garage sales

[frankster]

We've got to have a garage sale this Sunday to try and sell all the crap that we can't afford to ship back to the UK. I've done car boot sales in the UK before, but not a garage sale in america. Who's done one before? any advice? Should I even bother to price everything up with stickers or just do the asking, haggling nonsense. Urgh, I can't wait for a load of people to rummage through our stuff and offer us 10cents for it. Pissweasels!

[Drazan]

There's three different ways I've seen it done.

1) price everything - time consuming annoying and half the stickers don't stick anyway.

2) color code dots - and a chart what things are.

3) table tags "everything on this table $1"

Don't expect people to pay a lot at garage sale - advertise it as a moving sale instead. People expect better items and to pay a bit more in a moving sale.

Good Luck!

[Drazan]

BTW - if you donate stuff to a shelter or goodwill, make sure you get a receipt - it's tax deductable in the US.

[PrintDriver]

The early birds are killers. They come an hour before your chosen time and quibble you to death while yer trying to get things done. Price the nite before and be ready for em.

I've also had people wait in their cars across the street for the end of day FreeStuff sign to come out. They load most of it into their trunk and I don't have to take it to the dump.

For some reason a lot of yard-salers hate those two groups of people. I think they are great. You can unload junk on both of em. LOL!

[frankster]

Thanks for the advice guys and gals. I'll put it up as a moving sale since there is going to be furniture and electricals not just old toss. I like the colour coding idea, seems less hassle. The freestuff sign won't be going out at all though. I'll be carting the leftovers to the goodwill and the furniture will go to another accepting charity.

[cornfed]

My husbands grandmother used to hosts these huge family garage sales every year. We put little white stickers. Early birds paid extra. We always let the kids set up a lemonade stand, too. It kept them busy and made them money too!

[urstwile]

I know you don't have a whole lot of time, Frank, and perhaps you've already thought of this, but you might want to back the garage sale up with a Craig's List posting as well.

There's also freecycle.org for the stuff you're willing to donate, but again, in a time crunch, it might not be the best solution, just maybe a backup solution.

[fredrich]

Why don't you just blow things up and film it?

[frankster]

Why don't you just blow things up and film it?

I'll try and blow something up for you. Maybe the giant teletubby?

[Ned]

You have a giant Teletubby!?

How much? I buy!

[frankster]

trust me, you don't want it. Well, unless there's someone you really hate that you want to give a present to. One miiiiiiiillion dollars! (o.b.o.)

[Riya]

My advice for garage sales.... Make sure you have plenty of cold drinks and a comfortable place to sit.

[fredrich]

I'll try and blow something up for you. Maybe the giant teletubby?

That is definetly a good idea.

[Neballer]

I love garage sales! I bought my canoe at one.

[Ned]

You have a canoe?

How much? I buy!!

[MyST]

trust me, you don't want it. Well, unless there's someone you really hate that you want to give a present to. One miiiiiiiillion dollars! (o.b.o.)

Ned does, as a matter of fact.:D

[Ned]

You got that right, MyST!! :mad:

[Navian]

Don't forget, to make sure you have enough change to break semi-large currency bills.

[Neballer]

You have a canoe?

How much? I buy!!
No dice Ned, plus I've got to get it back from the city first. :D

[TheBluePanda]

My parents used to have the best garage sales.. they buy expensive stuff, keep it for a year or two, then have a garage sale and sell it all for a rediculous price. I wish all garage sales were like that.. instead of mostly 99% crap.

These days I donate everything.. I also live in an apartment so having a garage sale is kinda impossible.

[Red Kittie Kat]

Good luck with the sale Frank :)

[Drazan]

My parents used to have the best garage sales.. they buy expensive stuff, keep it for a year or two, then have a garage sale and sell it all for a rediculous price. I wish all garage sales were like that.. instead of mostly 99% crap.

These days I donate everything.. I also live in an apartment so having a garage sale is kinda impossible.

Reminds me of the garage sales on Pill Hill. (Pill Hill is the richer part of town behind one of the hospitals were a lot of doctors have homes.

That and rochester has 1,500 doctors - so that's a lot of ritzy garage sales.
;)

[budafist]

I think boxes or tables with 1 price for that box or table is easy for the small things. Big items should all have prices on them.

[balou]

How did the sale go Frankster? Hope you didn't sell the puter!

[frankster]

It went ok actually. It pissed it down though, so we had to sell from inside the garage and the weather meant that not that many people showed, but we still shifted a few hundred bucks worth. Large items are going on craigslist to see if we can shift them too. I'm just knackered. Not enough sleep by a long way! The packing is actually on hold until Thursday when we will find out if my huband has another job in the US to transfer to. I badly need a holiday that isn't the entire family barfing thier guts up in the UK or enduring -37 degrees celcius in Calgary to get our visas renewed.

[Red Kittie Kat]

I hope you can take a deep breath soon darlin ... I know that feeling of having to uproot and move in a matter of days... but once its over it will all just be a blur ;)