Garage sale pricing help

[Desnik]

I'm going to have a garage sale on the 27th and I need help with pricing some items. It's been awhile since we last had one and I have no idea what to ask for! If it helps, we live in a suburb of NYC, all items are clean, working, in perfect to new condition and have no missing pieces. Here are the items I need help with:

Build a bears (bears, dogs, penguins, large & small)
Build a bear outfits
Build a bear accessories like a tent, igloo
TY beanies
Webkinz (large & small)
Playmobile sets (circus-large set with add ons) (pirate ship)
nerf guns
zhu zhu pets
toss across game
halloween costumes new in package (witch. bob the builder, thomas, genie, etc)
booster seat
adolescent violin with stand for sheet music, sheet music book
children's books (I donated a bunch already to our local libraries, but they can't take anymore)

Thanks for any help!!

 

[englishteacha]

My brother in law's rule of pricing is 10-15% of original price, unless the item is truly brand new, then he'll ask for 50% of the store price but is always open to dickering.
It seems like a good rule of thumb to me as both a seller and a buyer. If it's something I'm looking for but refuse to pay retail for, I might spend a bit more. For instance, I paid $6 for a baby float for Z. New it would cost $20. I was happy to pay $6, even though it's more than 15%.

I'm not a build a bear expert, but I would think that assembling the bear would be part of the experience, so selling one secondhand is no where near as "valuable" as one you'd make in the store.

 

[texasroni75]

My family and I just had a garage sale this Friday and Saturday. We put all DD's Build-a-Bear outfits (I think there were about 25 pieces in total) into a large Ziploc container and sold it for $5. That's probably 5% of their original cost, but I was pricing everything to ensure it would sell. Around here, stuffed animals, even if they are Build-A-Bear, go for 25 to 50 cents each, and even then it's a hard-sell. Beanie babies and Webkinz - same thing, unfortunately.

If they are mint condition, you might get more money to put them into a big lot and sell them on Craigslist.

Playmobil stuff - you can definitely sell for more than other typical toys. Like Legos, they hold their value better. I'd sell a medium sized set for no less than $10 (and you might find people fighting over them!).

*** Edited to add that we used to live in NJ - suburbs 15 minutes from NYC - and I would price the above items the same there too.

 

[tvguy]

Did an estate sale Friday and Saturday to clear out my mom's house. I'm more baffled after the sale than I was confused before on prices and what people would buy and for how much.
As an example, the nice furniture didn't sell, yet people paid top dollar for the love seat with the ugly fabric that our cat clawed up.
And I accidentally left my e-waste stack in the garage, made $100 on the old Montgomery Ward 13" portable TV, RCA VCR (1979 model), and non-working portable stereo turntable.....all stuff that was going to the dump, and a lot of nice stuff didn't sell and is now going to the dump.

 

[phred52]

Yep, 10% of the original value is where I start pricing my stuff for a garage sale. The build a bear and beanie babies , any stuffed animal, is going to be a tough sell. I wish you luck.

 

[ceecee]

I would try Ebay for the BAB clothes. If the Webkinz have unused codes they may do okay. I actually sold a lot of Beanies for $1 and $2 at my garage sale. If they are new with tags you can get a little more. Halloween costumes may do better on Ebay as well, I have sold quite a few and did really well. They were all Disney Store. I got $50 each for a Marie and Dalmation costume, they were the full body plush.

 

[Desnik]

Thank you all so much!
I'm thinking with some of the items I may be better off selling them on Ebay. I took a look at past sales for some of my items, for example the Playmobile Circus set with extras and that has sold multiple times for $100!! Used!! Also the Build a Bear stuffed animals are about $3 each on there (I was going to sell them for $2 at the garage sale) & the clothing is about $3-$5 for sets (all past sale prices). I think the Zhu Zhu pets and Webkinz sell for more money in lots on Ebay, from what I saw. Also I have some Vera Bradley bags & wallets & those sell for great prices, like $25 there. I don't think I could get that at a garage sale.

After fees, is it worth it to sell these types of things on Ebay or should I stick to the garage sale?

 

[zoemurr]

Did an estate sale Friday and Saturday to clear out my mom's house. I'm more baffled after the sale than I was confused before on prices and what people would buy and for how much.
As an example, the nice furniture didn't sell, yet people paid top dollar for the love seat with the ugly fabric that our cat clawed up.
And I accidentally left my e-waste stack in the garage, made $100 on the old Montgomery Ward 13" portable TV, RCA VCR (1979 model), and non-working portable stereo turntable.....all stuff that was going to the dump, and a lot of nice stuff didn't sell and is now going to the dump.

would you take nice stuff to the dump? If you list it for free on CL it will be gone in an afternoon. You can always take it to Goodwill as well.

 

[minushka72]

You might even try one of the Facebook yard sale groups for your area. No fees and you just store the stuff until someone buys it. That might be a better route to go for the Vera Bradley stuff. You can meet at a local mall or something so people are not coming to your house.

 

[tvguy]

would you take nice stuff to the dump? If you list it for free on CL it will be gone in an afternoon. You can always take it to Goodwill as well.

The nice stuff has gone to, or will go tomorrow to the Discovery shop, the American Cancer Society thrift shop (both my parents died from cancer).
The less nice stuff had gone to Goodwill.

Our close friend from a city 150 miles away came to help. She does multiple garage sales a year, she brought down her garage sale set up (tables, pop up shade tents, sandwich boards, cash box). She was totally caught off guard by the crowd we drew, when they came and what they bought. Not anything like she is used to. We put an ad on Craigslist Wednesday night for the sale on Friday and Saturday, and reposted it on Friday night. We had people coming by Thursday and knocking on the door. Friday morning we were overrun by pickers.......people who would buy a bucket, like I posted, the broken electronics pile I intended to take to ewaste was among the first things sold. We advertised this as an Estate sale, which it was. The ugly love seat sold, (for the $30 it was priced at)....the nice couch, priced at $40 sat unsold. A guy grabbed a box of junky kitchen gadgets (wisks, pizza slicer, spatulas, wooden spoons) and offered $10, which was probably twice what the sum total of the individual prices was.
Saturday, we were prepared for the rush, got there 2 hours early. Our first customer didn't come until 9 am, an hour after we advertised. People would love an item, and promise to come back with money, never to return. Others would call something ugly or strange, then buy it for full asking price.
Our friend said it was the most bizarre crowd she had seen in 30 years she's been doing this.