Englishmum

Do any of you guys go to garage sales? I've only ever been to a couple to accompany my friends, but I've got enough junk of my own without acquiring other people's stuff! I can't believe the rubbish that some people try to sell - ancient shoes, dog-eared books, ugly paintings and broken lamps, crockery and costume jewellery (although I'm aware that there can be unknown treasures unwittingly sold and that old clothes cost a lot of money in the vintage shops).

My cousin's husband in Wales loves going to car boot sales and then sells stuff he buys on eBay. I often wonder how much stolen property is sold on at these events. I thought of him when I saw this report in today's Mirror online:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/...name_page.html

I think my aversion to going to these garage sales goes back to when I was a young girl and my mum making me go with her to the local jumble/rummage sales. It was all so chaotic and I couldn't believe that people would haggle over the price of a few items of clothing that they were buying for next-to-nothing in the first place. I would never let my mum buy me anything at a jumble sale, just in case the original owner saw me with their cast-offs LOL!

My friend is having a moving sale on Saturday and I'm going to help her out but I'm not looking forward to it....I don't think I have the temperament to deal with the hagglers LOL! Any hints or tips when I'm having to deal with bargain hunters trying to get something for (almost) nothing would be welcomed!

paddingtongreen

This might help.
http://win-edge.com/GarageSale.shtml

Pigtails

I love to have garage sales, but never enjoy going to them. It's amazing the things people will buy. All the stuff that I think will sell like hot cakes doesn't sell and all the crap that you think NO ONE in their right minds would buy, actually sells. It's very weird!

When it comes to selling, you have to have a fixed price in your mind that you're not willing to go below and stick with it no matter what. If something is $3 and they offer $1, counter with $2.50 (don't start out with the middle compromise - they will usually compromise first).

The other thing is - don't put the crap that doesn't sell back in your garage/basement - immediately put it in the car and take it to a charity!!

Pimpbot

I went to a car boot sale in Devon while on holiday with my folks back in the 80's. We all said we'd never go back ever again and I have kept my promise.

Taffyles

One big help is to stand at the door and watch- people steal. We had our first (and last!) garage sale when we moved from a huge 3500+ house to a smaller 1900. We had a ton of stuff. I organised and priced everything, advertised in the local paper. As advised, I enlisted the kids to help, one to take the money (and watch the money!) one to watch for people stealing. The sale was supposed to start at 9.30am on Sat and Sun- there were cars right up the street from 7 am waiting! I couldn't believe it. Finally opened the garage door at 8 and they were like a swarm of locusts- these were the professional ones to get the first pickings- they were quick and easy to deal with though (except for two people fighting over an inlaid box), knew what they were looking for, picked what they wanted quickly, haggled a bit over the prices and moved on (probably to another sale elsewhere). For a few hours it was fun. Then came the other lot - people trying to get as much as they could for a dollar, neighbours coming in for a nose, people out to socialise- some asked to look round the house, LOL. When I was busy haggling over a price and the place was crowded, my daughter caught two people pocketing stuff and leaving.
So someone to just stand and watch is a great help because it can get very crowded and hectic. The haggling got really tiresome - not over the big stuff, you expect that, but when people want money off something that's priced 10 cents, it gets ridiculous. And if you refuse to budge, they want something else thrown in for the 10 cents. A handful of people will just pay the price as marked, they're a joy but rare.

A couple of things I found which might be handy to know- some people will pick up a few items and offer you one price for the lot (so do have everything marked with a price). Also I had big boxes one for paperbacks, one for talking books, CD's and so on and just marked the box- 50c each. One person picked up the whole box of talking books (marked a $1 each) and offered me $15 for the lot. I hadn't counted how many were in there and was in such a rush at that time (there was a queue waiting to pay for stuff) I just accepted. Hubby told me later there must have been easily 30 books in there. So be prepared for that sort of thing.

We made about $750, but by mid morning Sunday I'd had enough and closed the garage door- bagged up what was left and donated it to Goodwill (and with the help of'Its Deductible" claimed about $1500 on my tax return for the leftovers). No more garage sales for me! Good luck!

Elvira

I feel one should approach garage sales with an "I am getting rid of unwanted stuff without the bother of having to take it to the thrift store/dump" attitude - rather than with a view of making money.

I know it seems petty when someone starts to haggle over a few pennies, but I think a lot of people just offer a little less because they see it as the "done thing". It's kind of a formula: asking price is $2, they offer $1, and you agree on $1.50...

Having said that, I'm not a garage sale veteran, but I did hold the mother of all yard sales before moving to the US, so I have a little experience...

