yard sale research

[leadnugget]

i used to use craigslist and still do, but i have been using Yard Sale Search - Find or advertise garage sales for free!

it seems to be about the best site i have found for finding good sales.


here in AZ the sales are just starting to explode, there are 135 sales today

within 10 miles of my house. not counting community sales.

to help sift through these, using yardsalesearch, in the search area, i type in coin, antique, jewelry or whatever im looking for.

i can then narrow my search and know what sale to hit first.

im sure some of you have been using this, but there might be some newbies

that find this helpful.

 

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[billjustbill]

Here, near Ft. Worth, Tx, garage sales are increasing.....but the people and the items sold are changing. The people, buyers AND the sellers, are using Iphones to look up values.... This weekend, I had to laugh, because I saw two buyers on their Iphones and their phones looked like shatter car windshields. I was surprised that the screens were still functional ....

The items I'm seeing more and more that are being sold are larger pieces of furniture: Oak and Mahogany dining tables, rocking chairs, and wide and large entertainment centers with shelves and sliding drawers. The rest falls into infant & toddler clothing, used, well used, toys, and "Fru-Fru" decorative items from Michaels/Hobby Lobby/China.... Even the monthly flea market is full of Overpriced items....one vendor must have bought old Harbor Freight inventory. The clear plastic bubble packaging was dull and most had turned yellow. Yet, the new price sticker almost covered with the new one, but you could tell the old price sticker had 3 digits and the new one now had 4 digits.....

There were two "Community" sales with in 8 miles of each other where this was the third or fourth year to have one. The weather was threatening rain, and a cold dry front blew through at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, but the sales "looked Tired" and other than a few 50-cent thin Sterling necklaces, and 18lbs of brass items for $18.00, not much to be found. It appears that people are not selling to 'clear out' stuff, but they are selling to make lots of markup and expecting to make lots of money.... Dealers hit these 'Community sales" the day before....

I'm afraid that what I've collected for my own garage sale (now looking better or cleaned up and marked up) is not going to bring what it would have two years ago. In two of the last four years, I sold over $6,000 in some gold and a lot of sterling silver to a refiner that I've found cheaply at garage sales. Also sold $1,500 in gold and silver I found over 10 years of metal detecting. All found within this one county, so Garage/Yard/family estate sales still out perform detecting by miles!!! What PM's I've found in the last two years, I have stored in a large safety deposit bank box, but finding good 'old'/antique stuff and good deals on PM's is getting harder and harder....

So, it's not how many sales are out there, or how the yard/garage/family run estate sales are "over worded and fancily described to get you to come. Usually those are fake or at best, disappointments. It's coming down to a lot more driving, following unlisted sales' signs where I have found some of my best 'heart attack finds'. It's taking more shoe leather to average out a good weekend, and becomig rarer to find those 'heart jumping de-fib paddle' finds nowadays....

Keep looking, though
Bill

 

[SilverForBrains]

yea that sucks, I loathe smartphones, I'm in the right generation to be using them (albeit on the old end of it), but all I can see is them making the world worse in everyway possible

 

[diggummup]

Here, near Ft. Worth, Tx, garage sales are increasing.....but the people and the items sold are changing. The people, buyers AND the sellers, are using Iphones to look up values.... This weekend, I had to laugh, because I saw two buyers on their Iphones and their phones looked like shatter car windshields. I was surprised that the screens were still functional ....




So, it's not how many sales are out there, or how the yard/garage/family run estate sales are "over worded and fancily described to get you to come. Usually those are fake or at best, disappointments. It's coming down to a lot more driving, following unlisted sales' signs where I have found some of my best 'heart attack finds'. It's taking more shoe leather to average out a good weekend, and becomig rarer to find those 'heart jumping de-fib paddle' finds nowadays....

Keep looking, though
Bill

I laugh at people too who use their cell phones right in front of people to look up the value of an item that they just "might" buy if they find out they can sell it for a lot more. I have a smartphone but I don't look up stuff before I buy it. I use it to find sales and I use it as a map/gps to get to the sales. If you aren't knowledgeable enough to know whether something is a good price then perhaps you shouldn't be attempting to buy it in the first place. IMHO.

I also agree hat it's not how many sales you go to but the quality of the sales you go to that will determine the best finds. Knowing your area/s and the value of homes in that area helps. Another tidbit of info. is the longer someone has lived in that home is a good indicator that they may have some decent items for sale. At least in my experience. Also, like you said, the hyped up ads are usually not the ones to go to.

 

[theekman]

I laugh at people too who use their cell phones right in front of people to look up the value of an item that they just "might" buy if they find out they can sell it for a lot more. I have a smartphone but I don't look up stuff before I buy it. I use it to find sales and I use it as a map/gps to get to the sales. If you aren't knowledgeable enough to know whether something is a good price then perhaps you shouldn't be attempting to buy it in the first place. IMHO.

U have a great tool in the internet in the palm of your hand, why wouldn't you use it?

 

[Iron Patch]

U have a great tool in the internet in the palm of your hand, why wouldn't you use it?

Anyone who doesn't use the internet would probably miss out on deals one way or the other. I buy a lot online and sure a good portion of what I purchase I can do on gut and experience, but there's always more that I want to see where the market is. Whether it's a plus or minus over all for me because obviously other people do it too, I do not know, but there's no question it tightens things up. But you still have to be careful.... A couple weeks back I came across a sale for what the seller called a very rare Australian token. I didn't have a clue about it, but what the heck, I'll buy anything to make a buck off of, and a v rare token sounds good to me. So I checked ebay completed listings and sure enough there was a fairly poor condition one that sold over $400! So I went back, was ready to set my automatic bid for over $500, but even though a friend was going to arrive anytime to go detecting and I was in a hurry to leave, I thought I better check that one more time. I did so on google and found quite a few more with MUCH lower prices... and looking back to the $400 one I see it was not copper like the rest, probably brass and the rare one. I don't know what it ended up selling for, but glad I took the time to figure it out, or another fool could have made me pay big for a common token.

 

[diggummup]

U have a great tool in the internet in the palm of your hand, why wouldn't you use it?

Let me rephrase that... I don't look up stuff on the internet at yard sales in front of the person selling their items. I will use discretion if I am interested in something that i'm not quite sure of. I just think it is in bad taste to go to someones sale and start researching the value of their items right in front of them. It just doesn't sit right with me. It's an amateur move that I see all the time. Nowadays everyone is trying to be a "picker". However, I will use it at estate sales sometimes, usually to call attention to the (so called professional) seller that his/her price is way too high. I will also use it freely in the thrift stores and flea markets too.
The scenario is totally different when you are purchasing your items online for resale. You'd be a fool not to research something when your not quite sure about it, before buying from an online description/photo only.