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ISSUE 84:
Yard Salers Issue 84: December 2015: Letter from the World's Longest Yard Sale, Latest Flips Contest

ISSUE 84: Yard Salers Issue 84: December 2015: Letter from the World's Longest Yard Sale, Latest Flips Contest

I hope everyone is well as we go full bore into the holiday selling season. We're going to talk about that, but we're also going to take a step back and look at the photos and report sent by stringer Jeff Wilson from this year's "World's Longest Yard Sale."

I wanted to run that right after the sale, in August, but here we are already in December....so, just think of it as "August in Christmas"! (A kind of opposite of "Christmas in July").

Speaking of Christmas in July, if you get nothing else out of this issue, remember the wise words of a seller I recently read...she sells nothing but Christmas stuff! In other words, Christmas stuff sells all year long. I've already sold a couple of "ugly" Christmas sweaters. (Well, when it comes to Christmas sweaters, beauty truly is in the eyes of the beholder).

Before we get into the World's Longest Yard Sale Content, I also want to touch on the fact that I haven't written much about eBay's changes (or Amazon's, or Etsy's...). My view is they will always change; I am currently focusing on what I can sell on those platforms and also on my own, without breaking any of their rules, of course. Therefore I do read about their changes, but I haven't been covering them lately in this newsletter. If you want me to write about it, however, just email me and let me know: juliawilk@aol.com.

I plan to get another issue out before Christmas (or maybe right around Christmas); and I would like to save our next Flips and Flops contest (with its $50 prize) for that one. I just received a great flip story from a longtime reader; it's about one of those niches that some of us may totally overlook. I learn a lot from you readers!

But, there is still plenty of room for more Flips (and Flops) entries. So share that story with me by emailing me, once again, at juliawilk@aol.com.

Do you have a large, annual or bi-annual yard sale near you? As you probably know, our excellent forum moderator Jeff is keeping a list. I also am putting a note about it in my next newsletter, and on the yardsalers.net web site. If you have something you'd like to add to the directory, please post it in the YardSalers Facebook group, or email it to me at juliawilk@aol.com.

Which topic do you prefer? Or would you like to see an ebook about something else? Email me at juliawilk@aol.com.

Bulletin Boards Are Coming! Yes, I'm still in the process of adding bulletin boards to the Yardsalers.net web site. But we are oh so close. We are just deciding between which type of bulletin board program to use. I will send out a short announcement when they're up.

For those of you who use Facebook, there are two Facebook Yard Salers groups -- one is open, but for those of you who don't know about it, there is also a closed/"Secret" group, because the regulars did not necessarily want their best tips going to the whole Facebook world. Here's a direct link to it if you want to join it (I'll need to approve you, but I try to do that asap): https://www.facebook.com/groups/219812014811564/

And while 99% of our Facebookers are wonderful, "good eggs" who would not post an ad where it was not appropriate, we do get some spam regularly. Please, only post promotional notices in the posts that are designated for them.

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Yard Salers uses the automated email system, AWeber. If you received a link to this issue in email, you should have requested this newsletter, and should not be receiving it unless you opted in. If you have any problems or questions about links in the newsletter, or other issues, feel free to email me at juliawilk@aol.com.

In this Issue:
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1) World's Longest Yard Sale: Post Cards and Photos from the Edge
2) Next Flips Contest Coming Soon
4) Reader Mail
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Or go to: http://paydotcom.net/r/142767/juliawilk/27341627/.
PLUSH toys can be found easily, near YOU, for as low as 25 cents - and then resold for up to hundreds of dollars on eBay and Amazon!
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1) World's Longest Yard Sale: Post Cards and Photos from the Edge (or at least Cincinnati)
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Yep, this year I asked our trusty singer, record collector and music columnist Jeff Wilson to be out eyes and ears again. His main prey is vinyl (as in records, yep)...but he comes across all kinds of things, with lessons for all of us. Without further ado, his report is below:

The heck with that: I believed (and still do) in doing as little work as possible in order to find vinyl.

