I was thrifting last Friday ( see my flicker vintage children's books for my two 50 cent finds) when a terrible headache came over me. I spent the better part of the weekend in bed.
On Sunday my husband was going a little stir crazy and we went out to the Grafton flea market. Oh what junk, it was awful, The few decent tables were loaded with a few good things mixed with trash can material. No prices on anything. Now I'm not afraid to bargain but before I begin I like to have a feel for the seller. I stood at table after table looking through piles of post cards, sheet music, junk jewelry and listened to the sellers talking amongst them selves about how bad business was. I'm wasn't surprised with no prices on anything and sellers that either hovered over you telling you the history and price of every object or ignored you all together. "How much are these?" I ask holding up sheet music pages (not booklets just odd pages)
"They are all different" he says.
"Oh, they were all in the same pile, How much?" I ask again?
"For which one?" he asks.
"This one" I hold up the top sheet.
"A dollar ",the next one "50 cents", this one" 2 dollars" and on and on .
Ridiculous. I offer him $2.00 for 5 pages.
"No bartering." he says .
I said "If you don't barter why not put price tags on everything or at least sort them into piles with a sign?"
I get what we used to call in Hawaii "STINK EYE" . Oh well, I guess he doesn't need the money I mumble to myself as I walk away empty handed.
Out of maybe 20 decent sellers, only 2 had any prices on anything. After several hours with a husband who regretted suggesting the excursion the minute we paid a dollar to get in. I managed to find up a nice Limoges dish with an arts and crafts motif, an ivorine shoe horn and 4 metal necklaces for 10 dollars.
Now I am 3 days behind in my orders, I need a helper or someone with a whip to stand over me. I did finish a reconstructed bag that is not promised to anyone to list on Etsy
1 comment:
Good for you for saying something. Hello, customer service is a beautiful thing. Sheeesh. I can't stand it when items aren't priced, or when stuff is just haphazardly strewn about on a table. If people take the time to make stuff organized, people like me will spend more time there. Amazing. I was garage saleing recently, and the woman was so nice I stayed and ended up buying a table from her, and even exchanging email addresses. It really does pay to give people some personal attention.
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