Week 17 [09.29.07]

Day Total: $8.00

Sales Visited: 35

1 NES (w/ RF adapater)
2 NES controllers
1 Tetris (NES, cart + manual + sleeve)
1 Super Mario 2 (NES, cart + sleeve)
1 Super Mario 3 (NES, cart + manual + sleeve)
1 Bubble Bobble (NES, cart + sleeve)
1 Mickey Mousecapade (NES, cart + manual + sleeve)
1 DuckTales (NES, cart + manual + sleeve)
1 TMNT (NES, cart + sleeve)
1 Ghosts 'n Goblins (NES, cart + manual + sleeve)
1 Paperboy (NES, cart + manual + sleeve)
1 Top Gun (NES, cart + sleeve)
1 Aladdin (GEN, complete)
1 Sonic (GEN, cart + case)
1 Jurassic Park (GEN, complete)
1 Flashback (GEN, complete)
1 Sonic 2 (GEN, complete)
1 Road Rash II (GEN, complete)
Paid: $5.00


1 Commando (NES, cart only)
1 Burger Time (NES, cart only)
1 The Legend of Kage (NES, cart only)
Paid: $0.50


1 NFL Blitz 2000 (N64, cart only)
1 Madden 2001 (N64, cart only)
1 Goldeneye 007 (N64, cart only)
1 NFL Quarterback Club 2000 (N64, cart only)
1 Boxing (GB, cart only)
Paid: $1.00


1 Game Boy Color
1 Pokemon Red (GB, cart only)
1 Frogger (GBC, cart only)
1 Tomb Raider (GBC, cart only)
1 Disney's El Dorado (GBC, cart only)
1 Tomb Raider Strategy Guide (Prima)
Paid: $1.00


2 NES controllers
Paid: $0.50


Big day. Lots of sales going on. The weather was sunny, but a chilly breeze was blowing. A reminder that another season of yardsaling will be winding down soon.

We got the NES and Sega bundle near the end of the day. The daughter of the guy running the sale, about our age, went inside and brought everything out. Offered $5 and she took it without hesitation. As we were walking down the driveway to our car, we noticed two guys watching us walk away with everything. Usually people are focusing on their own hunting, so it was unusual to have other customers stand and watch us go.

The GBC bundle was marked $5, and we almost just walked away, thinking there's no way they would take a dollar. But we remembered, always make an offer! The worst they can say is no. We offered a dollar and the woman took it without question. Who knew! It was just a reminder to always give it a shot.

One house had a sign that said "Please remove your shoes." Um, no? And good thing. There were nails and other broken things scattered over the floor. It was a bizarre request in and of itself, but there was a huge pile of shoes by the door and several shoeless customers walking around. Some misinformed guy was actually rummaging through the shoe pile as if they were for sale, until one of the sale-holders ran over and yelled "Hey those are people's shoes! You can't buy those!" If you are opening your house for a yardsale, you can't expect people to take off their shoes. Isn't that part of the price you pay for letting strangers roam your house? They were also selling an XBox for $90. No thanks.

Another sale was selling Donkey Kong bongos (w/ box, but no game), for $18. We also saw a PS1 mini at a sale we had been to several months before. When we asked about games, the guy pulled out a box from under a table that was covered in a table cloth (so you couldn't even see underneath if there was anything). He said he thought it was broken, so we took a look at the games. Not seeing anything of interest, we said that we'd take a gamble on the system for $1. He looked at us and said, "Nooo, I think it's worth more than that. I was gonna test it later. I can call you back and let you know if it works." We said no thanks, and he put it back under the table.

Another yardsale was run by 9-12 year old kids. It seemed to be a few neighboring families that converged at one house. Naturally, insane asking prices for junky toys. They had a handful of bargain bin PS2 games, asking $5-10. Definitely nothing of worth or interest. Which brings the topic of "kid prices". It's rarely ever beneficial to have your child set the prices, for the buyer or seller. At this sale, for example, they were asking $10 for a tiny, crappy plastic toy that you would find at the dollar store. Last year, a kid tried to sell us Pokemon Silver at an inflated price because "it has save data on it, so it's worth more". Kids just do not have a concept of money and items' worth, and how to determine what is reasonable or not. Thus, you have things that just won't sell. You can always tell when you come up to a sale after 11AM with kids manning full tables that you've come upon a "kid prices" sale. And if you try to bargain, one of the parents usually comes over and says something to the affect of, "that's what he's asking", and that's it.

We'll be going away next weekend, so hopefully we won't miss much around here!