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As you know, I had a garage sale this weekend (I’ve only been talking about this for the last 3 months). I’ll give more of a breakdown on it later, but I am very overall pleased by how it went! For now, I want to know, do you haggle on garage sale prices or do you just pay the sticker price and be on your way?
Personally when I go to garage sales or flea markets (which isn’t that frequently, but it does sometimes happen) I just pay whatever price it says on the tag and move along. If the person happens to give me a deal, all the better, but I never ask. But I know tons of people do and tons of people did at our garage sale. And unless they said something too crazy, I usually just went with it. I was having a garage sale to get rid of my stuff, not to fight about $1. But then again, if it’s marked $20 and you offer $2, I’d rather just donate it and take that tax right off!
So what do you do? Try and negotiate? If you do, do you just randomly pick a number or do you have a system (like always offer half of what the asking price is). Or just go along with the sticker prices and if you think it’s too much, just pass on the item?
I normally pay what is marked when I go which isn’t often. When I am hosting the sale I usually have my stuff marked pretty cheap since I want it gone so if you are buying alot of things I will give you a better deal. If you are bugging me or asking way low then the answer is no you don’t get a deal. Just be nice that’s all I’m asking and I agree if you ask a crazy low price I’d rather donate it and I have said no to people then end up donating it later. Glad you did good. I had a great time working the sale I was at this morning too. 🙂 I love working a sale.
I go with the marked price. If it’s too high then I just pass on the item. If I am with someone else who likes to haggle and they coerce me to bargain, then I do it (after a lot of discussion or they just do it for me). Never a crazy low price though.
I use to do a lot of garage sales with my roommate and friends. I finally gave up after being haggled to death. They’d have like 10 items in their hand and want to pay like a $1 or they would try to say they have 2 items but try to sneak more. Though I did have someone pay 10 cents for holey and used up pair of sneakers. My friends dad had an estate sale and people were trying to buy the food in the fridge. They would offer to pay like $1.00 for a half full carton of milk. I just donate now. Crazy!!!!
If the items are marked cheap, I’ll just pay their price. However, I’ve been to a few yard sales where prices are way too high for used items. I don’t see harm in asking in those cases. If they say no- I’ll pass on buying the item.
If the item has a sticker on it I manly go with that. If they just tell me a price sometimes I will ask if they will go lower. I do love hosting and going to yard sales! I was planing on going yard selling this morning (I even had a list on places all ready) but little one did not sleep well and we all woke up late.
I do haggle if I feel something isn’t a fair price. For example, if somebody has their kids clothes marked $4 each I might ask if $2 or $3 would be ok. I have a buy price, and some people think their used stuff is worth more than it actually is!
I’ve decided it’s not worth the time to even price stuff anymore. I used to be so organized and price everything, very clearly. But then it’s not even worth it. 99% of the people either ask how much even if there’s a price on it or offer a smaller amount for the item. So the last sale I had I didn’t even mark anything and it went just as smoothly as any other one I’ve had. By the end of the day, I am practically giving stuff away because I’m so tired of bartering with people. I’m just not a wheel and deal kind of gal . . .
Buying I’ll do both. Sometimes I’ll just pay the price cuz I think it’s fair, other times I’ll ask if they can do better. But I wouldn’t even ask unless I really wanted the item so I usually end up paying whatever they ask.
As for pricing, I price pretty low. If everything is $1 but the unused iron that’s still in it’s unopened plastic wrap that was originally $45 and now has a $5 price tag…no, I’m not selling it for $1. I’d rather give it to charity and let them make some money than sell it to someone I know probably won’t use it but will turn around and try to sell it (we have a LOT of those folks around here). I also had someone tell me a Star Wars collectable that was marked $10 was too expensive and I should sell it to him for $5 (it was going for $25 and up on ebay) no dice (and yes, someone came buy who was excited and paid the full $10 without blinking :). Since I check ebay I’ll go half of what stuff is selling on there but not much lower. But I’ve been known to knock stuff down a buck or two, I’ve been known to tell someone who is looking at a collection “buy two get one free!” or “Three for $5!” when they are listed $2 each. Then when it gets down to the last hour of the garage sale everything is half off! Leftover furniture becomes “free” on the curb.