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She said take it! |
I was now the proud owner of a six foot plank of wood. At only five bucks though, I wasn't stressing about making my money back. In fact, I began immediately thinking about my farm table flip and hoped to do the same thing with the shuffleboard. Antique lady was not done wheeling and dealing with me however. As I slid the shuffleboard into the back of my truck she shouted across the street, asking how much would I give her for the old yearbooks? Going for broke, I silently held out my five outstretched fingers toward her. Her reaction told me I pushed my luck too far. Throwing her hands up in the air, she shouted back, "What? That's only a dollar a yearbook!" As she turned and stormed up her driveway, I sheepishly tried to explain that's all the yearbooks were worth to me. (The yearbooks were fifty years old. I really don't think any of the-now, 75 year old graduates are looking to buy them back.)
Once home from the garage sales, I sat down for lunch and began discussing my next flipping brainstorm with Mrs. Dude. Visualizing another "Pottery Barn" photo shoot featuring the shuffleboard, I asked Mrs. Dude if she had any "stringy" things I could drape on the board's hooks? I guess I wasn't explaining my concept very well because Mrs. Dude looked at me quizzically, "What do you mean stringy?" I gulped down the last bite of my sandwich and tried to explain my artistic concept, "You know...old rope type stuff I can drape over the hooks... shabby chic...antique things...stuff like that." Mrs. Dude thought for a moment, then suggested I use the Christmas berry garland she uses every year to decorate the dining room chandelier. Mrs. Dude was on to something! The garland always looked great on the chandelier...hopefully the same great look would transfer to the shuffleboard. After retrieving the garland from the Christmas boxes, I went about "Pottery Barning" the shuffleboard for a Craigslist. Here's how it turned out......
Shabby Chic Shuffleboard Foyer Hall Piece Antique - $60

Let your creativity run wild and take this one-of-a kind piece home! : )
I think you'd agree the photos turned out pretty awesome. You may have also noticed when reading the description that it doesn't sound like your favorite Dude speaking. That's because when it comes to furniture, my audience is usually a women buyer. I have an unscientific, but accurate theory, that women prefer to buy from another women. (I think the same applies to men too...guys would rather deal with another guy when buying or selling.) Given this sexist theory, my Craigslist description was written to create the impression that a women was selling the shuffleboard. It's not difficult for me to write this way. I just listen to Mrs. Dude when she's talking to one of her girlfriends. She uses words like "wonderful" and "adorable" in her conversations. She also inserts smiley face emoticons at the end of her e-mails : )
Apparently my writing style worked. Two days after posting my CL listing, "Evelyn" e-mailed back saying she wanted to buy the shuffleboard. But now the problem became-do I break character, answering as "Dude", or do I continue my ruse? In Evelyn's case, I continued my little act and typed Mrs. Dude's name at the end of my e-mails. (With smile face). Evelyn quickly wrote back, telling Mrs. Dude she'd be over to pick up the shuffleboard that evening.
You might think this Craigslist charade is all a little deceptive. Don't worry....I made it all better in the end. After a quick briefing as to who was coming over to pick up the shuffleboard, the real Mrs. Dude answered the door! Mrs. Dude proceeded to speak with Evelyn for a couple minutes on the front porch, while I popped out with the shuffleboard. (Such a helpful husband!) After Evelyn handed over sixty large to Mrs. Dude, I carried the old shuffleboard down to her car. Mrs. Dude had turned...whoops.... I mean, I just turned $5 bucks into Sixty dollars ! It was....Wonderful! : )
Just like the farm table flip, proper staging and some well placed items retrieved from the Christmas box made this another awesome flip! Share your flips and suggestions in the comment section below.....
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Well, Dude, I must say, I am very impressed! Your descriptions were right on, too. Thank you so much for the information you share. I know writing these posts can be time-consuming so I appreciate and do read every one of them (eventually!). I spent most of one day and part of another writing my last two posts. I was wondering if other folks also spend as much time or if I was just slow...LOL! I am now off to see about staging my own CL items ...
ReplyDeleteHa! Stage away! Thanks or enjoying my little capers. Since you have a great blog too, I don't have to tell you how blogging can eat up a lot of time. I sometimes wonder if I should be spending the time posting stuff on eBay instead!
DeleteI've seem some similar blogs crash and burn because the blogger burned themselves out. I am hoping not to do that, so I limit myself to blogging once a week. But getting reader feedback motivates me, so I appreciate all the comments you made yesterday!
So keep doing what your doing and blog and stage away lol! Thanks for writing in with all those great comments....Dude!
Great staging and nice flip.
ReplyDeleteYou might know this already, but old yearbooks can sell. People are sometimes looking for info about relatives. Also, if a famous person is in a yearbook, it also becomes more desirable. There are some sites that will buy your yearbook. I know at one time that classmates.com was buying yearbooks.
I hear you on the yearbooks. I use to be pretty high on picking them up, but have kind of soured on them. Right now I have a local high school yearbook from 1972 that I can't even give away. I've posted it on eBay off and on for over three years. Even tried to sell it at my own garage sale-no takers!
DeleteBut I might look into your suggestion on Classmates.com. Could be a quick way to unload it. Thanks for writing in.....Dude!
Hey Dude!
ReplyDeleteI've thoroughly enjoyed your last two staging posts...I don't sell on Craiglist ... yet! But your posts really have me thinking about it. i like the way you look at things. Other people see junk, you see little piles of money! That's how I feel when I go thrifting...little (or big) piles of money...just laying around!
Thanks Crystal! Your hit the nail on the head-there's piles of money all around us. You just gotta reach out and pick em up! Let me know if you score a good CL flip-always like to pass those stories along on the site.
DeleteThanks for writing in....Dude!
Love reading your posts! Never buy to resell but buy to stretch the $ at our house. You do show how some savy and headwork can make your finds go far!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I am glad you like em! You might be surprised...if you take a look around your house you may find some unused stuff you can re-sell and make you some $$...Dude!
DeleteBerry garland. Genius!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lorraine....It does look good, don't it ? ....Dude!
DeleteI've actually staged when it comes to selling toys and action figures. If it is a playset, I will set it up with the accessories in place. Many people just lay it all out in a row (which I will also do and include that photo at the end as an easy reference), but it looks so much better with the accessories in place.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Lego sets, I build the set (this is also to ensure all the pieces are there).
And when I get wrestling figures, I have a toy ring that I use to "stage" the wrestlers in the ring to look better than just on my rug.
Staging certainly works regardless of what you are selling.
On an unrelated note, fantastic garage sale and flea market weekend for me. Two words - Laser Tag. Got five Laser Tag guns (by Tiger) for a buck each that will easily get me $20 to $30 each on eBay. Other great finds too, but that was the big highlight.
Sean-You definitely put the time in to do it right, that's great. I've assembled a few, sometimes it's kind of fun, other times it gets a little tedious. The toy ring is an excellent idea!
DeleteThat Laser tag guns sound like an awesome score. I'll have to look out for those at the sales....Dude!
I love the way you think! Genius!
ReplyDeleteThanks Janis, I appreciate that...I try-Ha!.....Dude!
DeleteI think staging works for CL but I'm not really sold on it for ebay for just one reason: stupid buyers who don't read and think everything in the picture is included in the auction. I think Ebay is also trying to get sellers away from this for that very reason.
ReplyDeletebeckyp- I agree with that. On eBay you have to get very specific in the description so there's no confusion. Even down to whether you're including batteries! (Which I never do-runs up the postage cost.)
DeleteAnd it definitely crossed my mind with the shuffleboard. I was waiting to see if a buyer thought the garland came with it too.