Dimsie

I'm not a fan of garage sales in general, and I didn't ever go to a car boot sale in the UK. However, once a year in the town where we live now they have a tradition to hold what they call "The World's Bggest Garage Sale" when most folks in town take part. It took place about a month ago on a day when the temp reached 100! I was dragged around a selection of these flippin' sales, and, as you say, what a load of rubbish most people try to sell!
We tried the "posh" area of town to see if we could find any treasure there - and in most cases the stuff was much the same as in the poorer areas.

We did find one treasure though, in the garden of a large house a couple had some paintings and wall hangings in the front yard under the trees. I spotted something which I liked and chatted to the man about it. It turned out that he is a retired oil man who had worked all over the world and the item I liked came from Borneo - a large framed "kalaga" - a special kind of tapestry. Just the thing for our house! I bought it, and love it!

Taffyles

I think its much much easier to take all the stuff to Goodwill - all you need is some black bags. They even unload it for you at the store, give you a receipt and you can claim fair market value for everything you donate on your tax return and you know the stuff is going for a good cause.
All the organising that goes into garage sales and haggling with people who very often are wanting to sell your stuff on (in second hand shops or ebay) for personal profit- too much hassle for an unsatisfactory end.

eurotramp

I love car boot sales....I have a box in the basement and anytime I find something in the house that I don't need anymore I put in that box.
I really don't go there to make money, its just a bit of fun and leaves me with a bit of cash for things I don't need anymore.

CaliforniaBride

Hire a dumpster.

Guelder Rose

[QUOTE=EnglishmumI think my aversion to going to these garage sales goes back to when I was a young girl and my mum making me go with her to the local jumble/rummage sales. It was all so chaotic and I couldn't believe that people would haggle over the price of a few items of clothing that they were buying for next-to-nothing in the first place. I would never let my mum buy me anything at a jumble sale, just in case the original owner saw me with their cast-offs LOL!
[/QUOTE]

As a teenager I was so tired of having to wear my sister's old clothes that I was more than happy to go to jumble sales ... other peoples old clothes were preferable to my sister's, especially when the clothes at the jumble sales were more fashionable. My sister was a few years older than me and I remember having to go to school in a mini skirt when the fashion was below the knee ... not nice!

I've seen a lot of garage sales where I live but I don't go to them ... just don't like the idea of buying my neighbours junk.

mandpete

I have never had a garage/car boot sale and have only ever been to one in the UK.

When we moved here I gave all my unwanted stuff to family, friends and charity shops. I spent 2 days travelling to and from a local charity shop. A heavily pregnant young woman stopped me the day after I took all my baby stuff to the charity shop and told me she had seen me taking it in the shop and had bought everything I had donated. Her husband had left her and their two children and she didn't have much money to buy things. I felt really happy knowing that some of my unwanted things went to a good cause.

I also donate all my unwanted things here to the Vietnam Vets because it's the only charity that collects regularly in this area.

Perhaps if we move back to UK I will have to have a garage sale.

Bob

Been to a few, on a nice summers day, something fun to do and then have a picnic...can find some fun things, normally glass ware for nice ashtrays and stuff, but it seems everyone is trying to give up smoking, so ruled that out for presents...and you never know, might find a fun treat....if not, you'll certainly find the bootleg gear

snorkmaiden

I've only been to one. The first year we moved here my parents were over visiting and one afternoon we got to the school a bit early to pick up the kids. My dad spotted a sign for a moving sale and made me drive around to it. The garage was around the back of the house, so you had to pull into their drive to look, and I felt really embarrassed going to look through someone's stuff just to occupy some time, and didn't really want to do it, but my dad told me to "get out of the bloody car" with that face that dad's get sometimes, the "for god's sake it isn't going to kill you" face.

It was raining so they hadn't sold much and they had two reclining chairs in great condition, (they looked like they'd barely been used) for $50 each. I bought them, picked up the kids up from school and took them home, took the seats out of the mini van and went and picked them up. Two and a half years later they are still in great nick and absolutely fantastic for lazing in while playing games etc ;-)

Elvira

I tried that too. Made numerous deliveries to ALL the charity shops within miles, but still found myself with tons of stuff to shift (having lived in the same house for nearly 20 years... )

In the end, the charity shops refused to take more of my stuff - hence the mega-yard-sale, which went on for about 3 weeks. Much of the time I would just leave stuff outside, with a note to knock on the door if somebody wanted something. Amazingly, hardly anything got nicked!! (And this was London!!! )

4 years on, we have acquired so much stuff, it might be time to have another yard-sale...