Garage Sale write-up

[brickelements]

Good morning brickpickers!

 

Fall is here and it's that time of year for a huge neighborhood garage sale.

I would like to participate in it.

 

http://www.huntcross.com/garagesale.html

 

This thing is massive 100+ families.  Get there early!  However I have never sold Lego at a garage sale.

 

I would suspect there will be many people looking for a deal.  So how do I sell my wares at slightly below current market prices to reflect lower fees since I am not selling on ebay or amazon?

 

I need to finish my write-up for what I will have available.  My collection/hoard is extensive.

I have multiples of many exclusives exo's, 10229-7, 10228-10, 10227-3, 10226-2, 10222-1, 10221-6, 10216-2, 10210-1, lots and lots more.

 

Recent chess, recently retired/sold out trains (7937-7939) and station, Complete Monster Fighters series to include Zombies x5, Tie Fighter, Lone Ranger Train, 10193-8, 10197-1, 5767-12, Apple Tree House-5, Helms Deep-3, Orc Forge-5, 9396-15, 60010-18 Fire Helicopter-18, BTTF-15, 70010-15, recent complete castle series,

 

What do you feel will have the best chance at selling for decent prices?

I wonder how many of each to bring or just make a catalog for purchase with only a few examples on hand. 

Or bring polys and smaller sets and have the catalog for the expensive stuff?

 

I have the Paypal swipe hardware but I have never used it.  Easy to set up?

 

All input is welcome. 

 

Thank you for participating.

 

 

[justafrog]

I think you're going to be in for a long, frustrating day.

 

In any given city-wide or regional sale of this type, the chances of you running across a motivated collector willing to pay market (or slightly below market) prices is likely to be very low.

 

And, although you are not paying eBay or Amazon fees, your costs in whatever you purchase for your booth/table set up and your time are real - you may find it was actually cheaper (and certainly less time-intensive) to sell on eBay or Amazon.

 

If you decide to go through with it, I'd load up on a lot of very cheap items that might appeal to the parents of the children you will attract - your booth will probably be a hot favorite with the kids, but for actual money made I'm doubtful.

 

If you're interested in selling to your local market, Craigslist is probably a much better bet - less time consuming (generally) and local collectors are much more likely to check there from time to time.

 

If you're interested in the whole face-to-face aspect of commerce, see if there's an AFOL event coming up anywhere near you - a booth there with competitively priced items should do much better.

 

Best of luck to you, and if you go forward I hope I'm horribly wrong and sales are terrific all day.

[Achilles]

My wife participates in a very large bi-yearly consignment sale in the area, and it's pretty amazing how stuff at VERY GOOD prices does not sell. People who frequent these sales, and garage sales, are generally only looking for rock bottom prices. You're not going to see someone who says, "Oh here's a Winter Village Cottage for $150, that would cost me $180 on Amazon!, I better grab it!" - You're generally looking for very serious bargain hunters and anything even more than 50% MSRP is going to make them turn their nose.

 

Rarities and collectibles, as others have mentioned - If you want to avoid fees, do CL. People who are looking for them, know what kind of deal they are getting will be there. At a large Garage sale, you'll probably spend half your day explaining to people why you want $150 for a LEGO set.

[exciter1]

My wife participates in a very large bi-yearly consignment sale in the area, and it's pretty amazing how stuff at VERY GOOD prices does not sell. People who frequent these sales, and garage sales, are generally only looking for rock bottom prices. You're not going to see someone who says, "Oh here's a Winter Village Cottage for $150, that would cost me $180 on Amazon!, I better grab it!" - You're generally looking for very serious bargain hunters and anything even more than 50% MSRP is going to make them turn their nose.

 

Rarities and collectibles, as others have mentioned - If you want to avoid fees, do CL. People who are looking for them, know what kind of deal they are getting will be there. At a large Garage sale, you'll probably spend half your day explaining to people why you want $150 for a LEGO set.

 

I thought $2 polybags was a steal.  They didn't even get a sniff.  I'm sure you'd have to find the right kind of shopper to pick those up.

[Huskers1236]

Good luck, but be aware that you will get low balled on about every single item you have.  You would be best off trying to move low ticket items that mom or grandma will want to buy little kids.  Bulk moves good at garage sales as well.  You will probably get a few that are looking for the goods, but they will be few and far between I'm afraid.

[Huskers1236]

I thought $2 polybags was a steal.  They didn't even get a sniff.  I'm sure you'd have to find the right kind of shopper to pick those up.

I'm still surprised those didn't move.  That's the type of stuff that flies off our garage sales.

 

$10 and under is what people are looking for at garage sales. 

[brickelements]

Thanks for all the input.

 

The opinions shared is what I have already feared/thought about.  It may not be worth my time and effort to transport goods over there, get up early to finish setting up, worry about payments and low ball offers for otherwise desirable goods.

 

Maybe my time will be better spent searching for lego inventory.

 

Hmmmmmmm. 

[Guest TabbyBoy]

These are like "Car Boot" sales in the UK where people expect things for nothing or peanuts at a push.  To be honest, I think you'll be taking it all back home again unless you're willing to take a hit.  Polybags are the exception but, still

[scuttfarkas]

Unless you're bringing them as secondary items and hoping to sell a couple to a LEGO fan...I think you're wasting your time.  We''ll do that sometimes, with occasionally good results....but the big sellers are ALWAYS the 1-2.00 DVD's and .50 each or 3 for a buck Hot Wheels I get at the Goodwill Outlet store.

[redcell]

I wouldn't waste my time.  There is little to no chance that you could get anywhere close to the true value of those sets at a garage sale, and you would probably end up spending most of the day getting offered $5 for a $150 set or criticized for having such outrageously high prices.  Garage sales are simply not the right market for those items unless you're looking to blow them out for pennies on the dollar of their true value.  You'd be better off listing them on Craigslist for local sale or listing them somewhere on the internet even if you had to pay higher transaction fees.

[seapotato]

I did my first yard sale this summer and people are definitely looking for a bargain, paying almost nothing for a crap load of stuff. Definitely don't sell your lego there...

[dubzero]

Like everyone said, you're in for a long day of you try to sell your goods.

You should go and hunt for Lego deals there instead.