If you are looking for one particular item while garage saling -- like I was looking for a monitor a few weeks ago -- you are unlikely to find it your first trip out, as I've discussed before.
One way to improve your chances of finding your item is to simply ask sellers if they have what you want. There's always a chance that you just don't see an item -- having discussed sales with friends after leaving them, this occurs more frequently than you would think -- or that the seller forgot to put the item out or didn't think to try to sell it.
This trick obviously will work better for more common items. I've seen it work for photography equipment a few times now. It only takes a few seconds so if you really need an item it's worth it.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
8/18/12 Purchase Summary
I got some amazing deals yesterday; yesterday was probably the best day I've had in years. Sadly, I was the only person to have a good day because my friends didn't get any good deals.
Yesterday seemed like it was going to be a slow day at the start; we experimented with a new route that proved to be a poor choice but, luckily, it picked up at the end of the day. I ended up spending $5.25 for seven items, shown below.
My first purchases were the textbooks. I got both for $0.50. As it turns out, one is worthless but I can sell one to my sister's university for $6.00. Not great but it at least pays for my purchases today. At a later sale I bought the gas mask and the PlayStation game. I worked the seller down from $5 to $0.50 for the gas mask and, when I realized he was a pushover, offered him $0.25 for the game which he accepted. I assumed the game was worthless (I just got it on a whim) but as it turns out it starts on Amazon for around $19 after shipping, which means I can probably sell this copy for $25-$30 plus shipping considering I have the case and the manual. I'm going to play it a little bit before I decide if I'm going to get rid of it or not.
I purchased my last three items late in the day. I got the Motorola Droid, the Flip UltraHD (4GB), and the game boy case plus accessories for $4. The seller was unsure if anything was working which is why he was selling it for so cheap. The camera and the phone both work perfectly. The camera starts at $95 used on Amazon and I could probably sell the phone for $25-40 but I'm keeping both. The only item of the three purchased at the sale I intend to sell is the Game Boy carrier for which I anticipate making anywhere from $10-$30.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Two Sides of the Spectrum
I didn't get around to posting last week because I was on vacation -- backpacking in King's Canyon National Park -- without any sort of internet connection. I'm finally back and recovered so I thought I should get around to updating. It seems I've gotten pretty bad at even posting once per week.
As I've pointed out before, many sellers have no idea what many of the items they are selling actually are. These sort of sellers come in two varieties: the "good" (the seller assumes the item is worthless and will sell it for next to nothing) and the "bad" (the seller assumes the item is worth a lot and often refuses to bargain).
The easiest way to determine with which sort of seller you are dealing is to simply examine the item or ask about its condition. Good sellers are usually pretty passive and often don't know if the item works or not; sellers who are determined to make more than the item is worth often come across as short or even aggressive. You can always try to bargain with bad sellers but it's often not worth your time, unfortunately.
As I've pointed out before, many sellers have no idea what many of the items they are selling actually are. These sort of sellers come in two varieties: the "good" (the seller assumes the item is worthless and will sell it for next to nothing) and the "bad" (the seller assumes the item is worth a lot and often refuses to bargain).
The easiest way to determine with which sort of seller you are dealing is to simply examine the item or ask about its condition. Good sellers are usually pretty passive and often don't know if the item works or not; sellers who are determined to make more than the item is worth often come across as short or even aggressive. You can always try to bargain with bad sellers but it's often not worth your time, unfortunately.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
8/4/12 Purchase Summary
Today was a good day for both my friend with whom I went saling and me. I ended up spending $6.
The first sale at which we stopped had Nerf Guns. I bought three -- a Long Strike and two Deploys -- for $1. I have these listed on Craigslist with two other guns (one of which I bought in May) for $60 but I really expect to make $40-$45. Not bad for a $1.50 total investment.
The rest of the day was really slow until the last few sales. I purchased a copy of Monopoly Deal for my sister for $0.50 in the in between time but that's it. At the last few sales, I bought a copy of Lego Star Wars for myself ($1), a Christmas present for my mother ($1), and, finally, a new monitor ($2.50). I desperately needed the monitor and it was the only widescreen I've seen in the last few weeks. It doesn't have the best resolution (1440x900) but I really needed it and I got a great deal. I have now replaced my entire old computer (except for the mouse) for $26.63.
The first sale at which we stopped had Nerf Guns. I bought three -- a Long Strike and two Deploys -- for $1. I have these listed on Craigslist with two other guns (one of which I bought in May) for $60 but I really expect to make $40-$45. Not bad for a $1.50 total investment.
