Vera Bradley yard sale craziness

Vera Bradley purses and accessories have a long, strong following.  My wife didn't believe the deal I got these purses for …

My ladies really love themselves some Vera Bradley.  A number of her friends really love themselves some Vera Bradley.

So … let's just say that I scored some serious brownie points with the deal I got on someone's personal collection of Vera Bradley purses, totes, and accessories.

Vera Bradley:  Good for yard sales?

Some things sell great at yard sales; others don't.  If there are people selling things at anything but fire-sale prices at a community yard sale, it's going to go back home with them.  (There was a Thirty-One consultant at this yard sale.  Everything she was selling was full retail.  No thanks!)

A couple of ladies there had a substantial collection of Vera Bradley.  As in full boxes of it.  There were over a dozen different patterns, and some of them had been discontinued.

My wife (and my daughter) were looking through them, and they were torn.  The prices certainly weren't bad for the condition they were in (very gently used, if at all).  They were at least reasonable, likely good.

But this was a yard sale.  If they were really looking to get rid of them, those prices were a bit high for a yard sale.  Which makes me question whether a yard sale was the best place to sell Vera Bradley anything.

“No way she'll take that”

It was near the end, and quite a bit hadn't sold.  I had visited a few more sellers, and my ladies were still poring through the Vera Bradley collection.

I asked my wife quietly:  “Would the whole collection for $100 be a good deal?”

(I know enough not to do something like this without checking with her.  She knows a lot more about these than I do, and she also knows from experience when not to buy because of smell, staining, etc.  She had been up close and personal with these for a bit.)

She raised her eyebrows and nodded as if to say, “Yes, that would practically be stealing it!”  But she also said that she'd probably not agree to that low a price.  There were several dozen individual pieces in there, each marked in the $10 to $20 range.

So I pulled out my innocent husband card and asked the seller if she'd consider an offer for the entire lot of Vera Bradley.  She said yes.  I made the offer of $100.

She nodded her head yes.

I went over to my wife, who was talking to her mom on the cell phone, and told her, “Sold, all of it!”

After my wife picked her jaw up off the pavement, I paid the seller and they proceeded to load all of the Vera Bradley into a large box and a large bag.

After we thanked the seller, it took every ounce of control we had not to do laps around the parking lot screaming for joy.  As we walked briskly back to the car, she told me, “This is at least $1,000 worth of stuff here, as is.”  Back at the van, my daughter patted me on the back.  And did so a number of times over the rest of the day!  (Winning … 🙂 )

Takeaways (besides the Vera Bradley!)

• Community yard sales can be efficient use of time.  Yard sales can take a lot of time, especially if they're all over the place.  Hitting a big community sale is nice because there's a lot of variety in one place.
• Sometimes things that would sell better elsewhere are sold at yard sales.  This can result in a couple of things.  The items could either not go because the wrong audience is there (an audience that might jump at higher prices), or they could go for a song, which is what happened to that Vera Bradley stuff.
• Sometimes you're in the right place at the right time with enough cash.  That may have screened out a lot of potential buyers, too.  I mean, it's not a lot of money, but it's not a little money, either.
• It pays to ask!  I hope that I asked for the deal in a tactful, respectful way.  I guess it was tactful and respectful enough that it was accepted.

What awesome yard sale deals have you snagged this season so far?