Adventures in Having a Garage Sale

Hi kidz, it's me I'm back! I know it's been a week or so since I posted and that's cuz I've been busy, from having my own garage sale last weekend to traveling to Mom's in Arizona to having my birthday. The last was no big deal but it did take a day out of my life.

OK so I had my own garage sale because I wanted to get rid of some stuff. I have not had any sales yet on my sites and I just wanted some of my money back and to get rid of some of the more common stuff I didn't want to handle anymore.

So what about your own garage sale? Would you say that they are a good place to sell your stuff? Well....... not really, but in a pinch and you want some cash and you have all this stuff hanging around, then why not?! But you know what you want to find at garage sales, stuff that's dirt cheap! That's what other people want too, believe it or not. And that's what they will expect. However, you may have bought your stuff dirt cheap (at someone else's garage sale) but you sure don't want to sell it for dirt cheap what would be the point in that??????

Never mind that you fished a nice Bauer Swan out of the bottom of a box of dirty crap, paid 50 cents and took it home, washed it off and researched it and found that even with the chip it might be worth a few bucks. That counts for something. Especially since you are now offering it surrounded with many nice collectibles that also have some value. You bought this swan before you knew not to buy things that are chipped or cracked and because you could always use it as a flower pot. So you can get a few dollars and you can bargain right down to the ground if you want to.

So have you been wondering if you should have a sale and if so how and where? Well I decided to list on Craig's list in my area (avoid the high cost of buying an Ad in the newspaper) and say exactly what was for sale avoiding the words "Yard" or "Garage" in the listing. So here's where buying things very cheaply pays off...... you can price things reasonably and still make a little money. I made $200 in one day. The weather did not permit me to open on the second day. So if you wrote the cost of things on a little piece of tape and stuck it on the items as you bought them, you know what you need to charge for the item in your sale. Remembering that you need to pad upwards so as to be able to bargain downward.

Somethings I was able to make double or triple what I paid for it, and others I was able to get a dollar or two or three over what I had paid and others I just broke even. I did lose a little money on some items but only if I really did not ever want to handle the piece again in my entire life or the customer was buying several things and it was sort of a loss leader.

Just be prepared to bargain, give an inch but not a mile. And don't give things away even if people think you should. It's amazing, really how many people pay full price without even trying to bargain. Guess it makes up for those who think you should knock everything down by half or more! I had a very nice mid-eastern family come by late in the afternoon, boy can they bargain! And I was tired. I did give way for a couple of things but stood firm when the old man wanted me to give him two platters for $1 each when I wanted $2 and $3! Darn it! I told him "NO $1 $1", I said "$1, $2"!! He did not understand "Fire-King" and "Homer Laughlin"! The good thing you can get from having your own garage sale besides some money and not having to repack everything is a lesson in bargaining and how to say NO! Every single thing I have done on this journey of junktiquing has taught me something that is going to ultimately make me successful as a fine collectibles and antique dealer. This is my ultimate goal.

I hated to see some things go for the price knowing that they were worth more, but hey, it is a sale out of my garage and I wasn't having to post things online, it was cash and I didn't have to ship it. Also things are just not selling right now. I got rid of some nice cast iron skillets that were pretty heavy to move around and would never have sold online. One rather large skillet was about 12 or 13 inches across and I sold it for $10. I bought it for $3.33, so that was a win. I sold a small skillet with a lip (no sides, more like a round griddle with a handle) along with it and then I noticed that both my round griddles were gone. Hmmmmm..... they needed 2???!!! And only paid for one. Well what a shame. I did put a high price on my Griswold waffle iron and wasn't gonna budge from the $50 price as I KNOW it's worth more and am willing to wait until I can sell it online.

All my things were smalls. I don't handle big things like furniture as I've said in a previous post. I have a friend who made $700 in a 3 day garage sale recently. But a lot of her stuff is big and heavy and costly. She doesn't keep track of what she pays for things. So who knows how much was really profit?

So if you are thinking about giving your own sale but don't want to give stuff away in a garage sale, I say go ahead, but advertise it as a Collectible Sale or some such. And then put good bright signs up in the neighborhood that simply say "SALE" and if people want stuff dirt cheap then too bad.

I was going to post about buying from garage and yard sales and estate sales, etc, but I wanted to blog about my own sale while it was still in my head. Next time I will write about my experiences on where to buy stuff.

I am also doing a lot of research on e-commerce and will share what I am learning with you in upcoming blogs.

Tata for now!