Beginner Garage Sale ?'s

[StitchesGr8Fan]

We are participating in our neighborhood garage sale for the first time, and I have some newbie questions:
1. What are good price tags to use? We want something that will stick, but not leave residue.
2. How much cash should we get for making change, and in what denominations?


Any tricks or tips you can provide will be much appreciated too.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Nothing?

 

[dpswift]

I always buy the packages of "garage sale stickers" you can get them at Staples or Target. Some have a limited number with prices on them already.

As far as change I try to get at least $20 in ones, $20in fives and a couple of tens. You should get a couple of dollars in quarters as well. Even if you price things with dollar amounts many will offer 50 or 75 cents. Most people do try to bring small bills so change is not always necessary.

 

[Pesky]

1. Tough to find ones that will stick without leaving a residue. Choices we've found are post-its (which don't stick that well) or tie-on tags, which could be removed.
2. We tried to get about $60 in change or so. mostly ones, then fives and then tens and no twenties. If you are charging below $1 for some items, be sure to stock up on change, preferably keeping it in quarter denominations for ease.

I have been advised that you can often get more money on FB garage sale sites and craigslist for larger items so those you might want to reserve for that.

 

[Gorechick]

You can use painter's tape for labeling items.

 

[lovewdwdvc]

oops

 

[Kies99]

For most items that are plastic or ceramic, use regular price stickers you can get anywhere. They really don't leave much of a residue.

For wood or other items that you don't want to leave residue on, use GREEN painters tape. With the blue you'll have a hard time reading prices, with green it's easy. You may need to look in the automotive section of a store to find it.

Clothes and such, you should get the tags on string. Much easier to work with.

None of this applies if you are selling multiple items at set prices like $0.50 per book or $1 per clothing item. For that, just make a sign.

 

[plummer925]

I just had a huge yard sale last weekend. I bought garage sale stickers at the Dollar Tree. You don't want your stickers to easily fall off or be easily removed - people WILL try to rip you off by switching tags.

For change I had $200 - it was about $50 too much but I was doing the sale with my mom and did not know if she got change. I price everything in .25 increments (I will not deal with pennies, nickles or dimes!) to make it easier. Have a roll or two of quarters, at least 25 ones (50 would be better!) and LOTS of fives. I almost ran out of fives and sent my brother to the bank for an additional $200 worth (we had plenty then!). Almost everyone paid with a $20. Even for $1 items. Drove me nuts.

Price things to sell - generally no more than 1/3 of retail, with some exceptions. Big items WILL sell on a yard sale, better than Craigslist (at least around here!). Know what you are firm on (even writing "firm" on the price!) and know what you'll be willing to negotiate on. Almost EVERYONE will negotiate. Our sale started at 9 a.m. (which was REALLY late - but it was at my moms - she set the times) - we had people showing up at 7 a.m. and trying to get our prices lower. I "typically" do not lower my prices the 1st day of the sale, and definitely won't if the sale is not yet open!

Make sure you have a plan for the left-over items - you don't want to just bring them back in the house. Most people box up items and either put away for the next year (I do not hold things over as I do not have sales every year) or box up and take to Goodwill or another charity. Me, I DID bring my boxes home, but only because the sale at my moms was an hour away and I will be having one here at my house in a month (have big items that I did not take up to my moms).

Good luck! I made over $500 in 2 days and I was thrilled!

 

[SEA333]

The easiest thing for us was to set all like-priced items on a table and make a sign: "All items on this table $1.00each" or whatever. Same with clothes...grouped together with one sign: "little girl dresses, $3.00/each or best offer". Big stuff was displayed in driveway (we had a side open garage at the time) and were priced separately of course. We were in the "getting rid of baby and toddler stuff" stage at the time, so hot sellers were the strollers, cribs, baby gear, outdoor climbers etc. Nobody wanted knick knacks. DVD's were still big sellers at the time (2007-2010), so we did $5.00 each or 3/$10 (again using one sign). We got rid of pretty much our whole collection that way. I used masking tape and a Sharpie for the rest of the pricing, which worked perfectly since Sharpies are pretty much the best thing ever created I tried to price everything at a dollar or increments of a dollar, but remember, it is a garage sale and there are ALWAYS people who will ask if you will take $.75 and then hand you a $20.00 and expect change. I got a couple rolls of quarters, about $50 in ones, $30 in fives, and a few $10 bills. That was plenty. Ours was a community sale in our rural subdivision, so it was a big deal each year. I made between $400-500 each year and I did it three years in a row. I would not do it now because I don't have baby or kid stuff anymore and I'm not doing all that work to make $50 bucks on household junk, but it was awesome while it lasted!!

Good luck!!