Doing sales?

[Jaxom]

As I was talking about in the kitchen/cooking forum, I'm about to have this estate sale. I have everything riding on this sale right now. And time is not on my side. It also seems to me as much progress I make, something always manages to screw things up for me. I knew after my mother passed away I was going to need to do a sale. Knowing this I began to sort and gather her belongings to the basement of our home. Because of various issues I thought it best NOT to have the estate sale on the main floor. Mostly due to the shear volume of stuff I had and because over the years we hadn't kept it up to snuff. Most of our money's going into a now gone apartment that once was in the basement.

I read with great interest Ldkchef2k's comments and suggestions about how she ran an estate sale. Unfortunilly, again, I don't have this much time any longer. I'm surprised the gas and electric haven't been shut off on this house now as it is. Then of course there's an issue about being 7+ months behind on mortgage. So basically every day, day in and day out I get up, and spend 6-10 hours a day, sorting, packing and moving more and more stuff to the basement.

I was sappose to get help from my best friend and my fiance. Both of whom I owe money to, if they'd help not only did I offer to pay them off, but also pay a bit extra for their assistance. My fiance' as of yet hasn't not helped at all. Getting my best friend who, ironically complains that he's bored all day long waiting to help his ailing mother, well, let's say, at best he's moved about 10 boxes, before he had to "leave".

That's left it all up to me. And it's taken for ever! I do see the end of the tunnel so to speak, just have a few issues I need to work out. Like I was mentioning in the cooking forum. I've done 99% of the work myself. I only wanted to hire somone that has no emotional or financial ties to the stuff to help fairly price items out for me. I stressed to this woman that I can't hold out for every last dime...in a way. Basically telling her I don't want stuff prices so high that folks just walk out. For $150 I think this is a good deal to be honest. I really wish my fiance could do this for me, and even offered her as much money, she cannot do it.

Ldychef2k,

I understand what you are saying about displaying. I'm trying to work on this currently. I'm just about done hauling everything I don't want, need, or can do without down there. My only issue now is how to display it all. I've taken every shelving unit, and every table I can get my hands on in order to display things on. (In fact the shelves and tables are for sale as well!) Once it's all down there, sorted and some what displayed, my last duty was to go shelf by shelf, table by table and CLEAN everything. I agree, as someone with 20 years of retail managemnt expierence, presentation is half the sale! I've gone out and bought 200w bulbs and put socket doublers in every cieling light socket so everything is bright and visiable. On the days of the sale I'll even make sure I can open drapes I've got covering windows for even more light.

But I still don't have enough space to display everything properly. And I have nobody I can borrow from either. I've tried calling around a few rental places and the best I could find is $8 per rental table per day. I'm figuring I'd need at least five more tables for at least 5 days or more. I cannot afford this!

To add insult to injury. I'm not in a prime location either. I MUST have a city permit or I can be closed down and part of that permit restricts me to just one sign in front of my house. I cannot drive up the block and place a sign at the closest intersection directing folks to my sale. Permit costs $25 and I'm also restricted to just one estate/basement/garage sale per year. That's it! My fiance is lucky, she lives on a main street, if her and her mother got up one morning and suddendly decided to have a sale, they could set one up in half an hour and have dozens of customers just by opening thier garge door! The first summer after my mother was diagnosted to haveing cancer, I had a garage sale to start selling off stuff, and even though I'd advertised in my local paper, I had a whole of 3 customers in 2 days. It was a disaster! This time around I'm budgeting $200 for advertising in a dozen papers, and Estatesales.net, also craigslist but that's free.

Other issues I'm running into. How to display things that my mom made. She'd once thought about doing an ebay store making hand crafted hats, scarves, mittens, afghans and so on. I have no place to hang any of this stuff. And then there's the issue of trying to keep all the parts of a set together as folks paw through them.

I've thought I could use a bunch of rubber made totes I've bought over the years and just doing some color codes for prices, and just markign eveything in particular totes $x.xx each. Prime example is that of all the tupper ware mom and grand mom had. Hundreds of pieces of the stuff and I'll never use it all. I'd thought about just dumping all the containers in one large tote and having a small pan with lids and marking this 10 cents per container w/lid. Or make bid on it all. But I can see the how's and why's folks don't want to rumage through things too. It's a basement, I've got 40 boxes of mixed books and no way to display these other then spreading the boxes out on the floor and having they buyers kneel down and paw through the books. NOT the way I would like to do it.

So without rambling on anymore. I need to get every tip and or trick everyone has that I can apply to get the very top dollar I can from this sale. I have certain restrictions, like city ordinances I can do nothing about. But after that anything, everything is game.

