Posts Tagged ‘garage sale’

While my primary goal of shopping at garage sales is not to make money, I have made hundreds of dollars reselling purchases in the past two years.

My niche for resale items: college textbooks

I’ve bought them for as little as 50¢, with a resale value of over $75. Last summer one seller gave me a whole box of them. It was the end of the day and she didn’t want to deal with them. I sold them individually for well over $125.

I sell textbooks both on Amazon and Ebay. And I almost never buy a dud! My secret weapon: my iPhone and a little piece of software called SnapTell. SnapTell is now available as an Android application, so you can use it on a variety of smart phones.

This little iApp is awesome! Even better… it’s FREE!

You just snap a picture of the front of a book, dvd, cd, or video game and within seconds you get tons of details — the most important for purposes of resale — the price it sells for used.

To get the “used” price choose Amazon, then scroll to the bottom and you’ll see the price range for Marketplace Offers.

That tells you approximately what the book will sell for. It helps, for textbooks, to also look at the date of publication. More than a few years old and you may have to sell it internationally to get any takers.

Plus, you’ll want to consider the size and weight of the book. Really heavy books (like an art history book I bought), may cost only a couple of bucks and sell for $12, but Amazon has strict rules on what you can charge for shipping, and any extra charges are at the seller’s expense. (Priority Mail, for instance – Amazon maxes the charges out at $6.99, for a heavy book you’ll be paying the USPS at least $9.80.) The other option for the heavy books is to sell them on ebay; no standard shipping price.

Selling books on Amazon and Ebay is super simple. For the most part, all you have to do is enter the ISBN number and all the data is provided. Then, just customize your listing with details about the condition of your item and you’re good to go.

If you’re on a Mac, it get’s even easier to list books on Amazon. An inexpensive application called Delicious
Library, handles most of the work. Using your iSight camera, shoot a picture of the bar code and the software will look up the book, cd, dvd, or video game and add it to your catalog. Then just right click on the item and choose: “Sell on Amazon”. It couldn’t get much easier than that!

Shipping

For most books, I ship them in padding envelopes. I reuse the ones I get in the mail and have supplemented my supply by shopping the sales at Walgreen’s; they frequently have them on sale for about 50 cents each.

If you choose to sell online, I highly recommend you check into using the online service for postage such as Endicia or Stamps.com. You can also use the post office website, but you can’t purchase postage for media rate parcels. Ebay, through PayPal, has a built-in shipping solution, which makes it very easy to ship, and you can choose from UPS and USPS. Most of the online solutions give you a better price on options than you’ll get in person.

Selling online isn’t for everyone. You need to be honest about the quality and condition of items you are selling. And you need to be prompt in processing and shipping orders.

Consider looking for textbooks the next time you’re out bargain hunting. The best “season” for buying is a month or two after the end of the term, and the best time to sell is a week or two before terms begin (that’s when people are looking to buy!).

One thing a lot of people don’t consider when shopping at garage sales is the fact that they can find gifts there too. Many times you can find brand new items at a garage sale that someone didn’t use, didn’t wear or just plain forgot about. While these items maybe fewer and far between, they do exist. There are also many other things that can be used for gift giving, even if they are gently used.

Baby Shower Items

In today’s tough economy many new moms and dads are finding that the amount of items they need greatly outweighs the amount of money they have to spend. Check garage sales for gently-used baby items such as monitors, baby clothing and highchairs. These items may not be ideal for a baby shower gift, but as a gift that you can give privately they are perfect. Make sure to wash any items you purchase before giving them to the new mom.

Housewarming Gifts

When people move into a new home, especially those who are just starting out, being able to furnish a home is a struggle. Garage sale finds can make great housewarming gifts. Many times you can find sets of dishes, nice pictures to hang on the wall and other great, useable items that would be perfect for a housewarming gift.

Other Gift Giving Finds

If you know someone who is into fun jewelry or collects certain items (such as pig figurines, Elvis memorabilia, etc.) garage sales are the ideal places to shop for unique gifts. At garage sales you can find an array of neat items that will add to someone’s collection. Think about your friend who just loves panda bears. Stumbling upon a panda bear nick-knack that is really cute would make an ideal gift for your friend. Do you have a friend who is an avid reader? Getting a good deal on a box of books by his or her favorite author would be an amazing gift for your friend.

Before you purchase, always think about the person receiving the gift and how they will feel. There are people who will wrinkle their nose at second-hand items. For those folks, a garage sale find may not be the best choice, but with the move toward a greener world, most people welcome previously owned gifts and think of it in relation to the goal of “reuse-reduce-recycle.”

