crazy yard sale stories

nebula · Jun 2, 2013

Don't you hate it when you are hosting a yard sale, and people just come up and expect everything to be free or like 10 cents? I understand that people come to yard sales expecting to find a bargain but anyway.

This past weekend we had a yard sale (still raising money for the immigration stuff) and I lost count the number of times we were bargained down. that isn't so bad as when it is that someone picks up an item, asks how much it is- and it is super cheap, and they lay it back down. The example here is, we had a pair of brand new (new with tag!) mens Gap shorts (Probably $40 shorts), and we had them priced for $1.00. It was nearing the end of the sale this woman comes up, asks how much they are. I tell her $1 she says "too rich for my blood!" . Are you kidding me??

Anyone else have any crazy yard/garage sale stories?

What do you do when a customer tries to bargain you down?

Me personally, if I don't want to pay the price they have it marked- I won't buy it. I won't ever try to bargain someone down..

dejolane · Jun 2, 2013

I would had gave you a dollar for those shorts for my grandson. I haven't had a yard sale for a long time. Been to alot of them and love them. I like the community ones so you can walk to all at one time. instead of getting in the car and driving to find the next one.. I do try to talk them down if I don't like the price.And sometimes I get it for what I bargin for.. I love yard sales. You can get rid of the old christmas stuff and if their lights still works,they are coming home with me.

pushylady · Jun 2, 2013

Some people get so into the idea of scoring a cheap deal that they lose all perspective. $1 for a pair of shorts "too rich"?! Crazy!

dejolane · Jun 2, 2013

Hey,you have a yard sale for 2 reasons only. Too make money and to get rid of your old junk to buy new things.

gemlady · Jun 2, 2013

I have helped at a sale done by an organization I belong to and have lots of stories. Like the person who tacked their yard sale sign over ours (set up at the street corner), the ones who would park on the street instead of our adjacent parking lot, and the ones who want something brand new and never used for nothing...

But our faves were the early birds. We would open about 8am to sell, but would have folks there at 6 am trying to buy as we were trying to set up or bugging us the day before. We finally came up with our "Early Birds Pay Double" excuse.

dejolane · Jun 2, 2013

Everyone wants that first and best item at a great deal.

nebula · Jun 2, 2013

Yeah!

It's like yard sales just don't seem worth it anymore. I have honestly had more luck using my county's facebook for sale site... and listing items individually....

I just don't get the entitlement mentality, something new and never used *(sometimes even with tags!) they expect to get if free or like 10 cents. And I mean seriously, what did the lady expect me to do, say "How about 50 cents?"

We are having the yard sales to raise money, and our prices are super cheap!

r

A friend of mine has a tactic the last half day of a yard sale= post that everything is 50 cents each she got rid of everything within a couple of hours....... maybe i should try that ........

Early birds don't really bother me, what does both me is we have had people rips our signs down and use our stakes to put their sign up. Why are yard sales so competivve and violent? LOL

swampwitch · Jun 2, 2013

We used to love to go "sailing" on weekends when we lived in Texas.

But here, people want WAY too much for their junk. Used books are usually $5 each - yes you read that right, same for CDs. I saw a little pine bookcase I liked one time but they wanted "$100 firm" for it! My daughter liked some used boots that looked like witch boots (for Halloween) and they were marked at $25. For used stinky boots! (Luckily they didn't fit her so we didn't have to have that battle.)

I've had a few garage sales and my attitude is it's pretty nice if people pay you a little something to haul your junk away.

nebula · Jun 3, 2013

SwampWitch said:
We used to love to go "sailing" on weekends when we lived in Texas.

But here, people want WAY too much for their junk. Used books are usually $5 each - yes you read that right, same for CDs. I saw a little pine bookcase I liked one time but they wanted "$100 firm" for it! My daughter liked some used boots that looked like witch boots (for Halloween) and they were marked at $25. For used stinky boots! (Luckily they didn't fit her so we didn't have to have that battle.)

I've had a few garage sales and my attitude is it's pretty nice if people pay you a little something to haul your junk away.

I get that, but is $1 for a brand new never worn, new with tags GAP shorts so high? LOL this lady seemed to think so

Winchester · Jun 3, 2013

We don't allow early birds period. We start our yard sales at 8:00, which is plenty early. We start setting up around 5:30 or so and, I swear, we have people coming up the driveway at 6:00! And I always walk over to the vehicle, tell them that the newspaper ad said 8:00 and we do not want any people any earlier than that. They can come back at 8:00. Some people leave in a huff and don't come back. Others are fairly nice about it. But it's a lot of work trying to set up a yard sale and have to deal with people at the same time. We don't set the signs up along the road UNTIL we are completely ready for people. It doesn't matter.

If people want to bargain, we'll try. But I won't give anything away, unless it's the afternoon of the last day. We can usually get rid of kitchen items because we have a lot of Amish and Mennonites in our area and they always need silverware and cooking utensils. Always. They use it for their big meals after church services.

A lot of people tend to ask for clothing. Well, we don't do clothes. We have no children at home anymore. When I was heavier and lost those 70+ pounds, I had a lot of size 14s and XLs to sell....they flew off the racks. But now, there's nothing in the way of clothing for us to get rid of. Blankets and sheets and stuff we usually recycle at one of our recycling events in the county.

