PLurker
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,796
Location: Behind the Cheddar Curtain
Jun 28, 2014 3:48:49 GMT
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Post by PLurker on Aug 12, 2014 15:51:05 GMT
deal stories. You guys were right.
I had my first ever garage sale this past weekend. Was really my mother's but I did it for her. Some other thread with "having sale tips" mentioned watching for thieves. I never really thought about it until I read it here. Never had a sale because it seems like a lot of work... and it was. What I found was that while most people were great, fun and honest, holy cow what the "exceptions" would do to save pennies. Change price tags. Rip things apart and put with other stuff. Start your hello out with why you can't pay this much, what's wrong with the item I have the nerve to ask 50 cents for. Wow.
It's a garage sale people. I expect to haggle and take less than asking price, but don't cheat or steal. Just ask. If you try to cheat, steal, change tags etc. I would rather throw the item out than sell it to you. Or RAISE the price. While the change the tag lady was there trying to cheat, and I was not "playing" with her, another nice lady asked if I'd take a lower price on a set of dishes, I just said "sure" to her. Doesn't cheater-cheater McBeater get it? Play fair!
Then the same tag-changer came back THREE times to try to get less than $5 worth of stuff for less. She probably spent more in gas! Crazy people. Anyway, I am no longer a garage sale having virgin, and all in all it was fun. Met a lot of cool people and a few not so much. Don't know if I'd do it again anytime soon, but for my mom I did.
Then on way home I saw all the sale signs of those I missed and felt the urge to brake for sale. What's wrong with me? We need a support group. "Hello my name is P Lurker and I have a brake for sales addiction...."
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Post by alibama on Aug 12, 2014 16:00:17 GMT
Oh I feel your pain. I hate garage sales. I don't do them I donate instead. But my daughter still does them and I always get suckered into helping her.
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Post by Goldynn on Aug 12, 2014 16:10:50 GMT
I donate now also instead of going through all the work to set things up and then deal with crazies. The annoyance of the whole thing isn't worth it to me.
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eastcoastpea
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,252
Jun 27, 2014 13:05:28 GMT
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Post by eastcoastpea on Aug 12, 2014 16:32:50 GMT
There is always at least one bad apple in the bunch. But, like you said, you do meet a lot of cool people. At our last family (multifamily) tag sale we had someone change a tag. Thankfully I noticed it before he paid the wrong price for it.
Having a tag sale is like childbirth. While it's happening you think OMG, this is too painful, I can't possibly do this again. Time goes by, you think you must have exaggerated the pain in your memories and you're willing to do it again.
(We do try to have one once a year.)
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Post by KikiPea on Aug 12, 2014 16:53:08 GMT
deal stories. You guys were right. I had my first ever garage sale this past weekend. Was really my mother's but I did it for her. Some other thread with "having sale tips" mentioned watching for thieves. I never really thought about it until I read it here. Never had a sale because it seems like a lot of work... and it was. What I found was that while most people were great, fun and honest, holy cow what the "exceptions" would do to save pennies. Change price tags. Rip things apart and put with other stuff. Start your hello out with why you can't pay this much, what's wrong with the item I have the nerve to ask 50 cents for. Wow. It's a garage sale people. I expect to haggle and take less than asking price, but don't cheat or steal. Just ask. If you try to cheat, steal, change tags etc. I would rather throw the item out than sell it to you. Or RAISE the price. While the change the tag lady was there trying to cheat, and I was not "playing" with her, another nice lady asked if I'd take a lower price on a set of dishes, I just said "sure" to her. Doesn't cheater-cheater McBeater get it? Play fair! Then the same tag-changer came back THREE times to try to get less than $5 worth of stuff for less. She probably spent more in gas! Crazy people. Anyway, I am no longer a garage sale having virgin, and all in all it was fun. Met a lot of cool people and a few not so much. Don't know if I'd do it again anytime soon, but for my mom I did. Then on way home I saw all the sale signs of those I missed and felt the urge to brake for sale. What's wrong with me? We need a support group. "Hello my name is P Lurker and I have a brake for sales addiction...." The things you mentioned here are the exact reason I will never hold my own garage sale. SO not worth it to me. |
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Post by papersilly on Aug 12, 2014 17:00:20 GMT
we were helping out at one of MIL's yard sales and SIL and I were manning the cash box. there were a lot of people but I notice a lady picked up a comforter bag (the clear one) with a comforter inside. she must not have thought anyone was looking because she proceeds to stuff the folds of the comforter with other items. when she goes to pay for it, she tells me that she is only buying the comforter. I told her fine and then I pulled the comforter out of the bag and all the stuff tumbles out. she tried to look surprised and say she didn't know where all that stuff came from. seriously? you are going to shoplift at a yard sale?
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Post by darkangel090260 on Aug 12, 2014 17:15:26 GMT
I will be having one starting tomorrow. i will post a up date on how is goes.
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Post by alibama on Aug 12, 2014 17:48:09 GMT
we were helping out at one of MIL's yard sales and SIL and I were manning the cash box. there were a lot of people but I notice a lady picked up a comforter bag (the clear one) with a comforter inside. she must not have thought anyone was looking because she proceeds to stuff the folds of the comforter with other items. when she goes to pay for it, she tells me that she is only buying the comforter. I told her fine and then I pulled the comforter out of the bag and all the stuff tumbles out. she tried to look surprised and say she didn't know where all that stuff came from. seriously? you are going to shoplift at a yard sale? I can't believe the nerve of some people. Not a garage sale story but my husband manages two cafeterias for big companies and oh the stories he tells about what people try to get away with. One of the ladies that he has problems with showed up at my garage sale years ago. He watched her like hawk lol. |
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Post by alibama on Aug 12, 2014 17:48:37 GMT
I will be having one starting tomorrow. i will post a up date on how is goes. Good luck!! |
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Post by Bitchy Rich on Aug 12, 2014 18:05:07 GMT
I love the crazy people garage sale sale stories!
I've had two sales with a friend, and we had nobody from the crazy department. No stealing or tag changing, that we noticed anyway. We have a fair number of people offer less, which was fine with us.
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Post by melanell on Aug 12, 2014 18:13:43 GMT
I've never had any known theft at our annual sales, but I have heard many stories of others who have had that experience. I avoid stick on prices, so I think that helps with price changing. I either tie on price tags or I just have signs with descriptions. So for me, they are just mostly fun. (I do hate the boxing up of the left-overs, though.) I am glad you had fun in between the wackos!  |
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Post by darkangel090260 on Aug 14, 2014 15:32:38 GMT
Ok amsterdam was day one. Second person of the day everything was to high for her poling even the .05 and.10
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Post by peasful1 on Aug 14, 2014 16:00:49 GMT
Thieves are the main reason why we stopped doing garage sales. We were having a moving sale once and DH jammed moving boxes full of stuff and marked them as $5. People would jam even more stuff in the box and try to pass it off as the original $5 box. They'd walk up to DH and say, "How much?" and he'd respond, "Well, it was $5, but now it's $10 with all that extra stuff you put in it." Or they'd try to hide items under their shirt, crook of their arm and he'd say, "$5 for the box, $10 for all that other stuff you're hiding."
We had one elderly lady steal a bunch of stuff off our DD's sale table. She was 7 or so. That was the very last time we did a garage sale. I just don't need to purposely subject my family and I to the ugly side of humans.
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