Garage Sales: Tips for Buying

I have done a good amount of buying and selling at garage sales. I am going on a mission trip to Tepic, Mexico this summer, and garage sales is one way that I've been able to raise money for the trip. I have also found that garage sales provide great deals for clothing, decorations, and older books printed in the late 1900s. Next month, I will do another miscellaneous article on selling items in a garage sale. but this article is all about buying and getting the best price for items.

Finding a Garage Sale

Because of all the resources we have today, finding a garage sale is easy. On a drive around a neighborhood, you will find that most people put out garage sale signs on lampposts. That is the easiest way to find out about a yard sale. You might also find a flyer on your doorstep for a community garage sale sponsored by a real estate company. A community garage sale provides the opportunity for more walking than driving fro neighborhood to neighborhood. Websites such as Craiglist or OfferUp will also list garage sales by area. And lastly, community apps such as Nextdoor will allow neighbors to post the dates, addresses, and times for their garage sales.

Choosing a Garage Sale

Location: As in real estate, location is the key to finding items with good quality. I have found that newer neighborhoods with larger and newer homes have items that are cleaner and are in better shape. On the other hand, homes with dead and overgrown lawns and neighborhoods that don't even have sidewalks have more broken and dirty items. A home's curb appeal says much about the items being sold. My city has plenty of new homes and old homes, but I only go to yard sales at the new homes because of this. And of course, I wouldn't recommend driving 20 minutes across two freeways to get to a yard sale (unless it is a very large estate or moving sale).

Size/Contents: Knowing the size of a garage sale can help you avoid making an unnecessary trip early in the morning. Estate sales (occurring after a death) and moving sales are the two largest types of garage sales there are. Moving sales are a great place to find good furniture that a family cannot take and estate sales are a great place to find antiques of all sorts. Sometimes a posting will also include pictures and some of the items available.

Purpose: The most important rule is: If you have problems with covetousness or hate shopping, don't go shopping at a garage sale. This is a really bad idea if you are a compulsive buyer because you can spend a lot of money But you might truly need a coffee table or china for a girl's tea party. I don't know your situation, but shop with care that you don't become compulsive or covetous in the process.

Buying at a Garage Sale

Price: The main rule for buying at a garage sale is to remember that it is a garage sale. Some people think that they are running a thrift store, so they charge $5 or more for their secondhand things. If one item is extremely expensive, you can bet that the other items will be as well. Usually, you can bargain the price down $.50 or sometimes even a dollar, but expensive garage sales might not even let you bargain at all.

Some garage sales label their items with a price tag. Remember that if the price tag is on an old piece of wood or a stuffed animal with coarse fur, the tag might be very difficult to get off the item without damaging the item.

On another note, make you bring cash in small bills ($1, $5, $10; I would avoid $20 although it might be accepted). And if you strike upon a good deal, you might need a couple of quarters. Garage sales definitely do not accept credit cards.

Bargains: Bargaining at a garage sale has much of the same rules as bargaining for a home. You don't want to go too low or the seller will be offended, yet you still want a good deal. Sometimes bargaining is unwise though. For example, if a yard sale is selling 600 page books for $.10 (what a great dream!) which is actually ridiculously cheap, I wouldn't recommend trying to get the price down to $.05.

A good time to bargain is when someone is selling their items for slightly more money than other garage sales would. This may include a $1 book of 300 pages or an article of clothing for $2. As I said above, $.50 or a $1 is a good amount to bargain an item down for. Another way to bargain is by asking for a discount when buying multiple items in a set. This may include three breakfast barstools or a dining set of four chairs. If someone charges each barstool for $5, then maybe you could ask for to pay $12 for all.

Most people are just eager to get rid of the things that are clogging up their garage and will be more than glad to get rid of multiple items even at a discount. Bargaining will save you a ton of money if you shop at garage sales regularly.

Quality: And lastly of all, be careful to buy items with good quality. A $5 chair sounds great, but if three of the legs are falling off, it would be a complete waste. Since I only buy books, I try to buy books that I know I can read once or twice without the pages falling out or the binding completely ripping. There's no use of buying furniture, toys, or books that you can only use for a week before it gets completely destroyed.

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1 Timothy 6:5 is a fitting verse to close this article: "But godliness with contentment is great gain." The verses preceding this one explain the ungodliness of those who preach "another gospel," more specifically, anything that does not line up with the Bible. The verse also says that the false teachers told the church that "gain," getting whatever they wanted, was godly.

 

But in this letter, Paul says that gain comes from godly living through Christ Jesus and being content with what God has given you. Getting whatever you want is not only selfish, it will most likely be bad for you in many ways. God knows what's best for us; He wrote it in His Word.

 

Godliness + Contentment = Great Gain