outrageously priced garage sale items.

[jenimay]

So i had the morning to myself and decided to go to some garage sales. I found some good deals on a few things and at the last one I stopped at I noticed they had lots of cute girls clothes still left. And then I noticed why they hadn't sold yet. Each item of clothing was marked $7 or more. The brands weren't anything special either, mainly Old Navy, stuff from Penney's. Um, do they honestly think they will sell. I tried to keep from laughing and walked back to my car. Oh and on the way out I noticed there was a baby swing missing the cushion part that was priced $20 puhlease
Jeni

 

[TupperMom7]

I saw two metal tennis rackets last Saturday and the guy wanted $10 each for them. I saw very similar looking ones today and paid $1.00 for each! They are just for my son to fool around with at the park - no professional tennis players here,

My big beef is video tapes that people are still trying to get $2.00 each for. Haven't they heard of DVD's? I bought two DVD's - one was Sleepless in Seattle (a favorite of mine) and the other one was My Big Fat Greek Wedding - paid $2.00 each. Why would anyone buy video's for $2.00 each?

 

[rparmfamily]

LOL, yeah, mom can be one of those people. I have to make her go inside. She gets so worked up about people being cheap. I have to remind her that the whole point of the garage sale is to SELL your stuff!!! People go to garage sales looking for a bargin. If you want top dollar for something, Ebay it!

I sell DVD's for $2-3 (depending on how new/popular it is, like Disney ones) and VHS for $.50, but even then VHS are hard to get rid of!! DVD's and CD's have sold great for me.

 

[disneysteve]

I think many people overvalue their belongings. Many simply don't shop the secondary market and have no clue how much used things should cost. Then there are others who do, but overprice their items anyway. I know someone who did this just a couple of weeks ago. He rented a table at a flea market as he had a bunch of stuff he wanted to get rid of. He said that whatever didn't sell was going in the dumpster. He wasn't bringing anything home. With that in mind, you would think he'd want to price his items to sell, right? One example: He had a laptop carrying case, brand new. He asked me how much he should charge for it. I suggested no more than $5. After speaking with me, he stopped at Best Buy and found a similar case selling for $60, so at the flea market, he decided to ask $20 for his. Guess what? The few people who asked about it thought he was nuts and the item didn't sell and ended up in the dumpster, along with a bunch of other stuff. As far as he was concerned, he would rather throw the stuff away then sell it for next to nothing. The principle was more important to him than the money. Makes no sense to me, but he refused to sell it for $5 or $3 when he knew it was "worth" $60.

An item is worth exactly what an available customer is willing to pay and not a penny more.

 

[Danemom]

I stopped at a yard sale this weekend - the first thing I saw was a coffee mug. A promotional mug from a local TV station marked at $5. I turned around and left without looking any further. I wouldn't pay $5 for a brand new, cutest mug in the world!
Last yard sale I had was a ton of fun. I looked at it as getting paid to have my trash hauled off. So when someone offered me a dollar for something marked higher, I'd say something like "How about a dollar for all of them?". LOVED the look on their faces! I was rid of everything on Friday. I had a few bucks, a great time, and got to sleep in on Saturday!

 

[rparmfamily]

An item is worth exactly what an available customer is willing to pay and not a penny more.

This is exactly what I would tell my mom, LOL.

 

[Angela&Kayla]

I do not go to garage sales, but have had a couple of my own. The last one I had, over Memorial Day weekend, I made just about $2000. Two years ago, I made over $1000.

I mark all my items reasonable, but if I wanted to give them away by offering people ridicously low prices, I would donate them to people I know and or to shelters, etc. I feel if people want to walk away from my garage sale after seeing VHS tapes marked for $1, $2 or even $3 (Disney ones), they can. And some people did...but I stuck to my guns and ended up selling ALL of them to people without haggling at all.

Again, if people want good deals, garage sales are the way to go. But, even at garage sales, it should not be unreasonable for previous owners to expect some sort of return on their items that they DID in fact pay full price for.

 

[disneysteve]

even at garage sales, it should not be unreasonable for previous owners to expect some sort of return on their items that they DID in fact pay full price for.

There are 2 reasons to have a garage sale, and a person may fit one or the other or some combination of both.

