Garage/Yard Sale Tips
 

So I am going to have a yard sale in a couple of weeks to get rid of a bunch of crap. Those of you who are pros give me some advice as I have never done this before. I need some suggestions on how to price items and the best way to make the most $$.

Thanks in advance:)

Put out some larger "showy" items to bring 'em in. Nothing says "Let's just drive on by." than a table full of old clothes. Although...kids clothes sell like hotcakes.

Your little one is a little to little yet, but kids lemonade stands are popular draws at garage sales. Or...my sister-in-law bought several cases of soda, put the cans on ice in coolers and sold the soda for a dollar a can. Amazingly, people who were haggling over the price of a 25 cent chachka, gladly paid the buck for a can of soda. She cleaned up on the soda sales alone. Something to consider.

We just had one and it was great. I enjoyed meeting and chatting with our new neighbours and we got rid of a ton of crap.

Everbody wants a bargain though so don't expect to make too much money. Price what you feel your stuff is worth but prepare to be haggled down and down. I think most Buyers are just browsing for impulse purchases without any real need or pressure and they'll walk away without hesitation.

If you have any really special items that you want big bucks for, try Criagslist or other classifieds instead.

Price things to GET RID OF THEM. You have already said that you are trying to "get rid of a bunch of crap." Since you're getting rid of it, any price is worth it. You're basically letting people pay you to take away your trash or goodwill items.

Don't overprice stuff but at the same time make sure you leave enough room for the inevitable person who thinks they are the king/queen of haggling. Some people see a garage sale as if it were some kind of Hollywood style Middle-Eastern market.

Don't let people steal from you. Arrange your stuff so that people can't just take off with it.

Be prepared for "early birds." I hate early birds. These are the people who show up half an hour BEFORE your posted time and start going through stuff before it's even out. I had one woman knock on my door at 5:30 in the morning (I was just getting up) and the signs and ads said the sale starts at 7 ... 7!. I asked her to leave and not come back (I know--it's bad salesmanship--but I was really pissed).

One word: Craigslist!

List your large items on craigslist seperately, saying they will be first come first serve at a yard sale. also take general pictures of everything and post a yard sale listing. Keep these listings up to date (ie, delete when sold) and put as much in the body of the ad.

Very good tips guys, thanks a lot. I am definitely going to do the soda thing. It is 110 degrees here today and 100 in the shade.

We have one rule about garage sales: anything that goes into the sale does not go back in the house. In other words, sell what you can, but the rest either gets tossed or donated.

Our last garage sale was a huge success. We sold a ton of kids clothes and my wife's maternity clothes (she had really nice business-style clothes). We also sold a bunch of random furniture. I think we made about $600 in two days

Note, take whatever time you put in the paper that it starts at.

Then subtract 2 hours on the minimum when people show up.

People are scary how serious they take yard sale shopping.

Prices are not negotiable until the posted time the sale starts. Put up a sign. Tag sale shoppers are some of the most inconsiderate assholes in the world.

15 minutes before it ends, put an ad up on Craigslist stating that everything left over is free, and start putting it in a big pile (and put anything you don't want disappearing in the garage.)

We got lucky about early birds. We set up all our tables inside the garage, but didn't open the garage doors to move the tables outside until about 5 minutes before the posted time. We did have a typical "college town" problem, which were a great number of grad students from foreign countries coming; the problem being the language barrier. No fault of anyone's, of course, but how do you explain what something is to someone who doesn't understand 90% of the words you're saying?

Give the crap away at the end. That's the best advice. There's nothing more refreshing than having people CLEAN UP YOUR HOUSE for you. Also don't be the person that puts $5 on everything and have little trinkets or kitchen items listed for $5 or $10. The only items at yardsales that deserve having anything in that range are furniture or WORKING, good condition electronics. Pretty much everything else is gonna be in the $0.50 to $1.00 range.

When I price things at yardsales, I think of what it would go for in a thrift store and price it a little below that. I'm actually about to have another one and I'm going to have everything be $1.00 unless otherwise marked.

Keep change on hand. I get a roll of quarters (I only price things at quarter increments if they are less than a dollar), several 5's, several 10's, and a bunch of singles. Nothing sucks more than turning away a sale because you can't change someone's 20 dollar bill.

I second the "refreshment" idea. We are having drinks at our upcoming sale.

The earlier you start, the better. Serious yardsale shoppers are out early and en masse.

Be willing to haggle. It's better to get less than you wanted for an item than it is to get nothing at all.

If you know your neighbors pretty well, ask them if they would like to have a sale the same weekend. If, not then this could be a good way to get to know them.

Make up a flyer and distribute it around to a few neighbors saying that you are having a sale and when you are having it. Suggest they have one at the same time and offer to split any advertising costs.