So far our signs haven't been stolen. My dad made them for their yard sales years and years ago and they're really nice. I took them when my parents down-sized because I knew that we would all use them at one time or another. We have all of their card tables and old tables that we use for the yard sales. Working with my parents for so many years, we've got the yard sale thing down to a fine art!

My sister and I had a huge yard sale at her house after my aunt died. We had it during her community's big yard sale. A couple months later, we took the rest of the stuff down to my house and had another sale there. We pretty much got rid of everything. What little didn't sell, Rick took down to a local Goodwill store and they took everything.

We're doing two yard sales this year (with a lot of our parents' stuff that we can't use), probably one in August at my house and another one at my sister's in October when her community does their neighborhood sales again. They are an incredible amount of work and we're always glad when they're finished.

After these two sales this summer, I doubt we'll have another one for a good ten years or so. We don't enjoy doing them.

dejolane · Jun 3, 2013

Winchester said:
We don't allow early birds period. We start our yard sales at 8:00, which is plenty early. We start setting up around 5:30 or so and, I swear, we have people coming up the driveway at 6:00! And I always walk over to the vehicle, tell them that the newspaper ad said 8:00 and we do not want any people any earlier than that. They can come back at 8:00. Some people leave in a huff and don't come back. Others are fairly nice about it. But it's a lot of work trying to set up a yard sale and have to deal with people at the same time. We don't set the signs up along the road UNTIL we are completely ready for people. It doesn't matter.

If people want to bargain, we'll try. But I won't give anything away, unless it's the afternoon of the last day. We can usually get rid of kitchen items because we have a lot of Amish and Mennonites in our area and they always need silverware and cooking utensils. Always. They use it for their big meals after church services.

A lot of people tend to ask for clothing. Well, we don't do clothes. We have no children at home anymore. When I was heavier and lost those 70+ pounds, I had a lot of size 14s and XLs to sell....they flew off the racks. But now, there's nothing in the way of clothing for us to get rid of. Blankets and sheets and stuff we usually recycle at one of our recycling events in the county.

So far our signs haven't been stolen. My dad made them for their yard sales years and years ago and they're really nice. I took them when my parents down-sized because I knew that we would all use them at one time or another. We have all of their card tables and old tables that we use for the yard sales. Working with my parents for so many years, we've got the yard sale thing down to a fine art!

My sister and I had a huge yard sale at her house after my aunt died. We had it during her community's big yard sale. A couple months later, we took the rest of the stuff down to my house and had another sale there. We pretty much got rid of everything. What little didn't sell, Rick took down to a local Goodwill store and they took everything.

We're doing two yard sales this year (with a lot of our parents' stuff that we can't use), probably one in August at my house and another one at my sister's in October when her community does their neighborhood sales again. They are an incredible amount of work and we're always glad when they're finished.

After these two sales this summer, I doubt we'll have another one for a good ten years or so. We don't enjoy doing them.

I would save that money from the October yard sale for Christmas presents.

denice · Jun 7, 2013

I will bargain with someone if I think something is a little overpriced, not something like a dollar for a new piece of clothing. Some people overprice things a little so they can get what they really expect to get for items.

dejolane · Jun 7, 2013

Anyone near Millersport,Ohio ? Big community yard sale June 8th.at Lieb's Island

nebula · Jun 7, 2013

Denice said:
I will bargain with someone if I think something is a little overpriced, not something like a dollar for a new piece of clothing. Some people overprice things a little so they can get what they really expect to get for items.

Yeah we do that too. But seriously, $1 for a brand new with tag pair of GAP Shorts?

Winchester · Jun 11, 2013

We were talking to our neighbors; they had just had a yard sale a couple of weeks ago. It went from Thursday to Saturday afternoon. Well, on Saturday afternoon around 2:30 or so, some guy drove up the driveway in his truck. He walked around a little bit and looked at everything. Looked at my neighbor and said, "I'll give you $100 for the rest of your stuff. Take it or leave it."

They took it.

I'm thinking there was something there that he really wanted. Either that or he thought he'd be able to make a few bucks from her stuff. Either way, she made $100 she wasn't counting on making, so it worked out.

Wish that would happen at one of our yard sales.

nebula · Jun 11, 2013

Winchester said:
We were talking to our neighbors; they had just had a yard sale a couple of weeks ago. It went from Thursday to Saturday afternoon. Well, on Saturday afternoon around 2:30 or so, some guy drove up the driveway in his truck. He walked around a little bit and looked at everything. Looked at my neighbor and said, "I'll give you $100 for the rest of your stuff. Take it or leave it."

They took it.

I'm thinking there was something there that he really wanted. Either that or he thought he'd be able to make a few bucks from her stuff. Either way, she made $100 she wasn't counting on making, so it worked out.

Wish that would happen at one of our yard sales.

Probably a junk resaler. We have one in our town, that happens sometimes (Everyone calls him Scrounger Joe) lol

Problem is it doesn't ever really happen to me, because I don't put anything of value in a yard sale.. I sale it online....... generally.

dejolane · Jun 11, 2013

Nebula said:
Probably a junk resaler. We have one in our town, that happens sometimes (Everyone calls him Scrounger Joe) lol

Problem is it doesn't ever really happen to me, because I don't put anything of value in a yard sale.. I sale it online....... generally.

Easy way to get rid of the rest. 100.00 YEP.

crazy yard sale stories

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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