that didn't suck

[darren_stranger]

The garage sale went swimmingly, started off slowly with the wet weather but picked up later on.  One early caller bought a stack of our vinyl records (sorry Tom, there's not much left) and gave us a $100 start to the day before we'd even set up (so we decided not to shoot him), then it was mostly little old ladies picking over the unspooky stuff for the first hour or so.

 

A bit later a young gay-ish fellow seemed the first to have a real taste for our style and was well pleased with Elaine's SEX belts and the mesh body suit with rubber nipples.  That was probably the best thing about the day - seeing peoples eyes light up on finding things that we'd had just gathering dust for years, from the big burly guy striding off with in my old hat set jauntily on his head to the tattooed dude who fell in love with Elaine's dead fox at first sight.

 

Another good thing was having friends drop by and make it a social gathering (though sorry we weren't as talkative in the early post-Sforzando hungover part of the day - i blame Andre for introducing me to Coopers Pale).  It was just like having a party, except people keep handing you money and taking things away for you.  :)

 

Looking at all our gear spread out across the tables, racks and footpath, it really confirmed the fact that we are utter stereotypes (and here i was wondering if it would be 'gothic' enough to live up to the way we'd advertised it).  On the other hand, i was glad it was us that was selling the stuff, as if it had been anyone else's we probably would have rushed in and bought up half of it (which i guess is no surprise, since we actually did buy most of it once before).

 

Hint for anyone having a garage sale - don't pack up early!

 

At about five we thought it was winding down and cracked a bottle of wine to relax, and that's when it really kicked off, as the crusty/punky/hippy/thingy folk from up the street strolled along to check it out.  I'd been hoping they'd pop along, as i figured they'd appreciate our stuff.  I wasn't wrong - one of them declared it The Best Garage Sale In The World (though another pointed out that that's because he's from Perth).  We were pretty much giving stuff away by then, but it was still worth it to see someone get excited about scoring this or that (instead of someone at an opp shop sorting room who probably wouldn't give a stuff) and all those $2s and $3s really add up by the end of the day.

More importantly, most of the stuff we would have been tempted to keep went, so there's some chance we'll actually have breathing room in the next house (provided we keep to that 'something in, something out' rule we never have managed to before).

 

We ended up staying there until it got dark, and even then a few people came by and bought things as we were packing up.  A very enjoyable (and profitable) way to pass the day, though lack of chair-planning left our legs tired and sore.

 

Thanks to everyone who dropped by (oh, and Andre - i overcharged you for those records, Elaine was going to give them to you for half that (i would have too except they weren't mine) so i guess i owe you a couple more pints).

 

Looks like we won't have to have another one, though it's kind of a pity we had this just as we're moving out of the street, as it's a great way to meet your neighbours (mental note - next time have one on moving *into* a new street).

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/raven_/]

Nice to hear it all went well, and Tal *loves* his Kiss dolls :-)

[ltempt.livejournal.com]

All good; see you for Coopers Pale next time there is a band on.

Glad the garage sale worked out so well - it was entertaining even in my less-than-stunning state of consciousness.

[bar-bar-ella.livejournal.com]

May I enquire as to what forms of advertising you used that proved so successful? :)

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Very little, actually.

We posted on Melbournegoths about it, since that's where the main 'target market' for our gear would be. Other than that we just put up a few flyers about our neighbourhood, a big cardboard sign on the corner and balloons outside our house.

A couple of people mentioned LJ, but the bulk of people were friends, neighbours and passers-by.

We had thought about putting something in the paper, but didn't want to spend any money in case we didn't sell anything, and also figured anyone looking it up in the paper would be after cut-price furniture and electricals.

Worked out pretty well, nevertheless.