The Garage Sale Millionaire

Category: Garage Sale Millionaire Blog

  • Mike Peters: The Power of Cartoons (And How He Almost Derailed the OJ Simpson Trial)


    Mike Peters is the creator of the popular comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm. But he’s also an award-winning editorial cartoonist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other publications. In this interview, Peters talks about how one of his cartoons almost derailed the O.J. Simpson trial. He also discusses the power of cartoons to influence public opinion and the importance of using humor to make a point.

    Love animation and learning about cartoon history? Subscribe to The Garage Sale Millionaire’s YouTube channel stay updated on more videos in the animation artwork series! Mike Peters Interview 3/4

    These clips are excerpts from PBS’s “The Collectibles Show” with Aaron LaPedis.

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  • Creating Mother Goose & Grimm: How Mike Peters Came Up with His Iconic Characters


    Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Mike Peters joins The Garage Sale Millionaire, Aaron LaPedis to discuss Mike’s entrance into the world of cartoon art. Mike tells about the beginnings of his career and how political cartoons inspired him to create the cartoon characters Mother Goose & Grimm.

    Love animation and learning about cartoon history? Subscribe to The Garage Sale Millionaire’s YouTube channel stay updated on more videos in the animation artwork series! Mike Peters Interview 2/4

    These clips are excerpts from PBS’s “The Collectibles Show” with Aaron LaPedis.

    Subscribe for more content like this!

  • If You Can’t Say it, Draw It: How Mike Peters Got His Start in Cartooning


    Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Mike Peters joins The Garage Sale Millionaire, Aaron LaPedis to discuss Mike’s entrance into the world of cartoon art. Peters, the creator of the popular comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm, discusses his early start in cartooning, his time in the Army, and his work as an editorial cartoonist.

    Peters is a talented and insightful cartoonist, and his interview is a fascinating look at the life and work of one of the most popular cartoonists in the world.

    Love animation and learning about cartoon history? Subscribe to The Garage Sale Millionaire’s YouTube channel stay updated on more videos in the animation artwork series! Mike Peters Interview 1/4

    These clips are excerpts from PBS’s “The Collectibles Show” with Aaron LaPedis.

    Subscribe for more content like this!

  • Buying and Caring for Animation Artworks: What You Should NEVER Do | The Garage Sale Millionaire


    Join The Garage Sale Millionaire, Aaron LaPedis with special guest Sandee (Weeks) LaPedis of Fascination St. Fine Art Gallery as they discuss a few different types of animation artworks: Where should you buy from? Should you buy animation artwork on eBay? How should you choose what to buy? How to care for your artworks? What should you never do when you’re caring for your art? Learn about the process of buying and caring for animation cels.

    Love animation and learning about cartoon history? Subscribe to The Garage Sale Millionaire’s YouTube channel stay updated on more videos in the animation artwork series! Animation Artwork 4/5

    These clips are excerpts from PBS’s “The Collectibles Show” with Aaron LaPedis.

    Subscribe for more content like this!

  • It’s Garage Sale Season…

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    …so we threw the annual Garage Sale Millionaire garage sale! It was a super success! We purged our life of excess, made some friends and got some extra cash! How did we have so much success, you ask?

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    Huge signs, at convenient locations!

    We drove a 3 mile radius planting our huge signs at major lights and stop signs. We asked some of the people who came, which signs they saw, and what made them show up. That way, we know how to make it better next year.

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    Use Social Media

    to get the word out Twitter, Facebook, Craigslist helped get more people to the event.

    Sell a Variety of Items

    from furniture to collectibles, from baby clothes to electronics! This allows those driveby-ers to see that we had a variety of items so it was worth stopping.

    Condense Items

    As the garage sale was winding down, we began condensing and pairing things up to sell them. If you show the person how much they are getting at a good price they are more likely to bite!

    Thanks for Reading!

    -The Garage Sale Millionaire

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  • Things Great Hagglers Do

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    Need some help strengthening your haggling skills? Planning a trip to the flea market or hitting some garage/estate sales this weekend? Today’s post can help!

    Negotiate with the Owner

    When it comes to getting a good deal it breaks down to negotiation tactics. In a store setting, a sales associate can only do so much of the negotiating before they have to go to the owner. So when you’re talking about the money, find out who the owner is because you’ll get the best deal from that person. The owner doesn’t have to worry about paying a commission and if they’re having any kind of money crunch, they’ll want to turn inventory.

    Read Body Language

    See whether the seller is anxious to close the deal. This could be an indicator that the piece is not selling and they just want to get rid of it. There are plenty of sellers that are moving money around from sale to sale. Test the seller’s response with your indecisiveness.

    Bring Cash

    Also, cash is often king, because a lot of places don’t take credit cards, so you’ll get a better deal if you’re willing to pay cash. You can also seek out a discount for paying in cash.