The rest of the day was really slow until the last few sales. I purchased a copy of Monopoly Deal for my sister for $0.50 in the in between time but that's it. At the last few sales, I bought a copy of Lego Star Wars for myself ($1), a Christmas present for my mother ($1), and, finally, a new monitor ($2.50). I desperately needed the monitor and it was the only widescreen I've seen in the last few weeks. It doesn't have the best resolution (1440x900) but I really needed it and I got a great deal. I have now replaced my entire old computer (except for the mouse) for $26.63.
Baader Meinhof Revisited
Back in June, I talked about the item of the day, the phenomenon in which particular items keep showing up at different sales throughout the day. Today's item, for example, was sleeping bags.
Serious salers will also notice "items of the month" or items for even larger periods. For whatever reason, some uncommon items appear not frequently enough to be considered the item of the day for any particular day but still far more frequently over a period than you would normally find them.
I know the paragraph above doesn't make sense so I'll try to describe it here. Take, for example, XBox 360 games. These are pretty uncommon; before last April I had seen them maybe once or twice at sales. Starting in April, I started seeing them at maybe two or three sales per day every day we went out. They weren't that common but we were still finding them more frequently than we normally would over a sustained period. We kept finding 360 games through May and June but in July they disappeared.
Another thing I've noticed regards searching for common items. I've recently been looking for a new computer monitor because the one I had was quickly dying. Monitors themselves are fairly common but I wanted a cheap widescreen one; I didn't want a square panel. What surprised me is how many monitors you do see at sales. I guess I never noticed until I started looking, but I've been seeing at least five or six monitors every time I've gone saling the last few times. Unfortunately, until today, all the monitors I saw were square panels. I finally found a widescreen today, but I'll talk about that in my purchase summary I'll be posting directly after this. My point is that you tend to ignore the really common items you see to the point that you don't even realize how common they are.
Serious salers will also notice "items of the month" or items for even larger periods. For whatever reason, some uncommon items appear not frequently enough to be considered the item of the day for any particular day but still far more frequently over a period than you would normally find them.
I know the paragraph above doesn't make sense so I'll try to describe it here. Take, for example, XBox 360 games. These are pretty uncommon; before last April I had seen them maybe once or twice at sales. Starting in April, I started seeing them at maybe two or three sales per day every day we went out. They weren't that common but we were still finding them more frequently than we normally would over a sustained period. We kept finding 360 games through May and June but in July they disappeared.
Another thing I've noticed regards searching for common items. I've recently been looking for a new computer monitor because the one I had was quickly dying. Monitors themselves are fairly common but I wanted a cheap widescreen one; I didn't want a square panel. What surprised me is how many monitors you do see at sales. I guess I never noticed until I started looking, but I've been seeing at least five or six monitors every time I've gone saling the last few times. Unfortunately, until today, all the monitors I saw were square panels. I finally found a widescreen today, but I'll talk about that in my purchase summary I'll be posting directly after this. My point is that you tend to ignore the really common items you see to the point that you don't even realize how common they are.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
7/29/12 Purchase Summary
That's right. I went garage saling on a Sunday!
I actually didn't go saling this weekend. I did my usual morning walk around the neighborhood yesterday and stopped at two sales. They were both very poor and I bought nothing. However, I did see a sign advertising for a sale this morning so I did the same thing today. As it turned out, it was a neighborhood sale for a very small neighborhood of duplexes near my house. Seven families were participating and I bought from two of them. I bought 3 books for $0.25 -- solving the issue of what I'll be reading when I go backpacking next week -- and a set of computer speakers for $2. $2 was a little more than I was hoping to spend but I needed them (my computer didn't come with any) and these were nicer and cheaper than any others I've seen recently. <
This means my current computer cost me a total of $24.13 after shipping. The tower and everything in it excluding the graphics card and the RAM came out of a dumpster. The RAM came out of another dumpster the same day. The graphics card cost me $14.65 on eBay and the cable it didn't come with cost me another $7.48. My friend gave me the monitor because it's slowly dying. The mouse was free and I got the keyboard free a few weeks ago. Finally, I got the speakers today for $2.
This means my current computer cost me a total of $24.13 after shipping. The tower and everything in it excluding the graphics card and the RAM came out of a dumpster. The RAM came out of another dumpster the same day. The graphics card cost me $14.65 on eBay and the cable it didn't come with cost me another $7.48. My friend gave me the monitor because it's slowly dying. The mouse was free and I got the keyboard free a few weeks ago. Finally, I got the speakers today for $2.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Having your Own Sale: Liquidating Inventory
If you've ever had a garage sale in the past, you probably know that there are some things you just desperately want to get rid of but don't just want to give away to Goodwill at the end of the day. Usually it's because the item is undesirable due to weight and volume (so it takes up a lot of room and is difficult to move) or some other reason but is still worth a little bit of money. For example, during my sale back in April, I was trying to get rid of the silverware I had had since January because it was worthless and my friend was trying to get rid of his laser printer because it was huge.
