When Yard sales Turn Ugly

[wyldwolf]

Last edited Sat Sep 7, 2013, 02:23 PM - Edit history (1)

Many of us in this forum buy from yard sales and resell the products online.

Other people have regular yard sales to sell their things. This has been a tradition ever since I can remember. I knew two families like this growing up. Today, they don't want to be bothered with the online process. They even think of online re-sellers as their competition.

I met a family like that today.

Their Craigslist ad announced, among other things, 400+ DVDs, CDs and video games. That's gold for me. The start time was 8AM this morning, according to their ad.

But when I hit their subdivision I noticed the signs had deflated balloons hanging from them. What this usually means is the signs were put up the day before and chances are the yard sale actually began on Friday morning. Now, just as some of us have our little tricks to get the best deals and hit the most profitable sales early, people who have yard sales on a routine basis have their tricks to lure the most people in. Knowing no one likes to hit a sale on the second day because all the good things are gone, these people delete their original craigslist ads and put up new ones that remove references to Friday start and end times.

They let me in a few minutes early and to my surprise most of the DVDs, CDs and video games were still there. Then I found out why. They were charging NEW retail prices (sometimes higher) for used products.

I scanned them anyway - hoping to find a rare gem that I could sell for more than the asking price. When that proved pointless, I asked if the prices were negotiable.

"Nope!"

I asked him if they knew their used prices were in most cases higher than online prices? (Maybe they didn't know )

"We price them this way to get people who don't speak English or aren't smart enough to shop online."

I just smiled, took my seven year old daughter by the hand, and said, "let's head out."

The guy then did his a really awkward baseball umpire impression and yelled, "and you're outta here!"

I ignored his theatrics and continued walking away.

"I can't believe you came here to try and jew me down!"

I stopped, turned around and said, "Did you really just say 'jew you down?'"

"It's just an expression!" He said.

"So is dumbass, but it applies to you perfectly" I called back as I got in the car.

It's interesting that I'd had a discussion the night before with my little girl about tolerance and stereotypes as we watched Al Sharpton's coverage on the March on Washington. So I was glad I could show her a real world example of how to stand up to jerks like that.

[Vinca]

1. Wow - my day sucked, too, but not as badly as yours.

Suddenly it seems everyone is asking too much for everything and being totally inflexible. At least I didn't run into anyone making bigoted slurs. One idiot I encountered told me he'd just as soon burn the leather jacket I was offering $50 for than sell it to me for that price. Today I hit the second day of a professionally-run estate sale. The place was nearly picked clean except for a bunch of gorgeous wine goblets. I offered $10 apiece for the lot, a total of $420. They countered with $15. Big difference between $400 and $600, so I walked. Very frustrating weekend.

[grasswire]

2. should we blame American Picker for that?

I suspect that many people think their stuff is worth more because they are more aware of "picking" and dickering.

Glad to see you are out there, going after the good scores.

[Vinca]

3. I think it's a combination of the Pickers and the Roadshow.

I find American Pickers pretty boring. It seems every week they scrounge up the same rusty car parts and damaged signs. I wish they would have an episode there they buy a piece of decent art or something. LOL.

[grasswire]

4. oh, maybe Storage Wars has something to do with it.

And there's a spin-off too, I think.

[grasswire]

5. QUESTION: What is a good price to pay for videos and DVDs?

Oh, and CDs, if you do those, too.

I was at a rummage sale today where VHS were 10 cents, DVDs 50 cents, and CDs 25 cents. I didn't buy any because I was loaded down with other stuff. But I thought of your experiences.

What is your cutoff point price wise, where you know you can make money?

[wyldwolf]

6. Those were great prices but they were probably "penny" media

the problem these days are with 'penny' sellers - people who drive online prices down by selling things for a penny. In theory, they'll make a little money on shipping. They usually ship so much they get special postal rates. This is bad news for people like you and I.

What they don't sell, they unload at flea markets and yard sales. I would have spot-scanned them to see if there were any jewels in them.

Good prices for DVDs and CDs are $1 - $2 for CDs, $2 - $3 for DVDs. Never pay more than $5 for a box set and never let someone try to charge you per DVD in a box set. Retail doesn't, yard sales shouldn't either.

I went to one sale this morning from a guy who'd bought thousands of DVDs and CDs at a storage locker sale. The previous owner was an Amazon seller like myself. I could tell by the quality the product. All in excellent condition, most scanning for a penny + shipping.

Interestingly, he had a box of brand new Hobbit movies - the animated version from the 70s. I bought a handful for $2 a piece and they are, for now, going for $10 on Amazon (until all the other sellers who bought them today list their's cheaper, causing a price war, and sending the price down.)