Yard sales by any other name.

[bonneyman]

Seems like different people call yard sales different things depending on where they're from, what type of items are sold, is it a private sale or public business. What say you?
I've heard the following terms and phrases used almost interchangeably: yard sale, garage sale, community sale, rummage sale, flea market, swap meet, thrift stores, second hand store, recycle outlet, pawn shop.
Am interested in knowing what you guys call them and why, what's the common name in your locale, plus any history as to why certain names came about. (i.e. With rummage sales you had to "rummage" through piles of stuff to find things, but you did it because it was cheap. Flea markets originated in bad areas, and alot of the items - especially furniture - were flea infested).

Updated additions to my list:
Tag sales
Farmers market
Carport sale

[ken w.]

When I drive through CT or MASS I see signs for tag sales.

[J.A.F.E.]

In general I think around here a garage sale or yard sale is selling selected crap no one wants anymore. An estate sale is usually more liquidating a household when the owner passes away or moves from the property. A moving sale is usually somewhere in the middle.

[coolmercury]

Same here in Missouri, I agree with J.A.F.E.

[Uncle Buck]

In general I think around here a garage sale or yard sale is selling selected crap no one wants anymore. An estate sale is usually more liquidating a household when the owner passes away or moves from the property. A moving sale is usually somewhere in the middle.

Same in Kansas

[ken w.]

I seem to do the best at family run moving sales. Around here  "indoor yard sales"  seem to be getting more popular.

[bonneyman]

As a youngin in New York I remember flea markets. Here in Tucson we have a big swap meet, but it had declined to mostly commercial sellers of junk and various food vendors. (There is a section for one-time sellers but I haven't been in years). Estate sales and pawn shops are the best tool haunts. Yard/garage sales are very hit or miss.

[AnsonJ]

Same here in Missouri, I agree with J.A.F.E.

this is Indiana and Illinois as well. 

Flea markets are usually a hodge podge of junk/ collectibles and set up in a mall or open space/ parking lot.

AJ

[ken w.]

In my area there is an Asia couple that shows up at just about every flea market with an old yellow school bus filled with banana boxes and big blue storage bins filled to the top with new imported trinkets of all sorts. They seem to be quite busy all day. I always steer clear of this stuff and hunt down the small 2 table vendors with the tools.

[slip knot]

around here we seldom have swap meets. The flea markets are crap imported from Mexico and china. We have several companies here that will liquidate your stuff, be it an estate sale, moving sale or just downsizing. They come in, stage the items and sell everything. sometimes even the house.   They all advertise in estatesale.com. I get online and look at the pics. if there are tools I'll go by, if its all old lady stuff. I pass.

Farm auctions are a joke. Full of old broken crap and tractor shysters selling "rebuilt" tractors with just enough paint to hide the rust. I haven't been to an auction in years. All of the local gov agencies sell thru govdeals.com That hit or miss but never any real bargains. Last time I bid was for some Miller dialarc welders. They went for $400 each. no bargains there.

I get most of my goodies from the estate sales and craigslist.

[fatfillup]

Yard sales and garage sales are the same here.  Flea markets, we have 2 types.  The weekly ones that are often dominated by permanent vendors often selling new lower quality items.  They usually have space for one timers but that will vary from week to week and with the weather as the one timers are often outside.  Then we have the ones that are once a month or less and are usually sponsored by a church or other organization and these can be good and normally have more one timers than pros. 

Don't see the term tag sale used here.  There will be some estate (tag) sales but we have more auctions then sales.

Swap meets are more specific typically in what is offered, such as car parts and are normally associated with a club.

Then we have rummages sales, normally sponsored by churches and normally folks cleaning out or downsizing so the pickings are slim but the prices are normally cheap.  I will stop at them once in a while but never go out of my way to attend.  Normally can find something I can use,.

[bonneyman]

In my area there is an Asia couple that shows up at just about every flea market with an old yellow school bus filled with banana boxes and big blue storage bins filled to the top with new imported trinkets of all sorts. They seem to be quite busy all day. I always steer clear of this stuff and hunt down the small 2 table vendors with the tools.

I've noticed at the local swap meet the Asian vendors who used to sell HF quality stuff are now selling really bottom of the barrel China items. I guess the HF factories got too busy stocking HF? The tool "steel" is more like pot metal or a tad bit better.
That or they're selling more clothes and household items - not tools.

[hickory n Steel]

Around here the signs always read Yard Sale, though one a last summer did say " 40 years worth of stuff for sale " which made me think maybe a divorce had happened.

Flea markets are a bunch of tables set up in a particular lot every Saturday, the nearest one In the nest town over where my dad grew up has been going for at least 30 years and they actually have a big building for all the frilly femanin crap such as Avon cheap purses and cheap cloths.

When I was a kid there was lots of good stuff and it was always packed, now it's much less full and for the longest time it was just a few vendors with their crappy cookware cheap household goods and a table of fruit.
Now there's actually at least 5 or 6 tables of people with old stuff and most of those frequently having tools of some kind.