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Post your Garage Sale/Flea Market/Antique Mall Finds Here
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Started by Shark,

15,838 posts in this topic

Robot Man

Robot Man

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3 hours ago, spreads said:

I agree, it's in poor taste to show-up super early.  I've ran garage sales and put stuff out exactly when advertised, so there is seller responsibility but getting there a few hours early or the night before has nothing to do with 'hard work or motivation', it's just a bit sleezy.  :P

The early sleeze gets the cheese... It's a cold fact. Estate sales are the worst. People get there at midnight to be first in line. Nothing sleezy about it. Determined, yes. They deserve to beat out the folks that are not as motivated. Now, sneaking in early, calling ahead, throwing away the "number sheet" ect, yeah, that is real wrong. It is a real tough business. I pretty much stay away from garage sales and estate sales any more. If a seller wants to sell early or on the side I guess it's up to them. Fair or honor just doesn't work in these situations. If you want to play in that pool you just have to tough up or avoid them and find other avenues to find stuff. 

I do far better at flea markets, antique shows or stores. I make friends with dealers that turn up stuff I like. I spend money with them and let them know I am serious.  I let them battle the estate sales, garage sales and storage rooms. I just step in and pay up a little more to get the better stuff I really want. They often save it for me and I get first pick. Sleezy? No, smart...

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Ducky13

Ducky13

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I usually dont have much luck finding good comics at yard sales, flea markets or antiques. Today while antiquing with my wife I came accross a small stack of random comics maybe 15 in all and found this gem. Initially didn’t think about getting it because I already have one ( a first print) but then noticed it was a HTF 5th print, was pretty happy about that. Cost me $2

67D8F8A9-03D5-4FF6-965E-4A590B5A2C0F.jpeg

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wolverine180

wolverine180

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2 hours ago, Ducky13 said:

I usually dont have much luck finding good comics at yard sales, flea markets or antiques. Today while antiquing with my wife I came accross a small stack of random comics maybe 15 in all and found this gem. Initially didn’t think about getting it because I already have one ( a first print) but then noticed it was a HTF 5th print, was pretty happy about that. Cost me $2

67D8F8A9-03D5-4FF6-965E-4A590B5A2C0F.jpeg

Nice score :golfclap:

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spreads

spreads

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16 hours ago, Robot Man said:

The early sleeze gets the cheese... It's a cold fact. Estate sales are the worst. People get there at midnight to be first in line. Nothing sleezy about it. Determined, yes. They deserve to beat out the folks that are not as motivated. Now, sneaking in early, calling ahead, throwing away the "number sheet" ect, yeah, that is real wrong. It is a real tough business. I pretty much stay away from garage sales and estate sales any more. If a seller wants to sell early or on the side I guess it's up to them. Fair or honor just doesn't work in these situations. If you want to play in that pool you just have to tough up or avoid them and find other avenues to find stuff. 

I do far better at flea markets, antique shows or stores. I make friends with dealers that turn up stuff I like. I spend money with them and let them know I am serious.  I let them battle the estate sales, garage sales and storage rooms. I just step in and pay up a little more to get the better stuff I really want. They often save it for me and I get first pick. Sleezy? No, smart...

I would say that's being shrewd.  Getting to a place in the early hours is not worth it for me - I place a higher value on my free time.  It's the guys that FineCollector referred to earlier, the purest form of sleezy middle-man out there.  You know the guys, the ones that beat-up a seller on something that's already underpriced using some hore nonsense like 'this is for me son', to flip it to the next guy in line that's a collector willing to pay what the original seller was asking for in the first place.

I had a dealer sneak in on a key book I was after, only to flip it to another guy for a 10% mark-up, why?  Much later afterwards I found out this guy (dealer) is a borderline comic-hoarder, with not much else to show for in his life in terms of personal or professional achievements.  When I found that out, I didn't feel so bad....

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Robot Man

Robot Man

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How about an estate sale success story?

About a year ago, I saw an ad for a local sale with the photo below.

Sale started at 9:00. Got there at 6:00 knowing I probably was too late and indeed, I was. Talking to the guy in the front of the line I found he was there for the same thing. He said he had gotton there at midnight and sat in his car. I had gone for the comics but figured I would hang around anyway because I’m into a lot more than comics.

The other comic guy seemed cool so we talked Comics for a while and seemed to get along pretty well. As luck would have it, he said he only wanted the Bat, Supe and Hornet and if I wanted the rest, he would hand them to me once we got in!

