Category Archives: Estate Sales

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Become a Millionaire by Shopping Garage Sales


ONE MAN’S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE

So how does one become a “Garage Sale Millionaire?”

Our own Aaron LaPedis, AKA “The Garage Sale Millionaire” shares his tips:

EDUCATE YOURSELF:  Reality TV is not always reality, BUT, shows like Antiques Roadshow and Pawn Stars can still be good teaching mechanisms in that you can learn what items are in demand and how the experts appraise them. Become an expert on a handful of items, so when you come across those items, you know how much, if anything, they’re worth on the market.

Remember, sometimes the most valuable things to collect depend on the geographic region you’re in. If you live in the South, you’re surrounded by Civil War stuff, whereas in Colorado, there’s not much of it, so it’s priced at a premium. The same goes for Western memorabilia – it’s popular in the Midwest, where there’s less of it. So when collecting, consider the place you’re doing it in: What is that state or region known for? That’s where you’ll get the best price and the best value.

NEGOTIATE – IT’S THE ART OF THE DEAL:  Be it a thrift shop, consignment shop or pawn shop, when you’re talking about the money, find out who the owner is because you’ll get the best deal from that person. The owner doesn’t have to worry about paying a commission and if they’re having any kind of money crunch, they’ll want to turn inventory. Cash is often king, because a lot of places don’t take credit cards, so you’ll get a better deal if you’re willing to pay cash.

DON’T LEAD ON TO BEING THE NEXT MILLIONAIRE ON THE BLOCK:  How you dress is also important when shopping for collectibles. That means dressing in inconspicuous clothing, leaving expensive jewelry and shoes at home and parking your car a block away. If you drive up in a Lexus in front of a garage sale I’m holding, I’ll probably be hard-pressed to give you a good deal. Also, build a rapport before you start negotiating. Don’t immediately rush in with, “How low can you go?” Start a conversation about the weather an find common ground somewhere… cozy up to the seller, to the point you both agree it’s a good deal for both parties.

MIND YOUR MANNERS: Don’t be that guy… If an item is $100 and you offer $15, that’s an insult. You’ll turn that person off right away and they’ll never want to do business with you. I would start just under 50% on an item, sometimes even less, depending on how badly I want that piece. Don’t ever try to crush the other person during negotiations. The deal is never a good one if it doesn’t get done.

GETTING RIPPED OFF SUCKS, SO USE COMMON SENSE: Know that 50% to 60% of all signatures on memorabilia and documents are fake. Autopens allow people to copy signatures and unless you’re a foremost expert, you’d never know the difference. When you buy an autographed collectible, you don’t want to pay cash. Use a credit card or PayPal to protect yourself, and let them know you’ll insist on a refund if it’s not real. There are third-party authenticators that will verify whether or not an autograph is real. Sometimes making a “non-refundable” deposit to show the seller you’re interested before committing to paying asking price can save your A$$.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE:  I have an online tip for buying offline – I use the website Tag Sell It and I also have their app on my smart-phone.

MOST IMPORTANT:  Read My Book

FIRM BELIEF: Not only can garage sale treasure seekers make some money reselling various items, but they can make very substantial residual profits over time.

As the owner of two art galleries in Denver and former host of a local PBS show calledCollect This!, LaPedis knows how to track down hidden treasures and turn them into a profit. His recent book, The Garage Sale Millionaire (Wiley), offers advice on how to make money by digging around garage sales, storage units and everything in between. Aaron became an owner and partner with Tag Sell It Inc. in 2013.

 

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Sweet Treat for Business

“Chocolate-Dipped Tag Cookies”

Customers love anything that’s free, who dosen’t? Here’s a brilliant idea we found on Pinterest that your new customers will love! Bake a simple sugar cookie in the shape of a tag, slip a string through the top hole with your business logo, name or website on it and dip in chocolate. Let them cool and display them on the counter for your customers — they’ll love it and they’ll love you!

This is a fun and easy business development idea for any new business, consignment shop or even served as refreshments at your tag sale!

 

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Croquet Balls Repurposed

We had a croquet set at our house growing up; did you? We brought it out for parties in the summer and for something to do on a lazy day. I’ve always loved how bright and colorful croquet balls are and when I found a lonely set that had lost their mallets at a garage sale a while I back I had to find a way to repurpose them. So my dad cut them in half for me and then also cut a slit across the top. I think they will be perfect for summer parties as…
Place Card Holders…

Croquet Ball Place Card Holder

 

Menu Holders…

Croquet Ball Menu Holder

Picture Holders…

Croquet Ball Picture Holder

Party Favors…send your guests home with one with a picture from your event.

Croquet Ball Party Favor

They’re already listed in my Etsy shop and waiting for your summer party!

Upscale Downhome on Etsy

So they left the subject and played croquet, which is a very good game for people who are annoyed with one another, giving many opportunities for venting rancor.”

Rose Macaulay

Do you have a croquet set?

