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When you are out at garage/yard/tag sales purchasing things and people ask (sometimes before paying): “What are you going to do with all that stuff?” what do you say?
Do you outright lie? “My grandmother is sick in the hospital and these 6 pairs of old men’s shoes will make her feel so much better!”
Tell them you sell online? “I am going to sell these online and make a killing!”
Deflect? “Sure is a beautiful day today!” / “Is that a squirrel”? / “Your shoes are untied.”
Something vague/ambiguous? “I am a collector.” / “Never too early to start Christmas shopping!” / “I shop for other people.”
I’d love to hear what you all tell people who ask this kind of question.
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The majority of my inventory (at least the stuff that isn’t given to me for free) is from auctions, so, thankfully, I can say that I sell online and no one cares.
However, when I have shopped at garage sales, my main go-to is the last on your list. “These aren’t for me; I’m shopping for other people”.
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I’m in the vague/ambiguous camp. If the sellers are amateur enough to be asking, there’s a good chance they’ll be offended that you’re making some money off them. I have said that I was a collector, or “I know someone who can use it” or “I’ll put it to good use” or just “I can use it/them”. I normally don’t admit to reselling because I once lost a large and potentially very lucrative lot of inventory at a yard sale when I let it slip that I was buying for resale.
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Djhatch, has anyone ever actually asked you why you’re buying items? I cant remember the last time we were asked. Usually people selling their stuff are just happy someone is buying as much as they can take. They want stuff gone.
But when we started selling on eBay, I was often worried that the checkout person at Goodwill would grill me why I was buying 28 pairs of women’s shoes. Turns out they couldn’t care less.
I enjoy talking with people selling their stuff. I always ask questions about why they’re selling, where it came from, etc. People like to talk about themselves.
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LOL. Jay’s reply made me laugh, because it made me think “turn it back on them”. Ask them “why are you selling it?” They’ll be so flustered by your question, and if they do reply you can tag them along so that they totally forget they asked you anything.
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Ha. I usually dont mean “why did you buy all this stuff”, but that does cross my mind when people are selling 100 salt/pepper shakers.
Usually my questions is for collectibles is “can you share what these meant something to you when you bought them”? Or if its hunting gear, ask them about their history of hunting.
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@Jay – No one has asked me directly why I am buying the things I am buying, but some people make comments on specific things I’ve purchased and I know they are curious. I do agree with you that most people just want the stuff gone.
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I like the IndySales “I’m addicted to deals” answer. When I’m buying a bunch of items in one category like sewing or craft kits I usually say “I’m kind of a sewing (or crafting) hoarder”. Sellers are usually so dismayed by the picture in their head when I say that they don’t inquire any further. “I’m addicted to deals” works a lot better when the items are random though!
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On more than one occasion I’ve named a person / real or fictitious who I’m buying for. eg: “my father-in-law” “brother-in-law” etc. Youtubers often say you should tell people that you’re a reseller to build contacts but at garage sales I think the majority of sellers don’t want to hear that you’re buying something to resell for more money. Sometimes that also seem to want to hear that an item will be treasured and is going to a good home and will price accordingly. “I’m buying this bundle of Wii U games for my kids” sounds a whole lot better than “I expect to be able to resell these games and make at least $100 from them”.
I have tossed around the idea of telling people that I’m reselling to make money to pay for my kids college which isn’t strictly false and might be more palatable but I still dont see much upside in admitting to reselling other than I can avoid outright lies.
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That’s me Jay. We have business cards. I just say I am a full time reseller and give them our business card. even if they don’t ask, after I pay for our haul, I give them a card then do like Steven S. does. I ask do they have anything else inside and I mention several items that they don’t have outside.
I ask them do they have any old odd china from the mom’s house, fishing tackle they don’t use anymore, etc. Many times we have been brought inside homes and shown a ton of stuff. Sometimes it is their collection. One house we went into after I asked about old depression glass, the lady yelled at her husband, “take these folks in and show them our Vaseline and Radiated glass collection. Yep we left with 3 pieces that were duplicates of theirs.
I also give them 2 or 3 cards and tell them to give them to any friends who might be interested in selling a few things and not wanting to have a full blown yard sales.
