Barb’s 2009 Garage Sale Update

THIS POST IS A FOLLOW-UP to my first post on this topic, “A New Kind of Garage Sale.” There I said I was getting the garage cleaned up for a sale in May. But it took longer than I thought it would to sort through stuff in the house and get it priced and hauled up to the garage, so I had to delay the sale until mid-June. We had such a rainy spring this year that picking any date in either month was a challenge. As it turned out, after several lovely cool days the week before, the temperature suddenly shot up to near ninety, and at the last minute, rain and the threat of hail was predicted for the first day of the sale.

That meant I couldn’t offer some things the first day that needed to be displayed on the driveway.  It didn’t rain the second day, but the humidity was awful, and even a large fan didn’t offer much relief. Still, neither the rain nor the humidity kept shoppers away. They found my garage sale ad (which I paid extra for to have the headline in bold print), and the garage sale signs my neighbor and partner in this dual sales event placed at key corners did the rest.

A Good Display Makes a Difference

A friend, on seeing my whole garage filled with stuff for sale, said I had really gone overboard with my display. But since I’ve written so much about exhibiting in craft shows–and since this was also my husband’s profession at one point–I naturally approached this event the same way I would have set up a professional craft show exhibit. The garage had just been painted, so all the personal stuff was out of the way to begin with, and I had fun setting up everything for sale on an array of tables, shelves, and walls. I put little signs everywhere because I didn’t want to spend my day saying the same things over and over to one shopper after another, or explaining what an unusual item was or how to use it.

COUNTING ALL THE BOOKS, CDs, LPs, tapes, handtools, collectibles, kitchenware, electronic gadgets and other small items, I probably had a few thousand items for sale. Of course I only sold some of them because two days is not nearly enough time to move that much merchandise. But I accomplished a major goal in that I found buyers for all the big items that were weighing me down emotionally, including a couple of wheelchairs, a generator, some bulky items that would have been difficult for me to ship if I had listed them on eBay and, best of all, all of my late husband’s hand and power tools that I did not want to keep for my own personal use. (I used to be a woodcarver and woodworker, so I’ve always had a good collection of my own.) I also sold a few dozen jigsaw puzzles (from $2 to $4) because the boxes were pristine and a sign guaranteed there were no missing pieces. (Harry and I never could throw anything away so long as we had room to store them.)

Dealing with Shoppers

Sitting at a sales table for a couple of days not only gave me a chance to catch up on physical rest, but also gave me the opportunity to chat briefly with an interesting bunch of people of different ages and nationalities. Many shoppers commented on how nice everything was displayed. They appreciated that every item had a price on it so they didn’t have to ask how much it was. (So many garage sales in my area just dump a variety of stuff on tables with no prices at all or any thought to keeping like items displayed together.)  I was especially pleased when several commented that mine was the best garage sale they’d ever found in my city.

At times I had up to 14 people shopping at a time, and it was hard to keep an eye on everyone, especially those with young children who had a habit of grabbing anything they could reach at the edge of tables. I had a lot of very small items that could easily have been shoplifted, but I believe I lost only one item during the two-day sale – a clown sculpture that would have needed a rather large totebag or purse to hold it. All things considered, not bad. I figure whoever took it needed it worse than I needed the $4 I was asking for it.

BECAUSE OF THE WAY all items were professionally exhibited, and the fact that every single item had a price sticker, almost everyone paid the asking price the first day without asking me to lower it.  I believe my professional display made some shoppers feel that my prices were fair, and maybe they were a bit embarrassed to even suggest that I sell things for less. But as I later learned, Saturday shoppers in my city expect the seller to cut prices in half the second day, so several did ask if I would take less than the asking price the second day, and for items that I really wanted to sell, I accepted all reasonable offers.

However, I declined several offers for collectible items I knew I could get much better prices for on eBay. Mostly I wanted to see if eBay-quality items would sell in a high-quality setting, and the answer is no because people who see items for sale in a garage have a garage sale mentality regardless of how well the items are displayed. You still have to set reasonable prices to move the merchandise.