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Consumer Product Safety Commission Recalls on Second-Hand Finds

Shopping for second-hand treasures at garage sales? Be sure you check the item before purchasing it. Here are some tips to help your buying decision process:

Whether you’re the tag sale seller or buyer, you should look out for toy hazards such as small parts, loud sounds, soft plastics and lead contamination, consumer advocates warned this week.

These dangers were highlighted by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in its 24th annual “Trouble in Toyland” report, the first since sweeping consumer safety legislation went into effect earlier this year.

“This is definitely a time when people are going to be thinking about making purchases for the holidays, so we want people to be aware of these hazards,” said Elizabeth Hitchcock, public health advocate for U.S. PIRG.

The organization focused on four hazards: small parts that can choke children younger than 3-years-old, loud toys that can cause hearing damage, lead-tainted toys and soft plastic toys that contain chemicals called phthalates.

If you’re shopping a garage sale and have a smart phone, check out ToySafety.mobi, specially designed for use with mobile phones, to look up toy hazards while shopping.

Recently there have been massive recalls on select cribs and stollers, most notably the “Drop-side” baby cribs, in some cases causing death, and Maclaren Strollers that have posed a serious safety threat to young children’s hands and fingers where they could get pinched. It’s always best to be aware of children’s items and recalls prior to shopping, but be especially cautious when shopping for second-hand items at garage sales. It’s not worth the risk to your child to save some extra money.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission along with the US Government ruled in a law that it would be illegal to sell recalled items at any consignment, thrift store or garage sale.

Remember “buyer beware” and when it comes to your kids’ safety, don’t jeopardize it by trying to save money on a product in question sold secondhand.

 

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The Child’s Anti-Slavery Book

Do you watch the Academy Awards? We do at our house. It’s how we get ideas for which movies we want to rent for the next few months. We’ve been working our way through the list of Best Picture nominees and have recently watched Django Unchained and Lincoln. Both pictures take place in the 1800s before the Civil War and at the end of it. Ironically I found a wonderful treasure from the same time period during my antiquing adventures.

The Child’s Anti-Slavery Book

You may be thinking that it looks like an ordinary book; an old one but quite ordinary. That’s precisely why you can’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a rare copy of an anti-slavery book for children published in 1859. This mid nineteenth-century, abolitionist tract, distributed by the Sunday School Union, uses actual life stories about slave children separated from their parents or mistreated by their masters to appeal to the sympathies of free children. Vivid illustrations help to reinforce the message that black children should have the same rights as white children, and that holding humans as property is “a sin against God.”
It contains 3 sets of stories about the lives of real slaves and also has a short introduction about the immorality of slavery from a Biblical perspective. I’ve always enjoyed history class but through watching the movie Lincoln I realized I’m just a casual observer on the subject. During my education, history was approached through a series of events and dates and not from the perspective of its participants. I always thought that “everyone” in the North was against slavery and “everyone” in the South was for it. I never realized the political wrangling that went on to get the 13th Amendment passed and that a good portion of the people in the North were against it.

Illustration by Hammatt Billings

The book contains 10 etchings depicting slave life by Charles Howland Hammatt Billings who also illustrated Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I read this book this week and found it to be quite moving. I absolutely can not believe how despicably humans can treat each other. I can appreciate the way Quentin Tarrantino rewrites history for his movies so the bad guy loses in the end and the good guy triumphs. That’s the way we’d all like it to work. Even though Django Unchained was quite violent and there were parts I could not watch, I do admire his creativity.
I’m so glad that fate had me stumble across this simple and powerful volume and that I took the time to learn from its contents. I plan on selling it on Ebay to someone else who will appreciate it.

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.

Aldous Huxley

Did you like history class? Have you seen either Lincoln or Django Unchained?

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Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

Have you ever posted an item for sale online and felt it took forever to sell… if it even sold at all? Chances are it wasn’t the item that wasn’t selling, it was the description, or lack thereof. If you’re a sales professional or have a sales background, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “telling isn’t selling.” A customer needs to be sold, not told. In this post we’ll share a great tip for advertising your items or sale events in online marketplaces and classifieds.

The secret to sales success lies in an easy-to-remember acronym…

A.I.D.A or “Attention, Interest, Desire, Action”

Capture their ATTENTION: You need to craft a title that captures people’s attention. Putting in text symbols and unrelated content in the title of an item is not just useless, it’s wastes valuable space you could otherwise use for keywords in naming the item you have for sale.

Keep their INTEREST: Capturing a prospective buyer’s interest can be difficult, especially when there’s competition in the marketplace. Creativity, accuracy, details and quality photographs make a big difference in keeping your prospect’s interest in what you have to sell.

Fancy their DESIRE: Your goal is to get your prospective buyers to crave what you have to sell them. Make them want what you have and your sales will increase. You need to offer what your prospect hasn’t found anywhere else. Are you selling them an experience? A one-of-a-kind? A hard-to-find? What makes your item special so prospective customers will buy from you?

Get them to take ACTION: If they’ve emailed you or phoned you to speak with you about the item that’s for sale, job well done and goal accomplished – you have a potential buyer on the line! Be polite, be honest and be real. Don’t just look at this opportunity as a one-time sale, consider the future investment opportunity, repeat sales, referral sales and most importantly, word of mouth sales.

