Tool Man going, going, gone

It wasn’t a good Saturday night at the auction for the seller that I nicknamed Tim the Tool Man.

To be fair, the auction in Byron isn’t a big production, with usually no more than 10 to 15 buyers, and while “good stuff” can be bought occasionally, yard sale castoffs at yard sale prices seem to be the norm.

Tim the Tool Man brought “good stuff.”  He was an official clearance dealer for Home Depot, and had spread out an assortment of new tools that would make Tim Allen grunt with pleasure.  Unfortunately, he wanted good prices for his good tools, but the audience wanted bargains.  As the night progressed, he grew more and more agitated as he begrudging sold some items at auction prices, and refused to sell others.

Finally, he decided he was going to take his ball and go home, and loaded up his tool trailer and left. 

I really can’t blame him, because he repeatedly said he was selling the items at less than he paid for them.  Still, I firmly believe that if you put your items up for auction, you need to sell them for the final gavel price, so to speak.

Earlier Saturday, Ella and I hit a yard sale that at first glance appeared to be a bust, but then the seller said that everything was a dollar.  Well, now, that was a horse of a different color.  Here are a few items that I got for a measly buck each:

The only other bright spot of the morning was a small estate sale.  We got there late, but it was still crawling with buyers, and I didn’t have much faith that I would find anything of value.  I was wrong, thankfully, and was able to walk away with several good items, including this new in package Facial-Flex Facial Exercise System that I purchased for $2, and sold within hours for $33 on Amazon.

Speaking of Amazon, I also sold a two-volume set titled The First and the Last and Adolf Galland: A Pilot's Life in War and Peace for $173 on Saturday.  Sales also were good on Ebay over the weekend, with several items from my recent lot buy from a retired schoolteacher selling:

Best Offer price was $50

I’ve almost made my money back on that lot, and I still have at least 14 boxes to list.  With school just around the corner, I really need to get busy, or busier, as the case may be.

As usual, too much to do and so little time.  Thankfully, all the rain we are having is keeping me inside listing Ebay stuff, and not outside mowing.   Our dogs, however, don’t seem to like squatting in the tall grass, so I guess I have to take care of that soon.

I hope everyone has a fun Fourth of July on Thursday!