Hoist the Sales- the all yardsales thread

[Bum Bill Bee]

Stories and ancedotes about yardsales you've been to or held. Like today I a lot of good deals, such as 3 Gamecube games for $1.75. I also saw some interesting unexpected things like two katanas with sheaths and handles that looked like snakeskin. It was really too bad I couldn't think of a use for them except maybe decoration or a halloween costume, which I don't do anymore, since I'm 22. You just can't fool the adults at that age.

On a more disconcerting note, I saw the Scanner/printer I own at two different sales, one for just $5! But on the up side. I saw that I wasn't the only one who sold VHS tapes for a dollar a piece. The durability of those things is really truly underrated. Also I saw a Peter Rabbit baby pillow thing, and I'm just surprised that they still made Peter Rabbit things at 2004.

I've never found any CDs I like. I did find some great big books on fantasy/myths stuff with some fairly creepy illustrations. Like in a book about ghosts they had some closeups from Pieter Brugel's Triumph of Death painting. And of course I am always astounded by the number of bad paperback romances that exist.

My own yard sales this year have been a disapointment. The third and last one only made $72. The best one I've ever had made over $350.

So anyone else got something to share here? Please be good sports and not spam this up too much, 'kay?

[Aldurin]

Is this "yardsale" you speak of like ebay for people without internet? I thought it would have died off between WWI and WWII.

[Bum Bill Bee]

Nyet, there's still tons o' them in my neck of the woods. Plus the popularity of shyt like American Pickers and Storage Wars suggests that these types of things aren't going extinct any time soon.

[Magus]

Originally Posted by Aldurin

Is this "yardsale" you speak of like ebay for people without internet? I thought it would have died off between WWI and WWII.

It's something you city-slickers ain't gonna understand.

@Bum Bill Bee

To be fair, those printers were probably worn out or something. I mean it's a yard sale.

Here's a fun yard sale story:

So I had taken my sister to this series of yard sales nearby because she wanted to look for baby clothes and baby toys. Of course these are probably the number one yard sale items because they are as a rule only useful to a family for about two years at a time. So we got some nice clothes and Fisher Price toys, but I was pretty desperately bored because this series of yard sales seemed to consist of nothing but baby clothes, woman's clothes, and toys. I mean this was like a four hour commitment or something.

Finally the last yard sale we visited was on some side street, and I discovered two old women in front of a tiny house. Lo and behold they possessed hard-cover copies of dozens of science fiction and fantasy novels. "My son loved those books, but he left them all here when he went off to college," said the one. I loaded up on some Terry Pratchett, Michael Moorcock, Raymond Feist, etc. and felt fairly excited. My sister was looking at some DVDs and we were talking about which ones my mother might like. These ladies were probably as old as my mother. For some reason I ended up talking to this one old lady about westerns, and got this little gem:

"I loved Yul Brynner. He was the handsomest man I ever saw. I remember watching The Magnificent Seven and going, 'Who is this bald god of a man?' I fantasized about him for months afterwards. He could have had me in any way he wanted."

TMI a bit.

[phil_]

Originally Posted by Magus

"My son loved those books, but he left them all here when he went off to college," said the one.

And you bought them. He's gonna come home, and be like, "Mom, where are my books?" and they'll be gone because you bought them.

You've been party to reenacting the ageless tragedy of "My parents turned my room into an office."

[mauve]

Today was a big antique fair / citywide garage sale in a town near my house. I ended up getting two pieces of jewelry from local craft artists: A necklace made from a pocket watch (It works!) and a bracelet made from antique silverware.

So yeah. I went to a antique fair and bought nothing that is an actual antique, nor anything from a garage sale.

[Magus]

Originally Posted by phil_

And you bought them. He's gonna come home, and be like, "Mom, where are my books?" and they'll be gone because you bought them.

You've been party to reenacting the ageless tragedy of "My parents turned my room into an office."

This lady was like, 70, though. The books were like from the '80s. I think she meant he went off to college a long time ago, basically.

Originally Posted by Mauve Mage

Today was a big antique fair / citywide garage sale in a town near my house. I ended up getting two pieces of jewelry from local craft artists: A necklace made from a pocket watch (It works!) and a bracelet made from antique silverware.

So yeah. I went to a antique fair and bought nothing that is an actual antique, nor anything from a garage sale.

Oh, yeah, in the city there's like this, antique depot/flea market combo. I don't think I've ever actually bought any of the antiques, which accounts for probably 70% of the goods at this point. Fun to look through, though. But I just don't have interest in LIFE Magazine from the 1920s or WWII Nazi daggers or whatever.

[Bells]

i'm kinda glad/Sad we don't actually have yard sales around here... glad cause i would probably loose a ton of money in one of those, and sad cause fro what the internet tells me, people sell the most awesome crap at dirt cheap prices in those...