Successful Garage/Yard Sale

[Love My Cop]

Im planning on having a yard/garage sale, to do away with alot of the things (junk) I dont need. I've never done one before, so I thought maybe, I could get some input on how to have a successful one. Do I need to lable every item a with price tag? How do I know, how should charge for an item?. I have a variety of things that I want to get rid of, and would like if possible, get rid of them in just one sale. If not, then I can aways donate the rest to Good Will.

Thanks ! :smile:

[Ursula]

Call your local newspaper. I know the one in Rochester sells garage sale kits - price tag stickers, signs, plus advertisement in their classifieds, as a package deal.

Do lable everything, you don't want to be making up prices on the fly, or having your helpers having to guess. Do get a few people to help you, and so that you aren't trying to keep track of everything at once yourself.

Go to a few garage sales in your area, and see what the price ranges are. You might mark prices a little higher than the minumum you're willing to take, since people like to bargan at garage sales.

[jessie58]

Exactly what Ursula said except I have a couple of things to add.

If it's something you're willing to throw out or give away, then don't try to price it according what it's worth, price it according to what you'll let it go for. If you wanted to throw it away, then put 50 cents or $1 on it. Too many people price their throw away stuff according to the so called value and it won't end up selling and you'll have to give it away in the end anyway.

Also look out for those people who come and knock on your door at 7:00 am. Honestly twice I had a garage sale that started at noon and strangers came to the door trying to get in first and get all the good stuff. I was so mad, I wanted to slam the door in their face but explained that they must come back.
The next time I posted a sign on my garage door and my front door stating the garage sale would start at NOON SHARP.

On that same note beware (or possibly welcome) those people who come at the last minute offering to take everything off your hands for 5 or 10 dollars. They might make you mad if you feel insulted by their menial offer or you might be happy they want to take some of the junk off of your hands before you have to bring it to the Goodwill Center.

If you have some free cookies and lemonade on hand, often people relax and hang around a bit and end up buying.

Good luck and have fun.

[Love My Cop]

Ursula and Jessie : Thank You so much, Your information has been very helpful!! I didnt even think about advertising it. I could probably put an ad. in the Penny Saver ( gee, why didnt I think of that!) I'm going to plan it for June 24th, which will give me time to get things sorted, tagged, and organized And, out of the house, before DH comes home!

Thanks again ! :smile:

[dancingbarefoot]

If it's something you're willing to throw out or give away, then don't try to price it according what it's worth, price it according to what you'll let it go for. If you wanted to throw it away, then put 50 cents or $1 on it. Too many people price their throw away stuff according to the so called value and it won't end up selling and you'll have to give it away in the end anyway.

Yes! Nothing is more annoying to potential customers than the person who wants to recoup what he/she paid for the item originally. That doesn't mean everything has to be $1, but realize that most hard-core garage sale-goers won't buy if prices are too high (unless it's a big item like a TV or something).

Also look out for those people who come and knock on your door at 7:00 am. Honestly twice I had a garage sale that started at noon and strangers came to the door trying to get in first and get all the good stuff. I was so mad, I wanted to slam the door in their face but explained that they must come back.
The next time I posted a sign on my garage door and my front door stating the garage sale would start at NOON SHARP.

Yes, but also take into consideration what time garage sales normally run in your area. Here, most garage sales start at 8 a.m., and by noon they're already winding down. If I started a garage sale at noon here, I wouldn't get very many customers.

[jessie58]

Yes, but also take into consideration what time garage sales normally run in your area. Here, most garage sales start at 8 a.m., and by noon they're already winding down. If I started a garage sale at noon here, I wouldn't get very many customers.

This is true, they'll either run away without coming to your sale or be might ornery when you do open. Our neighbor hood usually starts at 10:00 am and my Sunday only hours were 12:00.

[SchnauzerMom]

Where I live you have to have a city permit to have a garage sale. It has to be posted where it can be seen from the street. You might want to check into that in your comunity.

[jennysdreaming]

I second all these suggestions! As an avid garage sale buyer my two biggest pet peeves are sellers who think their stuff is still worth what they paid for it 10 years ago, and stuff that's not clearly marked. To the former I ask if it's still so valuable why are you trying to get rid of it? As for the latter it makes me suspicious that the price may vary according to how much they think you might be willing to pay for the item. I also don't personally care for tag that just say 'make an offer' since if I don't have a clue what ballpark price they are looking for I could come in way low and then they are insulted and don't want to deal.

Be aware that no matter how cheaply you price something people want a better deal. I once took someones advice of pricing everything at increments of .25 cents so that I didn't have to have so much change ready. Anything that I felt wasn't worth at least a quarter went into a free box. Great concept but I still had people asking me if I'd take a dime for something I had marked a quarter. So I had to go dig for nickels and dimes to make change anyway. Grrrr.

Also ask yourself one question when you're pricing stuff. Are you doing this to make money or get rid of things and then price accordingly. As a bargain hunter I can tell by prices who's trying to get rich and who's cleaning the attic out. The whole reason I get up at 6AM (most sales here start at 7 or 8) on a Saturday is than I'm looking for a bargain so I usually leave the 'get rich' sales empty handed. If I wanted to pay next to retail I'd sleep in till noon and go to Wal-mart.