We do 500 business cards at a time with both my and susan name, cell phone number and our regular online private domain store name on it.
And yes, we have had calls before asking if we buy so and so. And we also get calls of people who also ask us if we will take something on consignment. We don’t get many calls any more because we stick more to estate sales and auctions. But every estate sale manager we give our card to and we get advance notices of upcoming sales and we even call a few of and ask if they have any upcoming sales that will have such and such in them. One or two are good friends and they will even call us and say, we are planning a sale that will be in about 2 or 3 weeks and we will have items we know Susan will really like. Hope ya’ll can come on by.
Google business card marketing plan and do some reading and you will see how bznz cards can be a very effective marketing tool.
We run a business. I am not afraid to to say so. What do you think, if you have 6 items on a table that you are getting ready to spend $45 bucks on and you say to a question you are a reseller that they will snatch the item out of your hands and say no way you are going to buy this! heck no, they want the cash.
Here a good one for you. I am also an artists and printmaker. What if you go to a Sale and it is full of nice beautiful lamps and depression glass pieces and you say, you are glad to find these, because when you smash them up into small pieces the pieces will look great in your new mosaic artwork you are working on.
If you are a real business person, then your business is your lively hood. And their is nothing to be ashamed of about your lively hood. And actually you need to advertise and market even more.
We are actually in the process or reworking our own web site and as collateral advertising I am designing a 3 page tri-fold brochure with photos of our old Antique booths and photos of past items we have carried and current ones.
One of the old school business models called the 10,000 business card marketing plan calls for you to leave 2 or 3 business cards every place to stop, lean, sit at. Leave them on counters, I leave some in every antique store or booth I go into, I leave some on restaurant tables, convienent store bullentin boards, I leave some on the pew at our church and inside of hymnals. I will leave or drop a business card anywhere I can.
A good friend of ours Fran, taught us this. She stopped going to Sales because she had so many people calling her to come buy her stuff. I have gone with her to places where we walked in and she had the pick of the whole place. All from the fact the seller had a business card of hers.
My $1.75 and half a cup of coffee opinion again. And this reminds me I also need to order us some more business cards because we are getting low.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
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The worst thing is to go round the stalls with someone else, who, on hearing the price, loudly informs you that the seller is “having a laugh” and then proceeds to make a risibly low offer on your behalf.
The second worst thing is to go round with me, and have me ask you “What do you want to buy that crap for?”
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I mainly purchase at estate sales. Most of them around my area are by professional outfits and they already know that I resale on line, if they don’t I’ll make a point of telling them as I consider it a bargaining point in trying to get better prices. Many times I have said that I like this or that item but I need a better price to make it profitable and worth my time to resell it. I think most estate sellers realize that a large part of their sales are to resellers and dealers.
I always make a pile of stuff which seems to get me a better price, if they start pricing stuff high I’ll start rejecting items and magically prices start to drop. Always ask to be placed on their email list if they are an estate service. At garage sales I always ask if they have other stuff for sale such as old photos, Tiki stuff, fishing, toys, tools or old catalogs and such, it is surprising how often they end up having it but they didn’t put it out because they didn’t think anybody would want it.
I am able to think of only one or two times that it would of been detrimental to let the garage seller know I was a dealer – that was because they actually had a sign out that said No Resellers.
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Whenever I pick up embroidery kits (at yard sales or church lady thrift stores) I am almost always asked “Oh, so you do needlepoint?” + some comment about how young people these days aren’t usually into that kind of craft anymore. I always say “No, but I know somebody who does.”
Sometimes I get into these phases of buying a lot of things “for my sister.” Sometimes I need to check my phone to “text her” to see if she is really interested in this particular item. 😉
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I enjoy when people ask questions. I usually answer with something vague, but will often come up with whatever pops into my head first. It forces me to be quick to think, and I like the brain-exercise. Haha
“My father in law collects these, so my Christmas shopping is done now”
“I’m pretty sure this will fit my wife. Worst case, if it doesn’t, she’ll know someone that it’ll fit”
“I just love stuff like this. I’ve got a basement/garage full of it”
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