Garage sale solicitation on CL followup

So I can no longer find the post, and I don't remember who authored it, but the title was something like "I can't believe I'm the first one to think of this." Anyway the general gist was that the person was sending solicitations to people running garage sales that he would buy tv's, kitchen sinks, etc. if they were left over after a sale.

I am considering doing the same thing, but am wondering if the payoff is worthwhile?

I mean, what can you really offer for a tv, if there's only a couple of bucks of scrap in it? Ditto the other items on his list? I can't imagine I would get very excited about having someone come to my house after my sale to give me a dollar for my television.

Thoughts?

Also, if someone can post a link to the original thread it would be much appreciated. I searched for over an hour.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...is!?highlight=

I do alright at garage sales just going and buying. I really enjoy community garages sales, I use a long board skateboard to avoid starting and stopping and dealing with the traffic, I ride around faster than anyone buy what I want hold it and if it's too large come back to pick it up. I think if I dropped a card/paper with offers on it for items we can't agree on a price on, if they don't sell I'll come back for it would work real well. There are the people who have a garage sale to get rid of junk, and then there are the ones who do it for cash. I like the garage sales where people have bins of junk and basically anything you pull out "that's a quarter" or "I'll give you all three for a buck". I found dryer cords, welding leads, 50ft extension cords for $.25 each before. Yesterday I picked up 2 pencil boxes of clean brass fittings for $1 each there was at least 3lbs of brass in each, 3 1ft long drill bits for a mushroom log project for $1, a diamond cutting blade for my saw for $.25, 2 sqaure d breaker boxes with insides for $1 each, a free computer, 2 free tvs, free tricycle, and a few other personal collectables. A few weekends ago a gentleman gave me a free cylinder head, I got a $2 battery, etc. I score boxes of battaries, cell phones and random cords for $1-$5 all the time they usually pay huge. The other thing I like is that I have a chance to peek into peoples garages and ask them about things they didn't think about selling like dead batteries, or scrap appliances.

Oh ya and I have amassed over 60lbs of brass mostly from garage sales in the past month, total cost less than 20 bucks. If you are going to email them mention brass items, they are tacky sometimes people ask nothing, other times they ask way too much but I see brass at almost every garage sale.

Here's how I maximize garage sales. Community garage sales are the best - you can spend all day on just a few streets.

• Buy some stuff - even just a token book or two. Especially when you see things like 27" CRT TVs they want $25 for.

• Leave a card offering your clean-up services. Around here, explaining that you recycle material and keep it out of a landfill works great. The Austin area is very green and eco-friendly. I don't offer to pay. At the end of the day, many people just want the stuff gone. Make a point that you'll take their dead electronics as well - even stuff they're not selling at their garage sale.

• I take all electronics (working or not) - electric, cordless, battery. All books, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, video games. All adult clothes. All power cords, extension cables, etc.

• No furniture, no CRT TVs over 27", no toys, no kids clothes. Other stuff on a case-by-case basis (knickknacks, etc.).

Electronics

We all know what to do with these - break them down unless we want to keep them for ourselves.

Books

First try http://www.cash4books.net/ If they aren't buying it, I go to Half-Price Books. If you don't have a HPB, Goodwill will take them.

CDs, DVDs, Video Games

First try http://www.secondspin.com If they aren't buying it, I go to Half-Price Books. If you don't have a HPB, Goodwill will take them.

VHS tapes

Half-Price Books or Goodwill

Clothes

Local consignment shops for name-brand, especially women's plus sizes. Otherwise Goodwill. You'll get the most bang for your buck by taking the clothes to consignment stores a season before they're needed. Right now, I'm finding a lot of winter stuff. I'll hold it until autumn then take in. No one is buying winter clothes right now - but they will be come September. I've found that consignment stores pay one of two ways - either when you bring it in, or when it sells off their rack. I prefer to get cash when I bring it in.

Blue jeans are a different story. Quilters love 100% cotton blue jeans. Don't try this with blue jeans that aren't 100% cotton. They stretch and quilters don't like that at all. Those go straight to consignment or Goodwill. Also, they must be clean and not smell, i.e., no grease stains or cigarette smoke smells. They also take a bit of preparing - kind of like your steel. You'll need good fabric scissors, a quilter's rotary cutter, square templates, and a seam ripper. Check out your local Jo-Ann's or Michael's. First cut out all the material as close to the seams as possible. Cut the material into squares using the rotary cutter and square templates - sell on eBay. See Example 1 and Example 2 and Example 3. The pockets can be sold separately. See Pockets. Even the labels can be sold. See Levi's Labels. Zippers in blue jeans are brass - just trim the fabric off them and the weight adds up fast.

Other stuff

Baby car seats I will take every time. They go straight to Goodwill. I like giving them some good stuff to go along with all my stripped out TVs and monitors. I don't like knickknacks usually - but will take if there are things like brass candlesticks.

Sorry for the long post.

I generally only buy the odd computer or wad of power cords or brass from garage sales. I have an arrangement with a local non-profit that receives most of the unsold, obsolete electronics from garage sales. I pick them up from their centralized location, which saves on my gas, and saves them disposal costs.