Let me state that I generally hate yard sales, garage sales, and the like. Specifically:
*I don’t like going to other people’s sales, especially when they put out things that are, to quote Oscar the Grouch, everything “ragged and rotten and rusty.”
*I don’t like having our own sale, because it involved going through lots of our own stuff. It’s time-consuming and enervating.
And most of all:
*I HATE bringing back into the house the stuff we decided to sell, but it didn’t.
Yet we (OK, the Wife and the Daughter) agreed (and I accepted the decision) to have a yard sale on September 6. The logic of that date was that it would be after school began, but before the fall got going in earnest. Soccer began the following week, as were her tryout for the Nutcracker and rehearsal for the church play about the Beatles.
To make it better, we thought we’d get our neighbors to do the same, and two of them agreed. But we didn’t do much advertising, since we were busy with prep. In fact no ads or posters, until three days before the sale, when I placed a free ad on timesunion.com.
The Daughter was particularly motivated. Her room was not as tidy as it could be, because she had so much stuff she had never gotten rid of. Tantalized by making money, she suddenly found books and stuffed animals she no longer wanted; indeed, a few of the books I kept myself. She also sorted out clothes that no longer fit her.
That Saturday morning, one of the neighbors pulled out. They looked at the forecast, which suggested that it would rain in the middle of our 9-3 sale, and that wasn’t going to be viable. Sigh.
Another thing I hate about yard sales: dealers, who come an hour before the stated time, then harrumph when the stuff you have doesn’t meet their needs; we had three of them, one especially rude.
In the first half-hour, we had no one. In the first hour, we made about $1.50. But as the day went on, we did better. This was improved by the addition of my brother-in-law’s family driving nearly an hour to add their stuff to ours. Separate accounting, but still: more stuff makes it better.
I got rid of both of my old CD holders, which I never liked; they opened like accordions and took up too much floor space.
At the end of it all, we made close to $100. More importantly, we got rid of stuff, and the Daughter’s room is far cleaner. And while the Daughter was disappointed that almost none of her clothes sold, we’ll be giving them to someone who can use them, so it’s all good.
Still, it will be a LONG time before we have another one unless I can hire Eddie Mitchell to run it.
I gave up having garage sales a long time ago! With the exception of the ones I had to get rid of all the baby stuff, they simply are more trouble than they are worth. Anymore I’d rather donate the stuff and take the write off!
I’ve helped with yard sales, both my parents’ and ones at church.
As fundraisers for church youth groups I would FAR RATHER do the “small handyman type jobs” thing (we made lots of money by raking leaves for people in return for donations; we had more work than we could do and everyone was happy). All the reasons you listed and more. (We had a few nice antiqueish things at the church sale, and dealers coming in wanting to haggle them down to 10% of the marked price. We said no, noting that it was a FUNDRAISER for a CHURCH. The dealers weren’t happy)
I also dislike yard sales on my street when other people do them. I once had someone park blocking my drive because they were going to a yard sale on the street. And anyway, our streets are so narrow and you get people parking on both sides, and it becomes a hazard if you have to drive down it.
Let me say first off that one of the reasons I go out of my way not to be seen as a dealer is the perception you have of us from the interactions you’ve had. I hate that a few assholes make things so much harder for the majority of us–the ones that are decent human beings. Not to mention that there’s never any call to be rude to people you would like to have work with you.
I’ve done several posts on how to have a successful yard sale and also how to deal with bargaining, which I’m sure you’ve read. For me, even before I became a re-seller, there was always a thrill about going to yard sales. Either you get it or you don’t. For every “Oscar” sale, there are a dozen filled with treasures galore.
One rule I always have when I have a sale is what I call the “threshold rule”: In the morning, it crossed the threshold going out into the yard. It’s not crossing it the other way at the end of the day. Stuff gets carted off to Goodwill or somewhere else that day. A few items might one saved for the next sale, but they go into the shed, not the house. I’ve already identified them as not needed/not being used. They don’t get a second chance.
If you’ll fly me in and give me a couch to crash on and some good Mexican food when it’s over, I’ll be glad to hang with you all and do your next sale. It would be fun.
On the one hand, we HAVE acquired some nifty stuff from yard/garage sales. On the other hand…I find the process kind of annoying. The Wife used to really enjoy them and would make a Saturday morning out of driving around looking for them, but for me it was always a grudging type of thing. We DID get my favorite large serving platter at a garage sale, though, with a matching bowl. Largely, though, I’d rather go antiquing.