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Yard Sales
I'm planning on tagging along with my wife when
she goes to some yard sales this weekend. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of these things, but I figure that if I can at least poke around to see if anything electronic shows up, it can't be all bad. My question revolves around the receivers that you see on eBay; a majority of them seem to have come from either an estate sale or yard sale at some point. Would I have any luck hunting around a yard sale for a piece of shortwave equipment, or would my time be better spent going the estate sale route? Not that I want to encourage my wife in this any more than I have to; I just figure that if I'm going to be going along as the muscle, I'd like to know what my chances are for finding something interesting. For my money, I'd rather look at a hamfest, but I can also see people parting with a shortwave receiver for less money at a yard or estate sale because they don't know what they have. --Mike L. |
"Michael Lawson" wrote in message ... because they don't know what they have. You've got it. I live in a medium sized city and am retired so time isn't a problem and I probably hit 20 sales and find nothing but there is gold at the 21'st. In the last four or five years these are some of the items I can recall picking up at estate sales. McKay Dymek DA 5 $10, National NC140 $1, Sony 7600a $5, DX 380 $8, Sony 2001 $15, DX 394 $30, DX160 $10, MFJ 949 tuner $5, GE Super 1 $2, B&K 1801 freq counter $10, Simpson 260 $5, Mantis tiller (looked like it was used once or twice) $30, Delta 16' scroll saw (still in box) $30. I know the above sounds like a fairy tale but it's the gospel. There is not a dog in the above, I did have to use the deoxit on the DX160 but it looked like someone used it for a year or two and put it in storage, there was not a scratch or blemish on it. RM~ PS, Most of the above came from non-professional ran estate sales, most of the pro's price things plumb out of sight but every once in awhile they slip up. |
You never know what you will find when you get out and look around.
cuhulin |
....and then there is the Flea Market which I go to twice a week. I am
dissapointed if I don't find at least 1 killer deal on a shortwave every other weekend... "Michael Black" wrote in message ... "Michael Lawson" ) writes: I'm planning on tagging along with my wife when she goes to some yard sales this weekend. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of these things, but I figure that if I can at least poke around to see if anything electronic shows up, it can't be all bad. My question revolves around the receivers that you see on eBay; a majority of them seem to have come from either an estate sale or yard sale at some point. Would I have any luck hunting around a yard sale for a piece of shortwave equipment, or would my time be better spent going the estate sale route? I've been going to garage sales for at least a decade, and if I've ever seen a shortwave receiver, it wasn't memorable. If you think about the number of shortwave listeners to the general population, that's a starting point. If few have them, then they will be far between at garage sales. Subtract those who are savvy enough to know the channels to get a good return when selling a shortwave receiver, and you've thinned out the field considerably. What remains will be slim, spread over all the garage sales that do happen. What you find at garage sales are common items. That popcorn machine that someone bought (or was given) which they never used (much), and they want to get rid of it; they aren't all that concerned about getting much money for it. You will find uncommon items, but not in any quantity and it may take years. I've seen one CD-I player, and I think only one laserdisc player (which I was tempted to buy when I saw it two years ago, but there were no laserdiscs with it). If you're lucky, someone will put in their advertising that they have the sort of thing you really want; but that's because they have a real interest in the thing so they feel it's worthy of mention or they have a cluster of them. They want to lure people to their sale, and use what they have. What you will find is the common items. So you can pick up a good set of small speakers to attach to your shortwaver receiver (this is an incredibly common thing, and they aren't all junk but usually are cheap). You can find all kinds of amplifiers to power them. A great selection of AM/FM tuners, both analog and digital. All the car radios you could ever want. Computer equipment galore (I finally found a 56K external modem for five dollars a month ago, and ironically the next week found another for twenty dollars, yet if I've seen them before they carried a large enough price to move on, and that's been some years). If you're looking for common items, it makes sense to buy them at garage sales (usually things do work, but if they don't, you've not spent much on them), and then use the savings to buy things you can't find at garage sales. Garage sales are an excuse to get out early on Saturday mornings in the summer, to enjoy being out. Finding things you need, or would like, is like icing on the cake, and the fact that you will find them at good prices makes it even better. You can go a week, and find nothing that interests you (it is amazing how much clutter we all accumulate, and how uninteresting it can be to others), and then get a day when you've got a bunch of things at great prices. If people are really reselling things on Ebay, likely they are doing the sales on a really massive basis. Getting out as early as possible, every weekend, and getting to as many as possible. By sheer magnitude, they come across the less common items, and since they get to plenty they know how uncommon it is to find such items. If you don't buy it then, you may not stumble on another, for a few years or even forever. Also remember it makes sense to hit the sales that are clustered. If one street is having multiple sales the same day, that means you can hit more with the same amount of time, rather than spending the time getting to the next sale. While it has faded, a few years back some groups, like schools and the YMCA, held what amounted to fleamarkets, though they called them "community garage sales". Individuals would rent a table from the group, and then sell whatever they wanted to get rid of. Like the street sales, this gets a bunch of different sellers into a small space, and again mean you spend less travelling time. Not to be forgottten, though again I've never found shortwave receivers (or scanners for that matter) are rummage sales put on by churches and Rotary Clubs and schools. Since the items are donated, the groups may be most interested in making sure it's all gone by the end of the day (so they don't have to clear it out afterwards), so they may not have as high prices as when individuals sell off things they know the original price of. Michael |
