Four Signs You’re Dealing With a Garage Sale Vulture
Many of us love garage or yard sales . It was once estimated that there were about 165,000 such sales each week in this country, and while the rise of online marketplaces may have reduced those numbers in recent years, old-school garage sales still have some benefits . For example, you won’t have to deal with shipping or arranging pickup, and you can get rid of all your unnecessary inventory in one busy day instead of spending the next few months of your life selling things one item at a time.
However, there is one big downside to garage sales: vultures.
Garage Sale Vultures are the people who bring ruthless professionalism to garage and yard sales. They are often resellers who find items of real value, buy them cheap from unsuspecting people having their own backyard sales, and then resell them for a big profit online. They may also be collectors who know that rare video games, comics or other items often sell for pennies at garage sales.
There’s nothing illegal about being a vulture at a garage sale, but it goes against the spirit of a yard sale, which is usually a friendly, casual affair. However, it is useful to be able to identify them; When a vulture invades your garage, it usually means you have something worth more than you think, maybe a lot more. If you spot a vulture, you might want to reconsider your pricing strategy .
They are strangely aggressive
If you’ve ever hosted a garage sale or let your kids set up a few tables outside the house in the spirit of youthful capitalism, you know that these events tend to be sleep-inducing. If you advertise a little you might find a few people from around the area, but it’s usually pretty quiet.
Vultures tend to enhance this atmosphere. On the day of the sale, they arrive early and eagerly wait outside your house. They jump gates and can be very persistent because they are afraid that someone else will find out you have a valuable item and grab it before you do.
They bring professional equipment
Most people who come to see your garage sale will be neighbors and curious passersby. If they buy something, it will be based mainly on vibration or because they notice something that has special meaning to them. These sales are a win-win: everyone is happy.
Vultures are not here for vibrations. A sure sign that you’re dealing with one of them is that they’ve brought along professional equipment to evaluate your offerings: a jewelry loupe to examine what you think was your grandmother’s jewelry, or reference books to find out the value of your vintage baseball cards. They came for the profit, not for the thrill of finding something cool for cheap.
They’re asking for a preview
If you’re ambitious and advertise your sale in advance, online or through the tried-and-true “flyers posted around town” method, vultures may scrutinize any information you post and contact you in advance. They may call a few days before the sale and ask if they can come look at something you mentioned in your listing or they spied in a photo you posted. They know something is valuable and they want to try to get it before someone else takes it or tips it off to you. If you contact them before the sale even begins, this is a clear sign that a vulture is hunting you.
They buy in bulk
Collectors and resellers often try to save time by simply buying your entire inventory at a low price—boxes full of old comic books or unsorted jewelry, or an entire plastic tray of ancient video game cartridges. The offer is often presented as a convenience to you, since for a few dollars they will take everything off you. This saves them from having to determine right now whether any of it is actually worth anything. They may throw your things in the trash later if things don’t work out.
Your goal in hosting a garage sale is to get rid of unwanted junk and make a few bucks in the process, so selling something to a vulture may not matter to you. But vultures can make a fun day less enjoyable if they’re aggressive, and their presence often signals that you’ve got something worth real money, so being able to spot them before they invade your yard is a useful skill.