Official 2012 Yard Sale Thread

Most of the time I take around $150. I usually only end up spending around $10 of it, but I don't want to have to pass up a deal because I didn't take enough cash with me.
 
I usually have no less than 50 in small bills. I usually keep 30 singles in my pocket separate from everything else, so I can pull out an exact amount to offer, without showing my hand...so to speak.

It also works if I am making a big purchase and I want them to drop the price more. I can show them my wallet and say "That is everything in my wallet", so they can see for themselves that there is 30 bucks or so in it. (I usually keep 20 or so in the car in case I need it).
 
I usually have $30-50. I have never gone through all my money while yard sailing. Walking around with $400 in cash around here would be asking for trouble, just not a good idea.
 
A lot of yard sales around here have people using ipads and some credit card doggle so you can they can take plastic. Effectively ruining the "I only have $X" angle.
 
[quote name='KtMack23']A lot of yard sales around here have people using ipads and some credit card doggle so you can they can take plastic. Effectively ruining the "I only have $X" angle.[/QUOTE]

"I don't trust those things" or "not everyone has a credit card" could be rebuttals.
 
[quote name='Invicta 61']Unless you have a second copy, I would keep Ice Hockey for the NES. Not worth much but I still enjoy playing it! The rest of that stuff..... bleh.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the input, and in case you were wondering, $1.74 for all that stuff ;) I almost went and put it back in my bag because it was such a shitty deal but then I remembered I'd have to put them somewhere so I gave in XD
 
I take about $80-$120 normally. I've went out with less before, but that has bit me in the ass more than once. I live in a town of about 60,000 with the surrounding area rural for about 20 miles all around, so I end up in the sticks sometimes (actually get some of my better finds there). If I'm out in the country and don't have enough cash I can't go to the nearest ATM because it's about a half hour round trip. I've had to give a "deposit" on items before to ensure I get them, but it really cramps your ability to negotiate.
 
[quote name='KtMack23']A lot of yard sales around here have people using ipads and some credit card doggle so you can they can take plastic. Effectively ruining the "I only have $X" angle.[/QUOTE]

Square reader. For small business stands/shops/what-have-you, they are simply amazing. Plus the fact that they work through the headphone jack.
 
[quote name='Chronis']Square reader. For small business stands/shops/what-have-you, they are simply amazing. Plus the fact that they work through the headphone jack.[/QUOTE]

I have one for when I sell at the flea market, but haven't had the chance to use it yet. Paypal also has one in the works, I'm not sure how the fees compare, though.
 
I know everyone likes pics so here is from 2 weeks ago.
$1 each
Funny thing he had a NES, it has got to be the yellowest NES I had ever seen. He keep telling me how new it looked. He wanted $50 I passed.
BTW punch out is hard as fuck. Couldn't get passed Macho Man.

DSCF2047.jpg
 
I usually take about $60-$100 depending on how many advertised sales there are. It's usually all in 5s and 10s too, with some 1s thrown in there. I don't like to ever have less than $50 on me.
 
[quote name='TiKi2']I know everyone likes pics so here is from 2 weeks ago.
$1 each
Funny thing he had a NES, it has got to be the yellowest NES I had ever seen. He keep telling me how new it looked. He wanted $50 I passed.
BTW punch out is hard as fuck. Couldn't get passed Macho Man.

DSCF2047.jpg
[/QUOTE]

Wow Nice and clean games! I wish I could find a lot like that. :applause:
 
[quote name='TiKi2']I've always wonder.....How much money does everyone take with them on their yardsale trips??

I take between $200-$300[/QUOTE]

I try to have about $300 on hand. I'll have about $100 in mixed bills on me and a $200 vault in the car. I spend $200 on many weekends.

My inlaws gave me a $100 bill for my birthday . . . and I've also had that on hand for awhile. I'd love to go nuclear with it some day on someone with a ton of stuff that would actually come out to $150 or so. Would be an excellent CIF if the opportunity came up.
 
Okay now what about this epidemic I see happening A LOT recently: resellers contacting someone having a yard sale and buying up everything before the sale even starts! I never had this happen last summer but now it happens almost every week! Some guy advertised he-man toys, then like an hour later he changes it to say transformers. the next day (first day of the sale) he tells me "yeah someone emailed me and offered me $200 for my he-man stuff". I guess in reality I still won that one because the idiot missed a box of mint G1 transformers (including a working shockwave) and he only wanted 5 dollars for like 20-30 figures (which are worth a million times more than any he-man figure)!! I even found a box that had a few more he-man figures and vehicles he missed! the next week someone had an ad posted for intellivision with 40+ games and then probably 2 hours later it was marked "sold" next to it!

