'[The seller] shrugged, laughed, and said it wasn't his problem': Yard sale turns dramatic when a shopper's 'pile' gets sold to someone else, so he de-fames the entire operation as revenge

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
May 8, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

If you're an upcycler, a trinket-lover, or an antique aficionado, you've probably perused a garage sale or two. The thrill of a real-life treasure hunt is a visceral experience and the satisfaction you feel when you find just the perfect item is priceless. However, there are rules in the scavenging business–and when garage sale etiquette is breached, there could be some expensive consequences. 

The garage sale shopper in our next story was confronted with a dilemma after shopping around a decent yard sale. Buried deep in the sticks away from the street, the original poster (OP) only found the garage sale because of a series of signs leading from the street. Once he arrived, he noticed a few shoppers and a lot of great finds to purchase, so he started a pile of things he was going to buy. 

Well, even after being asked to protect those items from being sold off to someone else, the seller decided to get a quick buck from another buyer, selling the man's pile with no remorse. Keep scrolling to read the entire story of how this petty neighbor got some good revenge on a seller who didn't respect the rules of the yard sale.

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  • 01
    "[An] egregious affront to yard sale etiquette” UANAGE SALE
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    r/pettyrevenge. Posted by u/FlipperMass Yard Sale Drama D I'm a big fan of yard sales and go to them every weekend. Recently I went to one and made a pile of stuff that I was planning to buy and came to agreement on price. I
    via FlipperMass
  • 03
    asked the seller if it was okay if I left the pile of stuff off to a separate corner so that I could shop around some more to add to the pile to buy, he said that was fine and suggested that he could bundle in more stuff with whatever else I find. In the yard sale world, you don't touch someone else's pile.
    via FlipperMass
  • 04
    While I was shopping which was within 5 minutes of talking to the seller, someone else asked the seller about the stuff and the seller allowed the buyer to purchase my pile of stuff. I get back and ask the
    via FlipperMass
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    seller where the pile was and he says he already sold it to someone else. I reminded the seller that it was my pile and he had already agreed to let me buy the stuff after I shopped around some more. He
    via FlipperMass
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    shrugged, laughed, and said it wasn't his problem. I put the other items I was planning to buy back and drove away back towards the road.
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    At the end of his driveway, I tore down all of his yard sale signs. His driveway is very long and it's impossible to see the sale from the road so he will have less/no buyers.
    via FlipperMass
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    LilMissStormCloud 2 days ago My absolute favorite lady has a garage sale every yearl. She offers baskets up to laundry size to carry stuff. She will also pile stuff behind her or in her house for people. I have left and came back and she had kept my stuff for me. Needless to say she has a large amount of people who show up every year and she makes thousands of dollars every year.
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    lolamongolia · 2 days ago Years ago I found an accordion at a garage sale. I'd been looking for one for ages. Seller wanted 100 bucks but I only had 30 on me. He agreed to take the 30 as a deposit to hold it for me while I went home for some cash. I told him I'd be
    via lolamongolia
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    about an hour. I returned an hour later, cash in hand, and he'd sold the thing. I got my 30 dollars back, I wasted an hour of but that my life, and I had been so excited to finally have an accordion. I chewed him out, but I'm still about it 30 years later. Accordion guy, if you're reading this, you.
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    second TieBreaker 2 days ago That guy was aj rk. At least he could have told you what was about to happen. It's not like you were being wishy washy about buying it, you just were putting together even MORE stuff to purchase.
    via second TieBreaker
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    CanAhJustSay · 2 days ago Exactly. If he wasn't happy with OP setting a pile aside he should have said so. Or done a 'pay a deposit to secure it' if he was worried that OP was about to disappear.
    via CanAhJustSay
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    alexaboyhowdy · 2 days ago You werehelping him clean up. After hosting a yard sale, it's always extra tiring to have to go and pull up the neighborhood directional signs. So I think you did a good thing!
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  • 14
    Gold-Marigold649 · 2 days ago You don't take someone's pile! Rule of garage sales. 301 Reply Share ... LexyLady45 2 days ago This is the most egregious affront to yard sale etiquette I've ever heard of.
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    Grouchy-Ad4338 · 2 days ago Great one. By removing the sign you turned his yard sale to the troubled sale :) I bet he sat around waiting for people to come in without knowing what hit him...
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    Guilty Objective4602 2 days ago . edited 1 day ago Until the end of the day, when he walked down to the end of his driveway to take down the signs and then finally realized what happened. Perfect petty revenge!
    via Guilty Objective4602
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    Knitsanity 2 days ago Would of loved to see his face once he worked out his signs were gone. Lol 74 Reply Share ... 9lobaldude 2 days ago Instant karma! Well played
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  • 18
    triviaqueen 2 days ago It was a huge all-neighborhood sale, with dozens of sales. My little car got full up pretty fast. I bought two patio chairs and paid for them, then asked the guy if he would stash them behind his garage and I would return for them later. By
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    "later" what I meant was that I would shop the rest of the sales, take my junk home and unload it all, then return for the two bulky chairs. So, "later" meant "later this afternoon." Apparently I didn't make that clear to the man,
    via triviaqueen
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    because when I returned later that afternoon, no chairs. No chairs anywhere. I aske the man - and the sale is still going on at this point- where my chairs were. "Well, you didn't come back for them so I sold them to someone else." He at least
    via triviaqueen
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    had the decency to refund my money. From that point on, I carry in my car a clipboard with paper and sticky notes and tape and a permanent marker. If I
    via triviaqueen
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    have to leave something stashed, I tape a large SOLD sign to it along with my name and phone number. I have not had a repeat of that disaster and I still remember the pain of that man's audacity: "Well I waited a whole hour..."
    via triviaqueen

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deserves garage sale second hand revenge sold sale shopper petty homebuyer etiquette yard sale Reddit payback
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