff they had! The irony is, this was two weeks before his passing and sure enough, the guy's niece pulled everything. I scored a bunch of very hard to find Hot Wheels items as well, models, Streex, Color FX, and playsets all factory sealed. I also scored a 1983 BW still on an unpunched card. Anyhow, from that sale alone, as a sophmore in HS, I made $400 on the car parts alone. Thats not counting the car parts and other antiques.

 

[jerrykr]

Garage sales can be really hit-or-miss.
Most people in my area are younger couples with kids, so lots of baby stuff and lots of tiny bikes their kids grew out of.
90% of the adult bikes are dept store MTBs.
I did pick up the Haro I have in fresh finds, but It's probably not worth much either.

 

[cosmickid]

If I go to an Estate Sale I expect to pay current value for things
if I'm at a yard/garage sale and I see ebay prices, I walk away.

 

[partsguy]

If I go to an Estate Sale I expect to pay current value for things
if I'm at a yard/garage sale and I see ebay prices, I walk away.

I expect to get a good deal have some meat left on the bone, thats been the point of a yard sale even back in the days of the cave man.

"Ug. Me Dave trade 5 nut for stone and stick"
"deal"
"Sucker. Me Dave just buy hammer"

:mrgreen:

 

[Slingshot Dude]

last summer, i walk up to a subdivision house and a kid walks up to me(about 6 years old) and asked if i like hottwheels cars. i said yes and he told me they were 25 cents each. there was a cardboard box full of reline hotwheels. i bought a couple only because the rest were smashed up and painted with nailpolish! he told me he painted them as his "DERBY CARS"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!