Consider this: the average household has 300,000 items or another way to look at it, there are more things in your home than there are people in Cincinnati. As comedian George Carlin might have said, thats a lot of stuff.
So before the temperature drops and depending on where you live the leaves drop too, its the ideal time to have a weekend garage or yard sale and clear out what you dont need or use.
Here are our top 11 suggestions for a successful sale:
- Double-check with your municipality some require a permit or specify the time of day youre allowed to have a sale.
- Give yourself two to four weeks to prepare for the sale youll need to dig through your stuff, decide what youre selling, and price and organize everything for sale day.
- If youre planning a yard sale, rather than a garage sale, have a backup plan in case it rains.
- If you live in an apartment or condominium, speak to your superintendent or condo board about holding a sale with other residents on the front lawn or in the lobby.
- If you havent used an item in over two years, consider selling it. If you forgot you even had it, definitely sell it.
- No matter what you think your valuables are worth, everyone else will think theyre worth less. Do research on Google or eBay to see what similar second-hand or vintage items sell for. Tag your items accordingly but be prepared to discount them.
- Make sure not to use super-sticky tags that might ruin an item when theyre removed.
- Start early 8 a.m. is a reasonable time to roll up your garage door but remember, no matter what time you advertise, eager neighbors and bargain hunters will show up an hour earlier or even the evening before. Be prepared and be flexible. The purpose, after all, is to sell your stuff.
- Drop off flyers to all your neighbors and surrounding streets to let them know about the sale and plant a garage sale for sale sign on your front lawn early in the week. Like good gossip, news of garage sales travels fast in most neighborhoods.
- Youre not just trying to make money, youre trying to clear out clutter so offer customers discounts if they take multiple items for instance, buy 5 items and get an extra 10% off.
- Have lots of small bills so you can make change easily. If someone insists on giving you 20- or 50-dollar notes, encourage them to buy more items. And dont accept 100s theyre more likely to be counterfeit.
Youll find more great garage and yard sale ideas here. And why not share your own successful ideas in the Shop Talk Blog community forum!
Did you know?
Building a better garage sale
Best day to hold your sale: Saturday
Best time to start: 7 a.m.
Least-loved items: stuffed animals, TVs and magazines
Best-loved items: Tools, collectibles and sports equipment
Finally, 97% of customers leave within 2 minutes if they dont see anything so get their attention!
It’s been my experience that the only way 2weeks of your life is worth it, is if you have better things to sell. I put a lot of effort into the presentation . When things are well displayed, you have fewer customers who buy, but they spend far more than junk at a dollar or so. I have 3-4 people spending 200 or more dollars. I donate all lesser items, or take to consignment stores. It also is nice to have Thursday and Friday to sell, as there is less competition in the good weather, and the best day for me is Thursday. I am a purger, can’t stand too much stuff around and polish, clean, and launder everything throughout the year and save for the sales. The best trick is to give a “story” with the stuff. I bought this here, or it was a prescious gift is what sets you apart, and people love to relay this to others. I’ve actually built up a following by having a sign up sheet to notify my best buyers when I am ready to sell again. Have fun, smile and talk to people!
Thanks for the tips. I’ll try them
teach me. I have a lot of stuff!
I have been having very successful garage sales since I began in 1967. Same
people would return each year and I always held it in the fall. My items were
very clean and I used signs so people could go to the area that they were most interested in. My daughters always said, “Mom you could sell anything”
There were times I served Coffee and donuts. On a crisp fall morning they loved it.I greeted everyone who came and if they stayed and began to gather a great deal I would offer to assist them and let them know since they were purchasing many items, that I would discount what they bought. I love the people contact and I believe in all these years, I might have had a couple of “not so great sales” I Have decided that next year will be my last. (I THINK)
I sold every item for only $2 dollars and made over $300 dollars that day. I wanted to get rid of it and trying to haggle down prices on a consistent basis is a waste of time so setting it at a low price allows me to say take it or leave it! lol. I make sure that I keep on display items that I know will get peoples attention.
You need a proofreader / editor. Informative piece, but very grammatically-challenged. Perception is key.
You caan advertise online your sales or even individual items on Facebook and Yahoo communities and also though Listia.com.
