Yard Sale woes

[depechemodefan]

My mom died back in Nov. While she was alive she would buy stuff to use as merchandise in a shop (like knick-knacks, capodimonte items), but the best she could do was sell stuff in the flea market, and she never made rent that way.

So I decide to sell what I can and donate to a charity she donated money to. The plan is to go the flea market to sell or have a garage/yard sale with friends who live in neighborhoods that would get traffic.

Back in Dec. I went with my uncle to the flea market he was at, and got a table next to him. You can imagine the bs I had to put up with.

first guy wanted $15 worth of merchandise reduced. I offered the merchandise for $10 and added for free 3 clowns (said clowns will turn up latter in this story). He offered $3 for the merchandise and insinuated that I was never going to sell my stuff because it was too high.

Then latter a girl (maybe 10 yrs old?) came by asking for hangers for her mom's table. I already sold some clothes so I offered her a hanger and she takes it and walks away. did your mom or dad or anyone in your family teach you to say "thank you?" Either they did a bad job or else you are a shitty little girl. Then latter the girl comes back, wanting to sell me games for a DSI, which I don't own, and when I told her "no" she started to badger me. I asked her if she was the same girl who asked for a hanger, and she said, "no," but she went away.

I made $40 total that day. One guy got $1.50 worth of books but gave me $2 and told me to keep the change since he knows people at the flea market don't make that much.

Two days before Christmas, I had a garage sale with the woman who used to take care of my mom. I sold one doll to a woman for $1. This woman was a neighbor of the caretaker of my mom, so she hung around. Another woman (sc) comes by and wants antoher doll, which I was selling for $4. That woman thought it was too high. Then the neighbor shows the doll I sold to her and says it cost her a $1. SC starts to whine about wanting a doll for a $1, and won't shut the fuck up about it. Finally she leaves. Though I was pissed at the neighbor woman for starting this whole mess. Then a friend of my mom's caretaker comes by to sell plants. She asked for a better price for 3 Barbie dolls (in boxes) I was selling for $5 each. Of course, she didn't want to lower the price on the plants she was selling for me since "they were cheap enough as it were." Luckily I sold about $110 at this garage sale.

Today I had a yard sale with 2 aunts. One aunt (at whose yard we were doing the sale) lived in an expensive neighborhood. A guy wanted to know the price of a Barbie doll in a box-it had a huge sticker with the price on it right on the box One woman comes up, wanting to know the price for something. I told her $4 She then wants to know the price on a shell I had out, and of course the price ($2) is right on the shell. Can't miss it, it takes up the other halfof the shell. She wanted to know if I would take $1 for it. I told her I had to think about it. Then I told her sure. One of my aunts is telling her that I'm selling my dead mother's things. She is then ready to pay. So she is going to pay a total of $4. I tell her the total is $5.
SC: you told me you would give me this for $3.
me: I did not.
sc: you were taking things out of your truck and you said I could have it for $3.
me: If you did ask it was probably when I wasn't paying attention to you.
sc: I'll pay you $4, but it's wrong of you to change your mind on the price.
one of my aunts tell me not to argue with the customer
Now I don't rememeber her asking me if she could pay $3 for one item but I had my moment of doubt, so I caved in.
sc: Your mom there is also selling me x.

Um, you are mentally ill. How can you not remember the story my aunt told you about my dead mother? Or do you have selected hearing? The best I can think about this sc is she might have started to think she was going to ask me to lower the price but she did not ask, and she confused herself and believed she did ask me. But I think she likes to con people.

Remember the clowns in the first story? A woman bought them for $4. Also, another woman picked a bunch ofstuff. ONe cup had a price tag of $15 and she asked if I would lower it. It was a cup shapped like a clown's head. I gave it to her for $6. With everything she bought, her total was $18, but she gave a $20 bill and told me to keep the change So far I made $42 and I'm going back tomorrow.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Sorry to hear about your mom. I hope the sales go better for you as time goes on. I'm not a big personal fan of yard/garage sales but I have nothing against anyone else who wants to hold one or go to one. I will go to the flea market on occasion.

[depechemodefan]

Thanks. In general people have been nice, it's just, as usual, SCs have to show up.

