Featured Indicators That A Yard/Garage Sale Isn't Worth Stopping At?

That or dead skin ! I processed a huge amount of earrings a couple times and there’s a lot of icky matter stuck to old earring posts.

 

Dust that has clotted so much it comes away like a small carpet after the grease has been broken down by alcohol.

 

OTOH that dust mat might be covering the silver or gold marks...! I even hit those baby toy sales, because one of the biggest jewelry scores of my life came at the tag end of one a kiddie toy sale. Got there at noon on my way home, and mentioned that I usually went after jewelry. "Should we get out Grandma's box? Well... no one's even looked at it in 10 years... " It was an orange crate. $100 later I had a big 18k ring, Persian Story bracelet, and other goodies and probably should have just asked what they wanted for the whole box. I made them hide a ladies watch with Tiffany on the dial.

Amen. One lady here does the high end moving sales. She prices the stuff she knows at market rates, but ... I've gotten gold and silver for costume prices often enough to go back. She just doesn't know old stuff. Another company I'm un-fond of sold me Herend giftware like it was Noritake. Still have it. (but they're still idiots)

I just offloaded a David Yurman bracelet to a local antique dealer who sells a lot of jewelry. Designer stuff is a minefield on line and his pieces are faked early and often. I saw a sterling mark and bought it on one of those weekends when you find almost zilch. It wasn't until later that I realized who'd done it. Snagged a pair of costume earrings with gold butterfly clutches, a NWT necklace and the bracelet for $6 total. Flipped the necklace and bracelet to the dealer for about $80. He'll double it and more power to him . The price on the bracelet? 50 cents!

 

Yeah, the perpetual yard sales are a killer. My township bans them. Baby clothes and stuffed animals, nah. I tend to avoid sales in newer housing developments because it's usually glassware and HSN QVC stuff, but you never know. I picked up a vintage sterling hand mirror for a dollar at one last year. I always tell people I collect jewelry, but it's very cutthroat around here. If the ad mentions antiques, it pretty much means everything will be overpriced.

I love church sales and estate sales in little older homes. You find the best stuff, not always what others may find valuable. I love vintage sheets, comforters, wool blankets, dish towels, and doilies.

One sale nobody thought to look in the bathroom. After I scooped a bag full of 14k and sterling jewelry, I went in the bathroom and found a full bottle of Creed Adventus and another full bottle of Creed Island something. I was charged $10 for all. I am not adverse to finding newer treasures.

 

Good thing we don't live near each other Marko, sounds like we buy the same stuff.

 

Pearls, I will have to take a picture of my perfume table for you. Let me dust it first.

 

The ordinary houses with estate runners who don't clean the drawers out... BINGO. Tag sales with nothing but mass market books, small size no name clothes, and used Wal-Mart kitchenware.... UGH.

 

I find that can definitely be because they have nothing salable but that it can also be because their prices are on drugs in which case they can be ready to deal after the first or second large group walks out with nothing. That has worked for me many times.

 

Grosses me out but doesn’t stop me depending on the pair lol.

 

I once went to an estate sale where the house was so moldy that it was all over an Honora sterling pearl multi earring set new in the box. Gross. I beat a quick retreat. If I smell smoke on items when I walk up, it's a no go. The last estate sale I went to the place reeked of it. Our estate companies here don't deal with smoker's eststes, but one does. Ewww.

 

Oh, our sellers miss nothing. They sell the food in the pantries and the toothpaste and enema kits in the bathrooms. The estate sale where I found the Adventus was a family run deal.

 

Yes, they sell the food here too and all the bathroom contents even leaving out the meds. And they seem to leave the keys to the house on the key rack many times.
I will buy NO food at these but if I see paper towels NIP I grab em.
Many of my estate sale buddies buy their cleaning supplies at estate sales, a lot cheaper. I even saw some folks stand and wait on line for more than an hour to buy plants. Me, I would go to the nursery if I had a green thumb.
They also sell unused depends or diapers and ladies toiletries.. which some are worth buying if you listened to our Peggy @bercrystal.

I remember many many years ago I went to an estate sale in the summer and it was one of those very hot days.
There was a line to pay and so some of us just sat down on the floor (it was clean) to wait our turn as this estate sale runner would make a turtle look fast checking people out.

Anywho, this lady is sitting not to far from me and she opens the bleach bottle and
yes it went all over the floor and the stink was unbelievable. I hate the smell of bleach and this was strong. Could not wait to get outta there.

 

I'm enjoying this thread!

In our area, a permit is necessary, though easily gotten. We are only permitted two sales per year. And the local police DO often stop in at a sale to check that a seller has a permit.

 

I recently became more aware of vintage perfume prices and have my eye open. I check the bathroom too, you never know. Not that sterling brushes are all that valuable but I found a great one one day for like $1 or so. Everyone assumed it was plated because the marks were very obscured. I’ll also grab sunscreen and bug spray sometimes for pennies on the dollar. This weekend I went to a sale where everything was overpriced. I tried to make deals on like 5 things that most of the estate sale runners would have accepted. It was end of sale and this guy had all of his best stuff still sitting there because he was too adamant about getting top dollar. 8 souvenir sterling spoons, his best price.....$80! That’s with one minute left in sale. They were not even very good ones. Anyways the one thing I got was a 3/4 full bottle of the Aveeno lotion I use. It was discontinued and actually sells high on eBay. I told him that kind of as a joke and he was literally going to try to charge me an eBay based price. I told him the most he was getting was $2 and that was the only deal we made for the day. The other $1200 I offered to spend wasn’t enough.

 

Nor should it! There’s money under that there dead skin and dried ear fluid.

 

I bought a bottle of Clorox spray this weekend! Can’t get it in the stores yet there it was almost full and I doubt I paid more than 0.20.

 

My close friend just found the motherlode of perfumes. About 4 tubs of it. Some vintage some not. I have no real knowledge about that stuff, if I find it at a sale and she is not there, I buy it for her as long as the price is within an agreed upon budget. I am learning from her which to buy and which to pass on, but they will all go to her. She sells on ebay so she can sell new stuff and loves perfume,. cologne etc.
She buys me stuff when I am not at the sale she goes to. It works out great.

 

I was at a sale where they were selling expired coffee along with other food I wasn't touching. Other sales do sell some food too, along with the cleaning supplies. (the smart ones glom the wipes etc for their own use.) That estate sale company got themselves written off . Quickly. They were the ones trying to sell Avon jewelry for half retail.

Another type of sale to run from - anyone with boxes of shampoo and razors etc that they got free with coupons or at the dollar store and are trying to sell for $2 each. Just... run.

 

Agree on mold and do my best to avoid touching anything with possible mold but not so much on smoke. You can definitely get smoke out of many things. I’ve gotten it out of my own preowned designer handbags by putting them in garbage bags filled with charcoal activated kitty littler and changing it out over several days.

 

Honestly anyone who lives with animals (or humans that act as such) has experienced lots worse. Recently got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (barefoot) and stepped and stuck-glad it was only dog vomit but the timing was pretty lousy.