Monday, October 12, 2009

Garage Sale Fail

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, I walked down the stairs in the dark on my way to my very first garage sale as a seller. I nearly tripped on this random turtle. I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but no, there really was a turtle walking down the sidewalk!

But back to the garage sale.

My friend Jennifer decided to hold a multi-family sale at her home in Fullerton. About six of us jumped on the opportunity to join her right away! Some brought furniture, some brought old dishes, some brought a million romance novels and VHS tapes {ahem, that would be me}.

I was shocked by how few DIY Divas stopped by. And let me tell you, we had ample items to make a true diva sing! We had neighbors show up at dawn in their bathrobes, and youngsters show up to get things to furnish their homes. Surprisingly, large pieces of workout equipment sold right away, but my old golf clubs never did.

It almost took until the end of the day to sell my old coffee tables. Here they are going to a new home. I figured I'd have to donate them to charity, so when a woman said, "I don't really need them, so will you take $30?" I said sure, just get them out of here! Funny enough, I sold that white chair to one of the other sellers. I gave it to her for a steal because I wanted it GONE!
Jacquie decided she wanted to buy an old movie of her niece's. Then she turned it over and saw her own name on it. Turns out Jennifer swiped it from her years ago. We all cracked up over that!
Andrea and Chris brought all their goodies over in a Uhaul and at the end of the day, they took all the unsold items to the Goodwill in it. It was a genius idea!!! But hey, I hope I still get the tax write-off!
You may be wondering where the name of the post came from. All morning long, Jennifer kept saying she was priced to sell. I thought she was underpricing everything, but her merchandise MOVED. Mine, not so much. I was clearly overpriced for garage sale land. Here are the big winners with all their cashola.
Here is me, empty handed. Sure, I sold a bunch of stuff, but ya, I also came home with a gently used Prada bag. {WOOHOO!}
So, what's the moral of the story? PRICE TO SELL...and don't spend your earnings before you've left the garage.


13 comments:

Tira J said...

I love doing garage sales and have been pretty successful at them. You have to price stuff so it moves. Not at the prices you originally purchased it at. I am sure you didn't do that. Last night, I cleaned out half of my closet and got rid of 5 bags of clothes. No more garage sales for me. Donating to charity because that tax donation receipt is more valuable to me than giving up a Saturday to shoot. Glad you got rid of some of your stuff Jen!

angela said...

Sorry to hear the garage sale didn't go as planned! By the way, I love those coffee tables! I would've loved to have gotten my hands on those.

Also, thanks for stopping by my hallway renovation earlier; and no, it is not weird you'd like to make out with the floors. :)

Unknown said...

you sold the chair??? the white Ikea masterpiece chair from the Arnold times...thank god.

JennyLee said...

What a great, but very exhausting day...i would just like to say that i grew up in the IE so i know how to price for yard sales(-: Also, one of the funniest things that happened didn't make the blog...the most old romance novels went to a middle aged gentlemen to came alone to the sale and only bought romance novels, classic!

Ashley Perez said...

Wait, is that why that random tv was sitting in your dining room? And was that the chair in your room?! Ha ha.

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

You got a Prada bag? I think that's a WIN.

I had a garage sale and donated the unsellables to Goodwill too. I had to get a receipt from Goodwill to take it off of my taxes. My husband was nonplussed about it because we had to itemize our taxes in order to take the deduction but that year we got a larger refund because of the donation (it was a lot of stuff.) He doesn't doubt me when I ask him to save receipts for our taxes anymore

Screwed Up Texan said...

Oh I've so been there done that when it came to spending my earnings before the sale was over...lol I was laughing cause it meant something extra to me.

Deidra said...

Great post! And I would have snagged that white chair in an instant I tell ya!

Katie @ makingthishome.com said...

You seriously make garage selling look fun! I love the story and pictures together.

E said...

I am terrible at garage sale pricing which is why I usually let people name their own price, my husband says that's why I never make any money :)

Missie Johnson said...

wait a minute here sister...i thought you were saving that coffee table for me! ;) i guess i will just have to take your kitchen table instead someday... hahaha!

Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

Ok, that is too funny. As a garage sale guru, you're right...price to sell (or it won't) but a PRADA BAG? Whoot whoot!! (I see a bunch of your stuff....great stuff. :)

Gwen said...

First, I just have to say....I grew up in Fullerton!

I think that sometimes the multi family sales are dangerous just for the reasons that you ran into;)

There is always next time.