Thanks,

Jax

 

[patandchickens]

That's left it all up to me.

This *is* a self-sufficiency list...

If your goal here is to make money, I am a bit mystified why it would be worth laying out $150 to get someone to set "fair prices". I don't think you could possibly recoup that money in better selling prices. You are probably LUCKY this person doesn't want to do it! You're $150 richer this way.

It sounds to me like you need to price things at whatever it'll take to SELL them. In a perfect world you would have been spending some time going around to other estate sales and garage sales to scope out comparable prices, but if you haven't, I would suggest going on the "make an offer to me for whatever you want" system. That will save you a lot of time on pricetagging things -- although it does assume that you are not totally hopeless at negotiating (like, it assumes you will not insist on such a high price that they then walk away in a snit).

Yes, some items will end up going for less than you mght possibly have gotten the buyer to pay -- but such is life -- and you will sell MORE items, which is where profit usually lies in these kinds of things.

For things you don't have room for in the basement, can you lay them outside on the ground on blankets or sheets. THat is pretty usual in areas where I've lived. Then have a great big huge sign saying "Whole bunch more inside!! Also cooler in there!!" with a big arrow to the door

If you have things left over, you could get a bid from a estate/junk buyer, if there are any in your area; or keep the more ebayable things and sell them YOURSELF on ebay, if you have continuing computer access; or just take them to a thrift store and consider it "my bad luck is someone else's good luck".

[fiancee and best friend] I owe money to, if they'd help not only did I offer to pay them off, but also pay a bit extra for their assistance

Oh my. Please reread what you wrote there, and if it is really what you meant, you might want to SERIOUSLY rethink a lot of things.....

Good luck,

Pat

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Best friend? Fiance? Yeah, I'm with Pat, you might want to at least do a little thinking on that subject...

I would check to see if you have any actual consignment stores nearby. You drop the items off (a box at a time if you have to) and they sell them. Most stores will either split the price with you. Around here, roughly 60% goes to the store, but that may be worth it for at least some of the things.

What about setting out a few things at your fiance's house & having lots of flyers there about the other things at your place. Direct "her" customers to your area. Granted, she would have to help, but that may be an option.

A tip on the sets of hand crafted goods. Big safety pins. Just pin them together. If you have or can scrounge a big sheet of plywood, hang a cheap plastic tablecloth over it & tap in nails. Paneling would work, any type of hardboard. Hang the goods from that & lean it against a wall. Have the afgans folded neatly, so the design shows. Put them in front of the board on a table or shelf or what-have-you.

On the books, I have spent many an hour sitting on my behind, pawing through boxes at yard sales & estate sales. This is the way I've collected dozens of classics for cheap. Books around here go for anywhere from 5 to 50 cents for paperbacks and 50 cents to $2 for hardcovers. If you have any rugs for sale, take the one that is least likely to sell & spread a few books out on it, then put the boxes of books in a semi-circle around it.

On the flipside, if there is any way you could match up as many of the tupperware sets as possible, that will sell a lot easier. Just tops to containers, not entire matched sets. Then have your mix & match pieces nearby, with 1 container for lids & 1 for containers.

I also agree with pat in that you don't need someone to come & price things for you. Check out your thrift stores & estate sales and see what these things are actually selling for.

Sell the different types of things, hang a neatly handwritten or printed sign above or near the groups with pricing good for all those things. All afgans $10, all paperback books 50 cents, all tupperware $1 each. Also, hang up signs that say "Prices Negotible!" and "Make an offer!".

 

[Ldychef2k]

I am working right now and can't make a long post. I will think about all of this and come back as I think of ideas for you.

This one is to think vertically. Put hand made items in dollar store ziplocks and clothes pin them to a lightweight rope hanging from something.

Tupperware is worth a lot more than a dime. Most of it isn't made any more.

Dump the price lady. It isn't worth it. You can do this. You can also not price anything and haggle at the time of the sale. most sales I go to are not priced.

Free advertising on Craig's list and a penny shopper if you have such a thing.

Flyers on cars at malls, farmer's markets, etc., if allowed.

A sign on your car for the week before the sale, if you have a car. Sorry, I can't recall.

Do local newspapers have chat forums or blogs, places where the community can write something?

Consider carefully who you will be able to count on in the future, by examining current behaviors and attitudes.

Back to work, more later...

 

[xpc]

You need to re-read some of the old fables as they are steeped in parables and human nature, my first 2 suggestions would be the "Ant and the Grasshopper" and the "Turtle and Scorpion" fables.

