garage sale pricing
05-12-2012, 05:05 AM
#21
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 11,276
I guess that the best pricing test would be: How much did you sell? if you are happy with the yardage you sold at the price marked, then who cares about the complainers? if you didn't sell what you had hoped, then looks like you priced it a bit high for your geographic area.
05-12-2012, 05:11 AM
#22
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Fort White, Fl
Posts: 2,689
I have not had the luck to find a yard sale with fabric, but would be thrilled to find good fabric @ $2.00 a yard. I see it here on the board for $5.00 + a yard with postage on top of that, so $2.00 - $3.00 @ least gives you some bargaining room for those folks that love to barter.
As for the shop-lifting not sure what I would do. It seems hard to believe they both did it by accident, but I would hope that I would say something to them just to let them know it was not okay to just take the items. It's one thing to ask if the prices were negotiable it's another just to take them.
As for the shop-lifting not sure what I would do. It seems hard to believe they both did it by accident, but I would hope that I would say something to them just to let them know it was not okay to just take the items. It's one thing to ask if the prices were negotiable it's another just to take them.
05-12-2012, 02:56 PM
#23
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Piedmont Virginia in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mtns.
Posts: 8,562
"Ma'am, when I give things away I have the right to choose who receives them. Today, this garage "SALE" is being held because I, myself, need the funds I will raise by selling my things. As this is not a garage "TAKE", if you do not care to pay for them, please return them to the table so that I can sell them to another honest person. Thank you."...with that oh-no-you-didn't mother glare we've all perfected.
Just as I would refuse to open my door to someone I didn't know or care to deal with; or talk on my phone to a sales pitch or wrong number; or allow someone to cross my yard and pick all my flowers or dig up my shrubs; or stand by while someone beat up on my kid......I would not allow someone I didn't know walk off with MY possessions while I was standing in MY yard/garage.
Jan in VA
Just as I would refuse to open my door to someone I didn't know or care to deal with; or talk on my phone to a sales pitch or wrong number; or allow someone to cross my yard and pick all my flowers or dig up my shrubs; or stand by while someone beat up on my kid......I would not allow someone I didn't know walk off with MY possessions while I was standing in MY yard/garage.
Jan in VA
05-12-2012, 03:05 PM
#24
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: home again, after 27 yrs!
Posts: 19,388
yes, garage sales aren't what they used to be. MY SIL talks people down to $1.00 or $1.50. I've thought of clearing out all the stuff we have in this house but it's not worth all the trouble. and stealing is getting bad, kids too (with the knowledge of the parent).
05-12-2012, 03:44 PM
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: central indiana
Posts: 686
One of our guilds had their quilt show and a huge room was devoted to quilt items for sale including fabric. It was all $2 per yard and flying out the door.
I dont mind paying $3-4 per yard at a garage sale but it has to be what I will need for a particular project or some collection of fat quarters that are just wonderful. I have been to 3 in the last few weeks.
1. Sold all fabric by the pound. Needed to do this because of all the sizes and lack of room to lay out and cut. Worked well for everyone and was easy to check out. I think they priced too low but still had fabric left over. $4 per pound. Did not matter if 6 yards or a box of scraps.
2. Not priced or ready to sell "wife ran out" sale. We could only agree on the prices for some really good kits and I actually spent 50% off retail for one kit I wanted. Got another one for $40 that was missing one month (but I can easily make it up from leftover fabrics and got the pattern from the company) that sold for $250 on ebay at the same time. If his helper had properly organized it, there was a couple of thousand dollars she could have made from the items.
3. Fabric saleswoman was selling excess stash. Got 62 coord. fat quarters for $36 with the ribbon still around them. Fabric was $3 per yard and well worth it. Spent $200 and was happy to do it.
I always remember that I can get fabric from Eleanor Burns at her sales in Paducah for $5 a yard (minus any special daily discounts) and consider this when evaluating garage sales.
Older fabrics or "Walmart type" fabrics I will only look at for charity quilts or their backs and would only spend about $1 per yard on a good day. Once I filled the back of my Accord from side to side with well stored vintage cottons for a total of $75. They had finished selling fabric on Ebay and this was perfect for quilt backs. Just a garage sale we stopped at.
