From Garage Sale to eBay

Okay, I haven't been garage sale-ing in ages!  It has been way overdue but with the kids in baseball and track out weekends have been crazy.  So, I mapped out about 20 on Friday night in about 5 cities to go to on Saturday.  This included one city about 25 minutes away that had a '40 military family neighborhood garage sale.'  But, come Saturday I woke-up late and was not motivated to get my tush in gear.  So, by the time I was showered, dressed and had the kids dressed it was 10:30 and too late to go far.  I noticed something new (or new to me) in all of the garage sale ads.  The sales started about 7-8 am but most ended 11, 12 or 1pm.  I thought garage sales usually ran until 2-3pm.  Not sure if this is a new trend or it has just been too long since I've mapped out garage sales.  So, I ended up picking three in my city and mapped them on www.mapquest.com.  Mapquest lets me 'up arrow' or 'down arrow' the garage sales changing point A and point D, etc. so that I can get all the sales in a way that I am saving time and spending less gas.  I can also put in about 7 places to go from point-to-point-to point and it will total the mileage for all of it (great for tax write-offs).

So, the first garage sale was awesome.  It was 3 blocks away from me and the woman had a TON of stuff.  For $22 I bought:

A medium size suitcase in like-new condition.
A small designer purse (for my daughter).  Also like-new.
A Kokopelli doll-themed bathroom set including a large towel, medium towel, wash cloth, mat, soap dish, two night lights, shower curtain, a large cloth pad to hang on a wall and two figurines.  (this whole group was $12).  It was all used in the woman's guest bathroom for decorations.  My mom loves Kachina dolls and so I bought this set for her but kept the two figurines to try to sell on eBay.  Both have a soapstone base and look very unique.
A old push-lawnmower.  I bought this for $5 to resell on eBay.  Last time I sold one on eBay it sold for about $50 (plus the buyer paying shipping). Downside is it is HARD to build or find a box the right size to ship it.
An Undercover Sunshade.  It goes on top of most beach chairs to add overhead shade (brand new).

So, at the first one I spent $22 and my mom gave me $12 for the Kokopelli items I bought for her, so I was out $10 of my own money.

At the second garage sale everyone was packed up and gone.  Only the signs leading to the house were out.  The same with the third house.  This was very disappointing since it was about 11:30-11:45 and one said their sale ended at 12 and the other at 1pm.

I stopped by two in the same area but did a slow-drive-by and didn't see enough to warrant a stop.

I decided it was noon and to call it quits and head home since it seemed most were ended.  On the turn-in street right before mine I saw signs and on a whim decided to follow them.  The signs lead me down about three streets until I found the sale and I was glad I hadn't given up.

I have been looking for a patio table and found a great one.  The height is on the low-side but I still love it.

 I had the man having the garage sale help me load it into my car and it sat there for about 6 hours until my dad stopped by and was able to help me unload it (yes, it is that heavy).

 Picture in my backyard (dark because my cell doesn't have a flash.

Someone painted the sides orange so I hope it doesn't flake or peel.  The legs are a solid metal and look like cast iron.

Also, not pictured, my daughter found a wallet.  The man wanted $15 for the table.  I asked if he'd take $10 and he countered $12.  I asked if he'd throw in the wallet for $12 and he said 'deal.'  :-)

I've been trying to get my backyard more 'company friendly' for summer barbecues.  This table was a great add.  I got eight chairs (three shown) from someone on Freecyle.  I need to buy new cushions since these ones are faded but they are okay for now.

Finally, I bought this from someone in a 'Good Exchange' closed group on Facebook.  It has about 700 people in it that are local and people can list items for sell or that they are in search of (ISO) and post photos.  It is similar to Craig's List but since it is a closed group by invite only (these must be growing because I currently know of five of them locally) there is zero spam.

It is a like-new Roomba in original box and barely used.  I bought it for $45 and am hoping it sells on eBay for $90 (based on current completed auctions).  You can see my auction here:  Roomba.

I lost the charge for my digital camera and stuck using my cell for pictures right now so I have to wait to list the Kokopelli figurines.  I'm hoping to save up money and buy an iPhone 4.  I'd love to have one with a flash on it and my current cell phone keeps freezing when I take pictures.

For now I can either take pics with my cell and have them grainy or wait until the charger comes in the mail (should be next week). I think for the detailed items I need to wait.

All in all it was a good day for garage sale-ing.  I didn't find much to sell on eBay but the sale of the Roomba, figurines and push mower should pay for the table and all the other shopping I did and maybe I'll come out ahead.  That is the plan anyways.

eBay Sales, Garage Sale Finds And Things That Don't Sell

It has been WAY too long since I have had a lot of auctions on eBay.  With my son having football games every Saturday it is hard to go garage sale-ing.  I am trying to clean, declutter and purge in the garage.  Everything is either in a 'next garage sale to get rid of' pile or on one counter-top, the 'list on eBay' pile.  The second pile takes up 1/2 of my counter-top.  The first pile is a lot more.  I have boxes in my garage on the floor, on the other counter-top and my shed almost completely full of garage sale stuff.

I am planning on having my next garage sale on December  24th or 31st.  I have had this two years now the first Saturday after Christmas and the garage sale was a HUGE success. This year, since the first Saturday after Christmas is New Years I might do it the day before Christmas instead.

The last two times I did this (I skipped last year since I didn't have anything to sell) I had four friends helping me for the first few hours of the day.  It was THAT busy. There were cars up and down the street and over 20 people in my yard at one time.  It was an absolute madhouse!  Why?  Because no one else is crazy enough to have a garage sale on that day.  So, regular garage salers, people with nothing to do and saw it in the paper, and people that saw the signs ALL came to my garage sale since no one else, anywhere around, was having a garage sale.  I had customers come from over 30 miles away in both directions.

So, where do I get my stuff and what do I do with it?

First I get things and I try to sell them on eBay if they are a decent size to ship and on Craig's List or Cheapcycle (a knock-off groups of Freecycle that is just starting up) if the items are large and too big or heavy to ship.

I get these items from garage sales (I mostly go to nicer cities that have richer residence) or moving sales, since it is a 'everything must go' attitude at them or church rummage sales (since people don't have their own nostalgic feelings on items they are selling so they usually have lower prices. I also sometimes find things at estate sales or thrift stores.

There is two good times to go to a garage sale.  The very beginning of the day, when you find the goldmine items before anyone else, but are paying close to their asking price.  If you go at the end of the day, especially on a hot day, they are DONE, don't care, just want to sell everything and not pack it up again.  They will give you super cheap prices at this time.

Once I have things I search them on 'completed auctions' on eBay to verify they are worth selling and the approximate cost that the item is going for, sold.  Sometimes things look like they'd be a great sell but are worth nothing.  These items, as well as the items I tried to sell but didn't, all go into my garage sale pile or to the thrift store as a donation.

The items worth selling get photographed and then listed on eBay.  Right now here is my current auctions: Debbzs eBay Auctions


I pay $2.50 a month to Auctiva, an outside listing company, for some extra perks in my listings.


I try to only list items that I think will sell for the minimum of $25.00 for it to be worth my time and so that I can make the most of my sales.


With any sale the cost of the listing, how much eBay collects and how much I have to pay to Paypal makes it where anything smaller in sales isn't worth it.

Something like this, a doggie door that fits into a sliding glass door, I will try to sell on Craig's List & Cheapcycle first, since it will be expensive to ship.  However, this particular one, is brand new and already boxed to ship.  A friend bought it online two years ago and never used it.  So it is ready to ship.  So, I will try to sell on Craig's list to save the money on postage and eBay fees, but if I can't sell it, I'll post it on eBay.