Flea Market

Today I joined in with Sachiko and Yuka and sold a lot of stuff at the Shinagawa Intercity flea market.

At 8 am I loaded a suitcase, a backpack, four large paper shopping bags, a carpet, and a giant plastic crate into the van. At 5 pm I unloaded a practically empty suitcase. Almost everything sold. When I emptied my pockets and counted my wadded up notes and wonking fistful of coins, I had over 15,000 yen in profit.

It was hard won, too. Man, some of those thrifty flea market folks were relentless bargainers.

Fat Lady: How much is the skirt?
Me: 200 yen.
Fat Lady: 100 yen.
Me. Uh, no. 200 yen.
Fat Lady: How much is the dress?
Me: 200 yen.
Fat Lady: 100 yen.
Me. Uh, no. 200 yen. 400 yen for both. That’s cheap!
Fat Lady: Gee, foreigners are strict.

Ojiisan: How much for the tripod?
Me: 500 yen.
Ojiisan: But it’s so big. I’m really looking for a shorter one. 300 yen.
Me. Uh, no. If you want a smaller one, go buy a smaller one.
(he came back later and I sold it to him for 400 yen)

Shopper: How much for this book?
Yuka: 100 yen.
Shopper: I’m checking the original price on my keitai. Just a second.
Yuka: *rolls eyes*
Shopper: And this DVD?
Yuka: 500 yen.
Shopper: I’m checking the original price on my keitai. Just a second.
Yuka: *rolls eyes* It was 4,000 yen new.

So we worked to get rid of our treasures, even at very cheap prices. At the end we had a “tada” pile —free for the taking odds & ends—that made a few people very happy. I’m happy now that there’s a bit more space in my house. Which is especially good, because Jeremy picked up a case of Coopers Pale Ale at Costco for me.

Posted by kuri at February 26, 2006 05:34 PM