Community-wide Garage Sale Weekend

I've sent several appraisal requests to a well-known local antique dealer and the only one he ever responded to was a decorative plate about local history. He didn't even appraise it - just said that if I ever wanted to sell it to contact him. I get the impression that he only handles very high-end items.

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Back when I was collecting antiques the only time I got a free appraisal was when it came with the piece I bought. Otherwise it’s one of the ways they make money. But I am surprised that they advertise that they do.
 
Here we go again! A few weeks ago a woman contacted me about a uranium glass bowl I advertised on Marketplace. Unfortunately for her, someone else had first refusal on it and ended up buying it, but I told her if I came across any more, I'd give her first choice and would contact her. This seemed to satidfy her. Today, I finally got all the garage sale things out of the way of the cabinets and was able to look through them. I found a fair amount, too photos of the items under UV light and sent them to her. Her reply, before we even discussed prices, was that she was "a little short on money right now." So there you go....

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Those are really pretty. She could call back. Are these going in your garage sale? If you do, price them at what you would on marketplace.
 
There are not going out to the garage sale. Most garage sale clientele wouldn't recognize quality glassware and they'd get damaged from people handling them and they are in "like new" condition. They are are strictly Marketplace - pick up in person - items.
 
I didn't make as much having a three day sale as I did on just Saturday during last year's sale. A fair amount of people stopped, but when it came to reaching for the wallet, they suddenly developed short arms and low pockets. I can't remember so many just looky-loos. I had a nice large blue and white ceramic trinket box in great condition (see photo) and a woman wouldn't buy it even for $1. She also wouldn't buy an oval cherub picture for $1 either. I don't know what people are looking for, but it's something I don't have. One man picked out an armful of items and asked how mcuh. I said $15 (many were very collectible items like a Majoloca pitcher). He said he only had $5 in his pocket. I asked what he had in his other pocket. He said "My lunch money". I wouldn't sell and he put everything back. I had a pair of salt & pepper shaker go missing, too. About the only thing I got out of the sale was sunburn and sore feet. I'll post photos tomorrow.

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It seems to me that large neighbourhood garage sales don’t do as well. Everybody is rushing through one place to make sure they don’t miss anything out at the next.
 
I think there were three other houses on my street that I could see that were having sales on Saturday. Today only me and one other were doing it. It burns me when I see cars stopping at other sales and they drive right past mine. This was the sale across the street and many people went there and didn't come to mine. Compare that one to mine. Any reason?

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debodun said:
I've been trying to find the value of some old newspapers. They range in date from 1862 to 1923, some have significant news stories (Titanic sinking and the death of President Harding). I've sent messages to some local antique dealers and numerous online antique appraisal sites. I only heard back from one dealer and he said that's something he doesn't handle. I didn't ask him to handle them, just give an approximate value! And one other online appraiser indicated that said these can be easily reproduced, so not worth much when a collector can purchase a copy in good condition. I had them for sale at the old house and advertised them on Marketplace for $25. A man came to look and picked up box they were in and started walking away with them. I stopped him and said they weren't free. He looked like I slapped his face and replied something to the effect - I'm a historical conservationist and you should be happy to donate them so they can be preserved. I refused and he dropped the box and stalked off.

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That took a lot of nerve on his part……some people are nuts. 🙃🥴😕.
 
debodun said:
I didn't make as much having a three day sale as I did on just Saturday during last year's sale. A fair amount of people stopped, but when it came to reaching for the wallet, they suddenly developed short arms and low pockets. I can't remember so many just looky-loos. I had a nice large blue and white ceramic trinket box in great condition (see photo) and a woman wouldn't buy it even for $1. She also wouldn't buy an oval cherub picture for $1 either. I don't know what people are looking for, but it's something I don't have. One man picked out an armful of items and asked how mcuh. I said $15 (many were very collectible items like a Majoloca pitcher). He said he only had $5 in his pocket. I asked what he had in his other pocket. He said "My lunch money". I wouldn't sell and he put everything back. I had a pair of salt & pepper shaker go missing, too. About the only thing I got out of the sale was sunburn and sore feet. I'll post photos tomorrow.

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That’s really pretty and people are weird is all I can say.
 
That box is lovely. You should send it to pam in tx who loves blue and white. One dollar. I would have totally bought it.

I don't get it either. Your sale looks more appealing from the picture.
 
debodun said:
I think there were three other houses on my street that I could see that were having sales on Saturday. Today only me and one other were doing it. It burns me when I see cars stopping at other sales and they drive right past mine. This was the sale across the street and many people went there and didn't come to mine. Compare that one to mine. Any reason?
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It's hard to figure out will sell & what won't or why you get a lot of people or none at all. Yours looked very nice & inviting. You had tableclothes on the table & everything was displayed nice.
 
Just guessing on why they didn’t stop at your place. It’s nice and neat.

If these people have been to your sales before they may know that you usually don’t have things of interest to them. You’ve been selling for years. As I mentioned, when there‘re a lot of sales people don’t stop to browse, if they need to get to as many places as possible.

If people are looking for things for kids, the bikes would get their attention.
 
I'm not sure about you, @debodun, but my final garage sale was last spring.

The sale had my stuff, SIL's junk & MIL's things we cleared out after her passing. MIL had great dishes, nick-knacks, Coca-cola tray/6 glass reproduction set, teacups/saucers, teapots, figurines, bells, Christmas things, like-new fans & one piece of uranium glass. A few things were non-negotiable & it's funny how those sold the first day w/o hesitation. Everything else was priced to sell. Saturday was 50% off everything, but with only a few customers not that much sold. We closed early.

Hubby & I never worked so hard & made so little for 3-day city wide sale (Thurs-Sat). We took a few things of ours back home, but gave all of my Pfaltzgraf Filigree dinnerware to my kid's co-worker. Everything else was packed up, boxes marked & loaded in the truck (8' bed w/cap jammed front to back, top to bottom) along w/the back seat to be taken to the thrift store. Hubby tossed things in the trash that we didn't think worthy to bother with at this point.

You have more gumption than me for doing a yard sale!
 
I did get all the tables out of the driveway last night. Packed and just put it in the garage so I could get the car off the lawn and park on the driveway. This morning it took me over 3 hours to move the things in the garage inside, but now I can put things back down in the basement at my leisure.
 
Jules said:
Just guessing on why they didn’t stop at your place. It’s nice and neat.

If these people have been to your sales before they may know that you usually don’t have things of interest to them. You’ve been selling for years. As I mentioned, when there‘re a lot of sales people don’t stop to browse, if they need to get to as many places as possible.

If people are looking for things for kids, the bikes would get their attention.
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That makes a lot of sense. Especially
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"If these people have been to your sales before they may know that you usually don’t have things of interest to them. "
 
What! I'd give you a dollar, just for asking, with no cherubs necessary! Nice piece.
 

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