Amusing Stories

I got a big laugh when a fellow came in on the first morning, dashing through the rain from his car. We exchanged greetings and he said, “I’m praying for hail. I need a new roof.”  With my car out in the street, that was the last thing I wanted!

I loved the two frail widows who came in the first day asking if I had a small hammer they could use to hang pictures with.  Both said their husbands had left them a tool collection but all the hammers were too heavy. I had exactly what each woman needed for just $2 each. They left very happy.

I also appreciated the Polish gentlemen without any English who was accompanied by his sweet grandson, who translated the sales transaction for one of the hand-tooled leather belts my husband had made especially for him by an Ozarks craftsman. We agreed on $4, and both grandpa and grandson left with big smiles on their faces.

ONE OF MY MOST INTERESTING SHOPPERS was a little Japanese man who must have picked up every hand tool in all the boxes on the above pictured table, inspecting each one carefully, and finally selecting two that I had priced at $6 total. He had no English, but just held up the tools and four fingers with a questioning look. After he had spent so much time looking, I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I said okay. The next morning (half-price Saturday, right?) he came back and went through the whole routine again, picking up every tool and inspecting it once again. This time he came back with two tools totaling $8 and once again held up four fingers.  I shook my head no, figuring someone else would pay my asking price.  He shrugged, put the tools back, and left, probably to return to other sales he had visited the day before.

Some Items Shoppers Loved

As I said earlier, mine wasn’t the usual garage sale full of junk, but rather a mini estate sale of high-quality merchandise my husband and I had bought over a lifetime, including a lot of stuff I had absolutely no use for. I not only ended up with a sizable chunk of cash I could turn around and put to better use in my house and yard, but also made the day for several shoppers who walked out with such special “finds” as these:

Three cases of back issues of history magazines ($8), a mint collection of 15 WW II VHS tapes ($10), a chess set made by a craftsman in Greece ($25), a mint condition Scrabble set ($3), an oriental dinner gong ($8),  a Grundig radio ($50),  and a set of miniature bells I once used as a musical entertainer ($10).

I had two of my husband’s umbrellas for sale. The small one that folded small sold immediately when it was raining, but I didn’t figure anyone would want the fancy “walking stick” umbrella in a very fancy shiny black case that was quite fashionable back in the early sixties.  But I was wrong. It wasn’t raining when a teenager spotted it, and seemed entranced by it.  He made me think of Fred Astaire as he walked out with it,  swinging it and using it like a cane.  I could imagine him showing it off to his friends as a “real collectible.”

Because I’m a natural born recordkeeper who has always kept track of every dollar spent since the age of 18, I naturally jotted down each sale in a little book. Size of individual sales ran the gamut from $.25 to $350, with the average sale being $11.34. I figure many of you craft fair sellers could give me the same kind of statistics for each of your sales. (If not, you should be doing this so you can measure how successful an individual show was, and whether you should do that show again.)

In planning this first of two huge garage sales, I decided to hold back on many items that I thought would sell better in the fall than in the spring, so now I’m planning to have another sale in the fall of 2010. In the meantime, I’m focusing on my Amazon Marketplace offerings, and beginning to list some of the 5,000 near-mint LPs Harry left me.

Believe me when I say there won’t be any moss growing under my feet for a long time to come. I may not make posts to this blog as often as some think I should, but you can bet I’ll be busy enjoying my life and converting more of my “stuff” into ready cash.

See related post, “April House and Yard Projects.”

Related Items:

• Barb’s Personal Notes, 5/14/09
• Barb’s Personal Notes, 4/30/09
• Barb’s Personal Notes 4/1/09
• Refresh Your Spirit with a Staycation
• Barb’s Personal Notes, 8/26/09
• Introducing a New Category

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribing to the feed to get future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Copyright © 2009-2010 by Barbara Brabec. All Rights Reserved. | Based on a theme by WP Remix. | Design & Promotion by The Creative Concept, Inc.

• Home
• Brabec Land
• About
• Contact