markshan
Sir Thrift a Lot
That's a whole different question. Would it violate your conscience? Which means more to you, your conscience or that piece of gear? I've left lots of stuff because I didn't feel good about the situation.
Garage sale etiquette.
- Thread starter goodolpg
- Start date
That's a whole different question. Would it violate your conscience? Which means more to you, your conscience or that piece of gear? I've left lots of stuff because I didn't feel good about the situation.
Brad Muller
Super Member
Garage Sales are Gold Mines! So are hidden audio finds in obscure Craigslist ads.
kaplang
Works for me !
Good point!
Me too.
Yes, I drive by garage sales slowly too. I once got some nice paradigm 11 towers just by asking about audio gear at a garage sale.
FastG
Active Member
I attended a estate sale in a local town, walked thru the basement and spotted a pair of AR2AX's in nice condition. It was a professionally run estate sale so there was a assistant on each floor. I walked up to the assistant and said I will take the speakers. Was handing over the $20, when a big guy came up and said I will take the speakers. The worker said sorry there already sold. The guy was livid stood about 2 inches from my face and demanded "i want those speakers". I did not move a muscle and after about 30 seconds he just walked away. The worker was just frozen and did not say a word. Great speakers after re-foaming.
Graham
Graham
jcamero
Who are you people anyway?
You should of took the guy outside and parted his hair!
sum of sand
Active Member
Hate all variants of that behavior
Hell
I even try not to be greedy during a sale leaving enough for others
Then some scumbag sorry notices what i saw and buys all remaining
I kick myself for a couple sales to this day but id do it over again
Hell
I even try not to be greedy during a sale leaving enough for others
Then some scumbag sorry notices what i saw and buys all remaining
I kick myself for a couple sales to this day but id do it over again
i have had several yard sales where i put out gear and hundreds of classic rock vinyl. this is what i found out that works best, after repeated early calls, texts, and people showing up at the crack of dawn to get first dibs , i gathered up every collector, flipper, and record geeks phone # and run a thursday pre-sale. seeing how im setting up for the sale anyway, why not? the vinyl junkies get their fix, i get some coin and eveybodys happy.
soundmotor
super modified
This is where I come down on it. Expect the worst, be pleasantly surprised if it isn't. Before the season ends, I will hit close to 200 of them. It's an addiction although it is also entertainment. The bear went over the mountain, to see what he could see and all that. I've had some spectacular finds doing this, some were even audio.
This weekend I had a similar experience as the OP. The ad listed and pictured a lot of hand tools with a 9:00AM opening; I got there at 8:30AM and wasn't the first. Virtually everything I'd gone to see was absent. When I asked about it he told me he'd sold it during the week. Someone drove by and saw him staging stuff in his garage and came up & asked about it. Just the way it is, there is always another sale.
In the early 70s my mom had a yard sale. Back then it was put a sign on the light pole and run a newspaper ad. She actually got a phone call several days before about what she had for sale. Since she did not list her phone number it had to be the person that took her contact info at the newspaper that called or a friend of that person. We also had people knocking on our doors during the week wanting to see what we had. This behavior is nothing new.
Finally; last summer I hit one and made a driveway pile. This was at the direction of the seller, "Put everything there and we'll work out a price when you finish." I continued to peruse then turn around to see this little worm with a full armload of the stuff I sat aside. Paraphrased, I went up to him and told him I was going to buy it. His reply, "If you haven't paid it isn't yours.". At which point the seller said that was "my stuff" and he again comes back with "Why do you care who you sell it to?". It was truly surreal but I managed to regain my composure and made an offer of physical violence delivered to his face which he could not even come close to blocking; full as his arms were. He put everything down and retreated with his girlskank F-bombing me. The last time I'd been in a fight was when I was ~18. Yard sales bring out the best in everyone or not.
Ah, the joys of Saturday mornings.....
dzkfraser
Super Member
Shoulda popped him just on principle, learn that guy a lesson
soundmotor
super modified
What set me off was I realized he'd used those lines before and likely bulled his way forward with them. Not my proudest moment though.
Similar things happen all the time - About a year ago I picked up a decent lot of vintage boxed tin toy robots and saucers, It took 2 - 30 second trips to the car to load them all - and between trips people were grabbing them out of my pile. I even passed one guy who asked me how much I bought them for on the way to my car, get back to the sale and he's opening boxes and looking through my last load. One lady would not separate herself from a moderately pricy KO space patrol saucer and ended up finally just dropping it on the driveway crushing one of the corners on the box
I've never seen the elderly be so ruthless
Hanleyster
ambitious but rubbish
Went to a neighborhood garage sale one time and guys were actually RUNNING house to house. lol
Snow
Super Member
Etiquette manners consideration for others is all but vanished and has been replaced with rudeness insensitivity carelessness and general crass behavior across the board in pretty much all of society not just yard sales. I have little tolerance for rudeness especially hostile rude people think 0-5% when I was younger I would just open up a family reunion size can of whoop ass on you if such behavior was displayed as I have gotten older and less capable of such behavior I now carry a can of bear spray that I will use without hesitation on your sorry ass 
Regards Snow
Regards Snow
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A husband and wife would attend estate sales and just walk to the head of the line. Both were about 300 lbs each so the hubby would walk in and the wife would
block the door for a few minutes. I got so bad that several estate sale companies banned them for life. A group of women from the Congo (yes, they dressed like it too) woud show up 5 minutes before the estate sale started, walk to the head of the line and just stand there waiting to get yelled at. Finally, they got banned too. It's getting worse and not better.
Best find for me was a broken Fisher 500C and a Pioneer 680. Still like going to garage sales and estate sales but I think the "golden years" are gone.
block the door for a few minutes. I got so bad that several estate sale companies banned them for life. A group of women from the Congo (yes, they dressed like it too) woud show up 5 minutes before the estate sale started, walk to the head of the line and just stand there waiting to get yelled at. Finally, they got banned too. It's getting worse and not better.
Best find for me was a broken Fisher 500C and a Pioneer 680. Still like going to garage sales and estate sales but I think the "golden years" are gone.