I am also starting to see a lot of ads here saying things like "no pre-sales!" and "I will not sell anything before the yard sale starts!"

it used to be that I'd get to a sale 10 mins early and literally have to race 2 or 3 flea market resellers to find the games/toys as soon as they were brought out.....now I don't even get a fair chance!


Oh and I usually bring $30-$40 with me because I don't really buy anything unless its an insane deal, thats really the whole point of yardsales to begin with! I don't think I've ever in my life seen something for more than a few bucks at a yard sale that was actually worth paying that much for
 
The problem I see here is that the neighbors of the ones having the sale either buy up everything good from the house with the sale or they get it for free. This doesn't give anyone a chance but the neighbors, and sometimes the stuff is gone before the sale time even starts.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Wow Nice and clean games! I wish I could find a lot like that. :applause:[/QUOTE]


Thanks , I also got this from him for $1 each. He also had a bunch of bamboo poles dirt cheap but I know nothing of fishing.

DSCF2031.jpg
 
I don't care if someone buys stuff presale because I no longer look for games(or anything else) specifically. I just aim for stuff that has value. Could be anything. A few years ago I would be pissed when I didn't find any games on an outing. But now I could care less because there is always something to buy. If only I knew about designer purses I'd be up a few K.
 
I think it's a good idea to email someone ahead of time. In fact it has worked out well for me lately. Especially if they've listed something like huge lots of records, movies, old toys and so on. Unless they specifically what it is, you could be wasting a trip.

Also, they aren't required to reply. If they don't want to say, I am not sure I want to waste my time.

Saying that, contacted a seller who listed vinyl records. I got there they had one small stack. Grabbed 2 Beatles records ($1 each) and started to look around. 3-4 trips upstairs and they brought a bunch of good stuff. Ended up with 15 records with lots of solid stuff including Black Sabbath, The Band, Tubes, and more.

Also grabbed 2 books for my wife at $1 each: Now is the Winter of Our Discontent (Steinbeck) and Berlin Diary (Shirer).

I passed on a bunch of vintage cameras, just wasn't in the mood to haggle since they trotted out some good albums.

Also passed a guy on the way into the sale who had his truck bed filled with about 10 movie projectors. Damn. Guess he cleaned them out in about the first 15 minutes it was open.
 
I haven't been hitting as many yard sales as I normally do this year but last weekend I snapped up an Atari 7800 Prosystem in its original box along with 24 games, Rampage, Mario Bros are only ones off the top of my head. Everything had manuals too. $20 for all of it.

Then it's not gaming related but I got a prototype Kenner Cairo Indiana Jones figure for $25. The woman's son used to work for Kenner and had left that in her house. I've only seen one other in my 20 years collecting Kenner and that was from the guy who does toy appraisals for Antique Roadshow and he was asking $6000 for it before putting it to auction.
 
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[quote name='TiKi2']I don't care if someone buys stuff presale because I no longer look for games(or anything else) specifically. I just aim for stuff that has value. Could be anything. [/QUOTE]

This is a good attitude. I've said it before but I always see videogames as a bonus. I mostly buy books, DVDs, and CDs. I wish I knew other categories better but I'm usually busy enough with media. Also, around here, there seems to be a lot of people who know other stuff . . . so, for instance, classic Fisher-Price toys would get snapped up quickly.

If one keeps an open mind and finds other stuff to buy then the VG disappointment is lower.
 
[quote name='schultzed']This is a good attitude. I've said it before but I always see videogames as a bonus. I mostly buy books, DVDs, and CDs. I wish I knew other categories better but I'm usually busy enough with media. Also, around here, there seems to be a lot of people who know other stuff . . . so, for instance, classic Fisher-Price toys would get snapped up quickly.

If one keeps an open mind and finds other stuff to buy then the VG disappointment is lower.[/QUOTE]

I stopped looking specifically for games too, but I don't really know about the value of stuff other than games and 80's toys. I'm sure I've passed up some valuable coach handbags and other stuff like that because I don't know anything about them, but it seems like anything I am interested in, even if someone just posts "I have a yard sale with a bunch of old records", I will get there right when it starts and I'll hear "oh someone emailed me and came and bought those all already". I haven't been able to resell anything anyway, all my ebay auctions just end with zero bids because it seems like the only way to sell anything is to start it off at 99 cents then hope it reaches what you want, and take the risk that it only gets 1 bid and sells for $1. If you use buy it now or start an auction off at the price you want for it, people won't even bid.
 
