Post #129265 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Mon, Dec 6, 2004 2:53 AM

On 2004-12-04 18:45, Tiki Matt wrote:
Sabu, I swear you are the luckiest garage saler I've ever come across!!!!

On 2004-12-05 19:03, hiltiki wrote:
Sabu how are you always so lucky????

Believe me, it's not really luck. Honestly. I think the real trick is volume. And maybe research. Anyone here can work the same luck for themselves. Doctor Z and I absolutely LOVE selling on Ebay. And we like hunting treasures at garage sales even more. Before I arrive at Doctor Z's house at 7:30 or 8:00 on a Saturday morning he's already got all of the local garage sales circled and numbered in the morning paper, and the numbers transferred to a fold-out, laminated Thomas Bros map with eraseable markers. I drive, he navigates. In this way we can hit 20 to 30 garage sales in a 5-hour morning. If we didn't love it so much, it would be boring as hell. Instead its pure fun for us.

We hit the neighborhood and block sales first, because they give us the most bang for our buck - 5 or 10 or more yard sales all within walking distance of each other. Then we hit estate sales and everything else. With the sheer volume, we can't help but be lucky every weekend. Plus, Doctor Z is such a wit, that we end up laughing our @sses off the whole morning. It's my weekend comedy therapy. Heaven forbid we find the inevitible box full of little plastic toys and McDonalds giveaways the kids have outgrown. Doctor Z and I have no such maturity issues. We can spend far too much time pulling out monsters and action figures, engaging each other in huge battles on the lawn, (Mulan vs. Godzilla and The California Raisins, for instance), making up funny voices for each character until we are rolling with laughter and the garage-sale hosts have judged us, (quite correctly), insane.

The other key to our success is the research we do on Ebay. If I see some species of garage sale fauna appearing more and more frequently, (PC software games for instance), I'll look that category up in the "Completed Auctions" section of Ebay, sorting it by High Price to Low. That way I can see that Fantasy Role-Playing and War-Simulation games sell for the most, plus spot the rare, out-of-print game or two that goes for $100. Now I am fore-warned when the next crop of PC games is found.

Ebay is a fantastic research tool. Did you know that the 20-volume "Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau" encyclopedia is practically worthless, but if you find the rare "Volume 21", you can sell it for $70 on Ebay? Did you know that Mattel Intellivision games are crap EXCEPT for the 4 rare ones that are worth $50 or more? Do you know which cookbooks in that box of old cookbooks sell time and again for over $30 apiece? Or that old, wooden croquet balls are HOT right now? Ebay will divulge as many of these secrets as you can think to ask it. If it wasn't for Ebay I wouldn't have known that that ugly, big-headed doll displayed on a blanket for 25 cents was actually a $200 Kenner Blythe doll. I am becoming more and more convinced that within every large garage sale there is at least one $50-$100 item being sold for a buck. Knowing which item it is, is the key.

The day I'm truly dangerous will be the day when I have a wireless laptop with me in the car and can check an item on Ebay while I'm actually at the garage sale.

Doctor Z and I are becoming Garage Sale Omnivores of the worst sort. It no longer has to be mid-century modern or tiki for us. Hooked-On-Phonics sets, Barbara Streisand videos, Plastic Dinosaurs, Veggie Tales, A full set of Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" hardcovers, Bible Concordances, 20-year-old Real Estate courses on cassette, Auto Parts, Televangelist videos - We're not too proud to grab any of it. And much of it is ludicrously valuable on Ebay. Then, when we find the rare box of 1970s "Skateboarder" magazines or box of tiki mugs, it's just icing on the cake.

I also love taking a chance on an odd item I've never seen before. For a dollar or two investment, these chances often pay off. Doctor Z once laughed at me when I picked up a whole stack of collapsible boxes with air-holes that pet stores used to use to sell Canaries and Parakeets. But lo and behold! - somebody on Ebay thought they were worth fifty dollars. Or the box of vintage flyswatters that I sold to some Hollywood movie prop-master for eighty dollars. It's amazing what you can find a market for.

Anyway. I've rambled on and on and got this thread totally off-topic. But I think you can see how exciting I find this whole Ebay and Garage-Sale business. I think the real luck comes from the fact that modern technology, (namely the Internet), has provided Doctor Z and I with a lucrative outlet for this hobby we've always had.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2004-12-06 02:57 ]