Thursday, October 25, 2012

Update on my "yard sale" dealings

Continuing on in my quest to clear space and make mega-bucks, I sold a lovely wooden chest.  I had dimensions typed directly onto the photo (in a large, contrasting font) and even had magazines in 1 photo to give an idea of scale.  Many people responded, and 1 person that I sort of know (brief interactions when we initially moved here 3 years ago) was the first to say I'll hand over $.  I told her I'd be at Walmart (next town over) at a certain time, she said that would be great.  Fast forward two days, and I give her a ring after I've parked to find out where she's at.  There's a long pause -- "Oh, I thought you were bringing it to my house."  I DON'T HAVE YOUR ADDRESS, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU THINK THAT?!?  I get directions, then double back to her apartment.  As I heaved it out of the car, the look on her face says it's not what she expected - turns out she wanted it for a coffee table, and it's way smaller than that.  I ask her if she had noticed the dimensions, and she laughingly shrugged it off: "I'm so bad with visualizing stuff!"  I am too, but if I'm purchasing furniture you'd better believe I have a tape measure out!  Anyhoo, she agreed to take it anyway, and then yesterday I receive a message from her wondering if she could give it back so I could resell it.  Uh, no way am I driving back over to pick it up due to your error!  Sheesh.  Yeah, she's now selling it on the site.

On a happier note, I did snag some clothes for our daughter, arranged a clothing trade with someone and may even have made a new friend in the process.

And finally, I've often lamented that things are just way overpriced down here compared to what I was used to paying up north.  I think it's a variety of factors: American goods are in demand south of the border and a lot of people run businesses reselling stuff, plus there just aren't that many options around.  I love the idea of finding old furniture in need of a little love, doing a light sand, tightening screws, and slapping on some paint to make a lovely new piece - the blogosphere is full of such projects, generally starting with statements like, "I picked this up at Goodwill for $30."  THIS is what was on the yard sale site this morning:

Im selling my antic cabnit it is 50 years old im asking 275 cash
 Most definitely not an antique (or even an "antic")

1 comment:

Nessa said...

LMAO! When I'm bored I read Craigslist postings to see how many rednecks I can spot just by reading. it's not hard when things like "lone motors" redneck for lawn mower apparently and ride in mowers, redneck for riding mowers, are listed and requested fairly often. Antic cabnit is definitely a new one though. Can't say I ever saw anyone selling one of those! Must be rare!