On Apr 11, 11:18*am, "Bob La Londe" wrote:
"Jon Elson" wrote in message

...

wrote:

Last year I noticed that the quality of the stuff available at local
garage sales declined.

You forgot eBay!

Jon

EBAY has been deliberately trying to restructure themselves to favor
commercial resellers for a few years now. *Any decline there will be hard to
tie directly to a single contributing force.

The greatest recent change to garage sales has been the Internet.

Much of what was worth chasing from sale to sale now goes to Ebay and
Craigslist.

Only after that is gone does one have the garage sale to sell the
crumbs.

Ebay is also frequently used for sellers to "price" stuff...their goal
to get Ebay prices without giving Ebay their cut.

As for the economy, it has reduced or eliminated a significant amount
of goods coming on to the market.

And shipping costs are way up across the board.

You see this on Ebay, Craigslist, local auctions, thrift stores....all
way down.

People are holding on to what they have...because they cannot afford
to replace it.

Which means that the best selection is with estate sales...one has to
wait to pick the bones of the dead to get anything of value...if the
family priced it properly.

A more localized effect is that in many communities where most houses
are underwater, people cannot afford to move...and if you are not
moving, you will not have a moving sale.

Couple this with much more competition which makes what is out there
be sold before you arrive and it all translate into fewer pickings.

You are correct that Ebay has been grooming itself to be a more
commercial oriented seller site.

Take a look at completed sales on Ebay and see how "sucessful" it has
been.

I stop by about one or two garage/estate sale a year and the above is
what I have seen.

Your mileage may vary...

TMT