We had the estate sale over the weekend. We hired a company to do it and their normal mode of operation is to open the sale Thursday and Friday from 10:30 to 5 and then on Saturday everything is 50% off. They called a couple days ahead and announced that they didn’t think we had enough stuff to justify all 3 days so we told them that was fine but they weren’t getting a half price day and to go ahead and advertise it for three days anyway. 

We spent Saturday with the hardcore bargain hunters who love the final day of a sale. The good news is that we actually moved a lot of stuff to neighbors. The hard part was that since we just really want the stuff gone we were making some crazy deals. Next door got a 22’ extension ladder, an 8’ step ladder and a bunch of other stuff for $100.

What I found most interesting but probably shouldn’t have surprised me was the number of people who wouldn’t bite on ‘I don’t know, make me an offer’ so there were a few things that sold higher than I expected because people can’t or won’t negotiate. Someone had built a pile of stuff and wouldn’t make an offer so I’d say “I don’t know. Is that worth $100?’ and they’d agree to pay $100. I would have been happy with half that because I really want the stuff gone.

Also, it’s kind of fun to haggle a little bit. I had a router table marked at $75 and this guy asked if I would take $30. I said ‘Dude, there’s a router attached to it’ he replied ‘Yeah but it’s a Ryobi’ ‘Still, either item by itself would be over $100 new.’  We settled at $40 and it was fine. 

I had a couple of ‘what’s the least you’d take for <X>?’ to which I always – ALWAYS – reply “What’s’ the most you’d pay for it?” and it locks people up. That response is somehow super hard to deal with