[quote name='crows in black']I stopped looking specifically for games too, but I don't really know about the value of stuff other than games and 80's toys. I'm sure I've passed up some valuable coach handbags and other stuff like that because I don't know anything about them, but it seems like anything I am interested in, even if someone just posts "I have a yard sale with a bunch of old records", I will get there right when it starts and I'll hear "oh someone emailed me and came and bought those all already". I haven't been able to resell anything anyway, all my ebay auctions just end with zero bids because it seems like the only way to sell anything is to start it off at 99 cents then hope it reaches what you want, and take the risk that it only gets 1 bid and sells for $1. If you use buy it now or start an auction off at the price you want for it, people won't even bid.[/QUOTE]

I actually clearance out my video game leftovers via ebay, starting my auctions at prices like six games for $24 or twenty games for $60, each with free shipping. Sometimes I'll have to relist 3 or 4 times, but eventually someone will realize I have the cheapest price on there--either that or a reseller will snag them up.
 
[quote name='crows in black']I stopped looking specifically for games too, but I don't really know about the value of stuff other than games and 80's toys. I'm sure I've passed up some valuable coach handbags and other stuff like that because I don't know anything about them, but it seems like anything I am interested in, even if someone just posts "I have a yard sale with a bunch of old records", I will get there right when it starts and I'll hear "oh someone emailed me and came and bought those all already". I haven't been able to resell anything anyway, all my ebay auctions just end with zero bids because it seems like the only way to sell anything is to start it off at 99 cents then hope it reaches what you want, and take the risk that it only gets 1 bid and sells for $1. If you use buy it now or start an auction off at the price you want for it, people won't even bid.[/QUOTE]

I noticed the same thing about auctions on eBay. Unless it's a super high-in-demand item like an iPad, no one seems to bid if there's no "chance" they'll get it at less than it's worth (they usually end up at a high price anyway..). That's why I always list my items as Buy It Now or Best Offer. Some take a while (months) to sell, but I don't have to worry about relisting because of the Good Til Cancelled feature, and I eventually get the price I want on most, if not all, my listings.
 
Had to work all weekend, but made it to one sale on my lunch and found this SNES bundle.



SNES with hookups and 2 controllers (hookups/extra controller not pictured)
Tecmo Super Bowl
Addams Family Values
Monopoly
Super Play Action Football
Judge Dredd
F-Zero
NBA Live 95
NBA Allstar
Pilotwings
Killer Instinct
Mega Man X
Vegas Stakes
Bass Fishing game
PGA Tour Golf
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario World
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
$30

The system had "make offer" on it and the games weren't marked; she initially said 20 for the system and 2/game, I offered 25, countered with 35, we met in the middle at 30. This was the first time I've seen anything SNES this year so I was pretty happy when I noticed them there, even an hour after the sale started.
 
Speaking of value . . . I'm in Hawaii this week (on vacation) and we stopped at this Hawaiian shirt place (with tons of vintage shirts):

http://alohashirts.com/

They have some high-priced ones with $1000 or more. I thought, "no one's going to buy one of those" but this guy right ahead me did. They gave him 10% off, s o, he got the shirt for $900.

Damn, I wish I knew the value of more things.
 
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that shop has been in some TV reality shows i have seen cant remember them though


[quote name='schultzed']Speaking of value . . . I'm in Hawaii this week (on vacation) and we stopped at this Hawaiian shirt place (with tons of vintage shirts):

http://alohashirts.com/

They have some high-priced ones with $1000 or more. I thought, "no one's going to buy one of those" but this guy right ahead me did. They gave him 10% off, s o, he got the shirt for $900.

Damn, I wish I knew the value of more things.[/QUOTE]
 
2 decent games today:

Sly Collection - $7
LBP 2 Special Edition - $5

Already have LBP but I know its worth more than 5 so I grabbed it.
 
Had 2 really cool finds today. Board games.

"4 Player" Conquest, black and white box. Complete. Appears to be in very good to mint condition.

Also got Heroscape Master Edition Rise of the Valkyrie. This is 99.9% complete. Has everything except a sticker book. All dice, tiles, figures etc are there. So it is essentially complete. Also in very good condition.

Got both of these for $5 at a church rummage sale. It was a madhouse in there, but worth it for these 2 games. In the meantime I will bring friends over and play these. But ultimately I want to sell them and from what I could find they appear to be pretty valuable.

If anyone knows about these games as far as rarity or value I would greatly appreciate it.
 
lot1.jpg

Pick these up at 3 yard sales for about $10
nes1.jpg

For $10 also
vintage.jpg

Vintage handhelds for 50 cents a piece. Dataman already sold for $20
 
$15 a good price for a GameCube? I have never had one... Good system?

Passed on it and snagged an N64 with two controllers cables Goldeneye, Smash Bros, Jeopardy and Zelda for $6!
 
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I was surprisingly awake early today so decided to hit up some sales...and what a bust.

