garage sale ethics: lessons learned over 40 years

The following was originally posted on Kevin\'s blog MyMediaDiary. com.
Like a slowmotion drive-
Just not very friendly.
They are dealers. -the arch-
Enemy of real garagesaler.
You sit in your lawn chair next to three coffee machines, two toaster ovens and half an illegal lawn jart set.
Your garage auction starts at 9. m. .
You know it\'s nine. m.
Because it\'s been an hour since the dealer knocked on your door.
\"Do you mind if I look at it?
\"I have to take my son to daycare but I want to see what you have.
\"Come on, you\'re up anyway! Open up!
\"For the rest of Friday morning and afternoon, you\'ll revisit that wonderful grade --
The school feeling of being played football.
The car crawls next to it and decides if you deserve it.
Some drivers may be polite, while others avoid eye contact.
Some people just stare at you like you try to pull a fast truck before they load a pickup for the weekend flea market.
In most cases, your meager product can hardly guarantee braking within five miles of your market segment speed limit.
I did the same thing, but I was a little less predatory.
If I see the tools, sports equipment, CDs or mystery boxes of Home Depot
I will stop the ish time such as casters or unturned power outlets.
But if I see three tables full of old cards
Lady real estate sale statue, jigsaw puzzle or \"I-not-ready-to-go-there-
But \"I will continue to drive the tall plastic toilet seat.
Gateway DrugsI is promoted to a garage-
Saler, when I was in high school, I was very proud of my mom.
I didn\'t know to point out a table to my friend and say, \"My mom bought a table for $5, which is not a compliment!
\"But before that pride, I was captured on the way home from baseball practice in the hot vinyl back seat of our station wagon.
I thought we were going straight to our house or to the Dairy Queen in a few days.
But we will park in front of a stranger\'s house on 18 streets in Clausen.
Slowly, I turned my head and saw the trash aisle in the driveway and the sign nailed to the tree. \"Mom! No!
\"It only takes a second.
You can come or stay in the car.
\"I will stay most of the time, but if the weather is too hot, or I will see a skateboard or bike, its maiden --
The bar is not bent, I will jump out to investigate.
Then one day, on 1976, I introduced my addiction to gateway drugs.
I just purchased my first \"crazy\" magazine at A & P, which has A double-century \"Alfred E. \"
Newman portrait of George Washington
I watched the movie with a wolf
Satirize and some vivid comics, anxiously waiting for the next issue-
Only eight a year.
One of the lanes has a box of Mads in late 1960 and early 1970, each quarter-
And some random comic books.
I bought a whole batch and spent the whole summer immersed in the culture and entertainment of the Vietnamese era as well as the summer of love.
And, too fast, I \'ve finished the box and started to eagerly control garage sales, sometimes with my mom and her best friend Shirley, but most of the time I\'m cruising around the neighborhood
And then my Schwinn Academy--
All 5 brown steel beauties with speed and 200 (
Also sold from garage).
Two years later, I found another hobby that was offered cheaply by people eager to clean up the basement ---photography.
Like George Washington is crazy, I\'m hooked on camera equipment because Greg Brady has proven that his team did win the football match and in Moody\'s Red safe the snapshot was
The basement of Alice\'s kitchen is lit.
From the end of 1940 to the sad day taken over by Photoshop, the family darkroom has risen and dropped rapidly, just like Ronco\'s bottle and glass cutter ---
Could be a slight sulfuric acid smell of stop-
The patience needed to shower and get the right exposure is the main reason for this impetuosity.
So the 80 s garage is full of megaphones, trays and mysterious movies --
Develop tanks that most people will pass quickly. But not me.
As the years passed, the crowded storage room under the basement stairs became more and more claustrophobic.
My wife\'s eyes and I noticed that we were wearing completely different goggles in the stranger\'s garage.
\"I\'m ready,\" Patrice said . \" She made a quick lap around a bunch of fancy Christmas decorations and polyester jumpsuit. \"Kevin? Kevin?
\"I turned the dog under the table --
Album by Ray Coniff singer. \"Umm. . . okay.
Give me a few more minutes.
\"There are enough antique roadshows to convince me to keep digging.
It looks like the mysterious garage is drawing in the dark from my slow drive-by --
Especially if it has a big one
For example, a popcorn machine, a double bicycle, or ten-
Inflatable scooter at the foot-Doo --
I may retire early.
One day, the owner of Sotheby\'s asked me, \"How much did you pay for it?
I smiled smug.
No harm at all--
Most dealers forget this when they knock your front door at dawn.
Two years ago, Rock artist Gary Grimshaw signed the Led Zeppelin concert poster
Adopted on January)
I was staring at me from behind. Z-Boy --
And it cost only $15.
I called.
Search on my eBay app and find that I can buy and sell it online and make $50 that afternoon.
But my mom instilled a little bit of ethics into me and made me hear about 1977 of sales.
We were in a dusty garage with a donkey stuffed animal on the shelf that said \"water Gate Hotel \". \" It was $5.
It was just this summer that Nixon had just resigned and my crazy collector\'s radar signaled.
I took out my wallet, but my mom asked the woman, \"Can you take $3 ? \"? \"\"No. \"\"No? \"\"Sorry. Non-negotiable. It\'s the irony. \"\"I\'m sorry?
\"It was the donkey and the water gate incident.
\"Needless to say, I suddenly agreed with my mom that we were taken away and the donkey was left in place.
Three basic rules for the garage
Saling: So I told the owner of the Grimshaw poster that he could sell it on eBay for three times.
He thanked me and even shook hands with me.
I felt good when he caught up with me in my car, but also a little sad.
\"My wife said she doesn\'t care if you still want it, take $15 now. \"Smart woman. $15 cash-in-hand.
She didn\'t think I meant to say, \"Do you want $10 ? \"
\"My mom used to raise something that didn\'t remember the dollar.
It has £ 25 on its masking tape price tag.
\"Do you want a dime?
\"I am ashamed.
Can we be a little cheaper?
I\'m sure they will kick us out. \"Sure. \"\"See!
My mom laughed.
So the Zeppelin poster is now sitting proudly in my basement, on the floor behind a few other photos, and I\'m very proud to win, but somehow, I don\'t have time to hang on to sell on eBay or drag to the FT.
Wayne Antique Roadshow.
But perhaps more importantly, the dealer did not get it.
You can even visit Kevin\'s own community garage for sale at Royal Oak on Saturday, June 7 (
From 13 miles to 14 miles, woodworthy to Greenfield)