Recently I’ve discovered a new reality show, and it’s more
addictive than all the others combined because it’s accessible 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. It’s also found, not on television, but on my computer, on
Facebook. This new entertainment I refer
to is found in the various “Yard Sale” pages I’ve discovered.
I began with “Hanover Yard Sale”, a Facebook group created
to allow people to sell items they no longer need but which others might find
useful. This is a brilliant idea, when
you think of all the work that goes into a regular yard sale. You have to collect all your items, tag them
with prices, haul them out to your front yard, put up signs and then sit around
in the sun all day (unless it rains in which case all your hard work was for
nothing). Posting on a Facebook yard
sale page is much easier: snap a photo of your item, set a price and post it
online. It’s like an even simpler
version of Craig’s List, without the scams or worrying about creepy stalkers
showing up at your door. I loved
scanning through the pictures of people’s furniture and home décor. I was tempted to buy a couple of items, but
each time someone else posted a response indicating their interest before I was
able to.
This is where the reality television-style drama kicks
in. According to the rules of the page,
whomever expresses interest first gets dibs on the item. The seller and buyer need to contact each
other to confirm the sale within 24 hours, or the next person who posts an
interest gets dibs. Shortly after the
page was launched, I started noticing posts where people were grumbling about
their offers being passed over in favor of someone else’s. Adding to this confusion was the fact that
many members of the Hanover Yard Sale page are also posting the same items on
other South Shore yard sale pages. So a
person may accept on offer on one page, while someone on the other page might
think that they are the first to express interest.
I saw a post where one person jokingly (I think) accused
another of hacking into the neighborhood Wi-Fi to gain an advantage. I saw another listing for a television set,
which prompted someone to comment that they had just dropped the exact same
television at their transfer station’s swap shop. They thought the seller might have snagged it
and then posted it for resale. Who needs
Teresa Guidice or Abby Lee Miller for drama?
You can’t write better dialogue than this!
I’m not the only one entertained. I’ve seen several Facebook postings from
other friends in town; lamenting how much time they are wasting time online,
monitoring all the back and forth sniping on these yard sale pages.
I admit my interest started to wane when posts for furniture
and home décor took a back seat to endless listings of baby clothes, baby toys
and breast pumps. I’ve reached a point in my life where I don’t need them for
myself and I’ve long since given away most of my kid’s clothes and toys to
family and friends. Darn it, why didn’t
I hold onto my Exersaucer, high chair and bouncy seat? I could be rich!
I am a little surprised by the high number of items for sale
that are $5 and under. It’s kind of a
lot of work to take a picture of an item, post it online, dicker back and forth
and then arrange for a pick-up, all for a $3 hat. But then again, maybe these sellers make a
profit the way banks do: volume.
And then there’s the haggling. I saw a listing for a small piece of
furniture that was very reasonably priced for $20. The buyer offered $10. The seller said they could come down to
$15. The buyer asked if they would take
$12. Seriously people, are we on the
South Shore of Massachusetts or the markets of Marrakesh? It’s an end table. It reminded me of a real yard sale I once
hosted where a gentleman picked up an item I had priced at ten cents and said,
“I’ll give ya a nickel for it!”
Just when it looked like the drama might be dying down,
another friend started a group for just home furnishings and décor. Hooray! This new page serves two purposes: no
longer will I have to scroll through endless pictures of bibs and cribs; and
now people will post some of the same items on three different sites. Let
the mayhem begin.
For the record, I have not yet purchased anything, though I
have been tempted. I ask myself if this is something I would purchase at a real
yard sale, or am I just getting sucked into the frenzied mindset you see at
auctions. I don’t want to want something
for the sole reason that someone else wants it. I may never purchase anything I
see on these various yard sale pages. In
the end, that’s probably better for my bank account.
The entertainment, however, is free and I’ll gladly give up
watching “Dance Moms” or “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” to make time for
the drama that’s unfolding on my laptop.
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