In the past, I usually fell into the category of wanting to make money. I put what I felt were fair prices on the items and held relatively firm to those prices. As a result, items often went unsold and back into the garage for the next sale.

Most recently, we did a sale May 19th. This time, my goal was to sell as much stuff as possible to clear out space in our garage. I lowered prices significantly and the merchandise flew out of there. Almost nobody asked a price and didn't buy the item. There was very little haggling. And there was very little remaining at the end of the sale.

What constitutes a reasonable price depends on various factors including things like condition, rarity and locale. Something that I can get $20 for on ebay might only bring $5 at a yard sale. At item that an antique dealer in a nice shop might price at $50 might only command $20 at a yard sale. And just because the seller might think his/her item is worth $10, doesn't mean anyone else will agree.

 

[Miss_Nellie]

This reminds me of my sister - I love her but she confuses me.

She way overprices her items and then keeps asking me why very little of her things sell. I've tried telling her she's overpriced but I keep getting told "Well, if they went to a store to buy it they'd have to pay more than I'm asking." And she's right but at the store you get a brand new item with a return policy if it doesn't work or you don't care for the item.

As for her items that don't sell, they go to Goodwill at the end of the yard sale. Okay, so not only did she have to drag it out to the garage and price it now she has to load it in her van and drive to a drop box.

But hey, whatever floats her boat.

 

[SeeDisney]

A couple of Saturdays ago, I noticed a price tag for $200 for the Barbie pink converitable battery ride-on toy for a child to use.

I said to myself --- no way on earth would anyone but that one for that high price.

 

[flying_babyb]

What do you sell cds for? Im kinda wondering. I treatened to have a rummage sale if my stuff didnt sell on the local trading post.I just want to get rid of all the crap thats laying around the house and make some money to pay the credit card!

 

[dismom24]

I have just finished pricing 12 boxes of stuff for our community yard sale in 6 weeks. We have decided to do a clean sweep and that was just from one room. Any idea on what to price adult clothes for. They are all from dept stores and in style. I thought $2 a piece, except for some of the dresses and suits. I am borrowing some clothes racks from a friend so they will all be neatly hung up. I've never tried adult clothes before, but had so many decided to give it a shot.

 

[snomofinn]

My big beef is video tapes that people are still trying to get $2.00 each for. Haven't they heard of DVD's? I bought two DVD's - one was Sleepless in Seattle (a favorite of mine) and the other one was My Big Fat Greek Wedding - paid $2.00 each. Why would anyone buy video's for $2.00 each?

My DSIL still looks for video tapes for her kids. She has 3 children 6,5,4, and she has a playroom where she keeps a vcr for the kids to play their movies. She goes to garage sales just to look for video tapes! She has 3 DVD players in other parts of the house, but she said until the kids get bigger, video tapes are good enough.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

I have had only 1 yard sale and it was to clean house! I sold what I could on ebay 1st - I researched it before hand when listing so I knew that wasn't a whim. After I sold everything on ebay I could or what was worth ebaying, I set up my sale for a 2 day weekend sale. I priced everything out going by current ebay rates (just to get an idea) and also a list of "value" I found for items donated to goodwill. Any reasonable offer was accepted and although I still carted about 6 boxes of stuff to the donation center (and I did claim this on taxes!) I was a couple hundred dollars richer and the stuff I donated I really did not expect to sell anyway - books, wicker baskets, glasswear, etc.

 

[AnninIowa]

I've stopped going to garage sales because so many people go on Ebay, then price the item at that price! With Ebay, you have millions of potential customers who can bid up items. It's just not the same at garage sales. I always viewed garage sales as a way to just get rid of stuff. Now if I can't sell it on Ebay I take it to the local auction house, and I usually get a great price there. Clothes, however, just go to Goodwill.

 

[dementia412]

Once we went to a sell and my SIL was looking at some curtains. Then she saw the price. OMG, I believe it was like 100 bucks a pair. The woman was saying how they cost 300 dollars new, well good for you, but nobody who goes to a garage sell is paying a hundred bucks for a set of curtains.. we can go to Walmart and get a new set for thiry. Mt SIL had thought it was a mistake and they were $10. SOme people just don't get it.
I can't have a garage sell, my kids ruin everything so we never have enough to make one worth it.
BTW I still buy and watch VHS, they are much better than dvd's imo... I've had new dvds not work, they always get smudged and scratched no matter how I treat them, and I have kids who won't keep their nasty little fingers off the dvds. My vhs collection also includes many movies not on dvd, nor likely ever to be put on dvd... and I can buy them for a buck or less... many I've got for free. I have somewhere in the range of 500 vhs tapes now including at last 150 kids movies. Ok, vhs rant over.