The first one advertised games, they didn't have any out so I asked and the lady went to grab them. Some good ol' Wii shovelware...pass. The next sale had some pretty worthless PS2 games and a fat PS2 system for $30, I offered $15 for the hell of it and she denied me. Oh well.

The last sale I stopped at looked promising. One table had DVDs and games piled on it. She had a bunch of Atari and NES games laid out, with no prices. I start browsing them and the lady comes over and tells me that she has the systems to go with them. I am pretty excited because I don't own an Atari or NES. I just straight up tell her I'd give her $50 for it all...and she laughed. I was kind of put back by that reaction, but asked what she wanted. She said she wouldn't take less than $100 for the Atari and $50 for the NES, systems only! It was an Atari 7800. She also wanted $5 a game lol. I laughed back, mocking the way she did initially. I told her she was crazy, and to enjoy her games because she wouldn't be selling them, then I left.

That yard sale is advertised to go on tomorrow too. I'm tempted to go back and offer like $60, because there is no way she sells them. The systems actually appeared to be in pretty good shape.
 
I didn't get any pictures, but I had a couple of finds this weekend.

First find was at a sale we almost didn't stop at. It just looked like a bunch of furniture. The garage looked practically empty, but we stopped anyways, because it was a slow morning. We get inside and my wife spots a tote with a bunch of N64 games, a dreamcast (3 controllers, but no video cord), and a few dreamcast games. There was no price. My wife offers $10 for it. They counter with $20, so I point out the missing video cord and counter with $15. Sold.

There were 17 N64 games, but most were sports. There were a few highlights though:
Zelda: OoT
Smash Bros
Goldeneye
1080 Snowboarding
Wave Race 64

Zelda and Smash and most of the crap sports games I needed for my collection, so it was well worth it. The only DC game that was interesting was Ready 2 Rumble, but I needed a couple more controllers.


My next find was a Sega Master System 2 with R-Type and Shinobi. Paid $5. She wasn't sure if it worked or not, but I have a lot of faith in old cart-based systems. Got it home and tested it, and it wouldn't power on. Tried a different AC Adapter, and it powered on but the picture was awful and there was no sound. Used a different RF switch and it worked like a champ.


Some non-find BS:
my main collection is NES, I only saw NES games at one sale this weekend. I was pretty excited walking up and seeing a pretty big stack of games on a table. Of course my hopes were quickly crushed when I saw they were all individually priced at higher than eBay prices. I didn't even try to haggle. There were only 2 games in the stack I didn't own, and even if I had gotten them for half price I still feel like I would've been overpaying
 
[quote name='WV Matsui']$15 a good price for a GameCube? I have never had one... Good system?

Passed on it and snagged an N64 with two controllers cables Goldeneye, Smash Bros, Jeopardy and Zelda for $6![/QUOTE]

It's an okay price if you plan to keep it. If you're flipping it it's a horrible price. I wouldn't pay more than $5 for a GameCube at a yard sale.

Anyway, today out of like 15 sales I got one item.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 strategy guide for 50 cents. Not bad... but still a pretty disappointing day.
 
I think today was just universally a "let's not have a good yard sale" day, almost all the sales sucked horribly. Got a few things, but nothing even worth posting about.
 
[quote name='Macheezmo']First find was at a sale we almost didn't stop at. It just looked like a bunch of furniture. The garage looked practically empty, but we stopped anyways[/QUOTE]

I try to walk up to every sale for this reason. I only stop doing this at the end of my day (whatever time it is) when I want to get home . . . then I drive by some sales being more selective.
 
[quote name='leecy']Had to work all weekend, but made it to one sale on my lunch and found this SNES bundle.



SNES with hookups and 2 controllers (hookups/extra controller not pictured)
Tecmo Super Bowl
Addams Family Values
Monopoly
Super Play Action Football
Judge Dredd
F-Zero
NBA Live 95
NBA Allstar
Pilotwings
Killer Instinct
Mega Man X
Vegas Stakes
Bass Fishing game
PGA Tour Golf
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario World
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
$30

The system had "make offer" on it and the games weren't marked; she initially said 20 for the system and 2/game, I offered 25, countered with 35, we met in the middle at 30. This was the first time I've seen anything SNES this year so I was pretty happy when I noticed them there, even an hour after the sale started.[/QUOTE]
Now to me, this way better than porn. This is my childhood and when I see stuff like that, oh man it gets me excited lol
 
[quote name='snakemaster2389']Now to me, this way better than porn. This is my childhood and when I see stuff like that, oh man it gets me excited lol[/QUOTE]

I question the porn you watch, good sir.

Anyway, didn't bother garage saling today, but I did get an NES with about 10-12 games and an extra RF cable/power cord for $30 from an auction house I always go to. Needs some cleaning, but that's no prob.
 
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