Yesterday my community had it's yearly fall yard sale.
As per usual, we were out at 6:45 in the morning, setting up our driveway. We tend to get people strolling around by 7:30, even though the official start time is 8. By 7:25, we were ready for the early birds to somehow get into the gates.
Even Ed and Joanne (3 units down, the people we spent the hurricane with) were all set up. Our two houses seemed to be the only ones on the block with stuff out.
My mom and I had enough random items that it would potentially make the sale pretty easy, but as we've been learning the last few years, people tend to go to the houses and don't bother coming to the condos. So it's a crap shoot in actually getting people to buy something versus getting no one and you're boxing everything for the donation center (which we usually do for half the stuff. The bigger items we try again the next time).
Some of the things we keep trying to sell every year is a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer.
When this juicer was brand new and all the rage, it was retailing at over $100. All I'm looking for now is $50, even though I'd consider going as low as 35. It's so hard to find now, that the auction sites seem to be the ones carrying it. Even Amazon is selling parts at this point, including someone trying to get over 350 dollars for it (which is far too much for the machine).
Another thing we try is a Samsung Blu Ray DVD Player, which obviously, no one uses anymore since majority of the people I talk to, are streaming.
Which is weird since we are also looking to sell an Apple TV streaming box (it's a third generation). Everyone that looks at it, seem to be Android people because we also have a few Apple Watch bumpers, and various adapters.
One of the new things was a Crest Toothpaste Crest Man phone from the 1980s.
He looks like this:
And again, the auction sites have him listed for high money since he is a collectible at this point. There is only one seller on Amazon that has it in stock, and they want over $95 for it. My "make an offer" sticker means people think it's cute but not for them.
Don't get me wrong; it's not like we're looking for hundreds of dollars on everything. Books were listed as a dollar, some of the plastic house ware stuff was ranging from 10 to 25 cents, things had appropriate stickers. However, it's the "art of the deal" and people want it for close to nothing (even a dime is too much).
Yet, one of the people who looked at the juicer didn't want to pay 50 dollars. We said the lowest was 35 and they said okay. When they pulled out a fresh, clean, hundred dollar bill, I said "sorry, I can't make change".
At the time the person came, it was 9am and we had only had 4 people come by; one person bought something for two bucks. If I attempted to change out that big bill, I'd have nothing left for the rest of the day.
I mean, it's one thing if it was a 5 dollar item and you were giving me a ten. But to ask for that much change back, I'm sorry (not sorry); I'd rather lose the sale than not be able to work with people for the next four hours. That's not fair for me - what if someone decided to purchase the DVD player ($15) and two books ($2)? I'm going to need to give them 3 dollars back if they gave me a twenty. If I didn't have that, I'd be stuck.
I know I sound like I'm not being grateful because someone wanted to buy the juicer, but I'm also not a bank. I don't have hundreds of dollars to dole out as change because someone gave me a bill I can't handle. Like one of my friends said - "it is a yard sale, people want things for low costs", which also means, come with low bills or go to the bank during the work week.
Needless to say, the woman walked away not buying it. Which, had she also wanted to buy the frozen fruit ice cream maker with the juicer, I would have made her a deal and given her back the change she was possibly looking for.
So when another person comes in at 11 looking at the health food table, they were asking serious questions about the juicer. They took it apart to make sure every piece was there. They scoured it to make sure it was legit. When asked about the price, we said "make an offer; it retails for over 100", they said they didn't know. They don't think they have more than a few dollars on them. We said we could talk about it - how about 50, and she said no because she didn't know what she had. She put everything down and was looking at other things for under 5 dollars, and we said we'd go down to 35 but that's as low as we would go. She thought about it, and asked if she can pay us via Zelle. We said we didn't know what that was, and she said it's a cash app and that she paid via her phone and the app at a house around the corner and the transaction went fine. All you do is search someone by name, email or phone number and then you transfer the money. No bank account info is stated anywhere in the transaction. Her issue is that she just doesn't have any cash on her and she uses this Zelle a lot. We explained it's cash only because we don't do those money transfer apps; sorry. She insisted another minute and said that that was okay, she would continue to look around.
She ended up not buying anything, but it's like, how far have we come in our society, culture and world, that now no one carries cash or plastic and they rely too heavily on their phones? My same friend who remarked about "it's a yard sale", said she "hates when people want to use those digital cash apps. This isn't retail". Which is true. Not everyone has those apps. You just never know with them. When cash used to be king, everyone got along and knew what was going on. Cash goes away in favor of plastic, and people scratched their heads. Now plastic has gone away and people are using their pocket computers for everything.
If we had a booth at the flea market (and sold every week), I could see setting up Square or using the cash apps, but for a twice a year home yard sale, please be nice and get cash out, in low bills. Not everyone has the ability to make change for large numbers or do a wireless money transfer.
I asked Ed and Joanne about that, and even they agreed - low bills, cash only, no checks or digital transfers. Considering Ed is hip with a lot of technology (to a point), for them to say "cash only" is as old school as what we want to accomplish.
Sure, I am of the age where I should be relying on my phone to do stuff, but I don't. I still write checks, I still get money out of the bank. I use my credit card for stuff I know I don't have the cash on hand for (or if I'm ordering something online). If the right amount of greenbacks aren't in my pocket, I don't buy it.
Not being a math genius, I really have to watch what I'm doing. I know not to go crazy in stores if it is something I like. I have enough money in my pocket for an emergency cab ride plus a trip to the store, but I am not keeping a lot on me. Yes, I have a credit card, but I'm not taking it out every single time I'm shopping. At one point, prior to moving to Florida, I had gone almost two years without using my card. I was paying cash for everything, including gas for my car. I wasn't buying online. I was watching what I was doing. Minimalist spending. Can't afford it? Don't get it.
Which is why you don't go to a yard sale and look around, pick stuff up, and ask to pay with other means people may not have. That is a super big ask.
It's like last year, when my uncle gave me permission to sell his golf clubs, someone came by and wanted to Venmo me. The guy saw the price listed on the whole kit, was amazed because he knew everything in the bag was worth more, and said that he'd buy it from me. He just needs to Venmo it over. I said that I don't use the app, but am willing to hold it for half an hour for him, if he is willing to go to the bank (we were selling everything for $250). He agreed, asked if I knew where the local bank was for him, and he left quicker than you can say "I'll make you a deal". He came back in less than 30 minutes, cash in hand, and thanked me immensely. He loaded it into his car and off he went.
So proof is that if someone wants it so badly, they are willing to work with the seller. I would have been willing to work with the Zelle lady, had she not kept saying it's all she had and other houses accepted it. If you aren't willing to work it out, why bother going to these?
I mean, sure, I use Paypal, but it was originally set up for when I was selling books on (the now defunct) Half dot com website. I still use the pay site occasionally, but it's only tied to a couple sites that I trust.
I know there is going to come a time when certain things we currently do, don't exist, but until that happens, I'm sticking to the things I know. Some people don't handle life changes well, and they can't be expected to jump right into things. Considering I've got one app on my phone that is going away permanently next month, and I've got to decide what I want to do about it. I have to uninstall it for sure, but do I install the app they're recommending (it's the coupons app and they got bought out)? Frivolous spending, me, but is it really worth creating a new profile, downloading the app, making sure everything is connected, to only use the app a couple times a month? I don't know.
I really have to sort things out better. Figure out what's important and what's not. Hope the 3 tubs I put back into the garage sell next year in the spring sale, and vocalize about this issue once more.
Until then, do your own research and be respectful of people and places you're buying from,
Cheers;
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for sharing!