Now to get all grumpy on you - you seem to come from a different world then most, coddled a bit much would be my guess. Your definition of friends and finance hardly matches Websters. Not knowing much of your situation but plenty on mankind would leave me very suspicious of the constant excuses, stop asking and start distancing yourself from them. Taking care of the elderly or infirm is not a 24/7 job, if that were true nobody would have a job but rather stay at home letting others support them.

I would suggest that this seemingly over compassionate and self sacrifice of your friends is really a character flaw, ending only when the money runs out. Harsh you betcha but people who are too close will never see the forest through the trees.

I had an estate sale when moving from Florida 20 years ago and will say this: people are like hungry dogs when a fellow man is down and has stuff they want. They don't care about your situation and will steal the food from a starving dog too weak to defend it, just as they will change the price stickers and hide more expensive things in the bottom of bulk boxes that sell for cheap.

When I saw that things weren't selling even at a fair price I called an estate sales company and had them quote me on the entire house as one lot, no signs, no advertising, no permits. They moved everything at once, saving me the hassle and time to deal with the rich people trying to get me to drop the price on a $10 item marked down to a dollar and only wanted to pay a dime. I would of gladly donated it all to goodwill before that would happen.

Of course this is just a generalization and does not apply to all as there are good people out there, just not the bottom feeders. A trick used for many years in all types of venues is to mark the items at a premium price, the bottom feeders who will sue you for 99 cents will walk without a word while the others who know what something is worth will buy it. Also check with your insurance company as the public sale may not be allowed or you will have to buy a $500,000 rider for the month. Goggle yard sale lawsuits for the average million dollar payout for injury on the property (fake fall) but also in selling something that may contribute to an injury later as a bicycle with a loose wheel.

Also never tell anyone how much money you made on any sale as they will consider it free money.

 

[Jaxom]

Okay, were getting somewhere here. Seen a few tips that are gonna be a big help. A few clarifications are in order though. I am forgiving only to a point, and I'm rather po'd at some circumstances that are affecting this situation. For example, yes I can see why ALOT of my fiance's time has been consumed by taking care of her parents. Mother has been in and out of hospital a dozen times already this year, once she was technically dead" and had to be recessitated. If her mom makes it through the end of the year, it will be a miracle. But there is another issue as well, and that's my fiane's father. He has this mindset (he's in his 70's) that I can just get up and walk over to mc donalds and get a job flipping burgers, and that was even while my mother was still alive! I wish it were so easy. Because of this, and that he techincally owns the only vehicle between himself, my finace and her mother he dictates where and when she can go anywhere. I've tried repeatedly explaining to him that I need to do this sale if for anything else to get my truck running so I can expand my job searches beyond where public transportation can get me.

Best friend! Only in name. I'm extremely pissed at him. He's only 4 blocks from my house. His mother too is ailing. Also very ecentric and I've even recommended to him that she needs to be in a home. She's restricted to a wheel chair and can't even feed herself. He himself is bi-polar and going through severe depression right now because he can't do anything because of his mom...(she threatens to him with house and stuff, big mess). But stll I call and ask to move something heavy or something I really can't do on my own, I've gotten more help from my neighbors that have only lived in the house next door for a few months then a guy I've known since we were in 6th grade together. Hell I was even his best man at his wedding!

I'm starting to think I'll have no other choice but to do the pricing myself (with the encouragement I'm getting here, I'm feeling more and more confident). The woman I was to hire just emailed me back, she had mentioned she had a few tables I could borrow. These few tables turned out to be only one and it's like a 4x4 card table. And now she's telling me if I'm not ready soon she won't be able to do the sale. Oh well, guess I just saved $150!

Tupperware. I even asked my mother about this when I was organzing them last year. It's all clean, but it's the really old stuff and has this "sticky" feeling to it? I guess some of the really early formula for the plastic the tupper ware was made out of had a habit of doing this. NOt that it's not safe, it's just an odd feeling when you touch it. And there's alot of it since we had a chest freezer and my grand parents had two chest freezers. The tupperware was used alot! If I had to match a lid to every pint or quart unit, it'd take me a week to do it all! (think we brought home like ten boxes from grandmom's place alone) I can see trying to match unique units together. There's all sorts of specialty tupperware. Heck I've even got stuff like tupperware custard sets, popcylce sets, cake keepers, pitchers of all sizes and shapes, picnic sets. I think one of my aunts was a dealer at one point to be honest, that's why we have so much. So, how would I clean this stuff up so it's not "sticky feeling" and display itall then???

