posted on August 22, 2002 10:58:46 AM new
I am speaking of the weekend competition. I live in a modest upstate community (about 100,000 between our 4 or 5 cities) You can be from one end of the county to the other in about 1/2 hour. There is a mixture of upscale, new, housing to old Itialan neighborhoods. There is tons of great attic finds and I have no problem making about $1000 a month doing ebay as strictly a hobby, 15-25 auctions a week. The problem is this: You'd better be an expert at leftovers because by 9am the garage sales have been trampled. Garage sales are my main source for goodies and everybody elses goodies as well. Winter puts a 5 month hold on any kind of buying. The competition is flat out fierce. I have even found myself road-racing the competition putting responsible drivers at risk just to be at that certian slae first. Is it like this where you live?? I am thinking of getting a Corvette or something hot so I can slide around like a snake in a rathole, my 4x4 Toyota Tocama works good but it's a little clumsy in the corners!! lol...
posted on August 22, 2002 11:08:45 AM new
"....and everybody elses goodies as well."
It may seem that way to you but I have never sold a thing I bought at a yard sale since Oct 1998 when I started on eBay. I buy direct from collectors or auction houses and sell that on eBay. Your way likely produces more profit but my way is more stable. Good luck to you
posted on August 22, 2002 11:24:33 AM new
If I were you I'd be holding a garage sale a couple times a month. Around here I don't see a customer until 2pm. The garage sales around here are pathetic, seldom anything good.
posted on August 22, 2002 12:30:02 PM new
my best garage sale finds have been nearer the end of the sale. and I have had some very nice finds.....6 slot car sets for $30.00...sold for well over $400.00.
most garage sale hunters refuse to look under the dust for anything...they want it spic and span and in a collector book somewhere
look closely at what they are walking past, you will be surprised what is there.
my first really good find was an antique library globe...it was set in a wood base and looked very dusty and dirty. when I looked at it the woman holding the sale told me that it lit up...the large globe was made of glass. she wanted $3.00 for it and i couldn't pay fast enough. that was before my ebay days but it sold for almost $350.00 at a local auction house. This was the third and last day of the garage sale.
at a yard sale i spotted a chairside console radio from the 30's. the lady said quite a few had looked at it but she wasn't sure if it worked or not....price was $10.00. I took it home and it worked fine....sold on ebay for $265.00. hubby was upset about packing to ship it to Texas though LOL!
since garage sale hunting is a fun hobby for me it makes finds like these extra special.
just yesterday I found 6 bar beer advertising lights for $20.00. they all need cleaned but what's a little elbow grease?
posted on August 22, 2002 05:44:44 PM new
I live in an area where from March to Oct there may be as many as 100 3 day yard sales every week.
I don't even bother getting up early.
I found that the items left over sell just great.
And by the end of the day most people will take anything to get it out of their yard.
During the week I browse the papers and route out my trail for the weekend.
Never in a rush!
And I have a local auction house the runs 2 times a week year around.
Never worry where to find things.
posted on August 22, 2002 06:40:26 PM new
hubby works nites,we are always at sales late in the day,just cannot get up early. we save tons of money this way,not planned but works well. we can get boxes of stuff for one price the people don't want to put it away or take to goodwill.The last few hours on the last day of a moving sale are the best for deals of course,trailer park & church fundraiser sales are the best for super low priced deals around here.
you are right about the dusty stuff,bought a box of books for 10.00, in the bottom looked like a white napkin,,of course i checked it was 1800's Map sold for i think around 75.00 on ebay to a university.the professor was having a special frame made for it,had looked for it over 20 years..you never know remember many of those people speeding to get the stuff may not even be interested in the same items as you are..
