[Blindtlk] How do blind people have garage sales?

[Julie J.]

I had a garage sale years ago.  It is a ton of work for next to no money. 
If you are having the garage sale to get some cash, I'd look into selling 
the stuff on EBay or talking to a local consignment shop.

I tried to put the stuff in some sort of orderly fashion, so I'd have a clue 
where things were if someone was looking for something specific, all the 
clothes on one table, all the kitchen stuff on another table etc.  It 
helped, a little.

It was a windy day and stuff kept blowing off the tables.  The coat rack 
blew over, landing on a table...it was kind of a headache.

The local newspaper has a special garage sale package.  You get an ad in the 
classifieds, plus  some signs to put out directing people to your house, 
plus price stickers.  I labeled some of the stuff and relied on the 
customers to read me the price tags.  I had a really good idea of how much I 
had put on each item and people will want to bargain, so it worked out okay. 
I didn't put price tags on everything though.  that turned out to be a 
mistake.  People want to know how much you want for everything, even if they 
will try to talk you to a lower price.  Maybe you could sort things by price 
on different tables or something.

To handle cash, I wore jeans with four pockets.  I kept the ones in the 
front right pocket, fives in the front left, tens in the back left and the 
twenties in the back right pocket.  It worked out really well because I 
always had the money with me and could walk around and interact with 
customers.  This was before money identifiers and I relied on the customers 
to tell me what bills they were giving me.  I was primarily interested in 
getting rid of extra stuff, so if someone gave me a 1 and told me it was a 
5, it wasn't a life altering concern to me.  I don't think that happened 
though.

Overall the customers were very honest, helpful and courteous to me.  They 
are just cheap.  *smile*  Or maybe I lack good sales skills?  That could be 
too.

I did have the help of my sighted son.  I'm thinking he was around ten or so 
then.  Mostly he kept me company and collected the stuff that kept blowing 
away.

Good luck!
Julie
Courage to Dare: A Blind Woman's Quest to Train her Own Guide Dog is now 
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-----Original Message----- 
From: Chaim B. Segal via blindtlk
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2015 4:05 PM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Blindtlk] How do blind people have garage sales?

Hi All:

I am in the process of reorganizing my house, for a possible move, and need 
to get %rid of or sell a boatload of stuff. I currently rent, and may have 
to borrow somebody's front or back yard to have a garage sale. I'm just 
curious to know if anyone on here has ever done one before? How much sighted 
help, aside from transporting all the stuff over there, is needed? Can a 
blind person successfully carry out the process of having a garage sale? The 
only thing I can see might be problematic might be payment. One of the 
things I will be selling is a huge upright freezer which will cost a 
significant amount. Would it be best to have the buyer pay me through 
Pay'Pal for this item if they have an account?

I just want to know what I may be dealing with, as I am uncertain how long I 
can have sighted help for any lasting block of time.

Thanks!


Chaim

Chaim B. Segal
Customer Service Representative
Sinclair Community College
E-mail: chaimsegal at sbcglobal.net

Every man, woman, every boy and girl,
Let your love light shine, make a better world.
[Daryl Hall & John Oates

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