Posted by Tabitha on September 13, 2003, at 14:19:55
In reply to Re: Good luck with it, posted by Dinah on September 13, 2003, at 8:53:28
I got rid of sooo much stuff. All but 3 small boxes of leftovers. I guess my prices were unusually low. There was a swarm of early birds.. I started setting up at 6:30 and one guy showed up, bought stuff as fast as I could put it out, then 3 or 4 more, they were waiting in a crowd as I pulled the boxes out my front door.. Like a feeding frenzy.. I didn't even spread the stuff out and half of it was gone. This was before 7, and the sale didn't start til 8.
Had I known how much people like to bargain, I would have set the prices higher to start. Just to give them the satisfaction. The asian folks especially insisted on bargaining. They seemed insulted if I wouldn't come down..
I couldn't believe the 'junk' that people bought, and were happy to find. Just when I thought I was down to the absolute dregs.. someone would come along and sweep up a bunch of it.
Everything sold briskly except books. The big colorful ones went fast, the others just sat there. But 2 bookophiles picked out a couple, and told me their story of trying to house their book collection.. made it worthwhile.
Jewelry didn't sell well either, til one woman came along and bought about half of it. I'll bet she's going to resell it at a markup. She just had that businesslike air.
The stuff I thought least likely to sell was the first to go-- My collection of old (30s 40s?) lab equipment from university.. a bunch of big heavy wood boxes with knobs and dials.. none of it works.. I paid a dollar each at university garage sale.. and have been carting it around for 15 years.. I gave it for 25 cents each to that first nutty guy who showed up at 6:30. He was thrilled.
The computer monitor wouldn't sell at 1 dollar, so I marked it 'free' and it went to the next person to walk by. Amazing how much difference over just a dollar.
One lady had 1.50 worth of stuff, asked if she could have it all for a quarter. I gave it for 50 cents, but felt a little cheated.
I only made between 100 and 150 dollars, but man did I clear out some space.
I had this vision of little girls buying my old treasures, that I bought as a little girl.. well there were a couple. One bought a music box, one bought a glass jar full of shells. One bought the 'grab bag' of tiny knickknacks.
I had a sock monkey, partly finished, that I marked 'Free to Good Home, Please Sew Up My Legs'. A little girl got that, but it seemed like her dad (the nutty first customer) was kind of pushing it on her.
It's good to release possessions back into the stream. This stuff has just been archived, or unused, taking up space. I don't want to save stuff anymore! Set it free. My new attitude.
Next purging project.. books! hundreds of books to dispatch. and Clothes! and that old cello. But I want $2500 at least for it.
poster:Tabitha
thread:259529
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030913/msgs/259672.html