I am the original "Second Hand Rose." I should have that put on my gravestone (if I decide to have one) since I have been garage saling since 1969. I know, I know...........that's a long time. I would hate to tell you the percentage of things in my home that are second-hand. When people compliment me on things, I have learned to just say, "Thank you!" So even if you did visit me, you would not find out!!!
The first garage sale I ever went to, (August of 1969, and I could even show you where it was!), I had NO CLUE as to what it even WAS! There was the "Garage Sale" sign, and people coming and going. I was young, single, and stupid. I had ten dollars to my name. When I left that garage sale, I was the proud owner of a pair of mahogany candlesticks, a mirror for my apartment, a huge smile on my face, and two dollars left over ! I had found Nirvana! (I would hate to tell people that something this simple was a "life-altering moment," but it WAS!!!) I had discovered "used is still good!"
I will not give you the glorious details of having dressed my children in designer outfits, or decorating my home with valuable pieces of artwork, but I will tell you my "take" on what makes a GOOD garage sale as opposed to a "LOUSY" garage sale. (Just in case you are planning on having one......and we ALL do, sooner or later, so listen up.)
First of all, let me assure you, IF YOU HAVE IT, THEY WILL COME. But it doesn't hurt to have a little savoir faire when you put on a garage sale.
First of all, SIGNAGE IS IMPORTANT. Even if there is not room for much on your signs, be SURE that the STREET NAME is visible. Don't worry about the house number: A good garage saler will sniff you out. Put signs on major corners and if you plan ahead ARROWS pointing in the direction to go are so helpful! It's hard to slow down in traffic to read your sign!! POINT AND SHOOT! And put LOTS of signs out there! If you add balloons or bright colors, that will get our attention, also! (And for Pete's sake, don't put them up a day ahead, unless you want us THERE a day ahead!!!)
And this is important: WHEN YOUR SALE IS OVER, PLEASE REMOVE YOUR SIGNS. There is an unspoken rule of good garage saling that it is only "right" to do so. Call it anti-littering, or whatever, but for our sake, PLEASE take your signs down so we don't see them the next week, (and the next, and the next) and either get irate at your lack of consideration for others, or worse: Some other garage saler follows those signs to NOTHINGNESS. That's just plainly rude. Clean up after yourself, please!
Next, PUT PRICES ON YOUR STUFF! Don't think that we're going to stand there and ask you for every single little price on every little doo-dad that you have dragged out of your home. Time is of importance to a garage saler: It's tacky to expect US to come there, then BEG you to tell us what you want for something~ Tell us up front!!!
Now, if we disagree about the value of something, there are certain "rules" to go along with that, too. Garage salers should have learned to say, "Will you take xxx number of dollars for this instead?" Nine times out of ten, you might lower the price. If someone says, "I'll give you......" nobody will blame you for saying, "Not on your life." Courtesy should rule. (You can now deduce that I have both been a seller AND a buyer.)
Put out only clean, unbroken, usable merchandise! I bought a crock pot that didn't have a "warm cycle," and a garlic peeler that the seller swore worked, but it didn't. DON'T DO THIS ! If it's broken, throw it out ! We will REMEMBER WHERE YOU LIVE. Not that we're going to do anything TO you, mind you, but it's just BAD KARMA! Every time I drive by the home of the crock-pot-rip-off-artist, I REMEMBER!..........just think of the negative vibes over the next many years that I pass by her house! (..........She gets to the Pearly Gates, St. Pete reminds her about the "warm cycle," and she is doomed to REAL warming....! All that bad Karma catches up. Get it?)
Some clothes will sell, but anything with missing buttons or has been worn by a bull moose on the run through a field of dirt needs to be pitched ahead of the sale. CLEAN is the key word. Things sell better on hangers, too.
No offense to anybody, but if you (God forbid) smoke, DON'T SMOKE ! Your stuff stinks. We don't want to be smoked on while we're in your garage, even if it IS your garage and not ours. And most of us who are non-smokers will politely stay for about two seconds before we do a turn-around, say "Thanks," and head for the car. The truth hurts. Sorry.
If you have kiddies at your house when we show up, please find something for them to do out of our way. I had a vicious child rip a stuffed bear out of my hands one time, at a sale. It had belonged to him, and he wanted to play with it! Better yet, if the kids are not good at selling lemonade and cookies, farm those kids out to Grandma for the day!
STREET SALES are fun for the people who do them, and it cuts down on gas for those of us who shop, so they're fun. We buyers KNOW that you all have already traded or sold among yourselves, though, and the really "good stuff" is gone when we hit a street sale. Nuff said.
The very coolest street sale I ever attended was in Columbus, Ohio, some years ago: It was an entire neighborhood,( too many folks to have pre-shopped at each others' homes,) and they had a PORTA-POTTY on several corners in the neighborhood!!!! Street sales are a mixed bag. I wouldn't drive BY one, though.
Please drag your stuff out of the garage and display it in the driveway as well as in the garage. Just this morning I got claustrophobic in a garage at a lovely home. It was dark and crowded in that garage, with too many people pawing over small items in the dark. It was a sunny day outside, and there was no reason on this planet why some of those tables of "stuff" couldn't have been pulled out along the sides of the driveway. No dark cloud was hovering overhead threatening rain. I had to leave the garage, wondering what I'd missed, but at least I got over the shut-in feeling.
A couple of other things that will make your sale successful:
a) DON'T leave your cash box where it can be taken away. It has happened.
b) Keep those kiddies' bikes out of the driveway so we don't trip over them.
c)Don't expect your "stuff" to be worth too much. Be realistic, and remember: IT IS USED whether you actually used it or not. You are going to have to get over it. As soon as you bought it, it became "used," and lost value. If we want "new," we can buy it at the store for the same price.
d) Books need to be displayed spine-up so that we don't have to paw through tables full of books, just for the next shopper to have to do the same thing. If I can't read the title without touching the book, I am walking away, even if you have the best book of the year at the bottom of that mess!
e) Watch us. Most of us are not thieves, but there are SOME. But please don't follow us around as if you think we're serial garage-sale-thieves planning the next jewelry heist, either. Don't hover, just
watch.
f) And finally, PLEASE don't give a sales pitch. If we like it, we will buy it. Period.
WHY DID I WRITE THIS POST??? Because today I went garage saling, my favorite thing to do. I always think it would be soooooooooooo wonderful if all the sellers KNEW THIS STUFF !!! Now you do.
My favorite purchase??? I know you are wondering that ! It's a piece of artwork that a woman had received from a much-hated relative. There was a $500 price tag on this item when the much-hated relative gave it to her (one of THOSE people....) and all she wanted was to GET RID OF IT. I offered her three dollars, and she took it. (I am sure that the seller envisioned that I was also taking away this much-hated relative with me, or HOPED that I was doing that........HA! Nope! I left the much-hated-mother-in-law at the end of the driveway, and carried home my prize.)
If you visit my home, will I tell you which item it is? NOT A CHANCE! If you were to admire it, (and you would, ) I would merely say, "Thank you!!!"(....and smile.)