And it worked. During the years when most of the world shared a collective disdain for records, I was buying vinyl at yard sales. After most releases became CD-only, people who visited me would stare at my LP walls and wonder how it was that someone had failed to receive the meme that the time had come to switch over to compact discs. During this period my record collection went from modest (500-700) to immodest. I found great records and met lots of interesting people; collecting vinyl sort of gave me an excuse to have in-depth conversations with people I otherwise never would have met. That was the fringe benefit of record collecting, or perhaps it was the main benefit.

If, during that period, I was out of sync with the rest of the world, I am less so now. In 2007, for the first time, vinyl LP sales dipped below a million -- but no sooner was the nadir reached than a sudden spike occurred. It was something that no one saw coming, and it hasn’t stopped. The resurgence of vinyl has gotten a lot of press, inspiring A LOT more people to do what I was doing 20+ years ago -- and for people who own a collection (or find one in the house they moved into) to think they have a gold mine. So when my friend Rosie called me and asked if I wanted to join her for the World’s Longest Yard Sale, I questioned whether it would be worth my time.

Even so, a voice in my head told me to head out and see what it’s like out there these days, not just for vinyl, but with collectibles in general.

I wanted to see how things had evolved since I first attended the sale about ten years ago, an event I chronicled and published in an official Julia publication. Since then I’ve penned a few other articles for Julia Inc., but it’s been three years since I’ve attended (and written about) the World’s Longest Yard Sale. Since the last round it seemed like the record hunters have grown frustrated with trying to find anything either valuable or interesting at flea markets and yard sales. When I go out, I don’t care if I see valuable records, but if all I run into is easy listening and innocuous pop music priced higher than a record store, that’s not only a waste of time, it’s kind of depressing.

(I should sneak in that along with looking for vinyl, I search for instruments, books, artwork, all things cocktail-related, and whatnot, while Rosie has a designer’s eye in general; why, she’s the only person I know who has curtains on her front porch. Two specific things she knew was after: footstools and candleabras.)

I stayed up until 3 am writing and slept poorly so that when Rosie appeared at 8 am, I was a zombie. We drove about a half hour before we saw our first sale. During that time Rosie told me that she was looking for a footstool…and anything else that caught her eye.

Our first stop was about 25 miles from Cincinnati, and at first you mostly saw the people who set up at flea markets every weekend in Cincinnati and Florence and who sell tube socks and t-shirts that you can find at any flea market anywhere. That’s not why you do the World’s Longest Yard Sale. And here we arrive at our first bit of advice:

Your odds of finding something you really want increase when you get past the folks who want to sell faux collectibles for inflated prices. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long before you start finding real honest-to-God stuff, especially if you use your imagination.

Things quickly got more interesting. Once we got past the first couple clusters of sellers we stopped at some houses, including the one where the couple went inside to grab some records and ended up pulling out some nice bluegrass and country and then posing for a photograph I would like to title American Gothic Revisited.

Five years ago bluegrass and country records were of very little interest to collectors, but now people spend decent money for them. A friend who has a record store tells me that bluegrass records disappear immediately at his store when he puts them out for fifteen bucks; not long ago, you would see them in the dollar bins.

It’s not only the old-timers buying country and country bop now; it’s also the hipsters. Old private-press bluegrass and country does well, and major labels can have some value, too. This couple told me about a Hoosier old-time cabinet that they used for storing flour that they sold during the World’s Longest Yard Sale some years ago. A couple from California bought it. One night the couple who sold the cabinet was watching TV, and they saw the same people displaying the same, very valuable cabinet on a TV pickers-type show and talking about how they found it at the world’s longest yard sale. So, the moral of the story is:

Even if the houses set up every year—and many do—you can still find interesting stuff there.

We stopped at several more houses and found more bluegrass and country records, and it turned out that many of them had some local history. Sometimes when I held an album up that was recorded around here, the people on the porch would say, “He’s from (name of town or country)” or “He used to play around here.” It was fun getting filled in on local history.

