Garage/Estate Sale Success?

[Tripredacus]

Garage Sales are tough and you need to go to MANY of them. In my experience, you find something really good (at a decent price) maybe 1% of the time. The lesser amount of things you know about, the lower that percentage will go.

Others I know who do the garage sale circuit also report good luck in asking about things that are not out for sale. Often a person will not put out something for sale if they feel it has no value or is outdated. Especially when it comes to niche hobbies, it never hurts to ask. Just be careful you don't ask in such a way that makes dollar signs pop up in the person's eyes!

[Cozumeleno]

Originally Posted by Tripredacus

Others I know who do the garage sale circuit also report good luck in asking about things that are not out for sale. Often a person will not put out something for sale if they feel it has no value or is outdated. Especially when it comes to niche hobbies, it never hurts to ask. Just be careful you don't ask in such a way that makes dollar signs pop up in the person's eyes!

This was a practice I found common as well. One of the best deals I found, a mostly-complete 1971 Topps Football Set for $10, was buried under a table in a shoebox that the seller only brought out once I asked if they had any cards. At the time, I didn't collect older football at all but figured they had to be worth at least that.

I agree with the other sentiments that you're not likely to pick up tobacco cards at these things. But there are good deals to be had on 50s, 60s, and 70s stuff. I just found good deals to be too few and far between to be worth the trouble of getting up, driving around, etc. The other issue is that you have to realize you're not the only one doing this. I can't tell you the number of times that I'd stop by a sale and hear 'Oh, you should have been here an hour ago - a guy bought everything I had.' It's a pretty competitive market and you often have to be up at the crack of dawn to beat the local sharks to the punch.