Garage Sales.
Getting the Best Buy

Garage sales. Yard Sales. Rummage sales. Moving sales. Estate sales. What is the difference? How do you find the good ones? Where are they? How do you get a bargain once you get there? These questions and more will be answered here.

A garage sale is also known as a yard sale depending on what part of the world you live in. Variations of garage and yard sales are rummage sales, attic sales, junk sales, moving sales, and estate sales.

They are informal events in which a private party sells used goods usually from their garage, driveway, yard, carport, porch, or even from inside the house.

Items at garage sales are mostly unwanted, unused, or not needed items from the household of the homeowner conducting the sale. The items may be new, like new, slightly used, well used, or over used. The motivation for selling them may be that the operator is downsizing, moving, or just raising funds.

These sales may be a one time event, annual event, or an operator may do several sales a year. They may also be held at other locations by charitable groups, nonprofit organizations, and church groups. These are more commonly referred to as rummage sales.

Another form of garage sales is the estate sale. This is an organized sale of items and property of a person who is moving or who has died. In the event of death, the surviving members of the family may not want the items.

If they can not agree on the disposition of the items, a court may order an estate sale with the proceeds being divided among the survivors. It may also have been the will of the deceased.

The estate sale is usually conducted by a professional for a percentage of the revenue. The liquidator usually has a loyal following of collectors, dealers, and resellers who use these sales as a wholesale source, and the general public who use them as a bargain source. These sales generally last 1-3 days with lower prices at the end of the sale.

Local garage sales, rummage sales, moving sales, and estate sales can be found by looking in the classified ads in your local newspaper, ads on bulletin boards, flyers around town, signs along the roadside, online classifieds such as craigslist, and websites that offer searches for local garage sales. Many of these websites offer nationwide listings, local searches, maps, tips, and other information.

Garage sales may have items that include appliances, bicycles, books, CD’s, DVD's, and VHS movies, clothing, dishes, electronics, furniture, glassware, jewelry, lamps, lawn and garden items, and/or sporting goods.

I have even seen larger items like boats, canoes, cars, motorcycles, trucks, snowmobiles, and trailers. If someone owns it and doesn’t want it, it’s at a garage/yard sale somewhere.

Most sales are held on the weekend with some starting in the middle of the week. The hours are usually early morning to late afternoon, or early evening.

Early hours bring bargain hunters looking for the pick of the litter. Going late or at the end of the sale may bring the best bargain prices.

My stepfather has more than once bought all of the remaining inventory at the end of local garage sales. He usually makes his money back on the sale of one or two items. As impressive as this is to me, my mother never seems very delighted as she has to organize yet another garage sale.

Through greed, need, or ignorance, you will find sales that as a whole are overpriced. You will also find the bargain friendly under priced sales.

I stumbled across such a sale by following signs. The only things that stopped me from buying everything there was that I had no more room in my vehicle and I pretty much spent all of the money I had on me.

Items at garage sales may or may not be marked with prices. If they are, don’t be afraid to ask if they’ll take less. Most operators want to sell the item, not repack it.

If the prices are real high and they don’t want to negotiate you may want to move on to greener pastures. If it’s an item you really want, you could leave your offer and contact information in case the operator changes their mind at the end of the sale.

If it’s already a ridiculously low price you might want to just give them what they are asking. I, however, sometimes just can’t resist offering less and it’s paid off more than once.

I saw a heavy duty trailer well worth over $800 for only $250. I offered him $200 and he took it so fast I wish I would have offered him $150. Although it seemed too good to be true there was nothing wrong with the trailer. He just wanted it gone.

If the prices are not marked ask how much they want for it, let them name the price first if possible. Don’t fall for the “how much will you give me for it?” routine. More than likely you will offer more than what they would take.

If you have kids, let them have a real world experience by paying for their own items. The operator of the garage/yard sale might just give them a better deal.

If you are going to many local garage sales in one day you may want to map out a route to save time and gas. If you cut out ads from the newspaper, tape them to a sheet of paper so they don’t get lost.

Bring a cooler with some food and something to drink, especially on hot days. Dress for the weather and wear some comfortable shoes. Keep plenty of small bills with you in a safe place. Some wet wipes and hand sanitizer can come in quite handy also.

Be prepared for bringing your bargains home from the garage sales. Have boxes or bags to hold items in your vehicle and to carry them in when you get home. Bring some rope, bungee cords, and/or tie downs for bigger and/or unexpected purchases. More than once this has helped me to get a bargain home.