The farther we drove, the more interesting things we found. Rosie scored a candelabra and a spooky-looking doll:

At the next “cluster sale” I saw a very imaginative wind chime made of out a skillet and spoons:

I saw a lot of Amish people during this journey (and very few during my previous trips)

Someone was asking 700 for a “Graf Zeppelin.” Can someone give me some information about that? I know nothing. Is it really worth nearly that much?

At another “cluster sale” I ran across a gentleman who sold me 45's for a quarter each.

See that box he’s holding? That’s how many I bought. Almost every 45 in there was a white label promotional copy. There were from the mid-60s mostly, with some as late as the early 70s. Musically there was some pop and jazz and instrumental stuff. I love mid-60s instrumental music that’s a little cheesy, and there was plenty of that in there, including Neil Hefti’s “Oh Dad, Poor Dad” from a fluff film. A really bad movie—and I love 60s fluff films—but the soundtrack is killer.

The fact that I was able to pounce on a box of white label promos proved to me that I should keep going. Clearly no one who had half a clue about records had seen these boxes. There were some collectible records, including promo copies of Nancy Ames’ “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” and an Eddie Cano single. More on those in my postscript—here’s a photo of the gentleman who sold me them:

White label promo copies are sometimes worth more than the standard releas -- or less…but things get real interesting when the promo was released but the record company, due to a last-minute hiccup, pulled the plug on the normal release (cf. “Tell the Truth” by Derek and the Dominoes, which has gone for a hundred bucks, whereas other 45s by the same band go for almost nothing).

In the town of Owen, Rosie found the footstool of her dreams + a copy of Portnoy’s Complaint, that rather racy novel from the '60s. My parents told me not to read it when I was a kid, but since Rosie is a mature adult I suppose it’s okay.

Further evidence that, even late in the week, everything’s not picked over: when I asked the ladies who were sitting around chatting if there were any records, they pointed to a box of 78's that they hadn’t put out yet.

There I found some very cool old-time country music, including some cool old King Records, which is a label out of Cincinnati that had lots of great R&B, funk, and country/bluegrass records. I found a lot of King Records that day, some of them collectible, and these were ones I’ve never seen before:

We stopped to look around a little bit, and we took in some colorful local scenery, including the jail that Rosie was lucky enough to avoid the last time we were in Owen (we won't go into that): PICTURE #8

At the next cluster sale I took a picture for this young dealer/Bob Marley fan; here’s to the Rastaman Vibrations:

And now to announce the winner of this year’s competition for the most whodathunkit item for sale, this lady was selling…a farm. (She also had some saddles with her, and a list of horse books that were up for grabs.) For more info, check this website: www.wetterlands.com.

The toughest decision I had to make that day was whether to buy the cocktail cabinet below. They wanted $50…which was maybe fair, but I was a little ambivalent…I wasn’t sure where I’d put it…Still, she’s a beaut: PICTURE #13

At another cluster sale a gentleman told me the big money maker for him all week was these jugs for holding all your likker:

When you’ve been walking around in the sun all day, the heat starts to get to you, and you start thinking about turning around.

I’m glad we kept going, though. About 60 miles into Kentucky we stopped at a farm that was having a sale, and when I asked the guy if he had any records, he said yeah, but they’re inside. Before he could show them to me, though, he got distracted, and so did I -- by some beautiful ponies. I wasn’t the only one drawn to the ponies --children kept appearing who were positively enchanted by them. This made us curious, so we all went snooping around. We ended up inside a barn where creatures you don’t see up Cincinnati way have taken up residence:

The two girls wanted to pet the baby goats, which after they were taken out of the stall, caused a major cryfest between the parentals and the babies. When the babies were put back in the stall the taller of the two girls asked if she could go in the stall as well. Suddenly she was chasing around the parentals; when finally she caught up with one, she grabbed it by the horns. I really wanted to see how that situation played out, but in the middle of it all, the gentleman motioned me to follow him into the house, where I looked at a big box of records that also had some old country LPs on King and Starday (which eventually became a subsidiary of King and has all kinds of good country and rockabilly).

