Tips on Garage Sales
by Mia Cronan
http://MainStreetMom.com

Tis the season for garage sales. They can be such fun, or total washouts.
It all depends on how well they are set up and how comfortable visitors feel perusing your wares. Here are a few tips that might help you, in case you're considering hosting a garage sale. I'd like to thank readers of Penny Parenting for contributing such great suggestions!

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Make sure items are clean (I'm amazed at the # of sales I go to and the
people haven't even bothered to clean the items they're selling - this is a
turn off to me, the buyer).

Make sure your items are clearly marked with a price (some people are too
shy to ask about items that aren't priced so they just end up leaving the
sale empty handed).

Go to a few garage sales in your area before having your own to get a feel
for how to price your items.

Make sure you have plenty of signs up that will easily direct people to your
home. The signs should be large and the writing on them should be large and
easy to read.

Clothing is so much easier to look through for the buyer if it's hung on
clothes hangers. Try to do this if possible. If not, at least fold the
clothing neatly on a table. Having to dig through a cardboard box full of
clothes is a turnoff to some buyers.

Start off with plenty of money to make change with. My suggestions $5 in
quarters, $2 in dimes, $2 in nickels, and $20 in one dollar bills. Have
some sort of box (shoebox works well) to keep this in and keep it in your
possession at all times.

Try to have a sale with a friend or at least have someone to help you.
During hectic spurts it'll be handy.

Buyers like to start early so be prepared to start your sale around 7am or 8
am. Be prepared for "early birds" that will show up before your sale
"officially" begins. If you choose to advertise in the newspaper, you can
always put "no early birds, please" in your ad.

Advertising in the newspaper is helpful, but not necessary. In some areas
it's just downright expensive to do this so this is where tip #4 above comes
in handy.

Decide ahead of time whether or not you will accept personal checks as
payment (especially if you've got some big ticket items like furniture,
stereos, etc.) or are you willing to accept cash only. Be sure to have a
sign clearly posted stating this.

Have in your mind ahead of time the lowest price you are willing to take for
each item. You may not want to lower your prices too much for the first
portion of the sale, but as closing time draws near you will find more and
more people asking for the lowest price.

~ Kim

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Organize! Organize! Organize! People cannot walk fast enough to get away
from a garage sale that looks like a mess [ie. piles of unfolded clothes on
a table...]. It takes more time but is well worth the effort for yourself
as well as your customers. Tickets for clothes should also have the size on
the ticket. Try to organize other items on tables as
appropriate....bathroom stuff, kitchen stuff, kids toys, and so on.

~ Lorri

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BE PREPARED!!
I have garage sales for one reason: to make money. If I wasn't interested
in the bottom line, I wouldn't put forth the preparation needed to have a
successful sale. I make sure everything is "tagged" and presented in an
organized manner. My yard sales have been very profitable and I believe I
owe this to pre-sale prep...know what you have and know ahead of time what
you are "really" willing to accept ($wise) for your sales items. If you
were having a yard sale to merely give your things away, then load up the
car and take your belongings to a local charity and save yourself the bother
of the yard sale!

BE PREPARED!!
If you've never had a yard sale, you will hear all sorts of reasons that
people need to have a particular item for a miniscule amount of what you're
asking for it...if they really want it, they will pay the asking price or
pretty close to it...if they want all of your children's clothing (boy and
girl) for their niece who just had a baby (but don't know what she had),
chances are they are trying to get it for pennies from you so that they can
turn around and sell it at a flea market!

BE PREPARED!!
Most of all...HAVE FUN!! Use a little of your profit and reward yourself
(and your family) with a little take-out for dinner that night!

~ Diane

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Hang up clothes; they sell better.

Price everything you can; but be negotiable.

Keep like things together.

Don't just put out boxes of stuff; set everything out on tables for display.

Don't let your kids [especially the young ones] see ANY of their toys up for
sale; that discarded or forgotten toy suddenly becomes more precious than
gold!

Put out lots of signs - bright backing, big & bold print lettering.

