Auction Strategists Newsletter
Brought to you by Jenni Hunt
www.jennihunt.com
In this newsletter:
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1. Garage Sale For Inventory Plan: Making The Most Of Your Day
2. How to subscribe or Change your subscription status
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1. Garage Sale Plan: Making The Most Of Your Day
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It’s time!
Today we are going to focus on the big garage sale day. Now, before
you even get up in the morning to hit the road – you should already
have a plan and a budget. We already covered mapping out your route
HERE:
Garage Sale Plan: Mapping Your Route –
http://jennihunt.com/blog/?p=116
And we have discussed budgeting for the sale day HERE:
Garage Sale Plan: Your Budget –
http://jennihunt.com/blog/?p=121
Now, it’s all about game day!
The night before you plan to go to yard-sales, be sure to print out
your route (and include any maps if necessary)… If you are a
subscriber to MyToyGuide or HuntedTreasure, you’ll want to have
that printed out as well – or at least a list of inventory you are
looking for. Obviously, you don’t have to keep to this list – but,
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen something at a sale and
couldn’t remember if it was an item that I saw doing well or very
poorly on eBay. It’s just nice to have that reference… You also
want to have hit the bank already. Remember – you want smaller
bills so that it is easier to negotiate and buy those twenty five
cent toys. There is nothing like talking the seller down from $20
to $5 on something and then asking for change from the only twenty
dollar bill you have. 😉
Alright… there are a couple of major questions that I hear
regularly about garage sale day. First of all – When should you hit
the sales… early or late?
There is a strategy to both… and I usually just play it by ear
with the understanding that I just can’t be at all the garage sales
I want to be at when they open. I also can’t be at all the sales
when they are closing for the day either. Thankfully, both have
their benefits.
Going to garage sales early gives you more options for inventory.
There is just more available at 8am than at 3pm. BUT, I have found
that usually the sellers are not as likely to negotiate first thing
in the morning. They are still holding hope that they will have a
very successful sale and things will sell for their asking price at
this point. Which brings me to the benefit for going late in the
day. Almost everytime I have gone to a sale at the end of the
day… even as they are closing up… they are practically paying
me to take their stuff. The sellers have been in the sun all day
and are looking at everything that didn’t sell. It doesn’t hold the
same sentiment as it did in the morning when they were putting it
out for all to see… At the end of the day – all they see is STUFF
that they have to figure out what to do with. Usually this means
that you can make some incredible negotiations at the end of the
day! In fact, I think I’ve almost done better, as far as price is
concerned, at the end of the day of sales than first thing in the
morning.
I remember one time we went to this sale that had all boy stuff…
and the clothes were exactly my son’s size – all of it! I couldn’t
believe how much this lady had… and she said that she had
actually sold a bunch of it already! I bought a HUGE amount of
clothes – like 2 big bins full for $50. There were 80-100 pieces in
these two bins!!
Another time I brought my husband with me to a neighborhood sale.
This one house was selling every Star Wars action figure, ship,
whatever – you name it – they had it… for a buck each. We went
back at the end of the day and he still had a huge bin of stuff
that hadn’t sold. We were able to get the entire bin for $10! Talk
about a treasure chest for my boys! (And when they are done playing
with all of it we will have an amazing Star Wars lot to list!).
The second question that I get asked frequently is about
negotiating. This is a tough one… but, even though I tend t get
intimidated with stuff like this – I know that usually garage sale
sellers are expecting to be talked down. It is just what you do.
The key is to be reasonable and not offensive. The hardest thing
for me is when there aren’t prices on their items and they ask
people to make an offer. I always, ALWAYS push for them to give me
a price first — and then I’ll talk them down a bit from there. I
will usually offer 75% of the price they are asking for – but, that
is just a general rule and it doesn’t always apply.
If I don’t feel comfortable negotiating on a single item, then I’ll
find a few things that I would like to get and offer them a dollar
or two under the total when I go to pay. This happens frequently
with clothing. If the clothes are $1 a piece – I’ll try to find 7
pieces and then offer $5 for all of them.
