When Buying New is Cheaper

Was going to post about our garage sale. Tried twice, but both times deleted it all. It's just not that interesting. Suffice to say it has gone well. We've made a fair amount of money and seen the last of a fair amount of things. Next week is the "big" week. It is the city's annual summer days festival, and part of that is a city-wide garage sale. There should be dozens of sales going on simultaneously, which should bring in a large number of people. More people means more sales. However, more garage sales means more competition. We'll see how it turns out.

Taking a few days off. It's rainy and cold. Will start again on Tuesday or Wednesday. Not quite half way to getting Son his saxophone. We'll make it if we can get the appliances into the garage and sold. Those are big ifs. Just getting them out of the house is going to be a pain.

The only real pain about doing this are the "hagglers". These are people who insist on bigger bargains than you're giving them. Had a guy come and look at a seed and fertilizer spreader we're selling. It's only two years old and I'm only asking five dollars. It costs forty dollars new. He only wanted to pay three. Had he come on Tuesday (our first day) I probably would have given in. But he came on Friday. Spouse was sick. It was windy (and blowing all of my tags off and items over). The day was slow. I was crabby. Told him if a $35 dollar savings wasn't good enough for him he could forget it. He took the spreader for five, but talked me down on some hoses and sprinkler heads.

I'm not a haggler. Don't enjoy it at all. But some people love it. It's a game to them. The guy who I did haggle with over the hoses actually smiled because he was having so much fun. Don't know what it is about arguing back and forth that appeals to some people. Like drinking coffee. Never could see how people can drink the stuff.

Got a new plan for those annoying bas - people - who show up, look at something incredibly underpriced, and say, "What's your minimum on this?"

The temptation, of course, is to respond with, "Read the frikkin' price tag, you idiot!" But I'm not going to do that. Going to think it. Not going to do it.

No. This is what I intend to do. Assume the item costs ten dollars. When I'm asked what my absolute minimum price is, I am going to respond with, "Twelve dollars."

When they point out to me that the price tag I put on the item says ten dollars I will say, "Well, I suppose I could let it go for that. Will you pay eleven?"

Did something like that with the guy and the hoses. He saw our bicycles and asked how much they were. Then he saw the sign which read, "Bikes Not For Sale." Then he asks again how much they are. I tell him $600 apiece. He opens his mouth to being haggling, but before he can say anything I add, "We paid $500 for them. But we'll take $600. If you want to pay less than that you'll have to go buy new." He paid for his stuff and left.

A*sholes. See how they like it.