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

Thought this might be a fun thread that everyone call add their experiences to. Please add your thoughts.

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

1. Permanent Yard Sale: Has been going on for the past six months and the occupant of the residence doesn't even bother to put away the tables and piles of stuff each night. Instead they cover everything with tarps/plastic and keep everything in place for the next "sale". Every area has at least a few of these that have been advertising on Craigslist for months on end.

2. "Collector's" Sale: Advertised as a "Collector's" sale usually by someone who isn't well versed in antiques and whom thinks that every last piece they are selling is rare, valuable and is clearly worth its weight in gold just because they own it and it may have some age. May have verbiage banning resellers and lowballers in the listing since they "know what they have".

3. Reseller's Inventory "Blowout": The place where eBay listings, not SOLD ones either are printed out and tediously taped to every item. Seller wants pie-in-the-sky prices for items that have defects, have marginal appeal. I.E. the stuff they couldn't sell elsewhere in other venues, the dregs.

 

Agree with all three but always stop at them at least once cause you just never know!! My best finds have almost always been at poorly advertised poorly signed and very small sales that most people would pass up.

 

Baby toys in the driveway...I just keep rolling.

 

Ditto.

 

Not worth it for me. Too far away and too expensive to get to one.
I'd have to cross an ocean to get to a yard or garage sale, we don't have them here.

 

Lots of toys and children's furniture, cribs, etc. Stacks of clothes on sheets on the ground.

 

not a really a garage sale, but I avoid estate sales from the really affluent areas. Generally the owners and estate sale manager know exactly what they have and price accordingly. Also, I don’t want designer handbags, sunglasses, jewelry, etc.

For me the fun is digging through a ton of old stuff and discovering something overlooked : -)

I should add, I’m not a dealer. I could imagine many of these items do well on re-sale.

 

Where are you?

 

"whom thinks that every last piece they are selling is rare, valuable and is clearly worth its weight in gold just because they own it"

Wow, does THAT ever sum up a world of delusional thinking from so many people I've met.

 

The Netherlands.

 

I go for the boxes or trays over the other side of the room at these. Really nice goodies to be found underneath. And yes, nice retail value sometimes!

 

Hi,
I used to do several yard sales a year. Always started my advertising stating NO clothes, NO baby stuff, NO Tupperware!!!! had people from 300 miles away come to my sales. It all had to do by making a name for myself. When I was going around buying stuff I always skipped by if I saw baby stuff and kids toys. Once I did stop at one sale and was getting ready to jump in my car when I spied several boxes of green depression glass under a table. The young lady had over four hundred pieces! I asked how much and she said would 25 dollars for all of it. I gave her 100 dollars and started to pack it in my car. It took a month but all of the glass sold making me a profit of over 5000 dollars. You never know but I still bypass stuff like kids toys and baby stuff.
greg

 

Come visit!

 

Agree with the baby toys/clothes comments above however once I was at a sale late in the afternoon, just about ready to quit for the day when we stopped at one that had loads of baby clothes and very little else - my friend groaned and I just happened to pick up a pile on the table revealing a 18kt gold mounted lithyalin box - a really beautiful "objet de virtu" - so ya never know!

 

If I dont see at least one item that catches my eye initially,I keep on rolling. Ive rather given up on them for the most part,rare is the time Ive found anything at one. But occasionally I still do stop. I might start doing more as the thrifts in my area have gone mad with pricing,plus people refusing to mask just irks me mightily to the point I cant enjoy a good browse.

 

I've heard that some pickers look for items piled under tables and on the floor since if it is down there the seller may not value it and be open to aggressive negotiation.

 

Back when the dinosaurs roamed, a friend and I would map out our route from the newspaper classified ads (wow, unheard of now) and start at the crack of dawn and make a morning of it. I still remember the few that stood out: the one that wanted $8 for a USED Flicker razor (don't think they make those), and the "Ethan Allen" sale which I was certain probably included just one beat-up end table. Turned out to be a house full of Ethan Allen in mint condition. She was practically giving it all away as her daughter worked there, and could replace the items cheaper for than the cost of moving. I did buy a few things there.

You just never know. That's the fun of it, but I don't usually find much that's in decent condition and fairly priced anymore. Last one the owners wanted a large some of $$ for a dated bedroom set. If it's close by and I'm up early on a Saturday, I'll take a chance.

However, super ditto on the baby/child items.

One tip: I never take anything but my keys out of the car. Don't want my wallet/purse stolen or set down by accident if I'm looking at something. If my phone is in the car, my husband can figure out my last stop using "find my iphone." The sellers may be square, but have invited everyone & their cousin to their home.

Happy treasure hunting.

 

Those are the best ones.
They price the new stuff high, but often they know diddly squat about older items. I have picked up some really nice things often late in the day.

 

I used to do the same.

Same, except I put cash, a magnifying glass and sometimes a small flashlight in my pocket.

 

Sadly our local garage sales have dwindled to just a few a weekend (down from they heyday of sometimes 100!) and this even before Covid. Yes, @Grateful I remember the land of the dinosaurs fondly.

The reasons for decline (even pre-Covid) are complicated. People have more money than time... an out of state daughter or son is more likely just to hire an estate company if a mom or dad is downsizing and needs help. Easier to sell pieces on CL, consignment stores, etc. Everyone can look things up, so less likely to stumble onto a treasure.

As far as what makes a "good one" if I've made it all the way to a sale, I still take a quick look around. You just never know.