So I just walked in with him. We walked up to the table and sure enough he handed me the rest. I said thanks. He paid for his 3 and left. While I was paying for the comics and a couple other things, the guy at the table said wait a minute. He had forgotten about “the rest of the comics” and proceeded to pull out about 20 more from under the table. All similar stuff including a nice Detective with a Joker cover! They were priced from about $3. to $15. each. I ended up buying them all at  little discount. 

Very fun and lucky score!

66E6E366-E9A3-4929-B9D6-F67BFD23CC58.jpeg

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Shawnismaximus

Shawnismaximus

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1 hour ago, Robot Man said:

How about an estate sale success story?

About a year ago, I saw an ad for a local sale with the photo below.

Sale started at 9:00. Got there at 6:00 knowing I probably was too late and indeed, I was. Talking to the guy in the front of the line I found he was there for the same thing. He said he had gotton there at midnight and sat in his car. I had gone for the comics but figured I would hang around anyway because I’m into a lot more than comics.

The other comic guy seemed cool so we talked Comics for a while and seemed to get along pretty well. As luck would have it, he said he only wanted the Bat, Supe and Hornet and if I wanted the rest, he would hand them to me once we got in!

So I just walked in with him. We walked up to the table and sure enough he handed me the rest. I said thanks. He paid for his 3 and left. While I was paying for the comics and a couple other things, the guy at the table said wait a minute. He had forgotten about “the rest of the comics” and proceeded to pull out about 20 more from under the table. All similar stuff including a nice Detective with a Joker cover! They were priced from about $3. to $15. each. I ended up buying them all at  little discount. 

Very fun and lucky score!

66E6E366-E9A3-4929-B9D6-F67BFD23CC58.jpeg

Wow. That was super nice of the other comic guy to hand you those!

Also I love the classic forgetful garage sale guy with comics under the table. I was at a garage sale last year and asked if they had any comics and the lady was like "oh yeah, we got a box full in the basement I'll go grab them."  It turns out they had a ton of comics from the 50's-70's for sale at a previous garage sale, and someone had come and bought everything from the 50's/60's or anything with a super-hero on the cover for ten cents each. They were originally asking $.50 each but the guy convinced them they weren't worth that much. They realized afterwards that they were in fact worth some money and did a bit of research on the ones left.

Anyways long story short, she sold the remaining comics to me for a good price. She was one of those rare people that realize they shouldn't expect to sell it for what it sells for on ebay. But I never would have known about them if I hadn't asked. Now I ask at most garage sales. If the people are friendly and talkative at least. 

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Bird

Bird

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On 5/15/2018 at 1:02 PM, spreads said:

I agree, it's in poor taste to show-up super early.  I've ran garage sales and put stuff out exactly when advertised, so there is seller responsibility but getting there a few hours early or the night before has nothing to do with 'hard work or motivation', it's just a bit sleezy.  :P

I have had 3 or so "comic book yard sales" and at the first one someone drove up to my house in northern NJ from Maryland. They were here about an hour early. I let them sit and set up as planned but was fine with them browsing as soon as a box was out. He bought a few hundred dollars worth but has not come back (even though I held some titles back on purpose but that first sale had tons of X-Men and ASM). Sounds good to me.

 

On 5/15/2018 at 11:38 AM, mackenzie999 said:

Bird in the hand kind of thing.

Wow. And I didn't even have to buy you drinks.

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Aweandlorder

Aweandlorder

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On 5/15/2018 at 5:10 PM, Ducky13 said:

I usually dont have much luck finding good comics at yard sales, flea markets or antiques. Today while antiquing with my wife I came accross a small stack of random comics maybe 15 in all and found this gem. Initially didn’t think about getting it because I already have one ( a first print) but then noticed it was a HTF 5th print, was pretty happy about that. Cost me $2

67D8F8A9-03D5-4FF6-965E-4A590B5A2C0F.jpeg

Looks like it needs a quick press

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jhutton2

jhutton2

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I don’t often get to hit the garage sale circuit but got a stellar find this morning. 5 original vintage move posters dating the earliest from 1947.   The Marilyn Monroe film poster is worth some substantial $$$.  Grand total paid=$50 Canadian.    The Heavy Metal poster I picked from someone’s garbage when they cleaned the house to move the week before=$0 for that one ?

 

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Robot Man

Robot Man

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Flea market pickup today. MAD Magazines from #25 to #67 including a nice #30 (1st Alfred E Neuman cover). Also a bunch of Help and Humbug. A pleasant surprise was Trump #1 and the so hard to find Wonder Warthog #1 by Gilbert Shelton (Freak Bros). These have gotton so hard to find these early ones in nice shape out in the wild. 

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9B72CD07-07D6-43A2-94E5-550E9D1DCC85.jpeg

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