I'd love to have a yard sale but we don't have a yard and the town says we can't have it on the sidewalk.

wow, in the article, they still throw "colored" around up there, too. That town doesn'texactly strike me as a hot bed of enlightenment,

Hey you can always have a virtual garage sale through craig's list.

@tgrwillki: Wow, that article transitioned over to a political discussion pretty fast. And yes, gotta love how the people talk there...

On a somewhat related note, here in Minnesota they tried to pass a law like this too, but for a different reason. Some antique dealers (and purveyors of other junk) were using garage sales to basically run their businesses. That way they don't have to have commercial space, parking lots, etc, etc. If lived next to a place like this I would be bothered also.

huh, I always thought the goal of limiting garage sales was to prevent a front for a fencing operation.

Well, if I lived down the street from one of those people who run the same yard sale all summer (or all year, weather permitting), I'd be all in favor of this.

This is not new. Other municipalities did this years or even decades ago to combat businesses masquerading as yard sales. We had one neighbour who had a "yard sale" every weekend ...with new merchandise every week.

I don't think this is what Congress meant by "Re-regulating a previously out of control free-market"

@chiieddy: Depending on where you live, Craigslist could be an option. I've had some success there, but you do have to be patient and willing to sift through the crap replies.

Weird. Still it would be kinda of annoying to have people constantly having garage sales next door to you. Kinda like bad lawn ornaments or something.

And in my town, a suburb of Chicago, garage sales are limited to once a YEAR.

The police actually made me take down a sign taped to my vehicle parked on the street near the sale.

Signs must be on the garage sale property only, and a sign taped to a car makes it a commercial vehicle, which my vehicle is not licensed as.

And yes, my town feels that limiting sales is a way to avoid traffic congestion and permitting people to run defacto businesses from their homes without proper licensing, tax, parking, etc. etc.

It's less about reducing public annoyances and more about making sure the city gets their cut.

It's always the few idiots who ruin it for everybody.

My town has a two sale a year ordinance and you have to get a permit.

~ 7:00Am - 7:00PM
~ Permit Required ( no fee)
~ 2 sales per year, per parcel
~ each sale, 2 consecutive days (max)
~ no signs on poles or on Borough right-of-way
~ signs posted only on the parcel where sale is held
~ Fines : $25 > $50 > $150

a href="#c8317793">IfThenElvis: Ditto my neighbor. Brand new, tagged merchandise on racks. Everyday, weather permitting.@<

In my view, the idea of a garage sale is to clear out old junk you no longer have use for and wish to sell at a mild profit. Once a month is generous, frankly, and even that frequency smacks of running a business from home. A balance needs to be struck between the rights of people to make a buck and the rights of neighbors not to be constantly barraged by traffic and the influx of customers. A chance at domestic tranquility is one of the reasons why zoning laws exist.

I drive past a house on my way to work that has at least a "garage sale" a week. And the amphetamine-laced homeowners always seem unable or disinclined to answer any questions about the merchandise. Just sayin'

A way around this would be to set up a listserv for the neighborhood to post sale items. Of course, that takes some of the fun and bargaining out of it. I know, its pretty much like craigslist, but this town doesn't sound like the brightest bunch.

this is why I think every town needs a market area where you can go set your tent up for free, and sell your shit there. My town has a day every so often where they allow everyone to set up a yard sale at a city park, so that way shoppers can do all of their yard sale shopping at one place. It was actually set up to help the shoppers save gas because of the high prices.

Sounds like these people need to team up with their neighbors and friends and rotate the sales weekly from house to house to get around the law. So sad though for these laid-off - eventually, they'll run out of stuff to sell.

So I was outraged about this until I read the comments here listing very logical reasons for why controlling garage sales is actually a good idea. They can always turn to eBay sales. When I was broke I made my rent that way.

I know of three houses in my neighbor hood that do the perma-yard sale thing. Talk about annoying. I wish they would pass a law like that in Tennessee.

@tgrwillki:

It's most certainly not. I grew up ten miles north of Elkhart - my decaying former industrial town looked like Classical Athens in comparison.

It's going to get even worse there when the Hummer plants in South Bend, another neighboring town, close down.

What about yard sales? Moving sales? Spring Cleaning sales?

Do those not have limits?

I thought garage sales were phased out thanks to eBay. Then again, I hear eBay's policies and fees are driving away some sellers (I used to be a powerseller years ago, but that was another life...)