I know for fact this works because a neighbor of ours did it, and we were planning on having a sale ourselves this summer. Now we plan to have on the same weekend as everyone else.

Subdivisions sales, or at the very least, multiple house sales tend to pull in more potential buyers.

This is all really great advice; I'm going to be having a yard sale in another couple weeks to try and divest ourselves of some furniture and other assorted items prior to moving at the end of the month. I'm glad you started this thread, Nikki.

It doesnt hurt to take some extra little steps to make things clean - that alone could give you another 50 cents on an item, if it shows care and quality.

If you are having a sale with other folks, make sure you agree on how/what you do with money/pricing. If its all your stuff, of course you have final say on what goes for what. I've just been at/seen sales where an unknowing husband sold stuff easily worth $100+, which had been unmarked, for $7. He was just selling everything for $7. Needless to say, I'm glad I got out of that sale before his wife came back and asked me to pay more for the telescope I bought, new in box!

I would seriously consider Craigslist rather than a yard sale for furniture. Maybe it is just Phoenix, but we've bought and sold so much furniture. If I'm selling something and I price it aggressively (but still more than yard sale prices) it is almost always gone the same day i list it. :thumbsup:

I did much better selling off my possessions on CL then I did with yard sales. Of course with CL you have to include the insanity factor a little more. I put my boat CL. Had one guy show up, after calling and begging me to save it for him, with half the cash and a promise to "take me fishing anytime I wanted." Umm, dude I can go fishing anytime now and I don't have to put up with your crazy ass, I'm selling the thing for a reason.

Furniture went quick on CL, usually at what I wanted for it.

Well, I was planning on doing a combination of the two--listing the furniture and big ticket items on CL with the time and date of the yard sale. I'm not really looking to make any money, just get rid of stuff so I don't have to deal with it. Plus, I live in an area with a lot of foot traffic.

If selling items doesn't work out and the cash isn't an issue is there a shelter or family crisis center that might be interested in the items? I had one recliner and a couple floor lamps that didn't sell. I gave them to the women's crisis center, they gave me a receipt that allowed to me write them off on my taxes.

Just a thought.

Well, that's the next plan. If stuff doesn't sell or we can't get people to take it away for us, we'll donate it. Anything to keep it out of the dump.

Be prepared before you unlease the flurry of activity that is the craigslist free section. I was trying to get rid of three kind of junky chairs, posted a pic, had 12 emails in half an hour, and they got picked up in 60 minutes. I prefer that to donating to a thrift store since it actually theoretically goes to someone who both needs it and is motivated to chase it down. :thumbsup:

That's a decent thought. Hadn't even considered that.

you should also check www.freecycle.org . if your town has a group, join it. i'd much rather donate my stuff to someone I know really needs it than to Goodwill

Sadly I think Goodwill's nothing but a scam these days.

Craigslist is not worth it to me for the number of small items we have. I just want to get rid of everything at one time and not have to deal with communicating back and forth with people and having them not show up and so on and so forth. I think craigslist is nothing but a hassle.

Anything that we don't sell we had planned on donating and getting the tax write off. Hey, I paid money for these items, so I want to get what I can back. I have donated plenty to people who needed it in the past and even bought presents for poor families on holidays. So this time it is all about me making as much $$ as I can so I can get my new camera!

if you advertise, advertise the street only and say that you will put notices up on the street number at the end of the street just before opening. Stops the early birds who can be a real pain in the arse. WATCH OUT FOR THIEVES. It leaves you with a bad feeling when you realise you have been stolen from, even or especially if you were not charging much.

The first couple of times we had them, we only sold about half the stuff. Then I realized that it wasn't worth the storage space and trouble to have all that crap around, even if I got next to nothing for it. So the last two we've had I priced everything with the view of getting rid of it. Most of the time it was a Friday and Saturday sale. So after the first 90 mins or so on Saturday, we'd put a sign that says "1/2 off everything" out at the street. Last time, by the end of the day we only had one small table of stuff left. We put it out at the street with a sign that said "free". It was gone before dark. Clutter removed and about $350-400 in our pocket. :D

The garage sale queen is late to this thread. :p

And I concur with most of the sage advice doled out on this thread.

• Sell it! Sell it even when it hurts. Let it go! It doesn't matter. Think of it as a good deed. You're making someone very happy by letting it go cheap.
• Product placement. Staging an attractive sales area can never be underestimated. People will be driving by and summing you up by what is readily apparent.
• When it's over, don't let anything back in the house. Post on craig's list early and get rid of it before the end of the day.
• Most mundane piece of advice: start the day with plenty of change, both coin and paper.

If I thought about it more I could probably write a book.

Having just finished my yardsale...make sure you have some shade, too. I'm sunburnt and dehydrated.