Yard Fail

I learned two weekends ago that I am a yard ‘saler’ but I am no yard ‘seller’.  We tossed a bunch of stuff out on our front lawn painfully early Saturday morning and there I sat until 2ish.  The weather was just great and the traffic was flowing but the people. were. so. stingy.  I know what you’re probably thinking, “But aren’t you pretty stingy yourself?”.  Yes, I am and I have a tight budget to thank for that.  But I also know that when we’re talking second-hand sales, there are fair prices.

For example, I had out these two big, framed watercolors:
   They were donated from someone in our church to be sold to raise funds for our parish’s mission trip and since Anthony was in charge of the mission trip and these two were left over from that yard sale this past summer, we thought we’d try to sell them at our house and put the proceeds away for next year’s trip.  They are original watercolors in nice, matted frames and they’re like 24”x 18”.  I was asking $5 each!…already a STEAL!  A lady came up during my yard sale and asked if I’d give both of them to her for $5!  Now I’m not against a little haggling now and then but haggling has it’s place amongst higher prices and car dealerships.  So, she wanted them both for a flat $5.  She must’ve noticed my eyebrow raise and maybe that’s what made her give me a dissatisfied “no” and walk away when I asked her if she’d instead give me $8 for both - $4 each.  NO?!  Are you kidding me?  I was a little shocked (but kind of happy too because I secretly want the one on the left…just need to find a spot for it). 

Anyway, maybe I shouldn’t be so shocked since I’m not really a seasoned yard “seller” and maybe that is just the name of the game.  The motto of this story?  Well, take the words of my wise friend Linsey - having your own yard sale is only worth it if you’re setting out stuff that’s on it’s way out the door to be donated anyway.  Sell the stuff you’re expecting fair prices for online – eBay, Craigslist, and Facebook sites.

I was a little frustrated at the end of my sale that day but what made everything better was waltzing over to my next-door neighbors sale and spending $2 for four items.

I got these two little bowls:
The blue one was 10 cents and the striated cream one was 25 cents but I gave her $1 since I had zero change on me!  I nested them and set them up on the living room shelves (bottom left in this pic).

I also got this faceted glass bowl for $1:
It’s also on the shelves and currently watering a small branch from a front-yard tree.  Originally I thought maybe I’d turn it into a pendant light but we’ll see…


The last thing I got was this big basket:
She had it listed for $3 and I had my eye on it all day, hoping no one would buy it so I could shoot over and do so.  When I did get to it, my sweet neighbor wouldn’t take the cash I was holding out to her so I ended up not paying a cent for it.

Praise the Lord for great neighbors who turn your yard-sale-frustration-induced frown upside-down, right?!

What is your experience with yard sale-ing?  Have you had the same seller woes?  Or maybe you’ve made out like a bandit?  Or, maybe you’re just a bonified yard saler and only go, not host.

I ended up making $55 on my own stuff that morning and still had over half of it leftover.  For the mission trip though (we had a lot of stuff for that out), I made $125 so I can’t really say it wasn’t totally worth it.  :)