I forgot a part of the story about the sc who claimed I told her an item was $3, not $4. The last thing she said was, "I'm buying this for a friend who likes elephants."

damnit, I thought to myself, just like work she had to add information that nothing to do with is going on. I felt she just had to get the last word.

Latter on, I realised I should have told her, "I'm raising money to give to my mom's charity. You kept $2 from starving people."

[Merriweather]

I sympathize with you, even something that most people do "for fun", like garage sales, has it's own share of SC's. It's great you're trying to get some money for charity, way to go

Hope you don't mind a thread-jack on the subject, I don't really have enough to start my own, I dont think.

I love garage sales - you just never know what you'll find. I look for a few things I collect, things other people I know collect, now and then I find a bargain on a household item I can use, and generally, just have fun seeing what weird and horrendous items other people have bought (I have a memtal list of "world's tackiest"), what outrageous prices some people think their things should sell for, etc. People tend to chat, they haggle a bit, it can just be fun (my granddaughter loves to see how many cats & dogs she can find to pet ). If it's being done for a charity, I don't haggle, and if I can afford it, I often give a bit extra. Otherwise, I will ask if someone will take less, and if they say no, I just smile and say something about "worth a try".

I have also had my fair share of garage sales too - every year or two I get the urge to clear out a bit (yeah, there's a pattern here, guess all of my garage sale purchases don't come in as handy as I think they will ) .Plus, having spent my entire life moving every few years, I think I have a built-in meter that simply won't allow me to accumulate past a certain point.

For the most part, I've had fun from the other side as well, but yep, the SC's are out there, even at garage sales. I think my oddest was a lady who bought a few scrapbooking stickers (total of about 50¢). Then sat in her car for 15 minutes. Then came back in wanting to exchange them for others, which I let her do. She then later emailed me (my ad had been on Craigs List) to say she'd evidently left a sticker behind, had laid it down while looking, and now wanted to come back to get it. She got really upset when I told her I had no idea if she'd left it, that stray items were everywhere, and I tidied up all the time, and sorry, nothing I could do. She went on and on about the whole thing, all over what had to have been a 25¢ or less sticker.
And of course there are the "hold this for me while I go get cash", who never return and you've missed another chance to sell it before you give up on them. Or those who argue on prices - ask me to take less, I usually will, but don't argue after that, please. Especially don't call me a liar over what it's worth or originally cost.

Oh, and around here, it's customary to have a box set out of free stuff for people to rummage thru - things of very low value that maybe someone can use, everyone glances through, takes an item or two if they want. I've had a couple of people drive up, walk over and pick up the free box, put it in their car and drive off before I can say a word. I know it's free, but that's both rude and selfish.

Oh, and for the record, awards to best marketing at a garage sale - a very chewed up, clawed apart desk chair, with the sign "unusual cat scratching post" And the most memorable tacky item - a coffee mug, with King Henry VIII and his wives - when you put hot coffee in, the heads of the wives disappear.

[KMMCurly]

And the most memorable tacky item - a coffee mug, with King Henry VIII and his wives - when you put hot coffee in, the heads of the wives disappear.

... I want that mug!

[Slave to the Phone]

Me too!

I love yard sales. I would never think to ask them to lower the prices on stuff, though. If they want more than I'm willing to pay, I just move on. Twice, I've found a rare book that was way underpriced. My first impulse was to pay the quarter and run, but my flipping conscience always stopped me, so I told the sellers. One person was rather rude and just snatched the book back while saying something about people always trying to rip him off. WTF?

The other lady thought that it was wonderful that I knew enough about archiac needlework patterns to identify the book and GAVE it to me along with a bunch of copied patterns, some thread and tatting spindles. She was going blind, couldn't see well enough to tat anymore and wanted someone who would appreciate them to have them.

[Argabarga]

The other lady thought that it was wonderful that I knew enough about archiac needlework patterns to identify the book and GAVE it to me along with a bunch of copied patterns, some thread and tatting spindles. She was going blind, couldn't see well enough to tat anymore and wanted someone who would appreciate them to have them.

That's kinda sad, but kinda awesome too

[Slave to the Phone]

A lot of crafty people are like that. They would rather give their prized stuff to someone who will use and appreciate it than to have their art die with them.

I pulled a real boneheaded move with that lady, though. I used one of her patterns and her thread to make her a bookmark. She was very gracious, it was only when I left that I realized that a blind lady had no use for a bookmark.

