For many individuals today, with a rising unemployment rate on its way to double digits and still historically high energy and food prices, the cost of living is just not as cheap as it used to be.
So I’m here to help find a solution
To be safe and raise extra capital to pay bills many have turned to the quirky world of flea markets and garage sales as a weekend job.
Some participate in garage sales to find items at bargain basement prices that they know they can resell to make a profit, others come to do their miscellaneous shopping, and others use it as a way to raise extra money to pay monthly bills.
Jon S. from New York said “This is great because I can sell stuff I don’t need or use and make money off of it and keep busy at the same time.”
How a garage sale market works is you gather anywhere from one seller to many sellers sometimes a neighborhood will gather and get everybody to participate other times it may be one household or a setup venture every weekend where sellers come to participate. The sellers take all of their stuff that they don’t want or can’t afford anymore and they sell away.
Some tips on participating is to be ready to bargain and haggle as you will get all sorts of offers thrown out at you some good some not so good, have appropriate change, and only bring items that you are willing to part with. I once tried to buy a Cal Ripken signed baseball bat for $15.00 I knew it was worth a lot more but the individual felt uneasy about selling it and when I continually tried to raise the price of my offer the seller finally broke down and said he just couldn’t part with it as it had sentimental value above all else.
I recently went out to a local sale that is thrown every weekend at a middle school off a main road. In inquiring to individuals what their motivation to be there was the buyers said that “You never know, what your going to find here, its like playing the lottery but the odds are in your favor” what she meant by that was that she has found precious antiques that a seller wanted to get rid of and unbeknown to them the value was not aligned with the price. One buyer claimed she bought two antique tables for $45.00 and turned around and sold one for $700.00.
On the seller side I asked what brought them out most where there to clean out the closets and to help ease the clutter but at the same time Bonnie an avid contributor to the world of flea markets said “This is a great way to make extra money and I think of it as a business on the side, so if I ever stumble upon something valuable and I don’t have room for the clutter, I still buy it in anticipation of its resale value”. This sale cost me $8.00 and that includes a table, location, and most importantly visitors. In the end I brought in over a $100.00 profit and had fun while doing it.

Helpful Links:
www.yardsalequeen.com
www.garagesalestracker.com

# posted by GST @ 9:41 AM   0 Comments Links to this post