Perth has a long history of being the home Garage Sale lovers. Every Saturday and Sunday morning, starting as early as 6 am, perfectly normal people leave the comfort of their warm winter beds, or their that lovely cool morning sleep, to drive the deserted streets of Perth in search of the rare finds and bargains of the Garage Sale.
Now to those of you who do not know what a Garage Sale is, a quick explanation – someone decides that they have too many ‘objects’, ‘surplus treasures’ and they need to find them new homes, quickly without having to pack it into boxes and take it to the second hand shops, or to a Car Boot Sale (what’s that? – later). So they move the cars out of the garage, move the excess “stuff" into the garage. They then carefully label all the items and put them on tables, or just pile them into boxes on the floor. They then put an advert in the newspaper and wait for the first caller at 6 am on the morning advertised. It is usually all over by 10 am, so to get a bargain you need to be out and about early.
What sort of things can you pick up at a Perth Garage Sale? Well have a look at the things for sale on http://www.collect-antiques.com/ . These items are a fraction of the bargains that have been found at Perth Garage Sales by the owner of this site, a dedicated Garage Sale Attendee. He buys the Sunday paper on the Saturday night and carefully plans his early morning route. From years of experience he know the area’s that will yield the best bargain, often the suburbs where young single couples have decided to “move in together" resulting in surplus household items, that they are happy to let go for a song. Or the suburbs where grannies and grandpas are looking at moving out of the large family house, to move into the retirement village, and have to sell their life time of collectables.
Of course the ads in the paper do not always indicate what treasures he will find, but an ad indicating pottery and porcelain is always of interest, especially those beautiful little pottery cottages (http://www.collect-antiques.com/pottery/list_of_pottery.shtml ), so are second hand books (have a look at the list on http://www.collect-antiques.com/books/list_of_books.shtml) with the occasional First Edition a prized find.
DVD’s and computer games are always a bargain, after all once people have tired of that movie they are happy to let it go to a new home for a bargain price. And those wedding presents from Aunt Mabel, well what are you going to do with 20 sets of crystal glasses, may as well let someone else enjoy them rather than have them filling up the cupboard.
So if you are a visitor to Perth and wondering what to do at 6 am on a Saturday or Sunday morning, pick up a newspaper, look for the Garage Sale section, and off you go. You could be back at you hotel, or apartment, before your partner wakes up with a selection of bargain gifts for the rellies back home.
Sometimes, making a few dollars just takes a little bit of creativity and imagination. Have you ever considered buying items to turn around and sell them at a profit? Plenty of people are buying things at thrift stores and garage sales, then putting them up for sale on sites such as Ebay.com. If you go take a look at some of the merchandise on Ebay on any given day, you'll see that most individuals are selling all sorts of things - and making money!
Thrift store versus garage sales - which are better? Garage sale markups are not as high as the thrift store, and you can find more items that are "like new." The other benefit of a garage sale is that you can haggle with a seller; thrift stores are less likely to let you ask for a price reduction. You do, however have to watch out for sellers that have emotional attachment to their items. While the vase given to them by their grandmother may have sentimental value, that does not affect the actual value of the item.
Make sure you know your local market. Not everyone likes the same thing, but you can identify top selling items in different categories. For instance, if you are buying books, go to an online book store and review what their best sellers are. Sometimes, you will buy something only to find out that you can't sell it for more than what you paid because there isn't a market for the item. That's okay, as you will most likely make up for the breaking even on something else you sell at a profit. Buying and selling is a little bit of a guessing game mixed with research. Take heart, as there are many instances of individuals that made hundreds of dollars from items that a seller considered junk. You may even want to go to the library and check out some books on how to spot valuable items.
Deciding where to sell your items depends on what the item is. There are several websites that are best for selling books, with Amazon.com and Half.com being the top two. Items can be sold on Ebay.com and usually make a profit if your description and terms are well written; the better your description and picture, the more money you'll sell for. Another place to sell items is on Craigslist.org; just look up your local area and see what prices other people are selling similar items. You can also offer to barter for items on their site with relative ease.
The last option to earn money off items is hosting your own garage sale. This can be profitable if you go to garage sales at the end of the day when the seller is trying to get rid of everything to avoid packing it back up. You can also check out Craigslist.org for free items that are being offered. Many times after a garage sale, people will list that all their leftover items are sitting on the curb, free for the taking. If you have a truck and some garage space, you can take everything off their hands at the end of the day. The benefit to sellers is they don't have to haul leftovers back inside, and you get items for free - a win/win situation!
If you've got a particular interest or hobby, you can try to focus your buying and selling around related objects and items. People are usually more willing to buy from someone who appears to like what they do and are knowledgeable about the items they're offering to sell. You may even end up with a nice little niche business that specializes in hard-to-find things that everyone wants!
Both Anne Duke & Peter Neville Jones are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.