Table Top Tat
Sunday, September 24th, 2006Today I did a table top sale with my mom. I took some new bits and pieces and lots of childrens clothes.
While I wasn’t expecting to make loads of money, I was hoping to clear the table top charge and come out in profit. I met that objective by £3.00!
It’s certainly an art form worthy of watching. There was some absolute junk on the tables, but it was being snapped up. Anything reasonable was being left. It must therefore be true that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
I’ve also realised that people want to pay you next to nothing for what you are selling. There was a surge of interest as the doors opened and within an hour it was all over. Except for what I like to call the ‘deal breakers’.
These are the people who come round as you are clearing up and offer you a lot less than what you are asking for, as they think you will be grateful. Partly, yes I am, I don’t want to take stuff home and having some money is better than nothing. But I observed a lady who kept coming and looking at something at my stall, picking it up and putting it down, walking away and repeating this a couple of times.
She almost wanted me to give the item away and as we had already packed up most of the stuff (plus the said item) it wasn’t worth the hassle of getting it back out.
I don’t mind being knocked down in price by anyone and I did do this throughout the sale, but the way this lady acted really got up my nose for some reason. I’d already let her have items at way lower than I was looking for, so I had already been fairly accommodating.
Maybe it was because I wish I had the cheek to do it myself, so it could be a hidden but annoying admiration! Maybe it’s because it highlighted to me that I haven’t got the bottle to stand up for myself and it’s more what I learnt about me than what she wanted. I don’t know.
One thing is for sure though, although I only ‘made’ about £3, I came out a lot richer for doing it. My mom and I had a good time and I bumped into an old school pal that used to be my best friend. We ended up swapping numbers and talking about having a mini reunion with some of the people that we are still in touch with.
Now that would be great! Especially as it turned out my friend had only been called half an hour before the table top sale was due to start because she was on the waiting list and there had been a cancellation. Fate or what!
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