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Yard sales
Unless you can determine the age of an item just by looking don’t buy it, if it looks new then it usually is. Old items
will have a certain look and feel to them that is not present in reproductions. This is harder to discover if you are working in glass
items so make sure you understand what you are looking for before buying.
I find that yard sales set up with the clothes in one area and the hard items in another area makes for a faster search and I can be on
my way in a few minutes if there is nothing of interest there. Be especially careful when searching the boxes of junk. This is an area
I can usually find an old toy or at least a toy of some value if I make a fast search of the boxes. Old cameras are another item that will sometimes be into the boxes.
I was searching a yard sale in southern Ohio one summer and it was the usual yard sale with the clothes and walmart junk with the junk in boxes under the tables of clothes.
As I was late getting to this auction it was crowded with the women crowding around the clothes tables.
Normally I would not waste my time trying to get to these boxes but I saw an old leather case in one of the boxes which is a
possible give away of either a camera or some other item of value when it was new.
I finally got to the box I wanted to look at and just dragged it out where I could get a good look at the contents. The box was full of
old cameras. Most were the cheap give away advertisement cameras but there was a early Leica camera still in the leather case.
I bought the whole box of cameras for ten dollars, threw away everything except the Leica and sold it for 300.00 on eBay. This was
not an everyday occurrence but it does happen frequently enough to keep my trips enjoyable.
One of the most enjoyable parts of spending my Saturdays yard selling is meeting the people who hold the yard sales. You sometimes run
into that special person who likes to talk and has something you want to listen to. I find the younger generation is there only to
make money and not spend time socializing. The older generation really like to talk and enjoy meeting new people for the most part
but you do run into the occasional grouch, still I get something out of even meeting these people.
I wasted one whole morning in Indiana one summer just setting and talking to a black gentleman who had a large collection of jazz
records he had put in a yard sale needless to say I bought the whole collection. The thing I did not buy but was given to me with
pleasure was spending the morning listening to tales of Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Betty Carter and more of the great
jazz players and singers. I consider that to be one of my most enjoyable yard sale experiences. I kept in touch with this gentleman
until he died and I will always cherish that Saturday morning when I first meet him.
Dealing with yard sale people can sometimes be taxing but you can learn how to read people as soon as you meet them either by looking
at their yard sale items or by how they are reacting to the people looking at their items. I have stopped at yard sales taken one look
at the person in charge and left immediately. I don’t have time to haggle for fifteen minutes over a yard sale item unless it is extremely
valuable and I can get it at a good price. Everyone who holds a yard sale should be protective of their items and should be on the lookout for the rowdy
child or worst a person who would steal from a yard sale but to hover over everything and everyone at a yard sale is really quite unnerving to me so if I find myself
around this type of person I will just leave and make sure I make a note not to return to that area again. They have a right to their
behavior and I have a right to mine.
There is one point I would like to insert at this time. A lot of people I have talked to about yard sales comment on the problem of
guilt buying. There are times I will stop at a yard sale set up by older retired people and I will buy a small item or two just to help out.
In most cases they are selling for extra money so I don’t think it would hurt to help out. I don’t buy out of guilt and neither should you.
My personal friends hold a yard sale and I will stop by to see if there is anything I can use. If not I don’t buy, If I can’t resale an item
or I need it for my collections I don’t even think about buying. Buying out of guilt takes time, money and most important burdens you with items
you don’t want or need.
Yard sales are not limited to the front yard or garage area of someone’s home. Yard sales or rummage sales as the
following types of sales I am going to write about are common in small towns and it pays to be on the lookout for this type of sale. A lot of
the smaller towns will have voluntary fire departments or some agency that always needs money so there will be a collection
of items taken up and a sale is set up. Usually this will be items from members of the agency or items they can beg from neighbors, friends
or family members. You can pick up some nice items at this type of sale if you get there early. This sale will attract the local residents
of the town who do not like to spend their whole day going to sales, but they will frequent this type of sale if for no other reason than to
support the agency holding the sale.
There is not much dealing you can do as the sale is usually packed and the people don’t have the time to spend time dealing on a price of
only one item. The one plus to this sale is the prices are usually cheap to begin with. This is one type of sale you need to be make a
fast run through as there will usually be lots of items to look at. Remember you have to learn to be able to size up a sale quickly.
There are times you will miss an item you could have bought cheap and was worth a lot of money, but after a time you will not miss much.
Learn to walk and observe the items at the same time, stopping only to inspect an area that is not fully visible to you.
There is another type of sale that I relate to being a yard sale but on a more massive scale. This is a moving sale.
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