I've been going to garage sales for a lot of years, and hit just about every
one I pass (sometimes a dozen or more on a Saturday), but have never run across a decent shortwave radio. I hear the stories, but it's never happened to me. Maybe it's the area I live in. "Michael Lawson" wrote in message ... I'm planning on tagging along with my wife when she goes to some yard sales this weekend. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of these things, but I figure that if I can at least poke around to see if anything electronic shows up, it can't be all bad. My question revolves around the receivers that you see on eBay; a majority of them seem to have come from either an estate sale or yard sale at some point. Would I have any luck hunting around a yard sale for a piece of shortwave equipment, or would my time be better spent going the estate sale route? Not that I want to encourage my wife in this any more than I have to; I just figure that if I'm going to be going along as the muscle, I'd like to know what my chances are for finding something interesting. For my money, I'd rather look at a hamfest, but I can also see people parting with a shortwave receiver for less money at a yard or estate sale because they don't know what they have. --Mike L. |
"Unrevealed Source" wrote in message ... Maybe it's the area I live in. No doubt the pickens are better in larger cities but the estate sales (held by individuals) are much better than yard/garage sales that are usually run over with baby items and etc.. I usually run an area of town that has a fairly high income and normally has 8 -12 estate sales on a typical Friday morning. Like another poster stated "it's an outing". RM~ |
Jim Hackett wrote:
...and then there is the Flea Market which I go to twice a week. I am dissapointed if I don't find at least 1 killer deal on a shortwave every other weekend... Like the pair of NC-88's I bought at the Greenwood Flea Market in Louisiana 16 years ago. $3 the pair and the guy put them in the car for me. "Michael Black" wrote in message ... "Michael Lawson" ) writes: I'm planning on tagging along with my wife when she goes to some yard sales this weekend. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of these things, but I figure that if I can at least poke around to see if anything electronic shows up, it can't be all bad. My question revolves around the receivers that you see on eBay; a majority of them seem to have come from either an estate sale or yard sale at some point. Would I have any luck hunting around a yard sale for a piece of shortwave equipment, or would my time be better spent going the estate sale route? I've been going to garage sales for at least a decade, and if I've ever seen a shortwave receiver, it wasn't memorable. If you think about the number of shortwave listeners to the general population, that's a starting point. If few have them, then they will be far between at garage sales. Subtract those who are savvy enough to know the channels to get a good return when selling a shortwave receiver, and you've thinned out the field considerably. What remains will be slim, spread over all the garage sales that do happen. What you find at garage sales are common items. That popcorn machine that someone bought (or was given) which they never used (much), and they want to get rid of it; they aren't all that concerned about getting much money for it. You will find uncommon items, but not in any quantity and it may take years. I've seen one CD-I player, and I think only one laserdisc player (which I was tempted to buy when I saw it two years ago, but there were no laserdiscs with it). If you're lucky, someone will put in their advertising that they have the sort of thing you really want; but that's because they have a real interest in the thing so they feel it's worthy of mention or they have a cluster of them. They want to lure people to their sale, and use what they have. What you will find is the common items. So you can pick up a good set of small speakers to attach to your shortwaver receiver (this is an incredibly common thing, and they aren't all junk but usually are cheap). You can find all kinds of amplifiers to power them. A great selection of AM/FM tuners, both analog and digital. All the car radios you could ever want. Computer equipment galore (I finally found a 56K external modem for five dollars a month ago, and ironically the next week found another for twenty dollars, yet if I've seen them before they carried a large enough price to move on, and that's been some years). If you're looking for common items, it makes sense to buy them at garage sales (usually things do work, but if they don't, you've not spent much on them), and then use the savings to buy things you can't find at garage sales. Garage sales are an excuse to get out early on Saturday mornings in the summer, to enjoy being out. Finding things you need, or would like, is like icing on the cake, and the fact that you will find them at good prices makes it even better. You can go a week, and find nothing that interests you (it is amazing how much clutter we all accumulate, and how uninteresting it can be to others), and then get a day when you've got a bunch of things at great prices. If people are really reselling things on Ebay, likely they are doing the sales on a really massive basis. Getting out as early as possible, every weekend, and getting to as many as possible. By sheer magnitude, they come across the less common items, and since they get to plenty they know how uncommon it is to find such items. If you don't buy it then, you may not stumble on another, for a few years or even forever. Also remember it makes sense to hit the sales that are clustered. If one street is having multiple sales the same day, that means you can hit more with the same amount of time, rather than spending the time getting to the next sale. While it has faded, a few years back some groups, like schools and the YMCA, held what amounted to fleamarkets, though they called them "community garage sales". Individuals would rent a table from the group, and then sell whatever they wanted to get rid of. Like the street sales, this gets a bunch of different sellers into a small space, and again mean you spend less travelling time. Not to be forgottten, though again I've never found shortwave receivers (or scanners for that matter) are rummage sales put on by churches and Rotary Clubs and schools. Since the items are donated, the groups may be most interested in making sure it's all gone by the end of the day (so they don't have to clear it out afterwards), so they may not have as high prices as when individuals sell off things they know the original price of. Michael |