There were a few more stops—we got as far as Frankfort, the state capital, 80 miles from Cincinnati—but for me that visit to the barn was the highlight.

It taught me something. I now know that if you want to play with goats, it’s always good to grab them by the horns. I’ll do that the next time I run into one. So it was definitely going out again on the World’s Longest Yard Sale. I found plenty of stuff, some of it oddball, some of it collectible, made some life-long friends, learned what goats like, and—oh yeah—I scored, finally, a harmonica. And Rosie got one more creepy doll: POST-SCRIPT

White label promo copies of this Nancy Ames 45 have gone for over 40 bucks. It’s really the only record by her that does much.

Why? Because it’s the one song this normally EZ-listening singer recorded that’s a Northern Soul (very Motown- and pop-sounding soul) release, and Northern Soul fans love it. This Eddie Cano has also gone for 40 bucks. Why, when nothing else by him does anything? It’s a classic Latin track that has a groove. I always buy Latin 45s, even if they’re not collectible, but some are, often because they’ve been sampled by a rap artist. And boy, if you want to liven up a party… King Records was a great music label based in Cincinnati. James Brown was on it, and so were lots of other R&B, soul, and funk artists, plus bluegrass + country artists, plus a crazy hodge-podge of other genres. I wrote this blog entry about a King Records compilation from Madrid, Spain:

If Madrid, Spain is reissuing old King Records singles, well, it sounds like King is a very hip and sought-after label. That Internes record I’ve seen for over $30 and I’ve seen similar prices for the Charlie Moore and Bill Napier. Note that King 45's and 78''s with red labels are mostly (or always?) country, bluegrass, or some other form of hillbilly music.

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2) Next Flips Contest - There's Still Time to Enter!
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We're giving you more time to submit that Flip (or Flop) story for the next issue of Yard Salers.

So far I've gotten a great entry I know you're all going to love reading about, from a longtime reader who made a killing on something you'd probably walk right by at a yard or estate sale.

But I'd like to see more entries before awarding the $50. So please dig out those stories of what you bought low and sold high online! Or, send me your poor, huddles flops, yearning to be shared so we can all learn from each others' mistakes. Just email me at juliawilk@aol.com.

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3) Reader Mail
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OK, so there was no actual reader mail since the last issue...so send those questions and comments my way! I will, however, pass on a couple tidbits about sites on which to buy/sell.

A couple of friends of mine have mentioned both Tradesy and ThredUp as sites where they got deals...one a ring, the other a nice-looking top. I blogged about ThredUp (http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/abblog/blog.pl?/pl/2013/1/1359053291.html) when I was writing regularly for EcommerceBytes, but I'm sure it's changed since then.

Also, a phenomenon I've noticed in terms of newer selling marketplaces is that they are GPS-based...so they aim to match people and stuff up that are physically near each other. To wit, Wallapop, Close 5, and OfferUp.

If you want to hear a review of the latter two, check out this video by Kyle, the Yard Sale Hunter (yes, our category has finally gotten its own teen entrepreneur/expert, and that just happens to be my son's name).

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Any questions, comments, compliments, rants or raves, send to juliawilk@aol.com. On second thought, send the rants to my gmail account, juliawgal@gmail.com...I don't check it as often. ;)

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Making Money (and Getting a Life?) via Craigslist - $8.95 http://www.yardsalers.net/bookstore.asp and scroll to "Make Money (and Getting a Life?) via Craigslist"

Make Money Selling Kids' Clothes on eBay - $8.95 http://www.yardsalers.net/bookstore.asp and scroll to Make Money Selling Kids' Clothes on eBay

Nonfiction Books that Sell for $50-$250 on eBay (eBook) - $4.50 (This is already half-price) http://store.payloadz.com/details/101078-eBooks-Business-and-Money-Nonfiction-Books-that-Sell-for-50-250-on-eBay.html

