Monday, June 30, 2014

How much for that doggie on the roof?

How much for that doggie on the roof.
The one with waggedy tail (arf! arf!).
How much for that doggie on the roof
I do hope that doggie’s for sale (arf! arf!).

Dog has bird's eye view of the neighborhood
With apologies to Patti Page for bastardizing her lyrics, I couldn’t help but hum that song as I scanned some books at a yard sale on Saturday morning as that dog looked down from the roof, barking his displeasure at us being there.  The owner gave some convoluted explanation as to how the dog gets up there, but I really didn’t care.  I just mentally added it to the list of weird things found at yard sales.

Earlier, Ella and I had a choice of three yard sales to begin our day at 7 a.m.  A church sale, a benefit sale at a church (big distinction), and the doggie on the roof sale.  Usually, I’m partial to church sales, but something just told me that the benefit sale was the place to be.  It was a good choice.

The sale was little advertised, something that always works in our favor.  We arrived just before 7 a.m., and found the church gym full of stuff.  And we had the place to ourselves practically until we left about 45 minutes later.

I found several $100 books, assorted high-dollar DVDs, belt buckles, new in package pistol parts, Harley Davidson t-shirts, new with tag pants, and various odds and ends.  Ella found some stuff, too, including a $20 multi-speed bicycle.  We left about $100 lighter.

We stopped at the church next, which was a bust, then we headed to the house with the doggie on the roof.  The rest of the morning was spent at various estate sales, and two additional church sales, none of which came close to the riches garnered from the benefit sale.

While we were out and about, my phone “ka-chinged,” something I hadn’t heard in at least a week.  It was a good ka-ching.  I’ve started listing those Western items that didn’t sell during the film festival, and someone dropped $300 plus shipping on my collectible cowboy knife collection, almost three times what I paid for it.  In addition, my American Sentinel books, aimed toward patriotic/conspiracy minded individuals, finally sold.  Some audio cassettes, a DVD, and a K-mart clearance box of scar treatment rounded out my Ebay weekend.

I priced the knives higher on Ebay than at the film festival
On Sunday, Ella and I massaged our antique booth, and Ella actually spent some time staging our western memorabilia to make it look as fine as cream gravy.

Speaking of the booth, June sales were down a bit, but we still grossed $320, down from both April ($373) and May ($399).  After rent and fees are deducted, we’ll still get a nice check.  Despite a smaller check this month, I’m beginning to think we limited ourselves by renting a smaller space; we have so much stuff.  I am considering upgrading should a larger booth become available.

Looking ahead, with July 4 on Friday, I don’t anticipate a lot of sales for the weekend, although I could be wrong.  However, it won’t hurt my feelings to have a day off to chill and list.

Have a productive week and a safe holiday everyone.

5 comments:

  1. Ha! I needed a laugh this morning. Love the dog on the roof :) Congrats on the great finds at the benefit sale. I love church sales, but the benefit sales can be even better. I've found that neither usually does any research to figure out what their items are worth.

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  2. I love Church and Benefit Sales, too. I usually find lots of goodies there at great prices.

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  3. There might not be any good sales this weekend, but maybe we'll go to an auction.

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  4. Awesome sale on the knife set! I have always found that benefit sales and church sales are the best places to find the best and most unusual things and usually for almost nothing. Unfortunately they all seem to happen around springtime and then there's nothing again until next year.

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  5. Thanks for the article link. Very informative. We rotate our inventory every so often, and even theme parts of the booth. Right now, our theme is vintage Western items.. Later, it will be Disney. The idea behind the larger booth, and right now we are actually leaning toward a second booth on the other side of the mall when one comes available, is to put in larger pieces. We'd also like a wall to hang our artwork and homemade signs. It will be a challenge to juggle inventory for two booths, but I'm determined to make this work.

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