I don't see any problems with this. If you want to live in a place where you and your neighbors are allowed to sell your wares on the street every day, move to Timbuktu.

And don't tie the economic woes into this. No one wants to buy that used toilet and mattress of yours, regardless of the unemployment rate or what the Feds are charging to loan to banks.

This isn't a bad idea. Some people "around here" leave lawn sales up for WEEKS- some covering the tables at night and uncovering them every morning. Others just leave the junk outside- rain or shine. It's hideous seeing someone's junk all over the place for days and days. Here's a hint- if your old dirty teddy bears and sticky children's toys don't sell in one day- they're surely not goign to sell after 2 weeks....

3 kids and a factory job? How can you feel sorry for someone when they didn't think their life plan through?

Better to require a permit (for a fee). Equally difficult to enforce but you'd get some honest folks who'd actually pay the fee.

Did you see that spiffy looking brown wood panel 13" TV/VCR combo that's some classy stuff there!

Yah! if you want to live in a place where you and your neighbors are allowed to do anything then get out of the USA.

I hate looking at garage sales they should be illegal!

I'm in Elkhart, IN. And I didn't even know they were passing this. Of course I don't live in the incorporated area.

@wgrune: Our town in Wisconsin was having the same problem. People having weekly garage and yard sales, essentially running a business without having to do all the crazy business things... like pay taxes.

@GothamGal: How did he not think his life plan through? Factory jobs like those at RV plants are pretty solid and lucrative jobs, with good long-term earning potential, especially if you've got seniority and/or get decent overtime; that's why their loss hits communities so hard. They're also generally in towns with a fairly low cost of living.

Sure, jobs can disappear there, but as I'm sure we're all aware these days, all of our jobs can disappear. His problem isn't that his job didn't allow him to provide for three children, his problem is that he no longer has that job.

The neighborhood that I live in has a yearly spring cleaning yard sale weekend. Around 50+% of the houses participate. To have a sale outside that weekend is considered tacky.

@AlteredBeast: My brother sells on eBay and he talks about how basically eBay is putting him out of busisness because they must have more and more.

It's a crying shame, too.

My next door neighbors where I used to live were daily yard sale people. We had to put up with people traipsing across our yard, blocking our driveway or even parking in our driveway, and being extremely loud very early in the morning. It was horrible. Like many things, yard sales wind up needing regulations like this because of the people who have no regard for anyone besides themselves.

@GothamGal: You know, for some people, that's all you need. It worked for my parents, and we lived comfortably. Leave the blue-collar worker alone.

I would think most homeowners/community associations would ban these things anyway.

Im actually shocked this is a issue. Both where I live and where my in-laws live its locked down to once a month due to tax regulations. Any more than that and you could be considered a business which is actually taxed while if its a "yard sale" you dont get taxed.

@thinkliberty: Yeah man! I'm with you!

I hate looking at garage sales they should be illegal!

You go too far!

@AlteredBeast: eBay is scaring away smaller sellers by increasing listing fees, sale fees, and narrowing the approved methods of payment; money orders are now out, as are checks and cash. Since they own PayPal...you guessed it. There are discounts for using PayPal accounts versus Visa/MC.

eBay is useful for larger merchants and those trying to clear out shipping containers full of crap from China. People can't use it to sell their extra stuff anymore, because after eBays listing fees and increasingly expensive shipping, it just a'int worth it.

@Birki: Exactly, a co-op is the way to go.

@snoop-blog: C'mon... who needs to have yard/garage sales every month? I'm at the quarter-century mark, and in my life, I think my family has had about 10 yard sales.

This is funny because I had two offers for a used toilet and someone took the two old mattresses I put out for the trash.

@AlteredBeast:

eBay is supposedly changing to a new business model, fixed price, more like amazon.

They are wondering why they are not making as much money as they once did.

@wgrune:

Yep. I'm in MN as well. We have a handful of 'full time garage sale businesses' in our neighborhood. EVERY weekend. I can see how people get annoyed with those...especially if they live right next door.

Neighborhoods should be encouraged to hold annual yard sales, selling all of their junk on those days. They'd get more visitors, put up a small notice in the newspaper, church bulletin, and so on, and they'd do just fine. Plus, the people who don't want to participate can do their own thing, i.e., disapear from the neighborhood for the day. There's a few houses on my street that have yard sales pretty much every fair-weather Saturday and Sunday during the year, and they sell VCRs, toys, etc. Aside from it being fishy, it's damn annoying to have junk-speculators taking up the whole street every weekend.