18 November 2010

Garage Saleswoman

My sister-in-law Amy is moving to a new home at the end of this month and is trying to pack up all of her things. There comes a point were you decide you just need to end your hoarding and let your possessions go, and that point often comes when you're thinking about how you would move them. So I convinced Amy to have a garage sale, because I told her I grew up garage selling with my mom. Of course, I didn't mention that it was really my mom who was the expert! Seriously, my mom is a master pricer/negotiator when it comes to throwing her own garage sales. I just sold the baked goods and popcorn. Moving on...

Saturday came and Amy had laid out all of her items for sale. My request for no early birds was ignored as expected, but the only downside was that some kids toys went to a good family at a fraction of what they might have gone for because they weren't priced beforehand. No biggie! I advertised on Craigslist and put posters around the area. I'm not sure what worked best, but people came in waves and money was made.


And do you know how we made money? Because Amy is a master sales woman! If someone was interested in a puzzle, Amy would count the pieces for them and then play it with them to make sure they liked it. Then when she saw the love in their eyes and they asked how much for the game, she said, "$5." Slight exaggeration? Maybe, but Amy was satisfied with her earnings at the end of the day. The only disappointment was that more of the furniture didn't sell. There's still a beautiful black hutch, humongous TV, and set of three furniture items remaining. Some of the littler items were left as well when we closed up shop at noon. But everything is still priced... and it went so well! So, Amy said, "Let's do this again next week."

Weather permitting, you can find us out again this Saturday trying to pawn off Amy's belongings on unsuspecting victims. This time, though, we wont try to sell the cat.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, the memories. Just ask Amy what a garage-selling family I grew up in. My mother has one every year whether we need it or not (and she always makes bank--I really don't know how she does it!) The biggest shocker is that Amy is ready to do it all over again next weekend. I'm glad she has you to help her.

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  2. If I had a way to transport the armoire- I would totally buy it. So bummed. Anyway, that's way cool it was so productive. Ask my mom about selling her adult movies at a garage sale...

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