chill & have fun,drive careful & save money..LOL
[ edited by timetravelers on Aug 22, 2002 06:42 PM ]
posted on August 22, 2002 06:43:06 PM new
This is a small mountain community in Southern California. Perhaps one yard sale in the good months per day on the weekends, but we have a community-wide yard sale event on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. Perhaps 15 or 20 of them, makes me crazy because I can't get to EVERY ONE before everyone else! We don't have trampling, exactly, but there are a few of us who arrive about 15 minutes early to the good ones. I've found lots of stuff to sell on ebay and to help furnish our places. Ditto for an auction house down the mountains about 40 minutes away.
posted on August 22, 2002 07:06:04 PM new
I use to be one of the early risers to the estate and rummage sales until I realized that when the dealers get the top off the goods there is still more interesting things below. I now sleep until about 8:30 and then if I feel like it I go out, if not I visit the Thrift shops and I find really neat items at very low prices. Two weeks ago on a late Sunday Morning I stopped at the Goodwill and found a gold mine in the Jewelry Department. Nothing was pure gold but the signed pieces were great and the prices right. I am not breaking my neck any more to be pushed and shoved by jerks. I know I told the story about the rummage sale my daughter and I had. I purchased a painting that the neighbor lady put in for $5.00. Searched for the artist on the internet and he had a similiar painting for $450. You never know what is under your nose. Drive Carefully....
posted on August 22, 2002 07:57:21 PM new
Wow, you folks are kidding right?? If I got out of bed @ 8:30am not only would I make NO money, it would cost me what I used in gas!! A garage sale ad that says 9am means 7:30am here in NY state. Somehow I had a feeling there was more need&greed here than other places. My wife and I were in Rutland VT back in may. We got up @8am, went to a convience store where I purchased a newspaper and a street map. We casually looked up several of the streets that garage sales were on and I casually made $450 on a box of Atari games (mixed in was a Colecovision system & 52 games) I paid $20 for. The lady even threw in a super spirograph set that I pulled $55 out of. One of the Atari games (earthquest Waterworld) went $257!!! I gotta get out of this town!!
posted on August 22, 2002 09:08:52 PM new
Last week I went to one that started at 9 (It was 8:45) and I was told they were closed, and not open til 9 - wow, did they think they were the mall? Nothing there anyway, but still...
I've found good things early, the middle of the day, and late. Sundays are nice for 3 days sales, because they sometimes go for 50% then, making a so so deal a much better one.
What I am doing is trying to specialize in a couple of different areas, and know what will sell so that if the person has it out at a price many consider high, it has a better chance of sticking around.
My best buy last week was a Nintendo video game system and 25 games for $20 - I sold one of the games by itself for about $12, not bad!
posted on August 22, 2002 10:14:29 PM new
In my area, it seems folks have realized eBay-ers search the garage sales for re-sale items and are putting ridiculous prices on things! I bought a couple of things last year...paid $10 for one item and, after 2 relistings on eBay, finally got $5.00 for it. I'm obviously doing something wrong!
posted on August 23, 2002 02:33:01 AM new
blueeyes, I find many of those high priced sales too. I told one lady to enjoy her trip to Bermuda. She said "huh", i remarked that "with these prices you have to be planning something like that"
When I see prices that are too high, I just turn around and go back to my car. If their stuff means that much to them, let them keep it.
posted on August 23, 2002 08:39:29 AM new
I read all these stories of last-hour yard sale finds and can only say, "not in my area (NC)." A pack of ravenous wolves is the best way to describe the yard sale crowd around here. Everybody's now an ebay expert.
And don't get me started about the dealers who get in a day ahead.
posted on August 23, 2002 01:14:43 PM new
In my area which is Kentucky,alot of people think they have something which is a Gold Mine and they put a price on it higher that you could get anywhere.Very seldom do I get an item I could make anything on,best example is the 127 yardsale.I buy most of the stuff I sell on E-Bay from companies at wholesale.I know you get the Powersellers selling the same items with the BS ads and high shipping that will tell you anything to get you to buy from them,buy I do O.K. being honest and telling the truth.
posted on August 23, 2002 03:11:00 PM new
I hardly ever go to garage sales. I always read them in the paer on Thursday, & if says china,(not dishes) I might go. Otherwise most of the stuff is pure junk. I buy all of my things at estate sales & auctions. There are enough of those to keep going in circles. This weekend there are 2 huge estate sales & one 2 day auction & a Sunday Auction. What is a guy to do??? BTW, I live on the Central Coast of CA (Santa Barbara County). We have garage sales 12 months of the year.
