Does this Truth Machine Work?

I asked that question of a seller as I held up one of her items, a Truth Machine (Voice Stress Analyzer) for $2.  I could see the wheels turning in her head, debating on just how to answer.

“Tell the truth,” I said, “or I’ll hook you up to your own machine.”

Laughingly, she said that when she used it, it gave her a false negative.  The answer was just humorous enough for me to purchase the item.

Unfortunately, that was the lone bright spot of another Saturday, another day of mundane yard sales.  I wanted to stay in bed, but Ella, in her infinite wisdom, dragged me out and about, not quite kicking and screaming, but close.  As usual in these cases, I’m glad she did, even though it wasn’t quite a five-star day.

We showed up way too early for an 8 a.m. sale, and the seller stated in no uncertain terms, quite loudly, that the sell would start at 8, no earlier.  Fair enough, I thought, and came back minutes before the sale was to start, only to find people carting away items already, which really irritated me.  My irritation faded quickly, though, when I found a few good items.

Bought for $3, selling for $60

Bought for $3; selling for $75

Bought for $2; selling for $59.99

The rest of the morning was spent traveling from sale to sale, finding a few odds and ends, but no real home runs.

Later Saturday evening, we again went to the local auction, hoping for a repeat of two weeks ago when I found some nice collectible items.  Most of the items, though, were of the yard sale reject variety from one seller, and fruits, vegetables, and canned/boxed goods from the second seller of the night. No collectibles, but we did walk away with a huge cantaloupe for $3, three giant cucumbers for $2, and two jars of bacon and cheese flavored spaghetti sauce. 

Sunday was spent listing, listing, listing, and I finally hit a milestone of 400 items in my Ebay store.

I did have some good sales through the week, including this one:

I found this book at the recent Friends of the Library sale for $.50.  It had been overlooked by the hordes of locusts, I mean sellers, mainly because it was small, and didn’t have an ISBN.   It looked sellable to me, though, and upon further research, I couldn’t find another copy anywhere.  So, I listed it for $29, and sold it with best offer for $20 within a day or so.

The moral of the story is to never judge a book by its cover, or lack of an ISBN, or interest from other sellers.

Keep cool and stay busy everyone.