    Dress down

    How you dress is also important when shopping for collectibles. That means dressing in inconspicuous clothing, leaving expensive jewelry and shoes at home and parking your car a block away. If you drive up in a Lexus in front of a garage sale I’m holding, I’ll probably be hard-pressed to give you a good deal.

    Bond with the Seller

    Also, build a rapport before you start negotiating. Don’t immediately rush in with, “How low can you go?” Start off by chatting about the weather. Simple conversations go a long way and when people have time invested in you, they feel more obligated to give you a better deal. If you’re in the military, active or past, say it. I always give a military discount out of respect for their service. Mention anything about yourself that might create a bond with the seller. Then ask, “Can you do better on the deal?”

    Find Flaws

    If the piece has flaws, do not play full price. Negotiate the price down because of these flaws. You can’t become a “garage sale millionaire” by paying full price for damaged goods!

    Have fun! The most common product you can talk down is appliances according to the Consumerist.com. “Readers had the highest success rate with appliance prices, which some retail stores will over-price knowing that bargain-hunters will try to haggle. 94% of those who asked for some sort of discount on their appliance purchases say they were successful, with the average haggler saving around $200.”

    Thanks for Reading!

    -Garage Sale Millionaire

  • Best Porcelain Purchase Ever!

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    A man in the U.K. purchased a lot of Pottery for £100, unknowingly becoming the new owner of a piece of Chelsea porcelain in which there are only two in existence! What a surprise, when he put it up for sale at an auction and it sold for £45,000! This special piece was made 266 years ago, and bares a specific marking, the crown and trident, only found on 20 pieces of Chelsea porcelain.

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    Next time you are at a garage sale or auction make sure you check out the porcelain section! 220 billion dollars was made from garage sales in glassware and dinnerware alone. Speaking of dinnerware, keep an eye out for all colors, shapes, sizes and materials. Vintage Pyrex goes for big bucks on Etsy and Ebay. Look for collections, because they sell for more. Jade-ite is a big seller as well. There is a 16-piece dishware set is going for $520 on Ebay right now. Anything that looks tarnished; cups, silverware, ect. could actually be real silver. And keep an eye out for anything with an iridescent patina. It is called carnival glass, and is highly collectible. But rule of thumb, just keep an eye out for any patterned glass. Any patterned translucent colored glass, you may have stumbled upon depression-era glassware. It could be crystal, and if it’s etched with the Waterford or Fostoria mark it is worth picking up. This is a lot of information to drop on you all at once about dinnerware! But if there is one thing you look for on a piece, turn it over and look for a stamp, marking, or signature. Just like this porcelain beaker, you could be holding a piece of £45,000 porcelain and not even know it.

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    Thanks for reading!

    -The Garage Sale Millionaire

     

  • It’s Garage Sale Season!

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    With 45,000 garage sales in America every weekend, it is a wonder there are so few headline success stories. If you are driven by saving a pretty penny or love the challenge of digging through bins to find that hidden treasure, I have some tips that will save you time and money. I have decades of first hand experience of how to break into that untapped market of hidden treasures.

    Step one: Have a plan. There are many apps out today that will assist you in planning your path. If you are strategic, you can hit one garage sale after another without making a wrong turn or going out of your way and wasting gas. Your Android options are limited Yard Sale Treasure Map, Garage Sale Rover, and Garage Sales, Everywhere!. If you have an iPhone you have significantly more options with Yard Sale Mapper, Garage Sale Wizards, Yardsale, and Private Garage Sale to name a few. These will keep you on track and give you new item alerts so you can fully meet your bargain hunting potential.

    Step two: This step takes a bit of homework. If you are planning on buying items that you can flip and sell quickly, know what you are looking for in advance. Know what name brands will sell and how to tell if they are fake or not. The best way to become what I call a “garage sale millionaire” is to become an expert on a handful of items, so when you come across those items, you know how much, if anything, they’re worth on the market. Another helpful tip if you are short on time is to use a reverse image search in Google. It will look up items that look similar to the object you are thinking about buying and pull up Ebay items of the same item. This is a great advantage to improve your treasure hunting experience!

    Step three: Become a real person to the seller before negotiating a price. Your goal is not to ask for such a low price that the seller is insulted. Ask for around 50% of what the item is priced at. But be strategic as to how you begin the conversation. Start off by chatting about the weather. Simple conversations go a long way and when people have time invested in you, they feel more obligated to give you a better deal.

    Follow these three steps and you will be on your way to a becoming the next great garage sale success story. Want to gain some more knowledge and helpful tips, check out The Garage Sale Millionaire Book. You can purchase it here!

    Thanks for reading!

    –The Garage Sale Millioniare