That's better than my best. Picked up a Hammarlund HQ 170 for $15 but I had
to drag it away MYSELF! "D Peter Maus" wrote in message ... Jim Hackett wrote: ...and then there is the Flea Market which I go to twice a week. I am dissapointed if I don't find at least 1 killer deal on a shortwave every other weekend... Like the pair of NC-88's I bought at the Greenwood Flea Market in Louisiana 16 years ago. $3 the pair and the guy put them in the car for me. "Michael Black" wrote in message ... "Michael Lawson" ) writes: I'm planning on tagging along with my wife when she goes to some yard sales this weekend. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of these things, but I figure that if I can at least poke around to see if anything electronic shows up, it can't be all bad. My question revolves around the receivers that you see on eBay; a majority of them seem to have come from either an estate sale or yard sale at some point. Would I have any luck hunting around a yard sale for a piece of shortwave equipment, or would my time be better spent going the estate sale route? I've been going to garage sales for at least a decade, and if I've ever seen a shortwave receiver, it wasn't memorable. If you think about the number of shortwave listeners to the general population, that's a starting point. If few have them, then they will be far between at garage sales. Subtract those who are savvy enough to know the channels to get a good return when selling a shortwave receiver, and you've thinned out the field considerably. What remains will be slim, spread over all the garage sales that do happen. What you find at garage sales are common items. That popcorn machine that someone bought (or was given) which they never used (much), and they want to get rid of it; they aren't all that concerned about getting much money for it. You will find uncommon items, but not in any quantity and it may take years. I've seen one CD-I player, and I think only one laserdisc player (which I was tempted to buy when I saw it two years ago, but there were no laserdiscs with it). If you're lucky, someone will put in their advertising that they have the sort of thing you really want; but that's because they have a real interest in the thing so they feel it's worthy of mention or they have a cluster of them. They want to lure people to their sale, and use what they have. What you will find is the common items. So you can pick up a good set of small speakers to attach to your shortwaver receiver (this is an incredibly common thing, and they aren't all junk but usually are cheap). You can find all kinds of amplifiers to power them. A great selection of AM/FM tuners, both analog and digital. All the car radios you could ever want. Computer equipment galore (I finally found a 56K external modem for five dollars a month ago, and ironically the next week found another for twenty dollars, yet if I've seen them before they carried a large enough price to move on, and that's been some years). If you're looking for common items, it makes sense to buy them at garage sales (usually things do work, but if they don't, you've not spent much on them), and then use the savings to buy things you can't find at garage sales. Garage sales are an excuse to get out early on Saturday mornings in the summer, to enjoy being out. Finding things you need, or would like, is like icing on the cake, and the fact that you will find them at good prices makes it even better. You can go a week, and find nothing that interests you (it is amazing how much clutter we all accumulate, and how uninteresting it can be to others), and then get a day when you've got a bunch of things at great prices. If people are really reselling things on Ebay, likely they are doing the sales on a really massive basis. Getting out as early as possible, every weekend, and getting to as many as possible. By sheer magnitude, they come across the less common items, and since they get to plenty they know how uncommon it is to find such items. If you don't buy it then, you may not stumble on another, for a few years or even forever. Also remember it makes sense to hit the sales that are clustered. If one street is having multiple sales the same day, that means you can hit more with the same amount of time, rather than spending the time getting to the next sale. While it has faded, a few years back some groups, like schools and the YMCA, held what amounted to fleamarkets, though they called them "community garage sales". Individuals would rent a table from the group, and then sell whatever they wanted to get rid of. Like the street sales, this gets a bunch of different sellers into a small space, and again mean you spend less travelling time. Not to be forgottten, though again I've never found shortwave receivers (or scanners for that matter) are rummage sales put on by churches and Rotary Clubs and schools. Since the items are donated, the groups may be most interested in making sure it's all gone by the end of the day (so they don't have to clear it out afterwards), so they may not have as high prices as when individuals sell off things they know the original price of. Michael |
"Jim Hackett" wrote in message ink.net... ...and then there is the Flea Market which I go to twice a week. I am dissapointed if I don't find at least 1 killer deal on a shortwave every other weekend... I've found radios at local garage sales, but none of them worked and I don't know enough about how to fix them that I would buy them, even for a couple of bucks. Jackie |
www.devilfinder.com Turner South Junkin
I wonder if Val Myers went on a diet? She was getting kind of chubby looking around her waist on my tv screen there for a while.She once said on tv,they dont have good old junk like that in Los Angeles. cuhulin |
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