Yard Sale Tricks

Well I think the trickiest part of yard saling is getting out of bed. There are some mornings that I’m not sure if I will make it. But then my Princess shows up and asks me “Mommy awake?” which means no more being lazy for me.

Most of my eBay “stock” comes from yard sales. I get the more bang for my buck there. Thrift stores around me are outrageously priced. Jeans are $6-10. Mens dress shirts $6-8. The local Salvation Army stopped their $1.00 Saturday special and the Goodwill only offers a 25% discount on certain color items each week instead of the 50% they used to offer. Unfortunately that only gives me one scouting day per week, Saturday. I work Fridays and sometimes I try to fit a couple sales in on my lunch time but that’s going to end next week when my Princess starts preschool. I will be taking her to school during my lunch every day. Sundays have actually been pretty successful yard sales trips for me in the past but dating a guy that lives 2 hours away makes it difficult for me. Sunday morning I am heading out to visit him (or he’s coming out to see me in which case I sneak in a few before he gets into town). So I have to use anything I can to make sure I get the most out of my Saturday sales.

When I first starting selling on eBay I would take the kids yard saling with me one of them would always shout from across the lawn “Hey Auntie do you want this for eBay?” or something along those lines. So I had to quickly come up with a code. Now instead of yelling about eBay they yell “Auntie do you think Grandma will like this?”. Grandma of course being code for eBay. This has worked out really well for us. But I do get some strange looks sometimes from people wondering why Grandma would want a box of action figures.

I am far from the expert on what sells well on eBay so when I’m not sure if “grandma” would like something I say out loud ‘Oh I’m not sure let me text her”. This is my way of pulling out my phone and looking the item up on eBay without being too obvious. I hear all the time “Do you know what this is going for on eBay” and I don’t want people giving me a higher price if they think I’m going to be selling their stuff there. (By the way don’t get me started on people that over price things because they are selling for a certain amount on eBay. If you want to get eBay prices then go sell them on there not a yard sale).

Recently I’ve been using a new “trick”. I take my 3 year old Princess with me yard saling. She of course always finds the toy stack at every sale. When I see something I think might sell well I ask her “Baby do you like this?”. Of course her answer is always yes (she likes everything for about 10 seconds and then moves on). So I send her to the sellers to ask “How much please?”. Who can over charge a sweet little Princess who also happens to be polite? About a quarter of the time they end up giving it to her for free. When they do charge they usually give it to her for much less then I would have gotten it for. I know this is sneaky but I go with what works. I just need to teach my baby to haggle a price and she will really be my secret weapon.

Now if anyone has any tricks that work for them please share! I need all the help I can get.