Before I continue, I don't know if I mentioned this or not. But the first time in the 27 years my mother owned this building the basement flooded two weeks ago today. Got about a foot of sewer water came up the drains. Talking to nieghbors as well, everyone got hit, so it just wasn't me. I can and cannot have stuff on the floor. Another reason I wanna get this done asap.

Office supplies, what in the world do you do with office supplies?! My dearly departed mother was a clepto/hoarder. Over the years thre wasn't a bottle of white out or pack of post-it's that she couldn't help but stick in her purse and bring home. Heck, some of this stuff is so large I have no idea how she got it home? Cases of hanging folders?! By the time I went through all the boxes, I came up with a full "box" of pens, pencils and color markers. What say you 10 cents each? make a bid on the whole box?? But what in the world do ya do with a box full of "balls" that go to an ibm selectric II typewriter???! (each ball is a different style of print and I've 100 or more.

Word about ebay. I use to have a store. I closed it a few months ago, just didn't have the time and such to do it anymore. Besides, my mother was my shipping department, I handled the ad's, photo's and all that. If I had the time, or if I could stay in this house, darn right I'd do ebay sales!!! But I can't right now. Knowing the luck I've been having the electic company would shut off my power right in the middle of my auction(s).

I'm not longer looking for excuses or such for not finishing. I MUST get this done, for my own sanity. Like I said, the encouragment I'm recieving here has been a major boost, friend and fiace's father be damned! Keep the suggestions coming!

Thanks again folks!

Jax

 

[Farmfresh]

We conducted basically TWO estate type sales in so many years. Advertising is important but HOW you do it is as important as how much you spend doing it. We advertised the sale at my grandparents old house after they were gone as "the Sale of the Half Century!" and the one at my dad's home when he moved as "the Sale that Just Won't End!!" since we had it over the course of several weekends as we brought new stuff to light.

My grandparent's sale we displayed things outside and in the main part of the house, but let people "dig" a bit in the basement. Enter at your own risk signs were everywhere. Same signs at dad's house but the stuff was in the garage and the basement.

BEFORE the sale do some homework. Make some calls. Look things up on eBay. Somethings like musical instruments or certain antiques are better sold to specialty stores or on consignment. Expensive label clothes fit this category as well. Rare items need held back to sell on eBay. I made several hundred dollars selling some of my old toys that I found at my grandma's this way.

I had a price list for me or my helpers, but I priced NOTHING! Get them talking and feel it out, the take offers. People LIKE to dicker. Sell the crap cheap. Some things you are lucky to get a dime or a quarter for! Better than filling a dumpster and those little prices can add up. Make your sale comfortable as possible. Get some used grocery sacks from friends or some boxes that can be filled. Keep the temperature comfortable as possible. Offer free water if it is hot or HECK sell coffee and donuts or some cookies and lemonade!

Whatever you do, DON"T seem desperate! Try to smile, be friendly and get them talking.

 

[Jaxom]

Farmfresh,

You're confusing me now! :/ But you are not the only one. Someone else mentioned just haveing everything presented neat and orderly and NOT putting prices on anything. I'm not sure which would be best now. Can I get a forum poll.... price vs don't price?

Consignment and Ebay are out. Yes I know I can make more money. But I don't know how long I'll be living in this house. It would be a month, it could be 6 months. I know I might be loosing a bit in the end, but I'd just as soon have just one sale and be basically over it. (I have something else I'm thinking about doing, more about that later).

 

[xpc]

Myself I like everything priced and will walk without a word otherwise. The worst are those who advertise in the paper and refuse to list a price, they get very few calls and even the people at the newspaper will recommend it as most don't sell without one.

Females in general and dealers looking for ebay or flea market fodder may differ in opinion but I am a hard nose and will likely while away in an igloo with a cold hearted women just chewing the fat.

 

[Jaxom]

XPC,

Guess I'm wired just like you are. When I walk into a place, like an antique shop or a flea market stand and nothing is prices, to me it's like saying "we're gonna jack the price on anything you show interest in because we don't have a price posted" I get the same queezy feeling when dealing with used car dealers too, if ya know what I mean.

Oh, xpc, not coddled, but yeah, perhaps a little spoiled. But not too much. Being the only child of a single mother, some would say I had the potential to becoming a 'mama's boy', but that's not the case. Did spend a few years living with grand parents, my rather domineering grandfather was my male figure then. Boy mom and I had some doozy of arguments, even up until the end. I will say this in defence of our small family, my mother and I didn't have it as easy as my cousins did where they had both a mother and father. Income wise this put alot of pressure on my mother, but that actually worked out, because where my mother was more likely to grow something and can it then my aunts were, because my uncles could afford to buy stuff more readily.