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New Special Report: "A Book that Looks Like Nothing" - $4.50 16 - plus pages about "sleeper" books that look like nothing, but sell for "something" -- some up to $10,000. (email me at juliawilk@aol.com)

How to Make Big Bucks with Garage & Yard Sales - $8.95 (only available by email; PayPal me $8.95 or email me at juliawilk@aol.com; this one not available at half price)

Garage sale and wholesaler expert Pat Bateman has put together a fabulous ebook about making regular income with yard sales, finding wholesale goods to sell, using drop shippers, and more. Right now I'm offering it at a special preview price for $8.95. PayPal me at juliawilk@aol.com and you will receive the ebook via email, usually within hours.

My Life at AOL My Life at AOL ----------------------
Copyright 2015 J.L. Wilkinson LLC

Thank you for subscribing to Yard Salers. You may email Yard Salers newsletter to a friend or friends. However it may not be cut and pasted in its entirety to any other web site or venue without permission. Email juliawilk@aol.com for permission.

You may reprint any of the individual articles in this newsletter for any purpose as long as no portion of the article is modified without permission, and this tagline is included:

Publisher, Julia Wilkinson, author of the award-winning "eBay Price Guide." and "What Sells on eBay for What"

No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Yard Salers makes diligent efforts to obtain accurate and timely information. However, Yard Salers disclaims any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in Yard Salers, whether or not such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

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FREE REPORT: Top Mistakes eBay Sellers Make and How to Avoid Them!
http://thedanniapp.com/
*************************************************************************
OK, everyone, that's it for this issue. See you all next issue, and remember to email those flips and flops to me at juliawilk@aol.com!

Any questions, comments, compliments, rants or raves, send to juliawilk@aol.com. On second thought, send the rants to my gmail account, juliawgal@gmail.com...I don't check it as often. ;)

Any questions, comments, compliments, rants or raves, send to juliawilk@aol.com. On second thought, send the rants to my gmail account, juliawgal@gmail.com...I don't check it as often. ;)
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---------------------------------

BIG BUCKS FLIPS - $19.95

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Make Big Bucks Selling Albums on eBay - $19.95

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Make Big Bucks off Catalogs on eBay - $12.49

http://www.yardsalers.net/bookstore.asp and scroll to "Make Big Bucks off Catalogs on eBay"

Making Money (and Getting a Life?) via Craigslist - $8.95

http://www.yardsalers.net/bookstore.asp and scroll to "Make Money (and Getting a Life?) via Craigslist"

Make Money Selling Kids' Clothes on eBay - $8.95

http://www.yardsalers.net/bookstore.asp and scroll to Make Money Selling Kids' Clothes on eBay

Nonfiction Books that Sell for $50-$250 on eBay (eBooks) - $4.50 (This is already half-price)

http://store.payloadz.com/details/101078-eBooks-Business-and-Money-Nonfiction-Books-that-Sell-for-50-250-on-eBay.html

Over 500 Books that Sell for $50-$5000 on eBay - $8.95

http://www.yardsalers.net/bookstore.asp and scroll to http://www.yardsalers.net/500Books.asp

How to Spot Fakes: a Special Report - $4.50

(email me at juliawilk@aol.com)

New Special Report: "A Book that Looks Like Nothing" - $4.50

16 - plus pages about "sleeper" books that look like nothing, but sell for "something" -- some up to

$10,000.

(email me at juliawilk@aol.com)

EBOOKS I SELL AS AN AFFILIATE

How to Make Big Bucks with Garage & Yard Sales - $8.95 (only available by email; PayPal

me $8.95 or email me at juliawilk@aol.com; this one not available at hald price)

Thank you for subscribing to Yard Salers. Yard Salers email newsletter may be freely distributed in its entirety, so please pass it on. You may reprint any of the articles in this newsletter for any purpose as long as no portion of the article is modified without permission, and this tagline is included:

Yard Salers, www.yardsalers.net

Publisher, Julia Wilkinson, author of the award-winning "eBay Price Guide." and "What Sells on eBay for What"

End