I have never had one
Consider aligning with a local charity you support. if you can’t afford (or don’t want) to donate ALL the proceeds, give a percentage to them. You can add to signage and ads that “a portion of the proceeds will be donated to ….” Supporters of that charity will help spread the word.
But, and I can’t stress this enough, BE HONEST! Donate the money you promise!!
I run an animal shelter that holds garage sales twice a year to help support our cause, and we hear that other sales have said they’re donating some of their money to us. (Some have even said their sale is OUR sale!) It never happens. Eventually, the truth comes out, and you lose customers.
Would like to hear how successful consignment shops are for things that are worth more than garage sale prices (antiques, art, etc.).
Now how to
Good luck
Thanks for the tips
There are no apostrophes for plurals and possessives throughout this entire article, and there should be. It’s an extremely useful and well-written article, but I don’t understand why the author felt the need to leave out the apostrophes. I’m under the impression that anything that gets published online as a serious article has been proofread and corrected; am I wrong? And I don’t think I’m being overly critical or picky.
You’re right about there being no apostrophes for possessives in this article, but why would there be apostrophes for plurals? There shouldn’t be.
Favcebook and yahoo have communities online too that you cab advertise, sell aand give things away through. There is also Listia.com which allows you to auction items for points that can be exchanged for things you want!
I have about 60 boxes from stores that are in my name and were sent to me with no notice. They contain mostly boots, shoes, clothing, costume jewelry and purses. The boxes have been with me for about two months. The gentleman who sent them to me had expected me to divide these up and send to Malaysia and Wisconson to shops to sell.
I did the separation of items and when it got time to ship, I found out that he expected me to pay for the shipping myself and that he was not going to pay for the work I had done. The stores only have my name as the purchaser, receiver and owner.
I want to have a yard sale and sell the items that do not fit me (he bought the same shoe or boot in sizes 7 to 10) and clothing in small sizes. Then what does not sell I would like to put on ebay.
I also have clothes that are in great shape that do not fit and some men’s clothing and items from my husband who died a couple of years ago. I would like to have an All But the Kitchen Sink yard sale.
Would this work with all the varied items?
@Carol Ann Prince,
You have become involved with a scam artist and those items were most likely purchased with someone’s stolen credit cards, unless you paid for them yourself. Please do some research on this as you do not want to be financially responsible for these items. If you did not pay for them, they should be returned and credited back to whomever was charged for them. Remember the stores have your name and address, so you are their only contact in the US.
You can try to contact your local Better Business Bureau without giving your name and see if they can advise you. The Attorney General in your area might want to get some information on these scam artist as well.
These people you are dealing with are criminals so be careful with them. Also, be careful of the personal information you disclose publicly. Remember, some of the ads to work from home are scams. Contact your Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce or Attorney General’s office before getting involved to verify if they are legit or not.
I wish you the best with getting this resolved in a timely manner.
God bless and protect you and your loved ones eternally through Christ Jesus, Amen!
Carolan
I do not know why my response was not posted. I gave Carol Ann Prince some sound advice as a former Executive Director of a Consumer Advocacy organization. I believe she was scammed and her experience could serve as a warning to others.
Please reconsider approving the advice I gave, after all she did make a request for guidance. My advice to contact the merchants, the Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General’s office and her local Chamber of Commerce is based on more than 30 years of experience as an advocate. If you care about your readership, you will not withhold sound advice when it is offered freely.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
Respectfully,
Carolan
That was a scam.
Best Day for Sale is dependent upon where you live. For example, where I live now, Friday is the best and most profitable day. Saturdays are dead. But, where I used to live, Saturday was the better day. So know your area when choosing your sale days. Best Advice, for your 1st sale in your area do both Friday & Saturday to see which is the better day and if a One or Two day sale is worth it.
You are right about it depending on where you live, Friday’s are best for me and Thursday’s are the best for where my sister lives! Saturday’s here are so much slower, not much traffic.
Would like to learn more about garage sale
Sell everything, that you donot want/use, this is a great deal of making/saving some money! Begining from quilt,clothes you hardly use used, but they are in good conditions.good luck on the sales.
Thank you for the tips on yard sales..Do you have any information concerning consignment shops? I Sppreciate your help…Brenda Breeland