 

[VictoriaT]

I've stopped going to garage sales because so many people go on Ebay, then price the item at that price! With Ebay, you have millions of potential customers who can bid up items. It's just not the same at garage sales. I always viewed garage sales as a way to just get rid of stuff. Now if I can't sell it on Ebay I take it to the local auction house, and I usually get a great price there. Clothes, however, just go to Goodwill.

I agree- I usually have the garage sales, but I think this year was it for me!! I think I price items fairly- Many people told me I had the best organized and nicest stuff (one customer said I had the Marshall Field's garage sale compared to the kmart garage sales) I pretty much have only name brand clothing (Talbots, Gap, RL) and most of my clothing is in excellent condition, since I have a clothes horse DD who has a few favorite items and everything else is worn once and then never again! I usually list an item for 10-15 percent of what I paid, and then I get people who are wearing all designer clothing and carrying a $300 coach purse if I cold lower the price even more! Sorry, I would rather cart my unsold stuff to Salvation Army/ St. Vincent DePaul and get and Tax deduction on my return, knowing at least (I hope) that my clothing and other items went to people who couldn't afford those items anyway.
I notice you do get a lot of people looking for stuff to sell on ebay- they immediately pick out the unique items the first day and ask if you will lower the price!! Uh, sorry, try Saturday- and the item go later in the day for just what I listed them for! Also this year I had some girls steal a bracelet from me- I saw them trying it on, and one was haggling with the price on something else, while the other two left rather quickly!! It wasn't especially valuable to me or anything- but it just makes me feel sometimes that all the work I do for it is just not worth it!!

OK, rant over, thanks for reading!!!

 

[writersblock42]

I don't know what I did wrong, but I had two yardsales this year and did horrible at them. I sold about 12 items between the two yardsales. I donated everything that I could and plan to write it off on taxes. I wanted to get rid of everything except for a few really nice baby things. My son is 8 and I had been carrying this stuff around for years. The very next day, I was scheduled to go on some medicine but had to have a pregnancy test first and it ended up positive. It figures that I just got rid of all my stuff. So I will be shopping some yard sales. You also have to know what is in demand. Used little girls clothes are at every other yard sale, fill the consignment shops and are passed down from relatives. On the other hand some rare stufff might be marked up a little.

 

[cepmom]

can I hijack just a little here?? The thread seems to be full of experienced garage sale people! I have a nice glider that I am going to try to sell at a yard sale in the fall but I am unsure about what to price it at. I tried to sell it on Craigs List and failed....

what would be a fair garage sale price for this??

 

[mamaloya]

OK, I had a yardsale yesterday. I did not even get too much traffic and, after deducting the price of the newspaper ad, made a grand total of $20, which we spent on pizza as I was too tired to cook dinner.

Almost everything was a dollar. I had a toddler bed marked for $30 including a sheet and the mattress. Someone offered $20 and I said yes. I had no illusion of making a fortune and would take any offer made. A few people just popped in and out without even looking at anything. I had everything seperated between big and little girls and boys. And then had winter and summer stuff seperated (I knew people would mainly be looking for summer.) All dresses and adult shirts were hanging. Most items were like new. I had a hand blender still in the box for $5, but would have taken ANY offer, even $1. I had a coffee maker, ice shaver, smoothie maker, child safety stuff still in packages, books (25 cents ea including chubby board books), a couple of mismatched chairs at $5 ea, etc. I even had a little tykes outside swing for $5. No takers. I really didn't think my stuff was overpriced. My dd kept saying that is way to low. I told her that my goal was not to make money, but to get rid of my stuff. We are moving in 2 wks. Yet, Is till have a garage full of stuff. We don't itemize, so there is no deduction if I donate. Not really sure if I should try again this weekend or not. It was really hot here, but it will be hot next weekend as well. I don't want to spend more money advertising and then still not sell.

Any ideas???