Finally, I wanted to address the way I bring my kids along with me
on these garage sale adventures. I know that many of you have
little ones in tow and that is why you sell on eBay – so you can
stay home with the kids. I have three kids and they all love to go
to garage sales with me. I will usually give them $1-5 each for the
day and they are quite happy. They get new toys to keep them busy
while I keep shopping… and they are also learning some great
sales skills in the mean time. Last year my 8 year old son
negotiated an Incredibles pin ball game from $5 down to 2 bucks! He
was pretty happy with himself and it kept him busy the rest of the
day!
All right – the time is now guys! The weather is changing and
garage sales are going to start popping up all over. I really
believe that this year we will see even more as people are trying
to get a little extra because of the economy.
We are at the end of our Garage Sale Planning For Inventory
Series… Before we go, there is one more thing I want to share
with you.
I grew up garage selling every weekend with my mom. When I started
eBaying six years ago, I stumbled on a wonderful resource for
hitting those garage sales for inventory. I had no idea that other
people did this – thought it was my little secret… and I felt
pretty good about the results I was getting…
BUT THEN… I read this book and everything changed!
In fact, EVERY YEAR I re-read it and I pick up new strategies and
tips to apply to the new garage sale season. I’ve been doing this
every year for the last five years! I just finished reading Sherah
ebook again, Secrets Of Garage Sale Bargains – man, It is full of
great ideas…
Learn things like:
– Which weekend is the best to catch hot moving sales
– Tips for getting a good deal even if your best offer is refused
– Why saying, “Will you take $1 for this toy?” is a no-no.
– Find out the magic words to seal the deal… almost every time!
– When the best time is to hit the sales for the best deals
The ebook sells for $17.99 – but, I was able to work out a special
deal with her to offer it to my readers for only $10.
Garage sales are one of the few places you can truly buy for
pennies and resell for a huge return. Look at what Sherah’s
customer Lis had to say,
* * * * * * * * *
“I’m so glad that I purchased your Garage Sale Secrets e-book!
It has turned out to be a very worthwhile investment.
“As I read through it, I realized that I have gotten into a very
bad yard sale habit. I am mostly looking for children’s clothing.
Therefore, if I don’t spot nice looking children’s clothing from
the road, I would often keep going. There is no telling how many
treasures I have missed over the last year.
“After reading your e-book, I decided to change my ways. Last
weekend I made myself stop and look at every sale, regardless of
how it looked from the road. I really found some treasures!
“My find of the week: Betsy Clark NIB toy stove and toy sink from
1973. Paid $10 for the pair. Listed both on ebay separately. One
ended at $171 and the other at $181. I am so excited(and so glad I
stopped at that yard sale)!!!”
* * * * * * * * *
The $10 price is only available through Tuesday, May 5th –
midnight… so you will need to act quickly.
You can read more about Secrets of Garage Sale Bargains here (don’t
order it from this page though!): http://tinyurl.com/85xhq
But, DON’T ORDER IT FROM THAT PAGE or you will be paying too much!
Here is a special link Sherah has set up for my readers to get a
very nice discount:
http://www.jennihunt.com/GarageSaleEbookSpecial/auction-moms-ebook.htm
Okay… there is one more installment to this Garage Sale Planning
Series. You should receive it tomorrow. Some of you have sent some
great resources that you use to make garage sale shopping a
success. These will be included in this bonus to the series. If you
have a tip you want to share – send it my way along with your eBay
ID and I’ll be sure to include it!
Enjoy!
Jenni
PS. Don’t forget Sherah’s Secrets of Garage Sale Bargains is only
10 bucks through the 5th… Start applying hot strategies you can
use THIS WEEKEND as you shop for inventory.
http://www.jennihunt.com/GarageSaleEbookSpecial/auction-moms-ebook.htm
OR
http://tinyurl.com/62wewq