Author Topic: Garage Sales (Read 3764 times)

StillAWarrior · « **on:** April 25, 2022, 02:03:41 PM »

I'm curious if any of you have ever held a garage sale and felt that it was "worth it" when it was all said and done. About 15 years ago or so my wife and I had one and worked pretty hard for a week or two getting ready. Then, of course, there was a long day the day of the sale. I don't recall specifically how much we made, but our mutual promise after it was over was, "Never Again." I think we made a couple hundred dollars. Ever since then we just donate stuff to one of several organizations that call us a couple times each year to see if we have anything we want to get rid of.

This past weekend, my sister and her husband had a garage sale with their stuff and some of my mom's stuff. Similar story -- lots of work preparing and two very long days selling. Total take: $170. I can't imagine they got more than a few bucks an hour for the time they invested. And they still have to haul it all away to donate it to someone.

So, has anyone ever had a sale that they felt was worth it?

The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole · « **Reply #1 on:** April 25, 2022, 02:11:27 PM »

I just sell the most valuable stuff on Facebook Marketplace and either donate or trash the rest.

TAMU, Knower of Ball · « **Reply #2 on:** April 25, 2022, 02:22:44 PM »

My father in law has a garage sale every weekend during the summer. He's a scrapper and will go out and collect things from curbs, clean them up, and resell them. He claims to make several hundred bucks each week.

rocky_warrior · « **Reply #3 on:** April 25, 2022, 02:24:38 PM »

Quote from: StillAWarrior on April 25, 2022, 02:03:41 PM

So, has anyone ever had a sale that they felt was worth it?

Tried it a couple times. Never worth it.

MU Fan in Connecticut · « **Reply #4 on:** April 25, 2022, 02:28:47 PM »

I've only done once for two straight weekends. The stuff that seemed to sell was the kids toys they outgrew and selling a lot of kids clothes cheap. I made several hundred dollars but it was a few big ticket kids items that made up the bulk of it.
Yes, it was a lot of work to drag stuff out to my from yard then drag back in later.

tower912 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 25, 2022, 02:33:42 PM »

My wife has tried it 3 times. All 3 times it ended droughts.

ChuckyChip · « **Reply #6 on:** April 25, 2022, 02:36:51 PM »

Tried it once...and will never do it again. "Made" about $120, but it wasn't worth it to have a bunch of strangers picking over my stuff and trying to "negotiate" a two-dollar item down to one. Now I just donate everything.

JWags85 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 25, 2022, 02:46:50 PM »

Quote from: ChuckyChip on April 25, 2022, 02:36:51 PM

Tried it once...and will never do it again. "Made" about $120, but it wasn't worth it to have a bunch of strangers picking over my stuff and trying to "negotiate" a two-dollar item down to one. Now I just donate everything.

Same. Neighbors convinced my parents its a great idea when I was younger. Towards the end of the sale, older guy came and made an offer on a belt that was marked $1. He asked if we'd take 25c. My mom, exasperated, said sure. Dude went to his car and returned with 25 pennies.

Garage sale aficionados are the worst

StillAWarrior · « **Reply #8 on:** April 25, 2022, 03:03:07 PM »

Quote from: tower912 on April 25, 2022, 02:33:42 PM

My wife has tried it 3 times. All 3 times it ended droughts.

Since you mention that...

When my wife and I had ours we decided to get set up early. Our house has the garage in the back with a large concrete driveway area to pull around the house and into the garage. It is not visible from the street. So, my wife and I had the brilliant idea to go ahead and get everything set up behind the house the evening before the sale. We spent several hours getting everything set up and organized. I'm sure you know where this is going.

We were awakened at about 3:00 to the sounds of a thunderstorm. We ran out in the middle of the night and pulled everything into the garage as quickly as possible. A lot of stuff got pretty wet.

Like I said...never again.

ZiggysFryBoy · « **Reply #9 on:** April 25, 2022, 03:07:27 PM »

Living hell.

The last garage sale that my mom did, she sold all of my star wars figures for a dime and my he-man stuff for 2 bits (late 80s.) I still remember the kid that bought my Orko action figure, that little fūcker.

jesmu84 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 25, 2022, 04:06:36 PM »

Quote from: Clarissa on April 25, 2022, 02:11:27 PM

I just sell the most valuable stuff on Facebook Marketplace and either donate or trash the rest.

Facebook marketplace has dramatically been worsened over the past year or two for selling goods.

JWags85 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 25, 2022, 04:42:13 PM »

Quote from: jesmu84 on April 25, 2022, 04:06:36 PM

Facebook marketplace has dramatically been worsened over the past year or two for selling goods.

What, you don't like people offering you 10-15% of your asking price and then being shocked and indignant when you don't sell?

My buddy tried to sell his PS5 on Marketplace not to long ago. Less than a year old. Hardly used. He got about 15 offers before he took it down. Only 1 of them was over $150. And most were around $80-100. People are insane

StillAWarrior · « **Reply #12 on:** April 25, 2022, 04:43:57 PM »

Quote from: JWags85 on April 25, 2022, 04:42:13 PM

What, you don't like people offering you 10-15% of your asking price and then being shocked and indignant when you don't sell?

