Crying the blues !

I don't hold garage or yard sales because I sell on Saturdays at a flea and I take Sunday off, but I go to them on Fridays and sometimes on Sundays on my way to my weekly Sunday hike.

Yesterday (Father's Day Sunday) the wife and I were coming into a little town when I saw a guy in a vacant lot having a sale. He had two little tables and a bright blue Honda Express moped showing. One couple was there. My wife was driving and I told her to take a left at the next spot and get back around.

Pulled into the dusty lot and made my approach from the side not holding the Honda. As I briefly scanned the tables I heard the seller say to the other couple, "let me know when you're ready and I'll help you load that." It could only have meant one thing...the moped had just sold.

When I asked the seller what he sold it for ?  TEN BUCKS !  I felt my legs go weak. I had missed this by about two minutes...IF ONLY WE HAD LEFT HOME 2 MINUTES EARLIER ! Oh well, that's  FATE.

This one needed help, but it was mainly the seller's lack of knowledge and market that determined his selling price.

For those of you who don't know about mopeds, I have had good luck with them, for parts if nothing else.  I could have gotten between $100 and $200 for this particular one. A 10 to 20 x the investment works for me. BUT NOT THIS TIME!

Bummer deal!  I like stopping by garage sales too, just for the fun of it and to see if I can pick up anything to make a buck on.  A little over a week ago, I picked up a raised panel toddlers bed with mattress for $5 at a garage sale.  Took it to my storage unit, took a picture, and sold it a couple of days later on CL for $65!  Not going to get rich any time soon doing that, but it's fun!  Depending on the weather and how much time I have, I may go out and fill up the back seat and bed of my pickup with stuff on a Friday morning........just a quick 200-300 extra for the week without too much effort. 

You can get some great deals at yard sales and garage sales.

Great way to get seed money for the storage auctions.

Well that old saying is true, the early bird gets the worm :|

Another little helpful hint for you guys that like having garage sales.  Start your sale on Thursday.  You'll probably be the only one going, and if you have out good signage, you should kick some butt!  Friday is a good day too, typically the busiest day of my sales. 

Friday has been the best day for me.Seem to get more foot traffic and more casual garage buyers(they pay more).

   Here in New England the Fri. yard sales are only held by people here from the Left Coast , the rest of the folks hold them on Sat. with  a few on  Sun.

My friend's make their living soley on yard sales here in Florida around the Punta Gorda area. He has owned 2 antique shops in the the last 20 years, and has an eye for it. She said he was complaining that their ebay listing fees last month was around $1500, but she had to remind him that they did over $20K in sales in just 2 months, just on ebay! They only buy at yard sales, and only sell on ebay. They currently have 4100 items listed on ebay. I'm having my first garage sale this weekend from 2 units we purchased on CL, a 15x20 and a 10x15 for $500. The way it all went down is crazy, I learned ALOT from my first buy, what I WON'T do next time. Someone else's definition of "nice furniture" might not the be same as mine. After kicking myself in the @ss thinking I made a mistake, I learned after weeding through the JUNK, I should double my money, between CL and garage sales. I have a 2 bay big garage, and a storage shed out back. I'm putting tables all along the ouside walls with 3 shelves high above them. The first wall already looks like a thrift store, easily $300 in collectibles just on what I've unpacked so far.
I won't go on about all the other stuff, that's for another category.

Your friend has the right idea. If you're going to do garage sales, you have to find a commercial location. Sure you may have to pay $100 bucks or so to rent a vacant piece of land on a Saturday, but trust me, you will more than double your income. Not only that, it doesn't long to piss off your neighbors when your having the sales from your home. Tip: Find a vacant piece of land on a busy street, preferably close to a stop light where traffic builds up. People will naturally be curious while they are sitting at the traffic light.