Thursday, July 06, 2006

Moneywise

Here's a quick tip for handling money as you shop yard sales. Keep your coins separate from your cash. A change purse with hoarded quarters is ideal. You don't want to approach a seller and ask for a better price with a twenty peeking from your wallet! Somehow I always get better prices when I am counting out change, instead.

How do you bargain without seeming rude? I always smile, ask "Is this your best price?" and wait expectantly. At least half of the sellers are unsure of pricing and easily agree to a lower amount. I am very shy--so if I can bargain, you can, too!

5 comments:

Mary Ann said...

Toward the end of each month, I take all the loose change from our cash envelopes and put them into my yard sale coin purse. I rarely dip into other funds for yard saling unless it is a bigger item that we have been looking for, such as furniture. It embarrasses my husband if I use pennies to pay for something; he thinks it looks too cheap!:-) I use one of those 3 packs of zippered cosmetic bags(Christmas gifts from a great-aunt) to sort my yard sale change. It's easy to just grab and go!

Anonymous said...

I love your wallet and change purse...is it Vera Bradley? And was it a thrifty find? I'm a "blue and yellow" gal.:o)
I don't comment often, but your blog is the first one I check every day. It's very inspiring.
Keep up the great work!
Amy O. in GA

Queen of Carrots said...

Some of my favorite polite bargaining lines: (Not that I think it's rude anyway, if people don't want to bargain, they shouldn't hold garage sales.)

"All I have on me is a twenty."

"If I take X, would you mind throwing in Y while I'm at it?"

Round numbers are always good. I was going to pay by check anyway, but I got a table and chairs set (solid beech, Danish make, almost-new condition) for $50 instead of the $65 asked for it. $50 is such a nice, round number.

Amy said...

I love yard saling and I have a very hard time asking people to go lower on the prices that they have listed. When I had my first garage sale though, not a single person paid what was on the items- they always asked if I could do better....and I always obliged. I need to get over my anxiety about rejection, I guess :)

PS- LOVE the wallet!

Karen Edmisten said...

I always just suggest the price I want to pay (and I'm shy about this, too, but I've been getting better) -- for example, if the item is marked $5, I'll just ask, "Would you take $3 for it?" I've never had anyone say no.