If you love shopping garage sales, Antique appraiser Gary Germer joined us to share tips to make your next outing easier and more productive.
Plan a route. Go to EstateSale-Finder.com (all local), estatesales.org, and estatesales.net. Also check out Craigslist, OfferUp.com, and Nextdoor.com to find the family garage sales. Sort through what sounds interesting and make a route — choose the one sale that stands out and go there first, then route from there.
Go early. Be in line half an hour before they open. This is a case where the early bird gets the worm; if you're not the early bird, remember it's the second rat that gets the cheese.
Bring the right gear. A loupe/magnifier, a magnet, a flashlight, a small tape measure, your phone (a.k.a. the oracle), coffee, snacks, wet wipes, blankets, and packing things, so you can see what you're missing.
Have an idea of what you're looking for — vintage clothing, fabrics, books, antique picture frames, etc. — and go to those areas first. Not that you won't look at everything, but especially if it's an estate (whole house) sale, you need to have a plan on where to go first.
Bring one friend. Garage saling is a ninja sport — in and out and onto the next one. Too many people is just frustrating; have one to drive, the other to navigate.
Bring cash. Most garage sales do not take anything but cash. Professional sales will sometimes take cards, but few garage sales will. Bring small bills — no one wants to break a $100.
Helpful search tool: go to google.com — in the search bar there's a little camera icon you can use to take a picture of an item, and it will bring up similar items from online for information and for sale.
Plan for bartering. Everyone has a technique, but politeness works so much better than being rude. Never gloat afterwards — be grateful, and then gloat in your car if you made a big score. Never offer less than half of the asking price; it's considered rude.
Originally aired on AM Northwest, KATU.
