We’re yard sale ignorant, but since the subdivision is having the annual neighborhood sale we thought we’d try to get rid of some of our stuff.
Should we accept personal checks or cash only? Do yard sale shoppers even try to use checks or does everyone but us know it is a cash only deal? We obviously don’t want to get stuck with dealing with a bad check.
I’ve looked up some yard sale how-to’s but what I’ve seen isn’t too clear on the check issue.
Opinions of buyers and sellers appreciated - thanks, H8_2_W8
If you are pricing stuff so high that people might be tempted to write a check, you are pricing it to high.
On the other hand, the point of a yard sale is not to make money: it is to get rid of junk. I mean, if someone gives you a bogus check and hauls off your box of Menudo albums, who scamed whom?
Actually, we’re going to try to sell some bigger ticket items: lighting fixtures, furniture, electronics, bedding sets, etc. and someone could conceivably spend over $100 with us (hopefully). I don’t want to lose a sale because of not taking checks, but I don’t want to take a bad one either.
Maybe we could have a deposit system if people want us to hold their stuff while they go get cash?
I disagree. Your stated intent is to get rid of some of your stuff, not to make enough money to go see a movie. If it’s only worth $8, and somebody is willing to give you a worthless piece of paper in exchange for taking it away for you, get rid of it.
If they give you a bad check, they are flirting with danger by offending the gods of garage sales everywhere; some day they will find themselves trapped in a never-ending series of sales where all they can find are baby clothes, old man clothes, jigsaw puzzles with pieces missing, and tree stumps carved in the shape of Ed McMahon (“No! It’s Elvis! Honest!”).
Only accept check if it is a big ticket item AND they live in the neighborhood AND if you want to be nice and assume a risk.
But in this day and age of ATMs and Sat banking hours, there is no problem telling them to go get the cash. Offer to hold it a specific time, but not a minute thereafter.
Cash only.
The only place I’ve ever heard of a check being used at a yard sale was, ironically, a Stephen King novel - “The Road uh, Something” And if I remember correctly, the item purchased (with the check) turned out to be some kind of evil talisman that caused the death/dismemberment/etc. of the check writer and most of his family. So I beseech you - PROTECT YOUR CUSTOMERS from the potential threat of yard-sale-check-payment demons that are sure to descend upon them the moment you say “Can I see your drivers license?”
And correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t your bank charge you if you deposit a bounced check? My first instinct was “what the hell, you’re just trying to unload some crap you would have thrown away anyway” but I think that it will cost you something if the check bounces so, no, don’t do it.
Depends entirely on the neighborhood. When I lived in Los Angeles, I wouldn’t dream of accepting anything but cash, and even then, checked the bills carefully (they had to printed on BOTH sides, for example).
But now that I live in a small Wisconsin town, checks are as good as gold. People routinely go to dinner and pay an $8 tab with a personal check. A local bartender said he got only one bad check in the last 20 years, and that guy was tracked down and given an ass-whuppin’.
I think most people who go to garage sales plan on bringing cash.
If you have some big ticket items, I would suggest advertising them in the paper. You will better target your buyer that way, rather than someone who’s driving around with $50 cash just seeing what they can pick up. Most people don’t go to garage sales looking for big items…you can’t be sure you’ll find them.
Be careful of certified checks from banks…I’ve heard those can be counterfeit, too.
I helped with a mega-yard sale last year, and we had a number of big-ticket items. From that experience, I’d join the consensus in saying cash only (we took four checks, all from people one of us knew. One of them, for around $15.00, bounced :rolleyes: ).
The people who bought the expensive items all paid cash. Three people asked us to hold an item while they went to get money; we accepted deposits from two of them, who did return for the items. The third person never came back, and we ended up selling the item to someone else the second day.
I’d agree with Bosda about selling any used electronics on e-bay rather than at a yard sale. You’re much more likely to get knowledgeable buyers who are willing to pay a fair price.
“Big ticket electronics” and “yard sale” do not go together. Just about any electronic device over $20 is overpriced by garage sale “standards”. You either have items best sold via other routes or are about to learn the real value of those things you paid hundreds of dollars for just a couple years ago.
To counter the above, we’ve had yard sales of toys and games my wife got as review copies (no more, alas). We had regular customers, year after year. Some people bought a lot, more than they expected to, and used checks. (We checked drivers licenses, of course.) We never had a problem.
For small stuff out of the garage, though, I wouldn’t take them, though.
