Types of Garage Sale Customers

I had two casualties - I caught the pocket of my scrub style blouse on a doorknob and tore it in half. I had to go and put on a new blouse. Also, a seascape picture blew off the tree it was hanging on and broke the glass.
 

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We had a garage sale over Easter ….about 3 years after we moved into our ( then ) new home, (12 years ago) We encountered a family that visited the area on a special “shopping trip“

We get allot of family’s visiting over Easter due to,the number of garages sales in our area despite it being a 2 hour drive from the city .

What we had was a family who had trained a couple of children about 10 and 12 years old to help them selves to our and other garage sales items ..then bring the item back latter in the day for a refund.
The couple were deaf and hard to understand so they distracted us while the kids looked over stuff .( I seen the boy take a mini radio and just let it go cause it was only $5 item ) but they bought it back latter in-the day along with a Disney key ring from Disney land i didn’t know was missing for a refund.
Many in our area encountered this family ( there was an article in-the local paper 2 weeks latter about being wary of a deaf mute couple with 2 kids )
So you get all sorts that stoop lower than a snakes belly to steal items
 
What a brouhaha today. A group of people stopped that looked like they were Asian Indians, the women were wearing saris, but the men had western clothes. One woman picked up a small potted plant I had and because I wouldn't come down on the price, she threw in down on the ground. One of the men asked how much the barbecue grill was. I don't even have a barbecue. He pointed to the house next door where there was a grill out on the front porch. He seemed surprised when I said the house next door wasn't mine. The group then went over an the next thing I hard shouting and scuffling, I got the impression that the shoppers were just taking the grill off the neighbor's porch and got caught. Seems like the neighbor dissuaded the people from walking off with it, at least I didn't see any police there. I am still trying to figure that one out.

My last customer today picked out a 2-gallon, salt-glazed stoneware jug that I had priced $50. He said he couldn't afford that, would I take $5. I refused. End of that story.

2 gallon white jug1.jpg
 

debodun said:
I got the impression that the shoppers were just taking the grill off the neighbor's porch and got caught. Seems like the neighbor dissuaded the people from walking off with it,
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Even if you don’t know your neighbours, I’d go over and ask them what happened. If they were trying to steal it, it wouldn’t hurt to let the police know about them. They probably have a history around there. If they don’t, they should have.
 
Some things I was anxious to sell, I still have - the braided rug, the rustic table and the dressing mirror. Only one woman looked at the mirror and said it was "old fashioned", whatever that means.
 
debodun said:
The neighbors on that side weren't even having a sale.
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That’s why I’d be concerned. You told the ‘shoppers’ that and they proceeded to go over there and do something. If your neighbours hadn’t been home, who knows if anyone would have noticed the grill ‘walking’ away.
 
Will you be having another sale next weekend, since it’s a holiday and people might be out sightseeing.
 
Nope - I've had it with garage sales for a while - it's too soon to have another one, plus holiday weekends are notoriously bad for garage sales (except Labor Day). Then it usually gets too hot to bother. Maybe first weekend in August (weather permitting) because there's a big antique show nearby, then perhaps Labor Day weekend when the Schaghticoke Fair is happening. The fair was cancelled last year and my Labor Day sale was a bust.

When you have sales too often, it becomes a business and you have to get a business permit. I know I wouldn't like a close neighbor to have a sales every weekend.
 
debodun said:
“The Talker” – Is usually an older person. He/she engages you in conversation; tells you their life story, family and personal problems, about other sales they’ve been to, etc. This is interesting for about the first 3 minutes, then it appears he/she isn’t going to stop anytime soon. You start thinking to yourself, “How can I tactfully get rid if this bore.” The “talkers” usually don’t buy anything; they just want an audience.
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These people are just lonely. When I volunteered at the thrift store in my neighborhood, we had several customers who would come in daily and just talk to everyone. They rarely bought anything. Some of them were sad people.
 
One other comment I am still puzzling about is the woman that looked at the dressing mirror and said, in effect, "Good luck selling that. It's kinda old-fashioned." Now what could she have possibly meant? It just a plain rectangular mirror (5'8" by 24"). It comes with an installation kit that is basically 4 corner pieces that screw into a door or wall for mounting. This is a photo of it when it was still up in the attic and dusty. Now that it's cleaned, it's almost too reflective to photograph.

mirror1b.jpg
 
One of the neighbors put a box of free items out front yesterday. I went over and peeked in and retrieved this Wedgwood kutani crane urn vase. How can I hope to get fair market value for my things when neighbors are giving away Wedgwood? Goes to show people around here just don't appreciate fine things if this was free and it's been sitting there about 36 hours now.

Wedgwood amphora1.jpgWedgwood amphora2.jpg

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debodun said:
One other comment I am still puzzling about is the woman that looked at the dressing mirror and said, in effect, "Good luck selling that. It's kinda old-fashioned." Now what could she have possibly meant?
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I wouldn't worry about it. Who knows what she meant -- or whether she was right.
 
debodun said:
One of the neighbors put a box of free items out front yesterday. I went over and peeked in and retrieved this Wedgwood kutani crane urn vase. How can I hope to get fair market value for my things when neighbors are giving away Wedgwood? Goes to show people around here just don't appreciate fine things if this was free and it's been sitting there about 36 hours now.

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Deb,
Maybe it's time for a reality check.

It could be that your neighbors understand the fair market value of modern mass-produced Wedgwood. Today most of the mass-produced Wedgwood is made in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It's the same with so many things that were perceived as valuable when we were growing up.

I'm always amazed and appreciative when I find a nice piece of Waterford in the thrift shops at a bargain price even though I know that most of it is produced outside of Ireland these days.

If you like it enjoy it but don't get hung up on the value.
 
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