My 3rd junk sale and the biggest!

Today I'll be taking part at The No Plastic Bag Bazaar as a vendor - sharing a stall with my friend Hazlin.

Organised by The Recyclists and with a little help from the expert of junk sale Threadszoo, it's a pretty big event that includes the participation of many local celebs (performing, auctioning) as well as a huge area for vendors. Mind you, most of them I can see are in the businesses..

So I really hope among all the `competition', some people will be buying our preloved junks! :p Anyhow I'm glad to be part of it as the event is for a good cause - to remind people to go green and to raise funds for Furry Friends Farm and Malaysian Nature Society.

This time round, I'm still selling things like clothings (ya.. there're loads I don't want anymore and also many that're now way too big for me!) , handbags and accessories - the latter took quite a lot of time to sort out! On top of that, I'm also selling books - mainly novels, and thanks to the contribution by my Italian teacher.. she had read so many books esp chick lits (in English, not Italian :p). And then I'm also selling some unsued knick knacks like handphone pouches, key rings etc...

Here's just a brief summary of my products for sale:

• Close to 30 or so dresses/blouses with hangers (to be hung on my friend's cloth rack)
• A small suitcase full of tank tops, t-shirts, shirts and blouses
  
• A large box full of handbags of various sizes
• A large box full of skirts and a few pants
• A huge basket containing accessories in various boxes - earrings, necklaces, bracelets, hair clips etc etc.. pouches to give away
  
• Two boxes full of books - chick lits and others
• Another bag containing the knick knacks
• Not for sale: a huge bag with money box, stationary box, cardboard, small plastic bags and pouches, mirror etc..

Ya, as you can see.. that's quite a lot to bring! Quite relieved that my parents were so sweet to want to company me and help me to transport the stuff and to set up the stall! In fact my maid will be coming too.. hehe, at least there's something for them to do on Merdeka Holiday!

Actually packing the things weren't so bad thought it took up quite a lot of time.. the worse was when I had to take out old books or other stuff, the dirt made me sneeze so badly the whole evening.. used up so many tissues!! :( Thank goodness, I'm done and just had a cup of hot honey lemon plus a Clarinese pill.. so finally the runny nose has improved a bit..

So hope to it will be a fruitful and fun day.. more updates later!!

My first Junkyard Sale - it was fun but t-i-r-i-n-g!!

Ever since I interviewed the people behind those mobile bazaars/flea markets for my stories earlier in the year, I was very tempted to be a vendor myself because I simply have too much junks that I don't use but they're still in good quality! I can't really donate them as some are pretty impractical stuff for welfare homes.. also the events just seemed so fun :p

Then I procrastinated for a couple of months as I just couldn't find the time to sort out things and do it.. until I got an email regarding this once two months sale. It was a good timing - and only one day (most of them are two days in a row)
I was raring to go and do it all by myself. I signed up almost immediately and got a place. And two weeks ago, I met Cindy (I know her sister and her other friend very well) who happened to also want to do this but did not manage to get a place. So I asked her to join me - cos it would be more fun to do it together than all by myself!

The outside of Palate Palette when the sale was about to start. I arrived later than I wanted to and most vendors, including Cindy were already there.. So the next 40 minutes or so I was so busy setting up my stuff.. not time for photos!

I brought with me two suitcases of clothes, two boxes of bags and many little boxes of accessories! Cindy has quite a lot too and even some shoes.. She was the supplier of racks and accessories stands and boxes.. and all those stuff helped to beautify our stall a lot! In fact someone commented ours is the nicest looking stall :p Glad to find her as my partner!

Partner-vendors raring to go - Cindy and me posing at our stall!

An early shopper checking out our stall.

This is a shot when the traffic gets quite crowded. We used up both chairs given so we were standing for almost 5 hours before we can't `tahan' anymore and rearrange the stall a little to sit on the chair..both of us shared!

Our accessories were also a hit - the nice necklace stand and trinket box courtesy of Cindy

Janet the singer/ flea market queen was here and she also ended up buying a couple of accessories at our stall.. must say she has great taste ;)

Clothing wise, it's quite competitive as many of the vendors are pricing their apparels at very cheap prices. Some of them are new too. Being not really up to date with the fashion world, I just found that then that retro is really IN, especially for the young people. Yup, this Junkyard Sale attracts mostly teens and those in early-mid 20s. No wonder my apparels were not `laku'..

Some of my stuff in suitcase and box - hardly sold any!

Out of the many friends in KL that I emailed.. only Alex dropped by out of `curiosity' and finally bought a pair of earrings from me :p

Look at the happy shoppers checking out the clothes at our stall. Cindy managed to sell more than a dozen of her apparels - hers are definitely more `in' and hip as mine were too old-fashion and large - while I sold just a couple of t-shirt and a black leather vest at an extremely low price. Because he was my first customer and he was like pleading for lower prices.. Gosh, I could never be a real vendor.. too soft-hearted!

The above two pix showed how the stalls upstairs looked like. Somehow this sale is almost 100 per cent fashion and focus was on apparels. We were probably the stall with the most diverse products - we have bags and accessories and shoes too!

Here's a view of our stall and a bit of our neighbours' from the stairway.

Time flew by actually.. and sale slowed down a bit closer to evening.. as it also rained a bit. But in the last half an hour or so, I made a few more sales. Including my biggest sale of the day..

The most popular item at our stall must be this leather bag of mine - which is unused. Many shoppers showed interest in it but most did not have the budget. Finally, I sold it to this young man who really really seemed to like it - lower than what i wanted to sell. From RM120, I sold to him at RM80. I think it's really good deal as it's leather and totally brand new! While I'm a bit sad to part with it - it's actually a gift from China from my parents but as I don't go to office anymore, and also have a laptop case that can hold documents, this poor nice bag was sitting in the wardrobe for more than a year.. so now it's found a new happy owner!

We were one of the latest - if not the latest stall - to pack up. Packing up was much easier than setting up of course.. the irony was I came with one empty suit case but now I used it as well! Clothes were hardly sold!

For all the effort... guess what's the `earning' for me for this 6-hour sale? RM318 in total - and if I deducted the RM25 rental (RM50 shared by two of us) plus a drink and something to eat.. that's like much less than what I get paid for one story. I hardly sold even 5 per cent of my `goods'!

While I wished more things would be snapped up, I'm not entirely disappointed. It's the experience of being a vendor - which was quite fun! Seriously, it's not all about money. I feel quite happy to `passing on' my things to new owners who appreciate them - even at a price that is much lower than market value.. Like Cindy, most of her clothes are quite expensive but she parted with them at such low prices - because like me, we both were (are?) shopaholics and had way too many clothes and accessories... so rather than waste it, why not find ppl who want it?

Also, Junkyard Sale is more for the young.. so it explained why my sale was not good. Tiring I was but this won't be my last sale! In fact, I have already signed up to be a vendor at The Attic's second-hand sale called `Junk in the Trunk'. Happening next Thurs (Oct 23) night!