Time again to talk about yardsale signs

cyberdan

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I have a few pet peeves and one of them is YARDSALE SIGNS. I don't get angry when I see a dumb or stupid sign I just wonder about the education level of the maker.

This last Saturday I could only squeeze in 2.5 hours of sales and spotted three signs that made me wonder.

sign #!: SAIL --->

sign #2: BIG GAR B

and last but not least

sign #3:

no I didn't forget to type anything the big white sign was completly blank.
 

diggummup

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I usually don't even pay attention to signs. I make my list and go by it. Every now and then if it's slow I may venture off in the direction of a sign posted if it looks new. One of my pet peeves are the imbeciles that list their sale on Craigslist but don't put an address. Then you emaill them to tell them about it, and they never edit the listing or contact you back.
 

OldSowBreath

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Add in those 12"x12" hardware store Garage Sale signs that they fill in with pencil, and post to a telephone pole. Can't tell you the number of times I've almost been killed trying to read or decipher those.

By far the best signs are the large, day-glo green or orange, with big letters; not only the address but a few ---> help when coming from a busy street.

Let's also add in Craigslist - Postings where they get so excited they forget the address and/or date and time.
 

Minrelica

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I just got back from my 4th year of the "100 mile garage sale" here in Minnesota/Wisconsin so I've see it all, believe me.

There really needs to be signs that have check boxes on them for various categories/items. That way we won't be surprised, or ah.. totally pissed off when we get to the sale and they have NOTHING BUT BABY CLOTHES. Wake up people!!

Is your sale really a 10 family sale? Really?? Everyone put in a T-shirt or a beat up piece of Tupperware? Thanks for wasting my time.

What, there's NO SALE TODAY? Well there was a sign :icon_scratch:.. Oh, must be MY fault since you were too LAZY to take down your sign from last weekend.

I could go on and on but that's just a few at the moment...
 

goldinmypan

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As far as signs go, I'd rather see a arrow than an address. Since I'm usually alone, what am I going to do pull over and get out a map to find some street I never heard of? Follow the arrows. Much easier. And of course the date.
 

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cyberdan

cyberdan

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By far the best signs are the large, day-glo green or orange, with big letters
Yes, those are the best. Except, what I saw this weekend. I forgot about this. I was following several big bright green signs and making a few turns. I get to a piddly little yard sale with a big red sign. I am now wondering if there is another yard sale just around the curve with a big green sign. I have to get out and ask, and yes all the signs were theirs. What a waste of real good signs.
 

tennessee digger

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You all have some good insight into the signs and here is something that I look for. If the sign is neatly printed and colorful than they are usually young people with some better stuff. If they are taking the time to make a good sign then they will have clean things. If they are posting on craigslist then that means that they have a computer and it is not "old people's stuff". Now I'm old myself but around here some of the older folks usually have a lot of junk ( not always ) like flower vases, tupperware bowls, vhs tapes, plastic coffee cups, ect. Tennessee digger
 

diggummup

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Here's another way to look at it too, if someone is too stupid to make a decent sign then they are probably just as stupid when it comes to the value of their items. Just a thought. There are a lot of mentally deficient people out there.
 

jerseyben

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No way you can judge the sale by the sign... Been surprised far too many times.
Arrows are the best. Last year I stopped to read every single sign and risked life + tickets in the process. Now I just follow arrows or drive around the block where I think the sale might be.

THIS YEAR I have hit 4 "town-wide" sales in a row! It is 100X better than making a list and following signs. Just drive to the most populated part of town and drive from block to block (or park and walk down the street).
 

2ndisbest

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I usually don't even pay attention to signs. I make my list and go by it. Every now and then if it's slow I may venture off in the direction of a sign posted if it looks new. One of my pet peeves are the imbeciles that list their sale on Craigslist but don't put an address. Then you emaill them to tell them about it, and they never edit the listing or contact you back.

I was looking on craigs list for some garage sales and some guy took the time to write out a post about people not putting addresses in their posts. I got a laugh out of it. The bad thing by me is that the popular paper to list garage sales is $35 just for a small box ad in the paper. I have noticed a hell of a lot more unadvertised garage sales in the past two weeks than I did all last year.

Also the craigs list garage sales are usually not good for me but I did find a lady who had a few tables of real old stuff that was probably an old relative. I bought an item off her for $2 and she said oh you can get $10-$15 for that on ebay easy. I got $40 for it. Even the people looking stuff up on ebay sometimes don't have a clue.
 

Minrelica

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If any of you use an android phone or iPhone you should get the Garage Sale Rover app for FREE. It pulls Craigslist sales and pins them on a map for you.
 

bazinga

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I only go by signs. Nobody advertises in the paper around here. The big paper serving a metro area of close to 2 million people might have 100 or so sales listed. On a good day, I can hit that many by just driving up and down the main streets and following signs.

What I hate are people putting out their signs for a Saturday only sale on Friday morning. Really pisses me off. And they write Sat. Only on it in pencil, at the bottom right corner, on the back, behind the staples (exaggerated for affect).

It's amazing how many people can't spell SIMPLE words such as GARAGE, SALE, SATURDAY, ANTIQUES, etc.
 

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