Question
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Garage Sales Take Off After eBay Phenomenon; Online sales addiction helps buyers, sellers get best deals
By David Wren
The Sun News
718 words
12 September 2003
Sun-News
TSN
1
English
Copyright (c) 2003. Myrtle Beach Sun-News. All rights reserved.
One of Glenn Reid's favorite garage sale finds was a box of 14 Austrian crystal necklaces from the 1930s. Not because Reid is a fan of Austrian crystal, but because the necklaces brought a handsome profit when he resold them on eBay.
"They were in mint condition, like they'd just come out of grandma's jewelry box," said Reid, who owns the Where on Earth? gift shop on U.S. 501. "I paid $1 apiece and sold them for between $40 and $80 each."
Garage sales used to be nothing more than a way for homeowners to clear out some clutter and make a few extra dollars on a Saturday morning.
But eBay and other online auction sites have changed all that.
These days, garage sales are de facto wholesale warehouses for Internet entrepreneurs looking for undervalued collectibles they can resell online.
"People are thinking, 'Maybe this isn't my treasure, but I can turn around and sell it on eBay to someone who really wants it'," said Nancy O'Connor, who is in charge of South Carolina's Largest Garage Sale on Saturday in Myrtle Beach.
The garage sale - scheduled for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park parking garage - is in its 14th year, and O'Connor said eBay's impact is clear.
"Our shoppers and vendors are savvier than ever before, and that's probably because of the research they can do on eBay," said O'Connor, the city's parks superintendent. "The buyers know exactly what they're looking for and what it's worth, and the vendors know the value of what they have."
While eBay has helped level the playing field between buyer and seller, Harry Rinker said garage sales still are rife with bargains.
"The garage sale victory goes to the knowledgable," said Rinker, a collectibles expert and host of the weekly "Collector Inspector" show on the HGTV cable TV network. "You can always find a good deal at a garage sale, and it's usually because someone doesn't know what they really have."
Rinker said eBay has turned the collectibles market upside down: Items once considered scarce now are plentiful; prices for rare items have plummeted; items once thought to be valuable have become worthless; and things haughty collectors once scoffed at bring big bucks online.
Most important, Rinker said, is that eBay has transformed millions of garage sale regulars into budding small-business owners.
"EBay has greatly broadened the seller base and increased the number of collectibles buyers by 10 times or more," said Rinker, who buys at least one item on eBay every day. "The reason? Collecting is an addiction. It's worse than drugs or smoking. And once someone is hooked, they're hooked for life."
Reid, the Where on Earth? store owner, finds much of his merchandise at garage sales and plans to arrive early for Saturday's event.
"I'm going to close the store Saturday so I can go," he said. "There's a gold mine out there, and I'm going to find it."
Reid said his eBay sales far outpace the money he makes at his store, and the expense of selling online is about a fourth of what it costs to run a bricks-and-mortar location.
"We sit here and watch 65,000 cars go by each day on [U.S.] 501 and we wind up with four customers all day to the tune of $21," Reid said. "That compares with hundreds of dollars in sales we do every day on eBay. If you look at the hours we're putting in and the overhead costs, we could just close the store and do everything online."
Even thrift stores, another mecca for collectible resellers, have gotten into the online act. After watching customers buy items at its stores for the sole purpose of turning a profit on eBay, Goodwill International decided to create its own Internet auction site.
That site - http://www.shop
goodwill.com - features items such as clothing, furniture and collectibles and has raised more than $10 million for Goodwill since 1998.
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Melinda
Answer
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>These days, garage sales are de facto wholesale warehouses for Internet entrepreneurs looking for undervalued collectibles they can resell online.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Locally, garage sales are a virtual wholesale warehouse for items that have not been sent to the tip yet (but are on the last stop before doing so). I only do garage sales when there are no auctions to cover, and I very rarely feel any satisfaction for having covered them - mostly I don't see anything worth handling at all. I have had a couple of wins in smaller towns when travelling, but generally I don't like the garage sale culture, or the fact that the few that do make some money out of covering them treat people like dirt to do so.
Each to our own though, I know people that hate covering auctions and the time that is consumed waiting for those worthwhile lots.....
Cheers, Kevin
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not only are the items ready for the "tip" as you say, they are now charging top dollar for junk - because, you know, "It's an antique and I can get a lot for it on eBay".
I cannot think of the last time I actually found something at a low enough cost that I could resell. I stopped going to garage sales this summer for that very reason.
http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_rolleyes.gif Yes, why not sell it yourself on eBay then, and buy a new digital camera to take your pictures and write your descriptions and package the item for the winning bidder, hope the check clears, and hope they do not neg you once the item arrives in their hands because of some nebulous excuse they have in their own mind about the item.