[sylvier]

Sad to hear about your mom's passing. My mom died a few years ago, and I held a couple of garage/estate sales. Got tired of the complainers and whiners very quickly, I think I got maybe $200 or so for all that trouble. Landed up taking most of her stuff down to value village, I was not up for round three with cheapskates. Pretty sure the VV workers got their first pick, but I was done.

[depechemodefan]

Today I had to stop to put gas in my truck at 5:50 am. A Jahova Witness came up to me, wanting me to have a magazine/pamphlet, and she said a few words about angry kids.

I had one shirt I was selling for $2. My aunt called my name, to get my attention, because a woman wanted it for $.50. I said, "$1," woman still wanted it for $.50. Then she called my name before she left, since she heard my name from my aunt "dmfan, $.50?" I told her no. An hour latter a woman countered my $2 price with an offer for $1, so I said yes to that.

I had some medical supplies from my mom's hospice care. I figured someone could use them, since she wasn't around long to use a lot of it. I had to pink containers (at the hospital, they have these pink containers that they use to wash people-maybe 16 in across x 6 in wide). I had 2 contaniers each with different supplies. One woman started to transfer items from one container to the other, so she wouldn't have to buy both contaniers-which were $.50 each . Not that she emptied one, just switchedout stuff.

Though one kid broke something and the mom did pay for it-Ididn't even see the kid break it. Though someone did steal some earings (still in the package) made with Swarovski Crystals. The day was kind of windy, so they kept on falling off the table. I kept an eye on them, but at one point I didn't and saw them wasn't on the table. I looked on the ground for it but never found them. Most likely stolen

Talking with my aunts, they were discussing a Swiss gentleman who rode his bikes to garage sales, always haggling. They knew where he lived, and his house was full of junk. He was kicked out of the house and it was destroyed and a new house was built there (though it wasn't his house in the first place). They haven't seen him in months. I tell him I know him, he is a regular at the library, and we know he goes to garage sales. We havn't seen him in months.

[Shalom]

Twice, I've found a rare book that was way underpriced. My first impulse was to pay the quarter and run, but my flipping conscience always stopped me, so I told the sellers.

I was at a town fair last summer, where along the main street people had booths where they were selling things. One lady with some antiques had a gorgeous Western Electric candlestick phone, and she didn't even have a price tag on it. She told me to name my price, but I told her honestly that I didn't have enough cash on me to pay her what it was really worth. I could have told her it was worth $10 and walked away with it, but I'm too honest for my own good sometimes. I just hope she didn't simply shrug and sell it to the next guy who offered her $10.

(I've also seen people on photo.net who troll yard sales constantly for used cameras, and often have to tell the sellers that they're asking way too little for some rare early Nikon or Leica rangefinder that ought to be priced at hundreds of dollars. True collectors are honest about pricing.)

[PepperElf]

personally i abhor arguing about prices at garage / yard sales.

the stuff's already marked down usually anyway. i mean sure sometimes it's overpriced (i'm talking about junk priced 20+) but... stuff that's clearly an awesome discount? the only thing coming out of my mouth would be "i'll take it!"


(except for charity, when i know it's for that. did that today at a garage sale for the shelter we got our doggy from. asked for a price and was asked what i wanted to pay. so i made a point of being generous.)

[manybellsdown]

And the most memorable tacky item - a coffee mug, with King Henry VIII and his wives - when you put hot coffee in, the heads of the wives disappear.

I knew I'd seen one of those at a local museum gift shop recently, so I went looking and found this: http://www.amazon.com/Unemployed-Phi.../dp/B001F1Z54Y

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I wouldn't actually mind going around to look at yard sales if I had a friend to do it with, and I'd only do it occasionally. I don't tend to buy stuff when I go, but if I found something special I might.

[Akasa]

A lot of crafty people are like that. They would rather give their prized stuff to someone who will use and appreciate it than to have their art die with them.

I pulled a real boneheaded move with that lady, though. I used one of her patterns and her thread to make her a bookmark. She was very gracious, it was only when I left that I realized that a blind lady had no use for a bookmark.

Here I have to disagree with you, the blind have braille books, they use bookmarks to mark their places in those books. I know, my best friend is blind.