posted on June 8, 2003 03:52:46 PM new
I live in a moderate sized city in NY state. There is about 120-140 garage sales listed weekly right here in town. The last 6 weeks or so I have been bookmarking garage sales from some nearby cities 50-60 miles away, and boy do they read nice. Many of them are in the greater Scranton PA area, a wonderful area rich with great collectibles. Is driving an hour to far? I just have that feeling that if I leave town all of my competitors are left behind. I realize I will be among a whole new group but I dont know them so it dosent bother me. I have been doing really well down there and I can make it there in about 50 minutes. Sometimes the streets get a little confusing but I havent got completely lost yet! I need a fresh hunting area and this seams to be it. Too Far?
posted on June 8, 2003 04:37:38 PM new
It's great that you're thinking outside the "box" of your home area.
Something we have used with some success when we are outside our home area is this:
We have DeLorme's Street Atlas software loaded on one of our laptops. It comes with an EarthMate GPS, so the program always knows where we are. One of us drives, the other one inputs our next destination and the map shows us how to get there.
I think the software/GPS combo was about $100 for the Mac when we bought it, but admittedly we are pretty geeky to start with.
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posted on June 8, 2003 04:56:29 PM new
I don't garage sale. Maybe I am the only one on this Board who doesn't do it. But my philosophy on life is that you don't know unless you try, and you can apply this philosophy to your question. If you think of something different, then try it. If it doesn't work, learn from it. If it does work, then hey, you have learned new skills and increased the profitability of your eBay business.
I know with friends who garage and estate sale in large cities, they select the high income neighborhoods with a higher percentage of retired people as having the best pickings. Call up the people you know who live in that city, and ask them where these neighborhoods are.
posted on June 8, 2003 05:05:07 PM new
Sounds like you are in the Binghamton area (I used to live there when I was a grad student at SUNY) - I don't think an hour is too far to go if you have better pickings. When things get really into season here (just about now) I will garage sale two days in the area, and then on the third day cross over into Washington and give it a try. It is generally about 20 miles to the area that I go to - Not as far as 60 miles, but still a different area. I haven't found it to be better, but at least I can see different sales...
posted on June 8, 2003 05:31:46 PM new
I don't garage sale shop either unless they are very near my home. I consider a swap meet or flea market to be nothing but a bunch of garage sales grouped together with a bunch of pro sellers and I prefer hitting those weekly events instead. I have horrible luck at the few garage sales that I do hit every year. I think people quit giving to the GoodWill these days and instead have a garage sale. Of course, the GoodWill won't even accept most of the stuff you see at garage sales.
