Garage Sale

We had a community garage sale last Saturday and it was fun. It officially starts @ 7:30 am but the early birds started cruising for bargain as early as 6:00 AM. It's not easy preparing for garage sale, I had to iron some pants & dresses so it appeals to the customers. Sort the clothes based on pricing and sizes. Pricing all of them which was the hardest part. I had lofty goal of pricing items @ $5.00 to $10.00 range. These bargain hunters are expert negotiators.
Buyer: How much is this?
Me: $1.00 (Thinking it's a fair price)
Buyer: How about 50 cents.
Me: No. $1.00.
Buyer: 50 cents.
Me: OK.
Next time around when buyer B asked for pricing, I up my price to $2.00 so I at least have negotiating room for the potential haggler; however buyer B is not a haggle so she put the dress back on the rack and looked at something else. I wasn't good enough to read people to tell the difference between haggler vs. non-haggler.
When I realized merchandise wasn't moving as fast as I liked, I had to price them between $0.50 to $3.00. At that price, everything was a bargain and merchandise were moving faster. Note that most of the things I was selling were my clothes and S's out grown clothes. Brother in-law family was there too. They had lots of baby toys so people were really into them. At the end of the day, I got some cash in my pocket. Was it worth my time? it was exciting trying to sell things but not really in the global sense. It was fun to see peoples buying and haggling behavior but I rather be on the other side on the fence. Next year this time, I will go shopping because it's a better investment of my time and money. I know hubby will be furious when I bring home other peoples unwanted things. I rather bargain hunt and give out stuff away to charity and get a tax write off.
It was quite a learning experience. I think twice now when I'm paying retail prices for things when I go shopping.