My buddy tried to sell his PS5 on Marketplace not to long ago. Less than a year old. Hardly used. He got about 15 offers before he took it down. Only 1 of them was over $150. And most were around $80-100. People are insane

I have only listed things on FB Marketplace twice. Neither resulted in an offer. I was just trying to see if it would work. It didn't for me.

jesmu84 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 25, 2022, 05:44:16 PM »

Quote from: JWags85 on April 25, 2022, 04:42:13 PM

What, you don't like people offering you 10-15% of your asking price and then being shocked and indignant when you don't sell?

My buddy tried to sell his PS5 on Marketplace not to long ago. Less than a year old. Hardly used. He got about 15 offers before he took it down. Only 1 of them was over $150. And most were around $80-100. People are insane

I can deal with that stuff.

However, it's become very much "pay to play". If you don't pay Facebook, your items don't get shown/advertised

mu_hilltopper · « **Reply #14 on:** April 25, 2022, 08:10:02 PM »

Quote from: jesmu84 on April 25, 2022, 05:44:16 PM

I can deal with that stuff.

However, it's become very much "pay to play". If you don't pay Facebook, your items don't get shown/advertised

This confuses me .. I've never paid FB to sell anything before.

I'll list a few items a year on Facebook .. it'll ask what local markets to post it to, so I'll do the local one to my area.

The items I've posted .. sell within a couple hours for the price I set.

jesmu84 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2022, 08:51:49 PM »

Quote from: mu_hilltopper on April 25, 2022, 08:10:02 PM

This confuses me .. I've never paid FB to sell anything before.

I'll list a few items a year on Facebook .. it'll ask what local markets to post it to, so I'll do the local one to my area.

The items I've posted .. sell within a couple hours for the price I set.

YMMV...

Wife and I have sold various items on Facebook for the last 4 years or so. However, have had significant difficulty getting interaction since Facebook added a shipping option and a "pay for your item to be shown more often" option.

Now, perhaps it's just coincidence. But we have put up items of various pricing and varying categories, and all have had little to no interaction.

There are even times where we try to search for each other's items and can't find them listed.

TAMU, Knower of Ball · « **Reply #16 on:** April 25, 2022, 08:59:50 PM »

Quote from: JWags85 on April 25, 2022, 04:42:13 PM

What, you don't like people offering you 10-15% of your asking price and then being shocked and indignant when you don't sell?

My buddy tried to sell his PS5 on Marketplace not to long ago. Less than a year old. Hardly used. He got about 15 offers before he took it down. Only 1 of them was over $150. And most were around $80-100. People are insane

There's also the opposite problem. We tried to buy a travel dog crate off FBM about a year ago. We found a used one we liked but the price was literally higher than what it costs at the store new. We sent the guy a link to the stores price and asked if would knock the price down to basically the cost at the store minus shipping and he went off on us.

brewcity77 · « **Reply #17 on:** April 25, 2022, 10:16:43 PM »

We had a rummage last year. It was before we moved. Got rid of a ton of stuff we didn't want anymore and pulled in around $450. Was worth it not just for the money but simply getting rid of things. And we still donated a bunch after, but having organized it all made the donation logs easier.

Jockey · « **Reply #18 on:** April 26, 2022, 01:01:48 AM »

We donate everything we don't use anymore. Bigger stuff - funiture, computers, working appliances - goes to the curb. Always gone in an hour; sometimes in minutes. Small stuff goes to Goodwill.

Never bother taking deduction on tax returns.

jficke13 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 26, 2022, 09:45:12 AM »

I got bumper plates in the summer of 2019 to replace the old steel plates and a squat rack to replace the crappy bench rack I had from way back. Put the rack and plates up on FB Marketplace and obviously underpriced them because I got absolutely *buried* in offers, not a single one trying to undercut me. Guess there's just a lot of meatheads out there in the market for old 45 lb steel plates.

StillAWarrior · « **Reply #20 on:** April 26, 2022, 10:14:58 AM »

Quote from: Jockey on April 26, 2022, 01:01:48 AM

Bigger stuff - funiture, computers, working appliances - goes to the curb. Always gone in an hour; sometimes in minutes.

We had to replace a water heater a few weeks ago. The guy who installed it told me to just put the old one on the curb and it would be taken care of. I knew that he was probably right, but even so I waited for the night before our regular trash pickup. It was gone in an hour.

PBRme · « **Reply #21 on:** April 26, 2022, 12:47:13 PM »

After you compare the WORK and dealing with all the CHEAPSKATES who want to negotiate from $1.00 to $0.50 and then comparing to donating it and getting a tax writeoff, never do it again (even without the tax writeoff)

ZiggysFryBoy · « **Reply #22 on:** April 26, 2022, 04:07:56 PM »

Quote from: StillAWarrior on April 26, 2022, 10:14:58 AM

We had to replace a water heater a few weeks ago. The guy who installed it told me to just put the old one on the curb and it would be taken care of. I knew that he was probably right, but even so I waited for the night before our regular trash pickup. It was gone in an hour.

We put a cat piss soaked mattress wrapped in plastic wrap and with a note saying "cat pissed on this" on the curb and it was gone the same evening.

Who ever took it didn't return it, so it must have been fine for them.

Spotcheck Billy · « **Reply #23 on:** April 26, 2022, 04:10:07 PM »

Quote from: ZiggysFryBoy on April 26, 2022, 04:07:56 PM

We put a cat piss soaked mattress wrapped in plastic wrap and with a note saying "cat pissed on this" on the curb and it was gone the same evening.

Who ever took it didn't return it, so it must have been fine for them.

Cat mattress? Talk about a spoiled cat!