Actually the popularity of eBay has ruined garage sales, in my opinion. I cannot get reasonably priced items for my home use either.
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I have always been an avid garage saler and try to go every week. I have noticed the price increase too and what really cracks me up is when they print the ebay page next to an item with a ridiculous price and it did not even get a bid!!
Living in a rural area though I still find lots of bargains.
Janet * Lanetzliving.com
My Website, up and running and I already sold stuff!! woo hoo!....
Me Page
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Yes, why not sell it yourself on eBay then, and buy a new digital camera to take your pictures and write your descriptions and package the item for the winning bidder, hope the check clears, and hope they do not neg you once the item arrives in their hands because of some nebulous excuse they have in their own mind about the item.
Actually the popularity of eBay has ruined garage sales, in my opinion. I cannot get reasonably priced items for my home use either.
I agree totally...if they know you sell on ebay they watch everything you look at, at their yard sale, I've had people ask me if I do...and shame on me..I lie... It is alot of work!!!! I've even had friends (well one friend) give me things but before they turn loose, they say you're not planning on selling it on ebay are you? digital cameras are not cheap either
Answer
Originally Posted by Lanetz
what really cracks me up is when they print the ebay page next to an item with a ridiculous price and it did not even get a bid!!
I've noticed this more and more as well. When I see something like that, I leave the sale. LOL I also agree with Antique, I can't tell ya how many times a garage seller has rejected my offer saying, "I can get more on eBay." LMAO A simple no would be great! I've been tempted to give 'em an ear full of what Antique said, but why give them any help? LOL Bird in the hand and all that rot ... goes hand in hand with word to the wise.
I've learned instead to size up the garage seller and their organization before even looking around. I pick up far better items dealing with the "amatuer" rather than the "pro". I look for a single person running, items the less organized the better, and no prices on items is jackpot. 8 times out of 10, you'll find great picks at a sale run in this way.
I picked up a Tony Robbins 25 CD Personal Power set in Feb for $5 ... sold on eBay for $117! Brand new from Robbins, the set sold for $200. Of course, having sold my own set just before Christmas I knew what was up. Having a good base knowledge of what is going well on eBay is key, and will save you from getting stuck with something useless.
Once a year the DH and I hold our own garage sale, and anything that's been in the eBay room (formerly the laundry room) since last year goes.
~Vampy
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Originally Posted by myrskelly
I've even had friends (well one friend) give me things but before they turn loose, they say you're not planning on selling it on ebay are you?
My younger sister is a crazed lunatic. She has a high paying job and goes through money like water. She also gets in fits about every 6 months; calls me and says she's clearing the house. I beat it down to her house ASAP - she litterally throws 90% of her stuff out! If I'm not there to "catch" it, it all goes in the trash.
Then I get it home and sort in 2 piles, eBay and donate. She doesn't care what I do with it, she just wants it gone and I save our landfills! LOL Last time this happened in April, I took away 2 F-150 extended cab truck loads. The DH and I had to hold an emergency yard sale ... we made $2,100 and that was rock bottom prices! I even had a section of "fill a bag for $1".
A shining example of one woman's trash is another woman's treasure (and mortgage payments)!
~Vampy
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Ad in this morning's paper starts out:
If you want EBAY smalls....
I didn't need to read any further. I don't care how many old books they have. I'm not going!
Can you say "overpriced"?
Plus, I just have a policy of not going to sales where I have to take a number and wait to get in. Two strikes against this one.
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I rarely bother with garage sales these days.
My main specialty is antiquarian books, which rarely show up at yard sales, and when they do, everyone thinks that anything printed in the 1800's, and especially if it was during the CIvil War - must be worth a fortune.
And try to charge accordingly.
I do not even bother to try to explain that most are near worthless.
Answer
Originally Posted by FLvamp
My younger sister is a crazed lunatic. She has a high paying job and goes through money like water. She also gets in fits about every 6 months; calls me and says she's clearing the house. I beat it down to her house ASAP - she litterally throws 90% of her stuff out! If I'm not there to "catch" it, it all goes in the trash.
~Vampy
I have a sister in law like that!!! Goes directly in the trash she usually calls me first and she doesn't care what I do with it either but I've moved farther away from her so don't get to take advantage of her cleaning sprees as much. In fact I'm listing a red dog sweater for the Club99 Pet99 special
that her dog out grew... today...Pet99 on ebay starts today July25
The dog sweater or rather picture of dog sweater...I think is funny...didn't have a real model so I filled it with bubble wrap strangest looking dog yet....