The easy way to get rid of something you don't want is to announce it to your customers. Don't be obnoxious about it; don't say "You definitely want this washer and dryer set" to the sixteen year olds who come by. Target people who may actually buy it. If you're really lucky, the person will want it, but usually you will have to follow up with "Not even for X [seemingly ridiculously low amount of] dollars?"
For whatever reason, this technique works to get rid of stuff. I'm not sure if it's because people don't notice the items until you point them out or if it's because you mentioning it makes them realize they do need or want them. The trick worked for both my friend and me. We each only got $10 but we were happy; I made a $5 profit on the silver -- and it looked like I would be taking my first loss -- and my friend didn't have to take his printer to Goodwill.
The easy way to get rid of something you don't want is to announce it to your customers. Don't be obnoxious about it; don't say "You definitely want this washer and dryer set" to the sixteen year olds who come by. Target people who may actually buy it. If you're really lucky, the person will want it, but usually you will have to follow up with "Not even for X [seemingly ridiculously low amount of] dollars?"
For whatever reason, this technique works to get rid of stuff. I'm not sure if it's because people don't notice the items until you point them out or if it's because you mentioning it makes them realize they do need or want them. The trick worked for both my friend and me. We each only got $10 but we were happy; I made a $5 profit on the silver -- and it looked like I would be taking my first loss -- and my friend didn't have to take his printer to Goodwill.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Items to Look for: Video Game Guides
I've been continuing in my push to get rid of as much of my unwanted possessions as possible that I mentioned back in December. Going through my bookshelf, I found some old N64 player's guides (Prima's Guides, etc.).
Out of curiosity, I checked their value on Amazon. Some of them, as I expected, were valued at $0.01 but to my surprise, most were in the $15-$20 range. Two cost more than $50 each.
Like textbooks and video games, the market isn't predictable. If you can get them for $0.10 each and they end up worthless, you can just sell them at your own garage sale or try to Craigslist them. This is yet another class of items for which a smartphone is a very useful tool -- just use it to check the book's value on Amazon before you commit to purchasing it.
It my browsing of player's guides on Amazon, I have noticed a correlation: valuable games tend to have valuable player's guides. The original Paper Mario is one example of a game that fits this trend.
Out of curiosity, I checked their value on Amazon. Some of them, as I expected, were valued at $0.01 but to my surprise, most were in the $15-$20 range. Two cost more than $50 each.
Like textbooks and video games, the market isn't predictable. If you can get them for $0.10 each and they end up worthless, you can just sell them at your own garage sale or try to Craigslist them. This is yet another class of items for which a smartphone is a very useful tool -- just use it to check the book's value on Amazon before you commit to purchasing it.
It my browsing of player's guides on Amazon, I have noticed a correlation: valuable games tend to have valuable player's guides. The original Paper Mario is one example of a game that fits this trend.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Yet Another Sale of my Own
I had some dumpster diving stuff and some older Craigslist stuff I wanted to get rid of so I had another garage sale of my own today. Unfortunately, the day was terrible; I have enough stuff left over to have another sale next week.
For whatever reason, very few people came by my sale today. I ended up making only $62 (although everyone in total made ~$135, not terrible for a sale), $24 of which came from the same person. The only good thing about today was that I got rid of some Craigslist items that weren't moving, including the Game Gear TV Tuner from May 12th ($5) and the NES Power Pad from June 23rd ($20). These means I've already made almost $55 from the twenty-third of June.
In other news, one of the textbooks I bought May 12th just sold. I made just over $8 on that book but it's not the expensive one; the other book I bought that day is still listed for $40. Between the book and the two items I sold at my garage sale today, my 2012 pre-gas garage saling profit is now almost $300.
For whatever reason, very few people came by my sale today. I ended up making only $62 (although everyone in total made ~$135, not terrible for a sale), $24 of which came from the same person. The only good thing about today was that I got rid of some Craigslist items that weren't moving, including the Game Gear TV Tuner from May 12th ($5) and the NES Power Pad from June 23rd ($20). These means I've already made almost $55 from the twenty-third of June.
In other news, one of the textbooks I bought May 12th just sold. I made just over $8 on that book but it's not the expensive one; the other book I bought that day is still listed for $40. Between the book and the two items I sold at my garage sale today, my 2012 pre-gas garage saling profit is now almost $300.
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