[ edited by sanmar on Aug 23, 2002 03:21 PM ]
posted on August 23, 2002 05:25:46 PM new
we get on Saturday mornings at 4:30 AM (my husband, our two kids and myself) and leave the house at 5:00 AM and drive 45 minutes to a neighboring town that is a gold mine for what we sell on Ebay. The last two years were fine but this year the competition has gotten fierce. There are 4 other specific familes who we have to watch out for- all of them sell on EBAY- all of the! And of course they are looking for the same line of items we are. A lady who was having a sale was setting up and we asked her if she would have anything from this specific line we were interested in and she oh yes and pulled an item out of a box she was un packing and as she was pulling the item out of the box we said oh - we will buy it and it was lovely (and worth about $300 at christmas time) one of the competition who we hadn't seen came in a side door and asked the lady if he could see that piece we had spoken for and grabbed it out of her hands and before we could say anything- the reached in pocket and grabbed out $3 and with the item in his hands ran out the door of the garage and zoomed away in his car. All the woman said was -" Oh my wasn't that akward" every week I see that guy I bad mouth him- what a jerk. The week before that another lady we sells on Ebay also our competition pushed our daughter 6 years old into a table to get to an item and with the force of the push on my daughters back and force of her hitting a table full of stuff- knocked her little glasses right off her face onto the floor. So now when ever I see that woman I call her a name under my breath but I know I can't post that word here. That is what competition is like in Minnesota.
posted on August 23, 2002 09:10:01 PM new
What part of Minnesota?
I think I would like to spend at least two months in the Phoenix area, Sun City, Sun City West and Sun City Grand. What a gold mine there. I was there for a week two years ago and we went out T,F & S. To many garage sales to count and at least 10 estate sales. You people in Phoenix are lucky but I imagine it is like that in any senior community.
posted on August 24, 2002 10:35:59 AM new
I remember in the early days, when I had yard sales myself... A$$holes would start ringing my bell at 6.00 AM, asking if I had any gold to sell. Back then, I liked to sleep in on a Saturday, and I learned to borrow my neighbor's dog to keep them away...
Ah, memories!
"And All Shall be Well, and All Shall be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall be Well"
posted on August 24, 2002 08:07:11 PM new
We have GREAT yard sales, tag sales, estate sales, rummage sales and contents auctions here all the time on Philly! Yes, the competition can be tough but there are so many ways to shop that if something does'nt work out, there is always somewhere else to buy that week.
I buy all of my merchandise at these sales and auctions. This city is full of old houses and old contents, and it is sold for pennies on the dollar. I went to an estate sale last weekend. First thing I spotted when I walked in the door was a 12" Weller Woodcraft wall pocket! It's in the shape of a tree with an owl peering out of a hole. How much? $15.00!!!! ( That's FIFTEEN not Onehundred fifty) there was so much GOOD old stuff that I stayed there rooting around for an hour, left to go home and have some breakfast, stopped at MAC for more money, went back to the same sale and still found GOOD OLD stuff to sell. And it always sells! I LOVE IT!
posted on August 24, 2002 10:37:39 PM new
Around here if your not up at 5:30 am to be in the "rush" of other old timers doing the yard sale thing then you'd better stay in bed.@ 8:00 no yard sales are going on they are early and end early people start packing up around 15 till 8.No joke LOL
posted on August 25, 2002 04:05:37 PM new
Ha!! Just as I suspected, there is other towns in other parts of the country where it is fast, furious and cut-throat. Dont give up, you'll just make it easier for all those other "Jack-ass'es"