Some websites like eBay for example, have even streamlined the process of listing items based on keywords. The site can instantly and fairly accurately categorize an item you have to sell based on the keywords you enter, thus making it easier for shoppers to locate exactly what you’re selling.

One lucky seller on Tagsellit.com gets their item featured here as an example since they did a great job describing their item…

Title: Antique Hand Painted Desk

The seller describes the desk as an antique, distressed and includes the measurements.

Here’s a picture of the item they’re selling

Asking $100.00

Posted under Virtual Sales / Category = Furniture:

http://www.tagsellit.com/items-for-sale-online/2661903

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Solving Mysteries as Furniture Detectives

Riddle:
What has 6 sides, 28 joints and is red all over?
Answer:
My latest antique purchase!

19th Century Red Six Board Chest

Mr. Upscale and I enjoy a good mystery whether it’s a movie plot or an antique so we purchased this six board chest at the auction house on Sunday. I loved it for its milky red paint and he for its dovetailed joints. We hauled it home and started to clean it and discover some of its mysteries.
Case in point: Notice the different types of woods between the chest and the trim.
The trim is oak and the chest is pine. This means that the trim was probably added at a later date. Sometimes the maker did use different types of wood on the same piece but these two just don’t look like they go together at all. Different types of woods would be used because people used what they had on hand and also because they planned on painting the piece. Most likely it was someone’s effort to restore it. We believe it had trim originally and here’s how we know for sure. We removed the nasty oak trim and found this underneath.

Red Six Board Chest with Trim Removed

Notice the nail holes. There are small ones where the oak was nailed in and there are larger ones which means there was another type of trim on the chest. It was most likely made of pine like the rest of the piece. Now that the trim has been removed another question has to be asked…Is that red paint that I love original? What do you think? Are you a furniture detective, too? I don’t believe that the red paint is original because of the gray look of the boards underneath. It could have been painted red with the trim on and then this top piece would still have a gray border but this picture of the back leads me to believe it was originally  gray.
The back of the chest has no red paint on it at all but can you see the traces of gray in the picture above? I do believe the red paint is quite old just because of it’s lovely worn and milky patina.
Even though this six board chest is missing some of its original elements, like it’s original trim, paint and hinges it’s a lovely example of 19th century handmade furniture. It’s called a six board chest because it is made of six individual boards and there was no joining of wood to make wider pieces. Think about how big those trees had to be to harvest wood that wide.
Now it sits in my living room as my coffee table and I will thoroughly enjoy it in all its handmade glory. If you’d like to see more examples of antique chests, I found this Pinterest Board called Trunks, Chests. It’s definitely eye candy for the antique chest lover!  I also found this example of a blue six board chest that is earlier than this one but with all its original parts.

Uncertainty and mystery are the energies of life. Don’t let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity.

R. I. Fitzhenry

Do you love a good mystery?

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Earth Day 2013

“Climate change can seem like a remote problem for our leaders, but the fact is that it’s already impacting real people, animals, and beloved places. These Faces of Climate Change are multiplying every day. Fortunately, other Faces of Climate Change are multiplying too: those stepping up to do something about it. Help us personalize the massive challenge climate change presents by taking a photo and telling your story.” – earthday.org/2013/ 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

- Margaret Mead

 

Earth Day has become an international celebration of all things environmental. All around the world, individuals and communities are gearing up for the Earth Day 2013 celebration on April 22 — and often, the weekend before and after.

For people who take a more hands-on approach to environmental issues, Earth Day is the ideal chance to get involved in green living and sustainability issues. Write your congressman, volunteer to clean-up a park or river, or start a protest: It’s the most patriotic way to celebrate Earth Day!

 How has climate change impacted you?

What are you doing to be part of the solution?

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Antiques as Souvenirs

The summer travel season will be here before we know it and with the cabin fever that most of America has experienced this winter, I’m sure it will be a busy one.  Tourists have collected travel kitsch since the Crusaders plundered their way through the Holy Land.  Postcards, pennants, shot glasses, spoons, as well as,  a plethora of other items have topped the list of must haves from exotic and pastoral locales. These items are readily available at estate sales as they lose their meaning once their purchaser has passed. I have a different take on souvenir purchases; I try to find an antique or vintage piece that I can use and enjoy in my home decor. For example, two summers ago we did an old-fashioned road trip, packed our mini van and headed to Maine and all points of interest along the way. One of our favorite stops was in the Hudson Valley of New York where we did some antiquing. We  picked up this unique sign made of cast iron for a jewelry shop.  Originally it would have hung on flange outside the store. This purchase carried special meaning for us because we also visited the American Clock and Watch Museum in Connecticut. This wonderful souvenir now hangs in our living room and is a daily reminder of our special trip out East. So forget those shot glasses and t-shirts and purchase an antique as your souvenir of your next trip. It definitely won’t wind up in your estate sale.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel only read one page.”—Augustine of Hippo

Antique Sign from Jewelry Store