Tag Sale—Never Again!

Photos:
Top left: lots of glassware and electronics/electric table in background.
Top right: clothes, curtains, table cloths and bags of all kinds and sizes.
Mid left: can you believe no one wanted this Cricket rocker? I decided to keep it.
Mid right: same glassware with table of books in background and FREE table out front.
Bottom left: My Honda Fit loaded on the passenger side.
Bottom right: My Fit's open maw. Man do I have cargo space and there was room for more!

It’s all over! What an exhausting weekend. HOT. HUMID. And waiting around.
Saturday morning traffic was brisk. People started coming at 7:30 when I opened the garage doors just to get some air (like there was any worth breathing!). A tag sale savvy elderly lady drove in and asked if she was my first customer. I told her she certainly was. She asked if she had to wait until 8 o’clock before she could look. I told her the sale was advertised to start at 10 o’clock, but she was welcome to browse to her heart’s content. Smart old lady! And it never stopped until shortly before noon.

Kathy was with me through the morning and that was a big help. She became my chief negotiator. She’s much better at that than I am, and got me some good deals. Of course my customers got some good deals, too. I priced everything to SELL.

Saturday afternoon was slow as was Sunday morning. By noon Sunday I’d had it and decided to pack up (literally) and shut down. First I made a list of everything that was left (for donation purposes) then started packing into boxes. Of course, the mid afternoon crowd started to arrive. They were just as happy to poke through the packed boxes and I actually had to cross stuff off the donation list as things went out the door with happy customers.

Andy and Lori came over and help me shut down. All the No Parking signs were pulled up and all the boxes were loaded into my car. My little Honda Fit has a lot of cargo space! Folding tables borrowed from Lori’s parents were loaded into Andy’s truck and the day was done.

I was exhausted, but there was still a lot of put-away to do before I could head for a nice cool shower.

What sold and what didn’t
Every one told me the old National Geographic magazines would not sell. They were from 1969 up to 1980. Most were complete years. One customer took two years and a second customer took all the rest. Not bad for something that wouldn’t sell.

I was assured the electronic/electrical stuff would fly off the table. Flatbed scanner, slide scanner, wireless phone, universal remote, tel/fax machine, elect. typewriter, timer (to turn lights on and off), toaster, vaporizer, lamps (there probably was other stuff I’ve forgotten) did not sell. Not one thing. Too late. Don’t bother getting in touch with me to scoff up any of these (except the scanners, the remote and telephone). They are already into electronic recycling or at Good Will. If you didn’t get it here you can get it at Good Will. A few more pieces (42” round table, a “quilted” 5 drawer chest, two twin/full bed frames) will go to Big Brothers Big Sisters on Saturday, August 29th. There’s still time to take those off my hands.

Was it worth the $106 I made on the sale? Yes and no. YES because of the people I met and NO because of all the work it took to do it…it’s not worth it to me. Speaking of people, I want to especially thank those who took stuff from the FREE table and didn’t bother to buy anything. ☺ ☺


Big, big thanks go to my kids, Anne, Paul, Kathy, and Andy. Without Paul and Andy I never could have taken the heavy stuff down into the garage. Without Kathy I wouldn’t have had an able negotiator and sign maker, to say nothing of box bringer. Even though Anne lives far away she gave me invaluable advice about pricing. I really could not have done it without them.