Lifestyles

The garage sale, that is.

Garage-sale advocates find the creation of a market-for-a-day a way of doing business that is effective and fun.

It also works to create a form of inventory management.

"I look at it as a way of cleaning out," says Sue Buell, of Lower Burrell, Westmoreland County, who has a garage sale at least once a year. "Then, whatever's left, I pack up and give away to Goodwill or the Vietnam vets or something."

Quentin Mehrmann likes the garage sale as a "social event." He enjoys it so much he returns to his West Mifflin homeplace at least once a year to stage one, along with a varying group of families.

"People like to go to them and get the hands-on feeling," he says. "I've sold through eBay, but it really can't compete."

He's an engineer who takes up residence in cities for periods of time while he's working on projects, and now is living in Indianapolis. That didn't stop him from coming home several weeks ago for a four-family sale.

Like other garage-sale shopkeepers, he sees a place for eBay and other electronic sales sources.

Elisabeth Kurzinski, an antiques and collectibles dealer from Hempfield, Westmoreland County, says eBay gives her an option for items that just aren't selling in garage sales.

But there are hard-liners,

"I just don't go online," says Mable Gyorko, of Ross, "and I've been successful that way."

Drive up for a bargain

The scene is a familiar one throughout warm days.

Unevenly printed signs touting a sale hang from telephone poles. Packed tables line the driveway. Drivers slowly cruise down the street, looking for a place to park. Neighbors check out the inventory, even it they have no intention of buying.

It's garage sale day.

"It's something of a social event," says Mehrmann. "Everybody enjoys the hunt."

Matt Novak and Julie Bier, of Squirrel Hill, agree, and say that is one of the key elements of sales in their neighborhood.

"It's a pretty high-density neighborhood," Novak says, "so that makes it easy to find customers."

He and Bier like the garage sale for that reason, although they use electronic marketplaces, too.

She says both venues have their strong suits and draw different kinds of customers. The garage sale generally lures the idle shopper, out to find a possible bargain, while the electronic customer is looking for a particular item.

Kurzinski thinks garage-sale customers have become more savvy about what they see and its worth. But at the same time, she says, they can be emotional, buying on a whim instead of a planned purchase.

"They're the kind of people who will buy a Chatty Cathy doll because they had one as a kid, rather than some 18th-century locket," she says,

She had a sale recently at which no item was priced over $5, and she netted $1,155, she says.

Buell likes the personal touch of garage sales so much she has stayed away from electronic sales altogether.

"People like to see things first-hand," she says

She holds a garage sale "every couple of years," she says, and has been pleased at the results. Her most successful sale drew $900.

Cindy Spondike, of Harrison Township, recently held her first garage sale. She passed out fliers, hung up signs and got an "all right" response, she says.

Will she have one again?

"Absolutely," she says.

The owners of the Latrobe's Hi-way Drive-In put material about their weekly flea market on their Web site, www.hiwaydriveinlatrobe.com. But Marie Zimmerman, one of the owners, says the physical site is more popular, sometimes drawing 3,000 customers on a pleasant Sunday.

"The flea-market crowd isn't into computers much," she says. "Some of them don't even have computers."

Down to business

Garage-sale advocates speak with warmth about the human side of their marketplaces, but those who favor electronics get down to business,

For instance, Katherine England, a spokeswoman at eBay's headquarters in California, points out the service has 190,000,000 worldwide users of its site at www.ebay.com.

"It really removes the limitations of geography," she says.

Dwight Beadle, a co-owner of the Atlanta-based Metrobids, says his company is trying to provide the same sort of marketing creature eBay has created -- without fees. That site is at www.metrobids.com.

He says the company hopes to make a profit from advertisers who want to appear with the list of sellers. This would differ from eBay where there is a fee for the placement of an ad and a percentage charged on the final sale of an item.

Right now, Beadle says, the Georgia company has items for sale from all 50 states, but it hasn't become as geographically customized as the San Francisco-based craigslist, which is at www.craigslist.org.

There now are 190 craigslist sites in 50 states and 35 countries, the firm reports. The sites offer items for sale, along with personal ads, job postings, discussion groups and other services.

Such sites even have taken on the specialized nature of the service at www.3cdepot.com, which is a compilation of classified, commerce and community listings. It is organized by Trib Total Media, of which this newspaper is a part.

Garage-sale organizers such as Mehrmann, Novak and Bier use eBay, but get frustrated having to deal with packing, shipping and other details.

Kurzinski prefers dealing in person, even though she says she has sold more than 5,000 items on eBay.

She doesn't like shipping either, she says, but can see a marketing relationship between the two,

She often finds items at garage sales that are sold for next to nothing. But they have some antique value -- or at least create interest that way -- and draw more money online.

When eBay's England is asked whether she thinks the electronic site has become a high-tech rival to the garage sale, she pauses and lets out a long "Nooooooooooo."

And garage-sale planners agree. The two types of selling are related, but basically different.

"Garage sales are good for the adventurous," Kurzinski says, "and I enjoy meeting people."

Tips for making big money at sales

Author Cathy Pedigo from Colorado says garage sales are great ways to organize a home, as well as to make money.

In her "How to Have Big Money Garage Sales," she offers hints on how to fill the coffers at garage sales.

• Allow at least four to six weeks to prepare for the sale.

• Be sure to avoid competing with other sales in the neighborhood.

• Go through your home and collect unwanted items.

• Place an ad in the local paper.

• Look into borrowing or buying coat racks to display clothing.

• Plan how you'll display your inventory. Long tables are best, but card tables and bookcases also work. Line the driveway with bigger items.

• Don't cater to those who show up early on the day of the sale. It is not fair to those who come at the designated time.

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