Re: Selling things

september · ‎03-09-2010

@ANewHue wrote:
Many years ago I had my first and only yard sale. I had many great items most brand new with tags still on them. Designer baby clothing and many unique house goods (into the arts). don't know where these people came from but they wanted everything for free. By noon my patience wore out and I packed up everything and closed the door. All the clothes were donated to orphans .
I am now in the position again to get rid of things and I doubt I will be going down that road again. I was thinking about trying one of those new apps to sell things. I am in a small city near to NYC but the traffic I got was horrible, these people were not from around here for sure.

That's exactly what I went through. I had many battery operated children's toys, that I washed up and equipped with new batteries, so buyers could see that the toys worked...they wanted to buy the toys for less than the cost of the new batteries!

I just donate now.

novamc1 · ‎07-02-2015

I've had good luck with Craigslist in the past couple years. Right now, we've gotten serious about getting rid of things, because we're moving and downsizing. Lately, I've sold an Ethan Allen table, a Westminster chime clock, some lamps, with no luck on selling bigger items, such as (very nice) chairs, a custom-made glasstop dining table, china cabinet, curio cabinet.

I probably will need the help of an estate-sale company as the new home gets closer to being built, but meanwhile as I still have time, Craigslist is working OK.

I got fed up with yard sales years ago because of the prevailing attitude that people should get something for nothing. I reminded some of them that I would prefer to donate the item and take a tax deduction than give it away for pennies on the dollar. One time, I had to come back in the house, take a DEEP breath and get over my anger with one persistent wannabe purchaser who wanted a pair of red suede shoes (never worn) for $1.00.

The tax deduction is worth more than that type of aggravation!

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

Thanks everyone, for your ideas and experiences!

Snowing here this weekend (ugh!) so I'm sure it will be well over a month before we get it going.

I have had a number of garage sales, and they definitely aren't for the faint of heart! People really do want to pay just pennies on the dollar for things, and I don't blame them. The occasional nice things will sell for maybe half the value of new, but that is rare.

I think ebay pricing has many people fooled about what they expect to ask for and receive at a garage sale. Ebay is nation (world) wide, and the pool of interested buyers huge, relative to a garage sale. I think many people approach having a garage sale thinking they will indeed, get half of retail for their items, but for most things, that is just not realistic. Even 25% of retail is pushing it sometimes.

I'll post afterward, and let everyone know what happens.

homedecor1 · ‎03-09-2010

@Mominohio

I just updated my previous post re: yard sale. Ours was today, honestly my friends thought I priced items to "high" --over the years I have found if buyers know the brand/style/value they will haggle a little but at the sale today I only discounted a few items.

And I've found displaying it is the trick. The items I knew would draw people to my area I made sure were higher (on top of boxes) on the table. I sold the higher row items faster than the items just on table.

Good luck - stay warm from the snow!

bonnielu · ‎03-11-2010

I personally try Ebay... not that I have much luck. I also use an auction house, and that is a hit or miss as well for me. However the consignment shop around the corner cheated me. Lost my items or said they lost them. Charged me for rental and then took half the sale price. Lots of dishonesty or poor record skills or both. Never again.