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Yard Sale Tips

Dr. Lori's 5 Yard Sale Tips
Yard Sale Rules Dr. Lori Lives By
Advertise your Yard Sale
Three videos of Dr. Lori revealing actual yard sale losses
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Dr. Lori's 5 Yard Sale Tips

Yard sales are great opportunities to find values. While most people don’t realize that they are losing their treasures for pennies, an informed yard sale shopper can really clean up on area lawns. Here are my tips for the yard sale shopper. 

#1. Good Condition

Make sure your yard sale purchases are in good condition. You might find a very tattered 1880s quilt, but in the antique world that quilt is worth the same amount as the cloth your son uses to wax the car. Leave poor condition items on the yard sale lawn. 

#2. Parts and Packaging 

If you are interested in collecting vintage games, make sure you get the original box and all the original pieces. If you are looking at the Operation game at a yard sale and want to get the highest value, it can’t be missing the funny bone. Missing pieces decrease value by 10%. 

#3. Avoid Oddities

You would be surprised at the number of folks who bring an object to one of my events and say: “This object looks unique, so it must be valuable.” Here’s the news directly from the source, its’ not unique. It’s odd. And it’s probably the work of someone’s relative who made old vases into lamps. In the yard sale arena, someone’s hodge-podge craft project is not valuable. 

#4. No Engravings

At the yard sale, pass on engraved items. If your name is Jones and you are considering purchasing silverware with the monogram “B”, it’s probably not a bargain because monogrammed pieces are harder to resell. But, if you are shopping at Oprah Winfrey’s yard sale and spot a monogrammed “O” silver spoon, that’s a bargain. If you find Oprah in her sweats hosting a yard sale, a paparazzi style photograph will probably bring you more cash than a spoon. 

#5. Sleep in! 

There is no good reason to get up at the crack of dawn to try to beat everyone to a yard sale. When I stop by around 10:30 am, I ignore the comments that there isn’t much left because all the dealers were already there. In fact, you can get the best prices around 12 Noon. By Noon, most yard sale hosts are exhausted; ready to call it quits. Hosts have been up since 5 a.m. and they don’t care what you pay for that Wedgewood cachet pot as long as you take it with you. You can get a few more 
minutes of shut-eye and a good bargain, too. 

Request an online appraisal for specific yard sale items BEFORE you lose money on your front lawn.

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Videos of Dr. Lori revealing Yard Sale Losses
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  Watch video of Dr. Lori now discover French antique lamps, watercolor paintings, and a Lladro knock-off. All together the items were priced at $87, but valued at $1,755!

  Watch video of Dr. Lori now at yard sales finding valuable costume jewelry, Wedgwood, and Royal Doulton figurines. All priced at $55, but worth thousands.

  Watch video of Dr. Lori now visit yard sales and discover Roseville vases priced at $5, four paint by numbers paintings for $0.25, and much more. Learn their values!

Lori

Dr. Lori
Director
Masterpiece Technologies Inc.

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