They're called “garage sales” or “yard sales” and what they are can simply be summed up by the following….”one man’s junk is another’s treasure.” In truth these events are the perfect win-win as the seller gets rid of items they no longer need or want and the buyer gets them for a fraction of what they are really worth.
We participated in Beachwood’s annual town-wide yard sale on Saturday & Sunday and I’m happy to report that for the first time in months I can actually put a car in my garage. It seemed like a couple of hundred homeowners took part in which we paid a small fee to be listed on a map as a participant and our first buyers showed-up Saturday at 8AM, an hour
before things were supposed to begin. Veterans of these sales know that the early bird gets first choice and buyers were out in droves, coffee mug in hand looking for anything and everything.
What makes these events interesting to me are the buyers, who range from browsers to those looking for specific items. Some don’t even get out of their cars and instead will just eye things from a distance or even shout out things like….”hey do you have any old tools” or “I’m looking for Halloween costumes.” I’ve dubbed these as “drive by shoppers.”
Others are not looking for anything but then something will catch their eye
and they are ready to buy but often only after serious negotiation. Some believe that it’s important to label items with prices but my wife does not and some of the best moments of the weekend were these often hilarious negotiations. My sister-in-law came down from North Jersey to sell some of her stuff with us and we would laugh as prices changed by the split second. All of these back-and-forth exchanges were good natured and in the end you were often talking about a quarter or fifty cents and let’s be honest…the idea is to not bring anything back in the garage.
When it was all over Sunday we had a car load of stuff left to donate to good will, a relatively empty garage and a few extra dollars which will probably be used to buy things we’ll sell at next years yard sale.
We participated in Beachwood’s annual town-wide yard sale on Saturday & Sunday and I’m happy to report that for the first time in months I can actually put a car in my garage. It seemed like a couple of hundred homeowners took part in which we paid a small fee to be listed on a map as a participant and our first buyers showed-up Saturday at 8AM, an hour
before things were supposed to begin. Veterans of these sales know that the early bird gets first choice and buyers were out in droves, coffee mug in hand looking for anything and everything.
What makes these events interesting to me are the buyers, who range from browsers to those looking for specific items. Some don’t even get out of their cars and instead will just eye things from a distance or even shout out things like….”hey do you have any old tools” or “I’m looking for Halloween costumes.” I’ve dubbed these as “drive by shoppers.”
Others are not looking for anything but then something will catch their eye
and they are ready to buy but often only after serious negotiation. Some believe that it’s important to label items with prices but my wife does not and some of the best moments of the weekend were these often hilarious negotiations. My sister-in-law came down from North Jersey to sell some of her stuff with us and we would laugh as prices changed by the split second. All of these back-and-forth exchanges were good natured and in the end you were often talking about a quarter or fifty cents and let’s be honest…the idea is to not bring anything back in the garage.
When it was all over Sunday we had a car load of stuff left to donate to good will, a relatively empty garage and a few extra dollars which will probably be used to buy things we’ll sell at next years yard sale.
No comments:
Post a Comment