Yard Sale notes

Sage and I had a "multi-family" yard sale over the weekend (meaning our neighbors across the street joined us). A few observations:

• People love deals. I was amazed at how many people bought items that added up to, let's say, $8.50, and would say, "Would you take $7?" Now, that is a kind of a big discount when looking at percentages (17.65%, to be more precise). But it's an extra $1.50. I'm not sure you can buy a small (oh sorry, TALL) coffee at Starbucks for $1.50. And do I care? No way...in fact, most of the stuff we sold I'd be happy to simply give it away. But knocking off a few cents seemed to make people think they were buying the Mona Lisa for $10. As long as it makes them happy.
• The folks who come to yardsales are not the (trying to be delicate, here) slimmest of people. Our neighbors (let's call them Ben & Kris) were selling some of her clothes, and it was pretty good stuff. But hardly any of it sold, and the main reason (I think) is that the women perusing for clothes couldn't have fit into any of them. So I guess the moral of the story is big clothes sell.
• I was amazed by some of the items that did (and didn't) sell. We were selling a room screen (something like this) that was practically brand new. Wrought iron, with a cloth screen. We were selling it for $5...and it took 3 1/2 hours before it sold. I thought it would jump off the street. Meanwhile we had an ugly candelabra that sold right away.
• Some people amazed me by their impertinence. This one guy showed up about 10 minutes before we were finishing, on his bike. He picks up a few items that he wants to buy, then goes into a big talk about how he loves to ride around on his bike on weekend mornings going to yardsales, but today he forgot his wallet. And by the way, could I hold these items for him for an hour or so...he'll be back to buy them later. Oh sure, I have nothing better to do today, do I? Believe it or not, the guy did come back (about 1 1/2 hours later), and actually paid me more than what I asked for them. So I had that going for me, which is nice.
• People love free. We were selling a king-size bed frame for $5, marked down to $3 2 hours in. No one even looked at it. At Noon, when the sale was finishing up, I put a "FREE" sign on it and put it on the street. Within SECONDS it was gone. I also put out a part of a desk...one of those computer desk tops that is supposed to sit on a bottom part with a couple of doors. It's basically worthless if you don't have a bottom part. That sat in the rain for most of the afternoon, but someone eventually grabbed it. So not only is it only good for firewood, but it's also soaking wet. But one man's trash is another man's treasure, I suppose.
• We made about $100, but we paid for an ad in the paper, so we netted around $85 (after donut expenses). Not bad for clearing out the basement.

Luckily we got rid of a lot of stuff, including some old furniture, so it really cleared up space in our basement. Hopefully we won't need to have another one in a while. And I just realized this is one of the most boring things I've ever talked about...so if you haven't fallen asleep yet, I leave you with the funniest joke in the world.