. I had my garage sale yesterday, 9 to 3. As usual, I had most people coming in the morning. Even though I said "No early birds" in the ad, I had at least 3 groups of people arriving as early as 8 a.m. while I was still setting up, which was annoying and a little disrespectful. I could see people showing up 10 or 15 minutes early, but to arrive an hour early just tells me they are accustomed to disregarding the seller's request, and so on behalf of all tag sellers, I turned them away, knowing I was likely turning away possible sales.
Dad came over and sat with me for a few hours, which was nice.
Even though I had all kinds of big stuff I dearly wanted to get rid of (a twin headboard, some large foam core and poster board sheets, a mat cutter) and a bunch of photography equipment (tripod, studio light stands), I mostly sold the stuff priced for less than $5, like quite a few spools of thread (.50 each), a fair amount of low-priced jewelry and so on. I also sold some stuff that I frankly thought was worthless, like a glass florist vase that I "painted" by pouring paint inside the clear glass, or 2 pieces of plexiglas sheets.
I did sell 2 pieces of my mother's art. I felt a little guilty selling them at a tag sale, but I know my mother's style pretty well, and these 2 pieces seemed like unfinished works and in fact were not signed. She could have been experimenting with something or she just never got around to finishing them. A young woman immediately noticed them upon arriving and was very excited to get them, so that made me happy too.
And yes, after feedback from all of you, I did last minute launder and then put out the twin comforter my mother used for 3 months. It sold for $10 (value about $20).
So I grossed $114 and my newspaper ad was $10, so net was about $104.
After the sale was over, dad came back after having gone home and I took him out to an early Father's Day dinner at a new British/Italian restaurant in town.
The garage sale was probably not worth it. Now I have to clear out the stuff in garage that I spent so much time arranging. I will now trash some things, donate stuff to Good Will but will still hang on to unsold stuff that I still think I should be able to sell (given the right venue), like the photography stuff.
Garage sale results and a pet peeve
June 19th, 2016 at 11:18 am
June 19th, 2016 at 11:25 am 1466335551
I personally would never arrive early, because yes it is rude! However, we (neighbors and I) did let them in while still setting up. They didn't care it wasn't ready. They were doing a quick browse. Some rarely would buy, others were there for something specific. Which yes, we did want to sell. But you were definitely in your right to turn away.
June 19th, 2016 at 12:02 pm 1466337761
June 19th, 2016 at 12:24 pm 1466339079
June 19th, 2016 at 01:24 pm 1466342682
I once made the mistake of giving my actual address in the ad and someone found my phone number and called me the NIGHT BEFORE to request access, and I refused that. It felt creepy to have been tracked down.
Good for you for selling the comforter!
June 19th, 2016 at 05:30 pm 1466357427
June 19th, 2016 at 10:45 pm 1466376307
My mom would talk about the "rummage hounds" in our town who would often get to places at 6 a.m. for an 8 a.m. sale. They were the ones who if they bought something, never paid full price and were planning on selling it somewhere else.