Craigs List - sell or find almost anything here.
See More Live Deal Stuff for Sale! List your goods here, too.
Garage Sales Bring Out the Oddities in People
Free and Easy Fundraiser for Your Childs School - elementary, junior or middle, and high schools
<
Garage Sales Bring Out the Oddities in People By P. Roe, Home Ideas We had a neighborhood garage sale, and not being an expert in such, I didn't quite know what to expect. Well, I sure learned a lot! Fridays are the days the "professional" garage sales forces are out to get the best of the selections at hopefully bottom dollar to re-sell at the flea market or other places. They will haggle you for your goods with insulting offers! There are many regulars that go out for fun, as well. They just want a bargain, and don't try to cheat you but they have fun with bargaining. Try to counter that before they do throw in a bonus if they buy a certain item at your price! Make sure you price your items competitively - garage sales are supposed to have huge bargains. After all the stuff is supposed to be "used" or "useless to you" so people expect LOW prices. If you have other "new" and unused items, you can try to get a higher price for them, but make sure you have lots of small ticket items of people will take a quick glance and leave. There will be many that drive by and think they can spot if you have what they want. Be sure to place your best offers and whatever you know is more popular or what you may have in bulk (several of the same items) out in plain site for those drivers to see. One guy came and told me "I am looking for elephants my wife collects elephants." Well, I had no elephants, but in speaking nicely to him, he decided to peruse a bit, and bought a few videos for his kids. Another guy came and commented: "Bet you have all boys" and then "Bad guess, right?" I had lots of girl clothes out, no boy clothes but we built a little rapport. There were some really low looking types that came around you might make sure you keep your really valuable things plainly in your site. Do try to interact with them, though, because some will be very nice and will buy they are just dressed down for the day. If you have a firm price keep to it if you would rather keep the item. Perhaps you can find a use for it or know someone who would like it for a future gift. Or since it would make an awesome "white elephant" you really would like to use it at a future party. If you do this store it where you will remember where to find it later! If you really just want to get rid of an item, then drop the price in order to just sell it. Why haggle over a price if you are ready to donate it anyway, unless to donate it makes you feel better than giving it away? There were kids who were given money to do their own shopping let them handle their own transactions with you. They'll have fun trying it for themselves. Then throw in a fun item you just want to get rid of. They'll be back! One guy came over, looked at my stuff from his truck, then stared at the trash across the street. He came over and walked around my stuff, and then went back to the trash across the street. He asked how much they would want and I told them I thought they were throwing it away but he might want to ask them. He rang the doorbell and asked if he could have their trash they said fine with them! So, he took it! Oh, well. Our next door neighbor brought his grill over just to get rid of it he put a "FREE" sign on it. No one wanted it until another neighbor's daughter came by and needed a grill. She decided she would come back to get it later. We took the sign off and replaced it with "SOLD" guess what? After that we got a LOT of people asking if they can buy it! Hmmm maybe we should put "SOLD" on a few more items??? One great thing to do is to set out toys for kids to play with so they will stay in your yard playing while mom looks over your things then they won't knock things over or have a tantrum because they see something they want. It will keep them occupied and give mom a chance to look and to think about what she wants to buy. Saturday is a typically slower day, and a day people expect you to drastically drop your prices. Be ready to bargain to clear out your stuff, unless you want to keep any of it. If you have kids, let them set up a lemonade stand next to the garage sale. They'll have fun and will probably make some sales. Above all keep a sense of humor while running your garage sale. Build relationships. People will come back or tell their friends to come over.
|