Almost all sales will have the good, the bad and the ugly. Let the buyer beware. Check items closely. Look for chips and cracks on dishes, glassware, figurines, and collectibles. If the item is in a box, open it and pull it out to see if that is what is in the box. Are all of the cords and accessories in it?

Once upon a time I saw a fogger at a sale. I opened the flap and saw the fogger in it but never pulled it out. I asked if it worked and was told it did. When I got it home and plugged it in I realized it worked alright, it just didn’t have the remote button for releasing the fog. Happily my brother had an extra one that fit my machine.

Sometimes when people buy something new they will put the old item in the new box. Sometimes they put the original used item back in the box. Sometimes they put a completely different item in a box just to put it in a box. Just make sure you look in the box so you know what is and what is not in the box.

Remove the cover of battery operated devices to make sure old batteries have not corroded the compartment. It’s not a bad idea to carry various sized batteries in your vehicle to test battery operated devices in case the operator of the garage sale does not know if the item works or not. If the item has a plug, plug it in if you can.

Check clothes for rips, tears, missing buttons, non working zippers, stains, and funky smells like cigarette smoke, mold, mildew, animal odors, and various other smells as well. Check CD’s and DVD’s for scratches.

Take VHS tapes out of the box and lift the flap to see if the tape is wrinkled. Look closely at the tape through the viewing window for mold or mildew. Make sure the title on the cases match the titles on the CD, DVD, VHS tape. Make sure it isn’t an empty case.

If you see an item you want, or may not be sure of, pick it up and keep it with you. If you leave it there while you look around, someone else may pick it up and you will have lost your chance to purchase the item.

Most operators of sales are honest people but things happen and some may have memory malfunctions. If you need to leave an item there, get a receipt. You may want to take a piece of it with you to prevent it from accidentally being resold.

Another buyer beware issue for the bargain hunter at local garage sales are recalled items. There have been many items recalled over the years involving toys, car seats, and appliances.

Other safety issues like outdated cribs are also a concern. Check with the Consumer Products Safety Commission online at www.cpsc.gov or call 1-800-638-2772 for information on items to avoid.

Another bargain source in the world of garage sales are garage sales online. The seller makes a garage page and/or lists the item/items they have for sale. Some have pictures and some do not.

The user of these sites can search by category or item either nationwide or locally. Some list contact information while others require you to register to gain access to contact information.

Online garage sales allow the bargain finder to find bargains at garage sales across the country without having to get in a bidding war and without having to leave the house. A nice option on a rainy day. A rainy day however can increase your odds of lower prices at local garage sales.

Local garage sales offer adventure for the bargain hunter. You will meet people, get fresh air, and experience the excitement of finding a bargain item that you may, or may not, have been looking for.

More than one family may get together and put on multifamily garage sales. Neighborhoods may join together and form block sales while some communities sponsor annual citywide garage sales.

The 127 Yard Sale

Established in 1987 in Fentress County, it was designed to lure travelers off of the interstate to the communities along the Highway 127 corridor. It now extends 654 miles through five states from Gadsden, AL to West Unity, OH. The headquarters of this event is the Fentress County Chamber of Commerce located in Jamestown, TN.

Items are from homeowners, businesses, dealers, and professional vendors, locally and from across the country. You will find sales in yards, businesses, parking lots, wide open fields, and other areas designated for vendors within or outside the city or town. You will find them along the route as well as side streets adjacent to the route.

Along the route you will find clusters of vendors as well as isolated vendors with a few miles of nothing but beautiful countryside scenery in between.

Take the time to enjoy the sights (bring you camera), the smells, and the sounds as you look for your bargains. It would be next to impossible to cover the whole route and see everything in one trip.

It would take over 13 hours of nonstop driving at an average speed of 50mph to cover the route and almost 22 hours at 30mph nonstop. Better to just take part of the route and save some for next year.

Make reservations for your overnight accommodations well in advance as places can fill up fast when hundreds of thousands of bargain hunters converge on this bargain source.

There are USPS offices as well as various shipping centers along the way if your vehicle fills up and you need to ship your bargains home. The operators of the garage sales are on their own as far as hours of operation but most are open from 8am until late evening.

Be cautious, especially while driving. The many garage sales offer a distraction and the vehicle in front of you may stop suddenly, let alone a multitude of pedestrians milling about. Keep your cash in a safe place. Keep plenty of fluids with you. Remember, it gets hot and humid in the south, especially in August.

For more information on this event you can call 1-800-327-3945 or go online to www.127sale.com to visit the website and order a brochure.

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