Don't put lots of words on a sign; people don't have enough time to read it
all as they drive by. Save the wordiness for your ad in the newspaper.

Advertise in the local paper.

~ Tina

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Take the time to clean your things i.e. wash the clothes, go over toys
with a little bleach water, dust things off, etc.

Put prices on items - you can negotiate, but it is really annoying to
me as a buyer to ask "how much?"

Display in a way that makes sense and looks organized i.e. group like
items, hang things up for ease in viewing, take things out of boxes, etc.

If you run an ad, be specific about kids items i.e."boy clothes, infant
through 3T", not just list as "kids" or "baby" if you can narrow it
down. I look for boy items, but seem to find so many homes
with girls stuff and I would rather not waste my time stopping at those
sales (especially with kid in tow!)

Throw junk away, don't bother putting out for sale - "junk" defined as
broken, stained, outdated and not a collectible, really worn, etc.

Have big, bright signage on streets directing people to your house (and
remove it when the sale is done!)

Be ready at the advertised starting time - I have actually gone to
sales where they are still bringing stuff out of the house

Have bags available for purchases

Don't let your animals wander freely - not everyone loves them as much
as you do!

Make parking easy/block off areas you don't want cars

Greet people when they come up

Be honest about whether things work or not or have all their parts/pieces

~ Kim

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I am quite picky about what I will buy at a garage sale. If something is
dirty or "scummy" looking, I won't give it a second thought. But if an item
is relatively clean, I will be more interested in buying it. I have found
that when I have my own garage sales, if I just take a little extra time
wiping things off with a damp cloth or vacuum, things seem to sell more
quickly. I end up making more of a profit for myself and the customer often
returns to future sales at my house because I have build a reputation for
selling good, clean stuff.

Ideas to improve sales:

Wipe off covers of children's books with a damp cloth

Don't try to sell Junior's baby toys without washing off the dried formula
and crusty Cheerio's crud.

When appropriate, put items in new zipper bags. This was especially useful
when I sold baby items. Things looked more appealing. I always let a
shopper know that they can open the bags and look at the item if they wish.

Wash clothes that may have a musty smell.

If clothes need a light freshening, consider tossing them in a dryer on a
fluff cycle with a couple of fabric softener sheets. Hang or fold right
away!

Vacuum furniture or collectables so the buyer knows just how good they
really look without a layer of dust.

Cover tables used for displaying sale items with clean (old) sheets.

Cover up anything in your garage that you don't want to sell. (Your hubby's
tools, grill, kid's bikes, etc.) This also prevents shoppers from seeing
what valuable things you store in the garage.

Try to arrange clothes in such a way so that the shoppers don't have to
shovel their way through the pile. Separate according to sizes, boy/girl,
men's/women's, etc.

Remember that even though you paid $75 dollars for that fancy dress that
your daughter wore to cousin Mary's wedding, it is not worth near that price
to a garage sale junkie. Be realistic about prices. My motto is that I
would rather sell an item for a low price rather than make no money at all!

Consider making a permanent Garage Sale sign out of wood and paint it with
bright paints. Shoppers know when I have a sale because of the familiar
sign that is planted on the corner of my street.

When I reach the point of wanting to shut down and close up shop, I hang a
big sign advertising that everything is 1/2 price. That way I don't have to
haul away as much stuff and the shopper feels like they really walked away
with a bargain.

~ Anonymous

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Early morning coffee is a nice way to keep 'em browsing.

Make sure you dont forget the change

Masking tape or paper with straight pin for price tags - small stickers are
hard to find and fall off easily

Ask the nieghbors to join in and have several yard/garage sales on the same
street, attract more people this way

~ Julie
(A military chid whose mother could sell the grass in the yard ; she
sold my little sisters bed while she was napping in it - what a hoot!)

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For more good reading, check here:

Planning Your Garage Sale

How to Avoid Yard Sale Junk 

My Junk, Your Treasure

Yard Sale Etiquette

Yard Sales: Money Makers & Savers 

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