There is nothing quite as nostalgic as going to a garage sale and finding a hidden treasure, so when I found out there was a garage sale AI I just had to try it out.
The chatbot, aptly named Garage Sale AI, is powered by ChatGPT but was created by Brain, a small art studio based in the US.
But don’t be fooled by the creators, all the items are real and can be purchased if you manage to talk the AI into giving you a good deal.
The whole thing is pretty simple really, you go to the site and an item pops up – this can be anything from a CD of “Smooth” by Santana featuring Rob Thomas, or even two pit tickets to the Olivia Rodrigo concert at Madison Square Garden.
The CD I wasn’t so interested in, but hey, I wouldn’t turn down some tickets – that’s if I could get a decent price at this digital garage sale.
So when the tickets popped up, I put on my most serious haggling face and warmed up my fingers to get to work.
Haggling is all about the tactic
At first, the pesky AI was trying to sell those bad boys for a whopping US$3,265. Obviously, that was a bit steep but I had my location on my side.
Being based in Sydney, Australia, I simply used geography to my advantage and told the AI I needed to get the Olivia Rodrigo tickets cheaper to afford flights and a hotel – bingo! It knocked $653 off the price.
It was thrilling seeing my tactic work, so I kept pushing. I’ve used geography once and it worked so why not go for it again, except this time capitalise on the weak Aussie dollar?
Hazzah! It worked again, and I knocked off another $523 from the price. By this point, I was feeling pretty good about my efforts and thought I was starting to get a good deal on these tickets.
The reality of course is that I wouldn’t be able to go to the show anyway, but I was having far too much fun haggling because I felt like I was winning.
By the end, the tickets were down to $1,493 and I was feeling pretty good about myself. When I checked how much two pit tickets for Olivia Rodrigo’s concert at Madison Square Garden I was pleasantly surprised to see they would cost me $1,522 – turns out I nabbed a bargain.
Sadly I still can’t go to the concert, but it was such a fun experience. Maybe next time I’ll just stick to the more traditional garage sale and buy something less expensive, like a lamp.