I dont mind paying $3-4 per yard at a garage sale but it has to be what I will need for a particular project or some collection of fat quarters that are just wonderful. I have been to 3 in the last few weeks.
1. Sold all fabric by the pound. Needed to do this because of all the sizes and lack of room to lay out and cut. Worked well for everyone and was easy to check out. I think they priced too low but still had fabric left over. $4 per pound. Did not matter if 6 yards or a box of scraps.
2. Not priced or ready to sell "wife ran out" sale. We could only agree on the prices for some really good kits and I actually spent 50% off retail for one kit I wanted. Got another one for $40 that was missing one month (but I can easily make it up from leftover fabrics and got the pattern from the company) that sold for $250 on ebay at the same time. If his helper had properly organized it, there was a couple of thousand dollars she could have made from the items.
3. Fabric saleswoman was selling excess stash. Got 62 coord. fat quarters for $36 with the ribbon still around them. Fabric was $3 per yard and well worth it. Spent $200 and was happy to do it.
I always remember that I can get fabric from Eleanor Burns at her sales in Paducah for $5 a yard (minus any special daily discounts) and consider this when evaluating garage sales.
Older fabrics or "Walmart type" fabrics I will only look at for charity quilts or their backs and would only spend about $1 per yard on a good day. Once I filled the back of my Accord from side to side with well stored vintage cottons for a total of $75. They had finished selling fabric on Ebay and this was perfect for quilt backs. Just a garage sale we stopped at.
05-12-2012, 04:21 PM
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Small town in Northeast Oregon close to Washington and Idaho
Posts: 2,795
As for shoplifting, I would have absolutely said something very loudly! Like "I can not believe that you just stuck that in your purse. Are you actually stealing at a yard sale?" I'm very vocal when I see someone doing something so wrong, like stealing from another person.
And I think your prices are reasonable. Like you said, we pay at least that here on the board and then we have to add in shipping and we don't have the chance to really look and feel the materal here. I think yard sellers just want to spend very little for as much as they can. I had someone tell me at a yard sale of mine once that my prices were out of line, but I sold most of everything by the end of the day. And my yard sale was from 9 am to 2 pm. But I understand how people think that a yard sale is suppose to be a real bargain. Some times people don't know what they are selling and are "giving" expensive things away for next to nothing.
I quit going to yard sales quite a few years ago because I don't need another thing in my house and it seems like I always find something at a yard sale that I can't live without. So I don't go.
And I think your prices are reasonable. Like you said, we pay at least that here on the board and then we have to add in shipping and we don't have the chance to really look and feel the materal here. I think yard sellers just want to spend very little for as much as they can. I had someone tell me at a yard sale of mine once that my prices were out of line, but I sold most of everything by the end of the day. And my yard sale was from 9 am to 2 pm. But I understand how people think that a yard sale is suppose to be a real bargain. Some times people don't know what they are selling and are "giving" expensive things away for next to nothing.
I quit going to yard sales quite a few years ago because I don't need another thing in my house and it seems like I always find something at a yard sale that I can't live without. So I don't go.
05-12-2012, 04:52 PM
#29
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Illinois
Posts: 5,142
If I liked it I wouldn't mind paying that at all---in fact, I'd been happy to only have to pay that small amount.
Some people will always steal no matter what, others won't steal even if you try to let them by charging them less than they new they were supposed to pay. That happened to me at a garage sale just yesterday. The lady told me that I owed her $3.50. I told her that she needed to add me up again because I new that wasn't right. What I actually owed was $5.25.
Some people will always steal no matter what, others won't steal even if you try to let them by charging them less than they new they were supposed to pay. That happened to me at a garage sale just yesterday. The lady told me that I owed her $3.50. I told her that she needed to add me up again because I new that wasn't right. What I actually owed was $5.25.
05-12-2012, 08:23 PM
#30
Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Illinois
Posts: 52
Just this weekend, I had an interesting time at a garage sale. 6 yards of beautiful yellow fabric for 6 dollars.
I still feel bad, I did not have enough money on me to buy it! I will carry more cash next time!
Your price is reasonable!
As far as the "stealing" I have no tolerance at all for this behavior!
I still feel bad, I did not have enough money on me to buy it! I will carry more cash next time!
Your price is reasonable!
As far as the "stealing" I have no tolerance at all for this behavior!
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