Trash to Cash, Episode 1: A Garage Sale Adventure

A few years ago, when I finally got around to the long-overdue task of cleaning out the attic, I decided to give the web auction site eBay a try. Like many others, I had heard about the money available at online auctions, and while it took me several days to photograph everything and upload my auction listings, in the end it was worthwhile. In Trash to Cash, Lynn Dralle--a third generation antiques dealer--shows viewers the ropes of scoring amazing finds at garage sales and reselling them for a nice profit. We follow Dralle from sale to sale, picking up tips as to the kind of items that she thinks are worth buying (it's not a waste of time to go through those piles of old clothes!), before traveling back home to catalog all items, noting the price paid, any individual markings, and the overall condition (Dralle has a records-keeping system which she advertises in the middle of the tape). The program concludes with suggestions for using the computer to research what items are truly worth--although the instruction for actually writing up the auction listings appears in the follow-up video, Trash to Cash, Episode 2: An Online Auction Adventure. While Dralle has an engaging personality, I personally found the overall information on the first tape to be pretty sparse, with common sense strategies that most people could come up with on their own; however, for those with absolutely no idea where to begin, this video (and its necessary companion volume) might be helpful. Sure to be popular, this somewhat commercial program is still a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (J. Asala)