We all love to go to garage sales and even love to have them at our home to make extra money. Here are the top 25 tips for having a great sale

1. Find out the laws in your area for having a garage sale. You may need to purchase a permit which usually costs only a few dollars.
2. Go through everything in your house before the sale to make sure you have a large amount of items.
3. Try to organize neighbors to have a sale on the same day, people love multi-family sales.
4. Go through the pockets of all the clothes you want to sell and remove anything you find that you want to keep
5. Wash everything before you put it out for sale, no one wants to buy anything smelly or dirty.
6. Organize your sale by like items; too much clutter will turn people away.
7. Have a plan for adverse weather: in some areas sales are still a go, in others you’ll have no shoppers and will need to postpone (consider predetermining a rain date).
8. Advertise your garage sale with signs, balloons, newspaper ads and flyers.
9. Advertise your garage sale online, many times for free. Especially popular are sites like Garage Sale Finder, where shoppers can print out a map with directions to each sale. Take advantage of other online advertising venues such as craigslist.org.
10. Price everything so you don’t leave customers guessing.
11. Make sure the price tag is large enough to be seen.
12. Colorful stick on dots work well for pricing except on books, posters and anything you can’t peel them off of.
13. Have a decent amount of money available to make change, this includes actual coin change and paper currency.
14. Put pets away, even if your animals are super friendly. Many people, both adults and children, are afraid of them.
15. Don’t hover over your customers. A quick hello is fine but no one wants to shop with someone standing over their shoulder.
16. If you are holding your garage sale on a really hot day consider selling sodas, bottles of water or juice boxes from a cooler.
17. Total up the order yourself. You never know when a customer might try to pull a fast one on you.
18. Never leave sharp items on tables where small children can reach them.
19. Never leave your money sitting on a table unattended. Consider wearing a fannypack to hold your money.
20. Don’t accept checks unless you know the person well.
21. When making change never put the bill you were given in with your money until the customer has walked away. This will help avoid them telling you they gave you a large bill than they really did.
22. Have plastic bags available for customers to take home their items in.
23. Wrap anything breakable in newspaper before putting it in the bag.
24. Consider having a small “free box” for children to sift through while their parents are shopping. Ideas for this are old kids meal toys etc.
25. Have a plan on what to do with items that don’t sell. Donate to charity, save for another sale, etc. Many charities will pick up your unsold items if you give them advance notice.

Garage sale shopping is more than just a bargain treasure hunt for children. It turns out that learning how to haggle over the price of an item can be an excellent way of teaching children how to negotiate. Start by teaching your kids always to be respectful of the seller. A politely phrased question, such as “M’am, would you take a nickel for this doll?” is more likely to get an affirmative answer than whining or crying to Mom or Dad. Plus, it’s hard for some sellers to resist a cute youngster offering a shiny nickel for a teddy bear or a toy truck. Next, school your youngsters for a “no” reply in case you run into a Scrooge. Some people are going to be rude and it could just be because they had to get up so early to set up their garage sale. Make sure that the children are armed with a stock reply, such as “OK, I’ll ask my mom or dad about it.” It gives the child control over the situation so they aren’t frightened by rudeness. At the same time it alerts the seller that the child isn’t unaccompanied. Sometimes this tactic can result in the adults conducting the haggling but be sure to include the child in the conversation, such as, “Would 25 cents for this doll be OK with you, Susie?” Older children with particular interests, such as sports trading cards, stamp collecting, video games of all sorts, etc., should be encouraged to become experts in the value of their interests. In this way, an older child can often startle an adult seller into a better deal by demonstrating knowledge of the object’s value. Parents and older children also can become a haggling tag-team through observation. Children are much more observant than adults give them credit for being. Often for this very reason, children are less threatening observers than adults. Consequently children can watch their elders as they haggle over other purchases and give their parents valuable intelligence about how flexible a seller is. This creates a bond between parent and child, especially when their teamwork results in the purchase of a bargain of mutual value and benefit. The proudest moment of course will be when your youngster successfully conducts the negotiation for an item all by himself or herself. When this happens, and it will, you’ve scored a double success.

Children outgrow their clothing so fast that it is ideal to shop at a garage sale to find gently-used items for your children. Here are a few tips to keep in mind the next time you are at a garage sale looking for clothing for your children.

Is it in style?

Make sure that the item you are purchasing is still in style, especially for older children. You don’t want to buy gently used pants that were in style back in the ’90s for your child now, no matter how great the price it. Keep your children in mind because if they wont wear it them it really doesn’t matter if you only paid 50¢ for it.

Choosing classic styles is a great way to avoid a wardrobe that looks “dated”.

Inspect every item

Never purchase any clothing before looking it over closely. Check for missing buttons, zippers that don’t work, tears and stains. If the area that the clothing is displayed in is dark, don’t be afraid to step into a better lit area to look over the clothing. You don’t to get an item home only to find it has a stain on it that you overlooked.

Check Sizes

Many people do their laundry differently, which can cause used clothing to vary in sizes. Ideally, if you are on the hunt for jeans for your daughter carry a pair of her jeans that fit nicely with you. Make sure that the garage sale owner knows you brought them with you before you start shopping. By having an item with you that fits well you can then hold up items you are considering purchasing to the item to get an idea on whether the new item will fit correctly. Likewise, a measuring tape can come in handy for verifying waist and inseam measurements.

Getting a Bargain

If you find several items that you want to purchase, don’t be shy about negotiation with the seller. Many sellers will give you a discount on a large purchase just to get the items out of the way. So if you find 5 pairs of jeans for $2 each ask the seller if they will take $8 (or less!) for all 5. This makes a better deal for you and it also makes them money.

Powered by ScribeFire.