Garage Sale Tips..

[ThreeMusketeers]

Hi everyone..this will be our FIRST Garage Sale. I need Tips/advice to make the most out of the weekend and how to get the most for our money. We have lots of clothes, some bigger items and lots of kid stuff. (Toys, essencials..ect..) How do you set stuff up?? Does selling Hot Dogs, Bottled Water..ect, really help out funds? Are there any other things that you do to amp up your profit??

As you can see, I am all about the money. LOL

Thanks as always..

 

[Pigletandpooh]

Organization is key!!!seperate boys and girls clothes and sort by size...I would reccoemnd pricing somewhat cheap...when someone walks up and see $3 tshirts they decide to not look....start in the middle and people may offer less..i have never done hotdogs before...That might be a good idea..i aw this done once and it seemed people were buying....dont worry about the food as much....Just make sure everything is organized (and try to price everything!)


hope this helps

nicole

 

[bettyann29]

I agree that organization is important.. also if you can maybe hang up the clothes that are nicer and that you might be asking a little more for.. Thats what I usually do.. I hang the nicer clothes and then fold and organize the ones that will be less priced... I personally wouldnt sell food.. as I know in my city the last time I had a garage sale I thought there was something in the rules about selling food.. I have attempted to sell water and can cokes before and I never do any good with that although I do hear others do..

 

[PURTYPAT1]

My tips for a successful sale

Make sure everything has a price on it. Have shopping bags under the table in one big bag. Have a counterfeit pen. (got a counterfeit $20.00 at my sale) Have a second person with you. Last sale I had people steel. Grandma caught several.

On one table tape a paper & pen next to it, so if you need to ad quickly, or if you would like to keep track on money.

Start off with $50.00 in 25 singles 3 five's & one 10.00 take some of your singles and get 3.00 in quarters. Make trips to the house, to deposit money inside. Try to keep only 50.00 in your belly bag.

Wear jeans, or pants with pockets in the front and back. Wear a fanny belt. Keep just your singles & quarters in the fanny. All the $5.00 bills belong in your front pocket, $10.00 in your back left pocket & $20.00 in your back right.

Don't charge anything under a quater (then you will need more change) Start off higher & be prepared to negotiate on everything.

Have your hammer, nails, & signs ready. Put a sign on your car the night before & have it ready to move on the street.

Prepare lunch & snacks & drinks the night before. You don't want to waste your profits on takeout.

My DD wanted to make cookies. I told her get her Limited too clothes and sell them plus her toys. She made almost $100.00 She would have never done that on cookies & drinks

bettyann29 & pigletandpooh, are so correct by keeping organized. Have your clothes sorted out by sizes. If you don't have a clothes line make one. 1 ladder by 2 chairs on each end makes a great to hang your clothes on. I use my fence and coat racks.

Show everything example: books, could be laid out on a table cloth on the front lawn.

If there is something your firm about in the price, write it "firm"

Have a chair set up for, & your company, and sit as much as possible.

Don't let anyone in your house. Tell them you have a dog that bites.

These are a few of my tips.

Good luck with your sale

Patricia

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

WOW! THanks everyone! THe tips sound great, anyone else have any suggestions? i would love to hear them all.

 

[J Lynn]

I just went garage sale shopping last Sat. and I can tell you about my experience....
I wouldn't want anything to eat simply because your fingers tend to get dirty when touching items that have been stored for a long time and have dust. Drinks would be good. I would think about buying a small cup of lemonade for .25.
I skipped over things that were cluttered in a box. I tended to look at things that were spread out and priced clearly. If you don't have something priced, some people may not bother asking which may cause you to lose the sale.
I didn't buy any clothes because most were not separated by size or gender. I found some jeans that were my DD's size but they looked like boy jeans, I just wasn't sure.
My friend saw a baker's rake with "sold" on it, she asked how much did it sell for and the lady told her she was going to keep it but would sell it for $50. My friend would never have know if she didn't ask. Now she's got something she's been looking for.
Anyway, I love garage sales and thrift stores. But price is everything. If you really want to get rid of the stuff, price low. It helps to actually go to garage sales yourself to get the idea of how it works. Be prepared to negotiate prices. My friend did that for me twice. It worked and I saved a few dollars.
Hope this helps.

 

[ZipaDeeDooDah]

My tip is for the small kids toys that are too small and time consuming to individually arrange and price - I usually throw them together into (ziploc-type) grab bags and priced them at .50 - $2 each depending on what is in them. These have always sold great for us and are a great way to get rid of those odds and ends!

I also wanted to suggest that you may want to check with your neighbors and see if any of them would be interested in having a garage sale too? This happened to us just by chance with our last sale - and it really makes a difference in drawing people to your neighborhood if you can advertise it as a 2-family or multi-family garage sale.

I found this site when I was looking for tips for our last sale too and it's great - you may want to check it out!

http://www.yardsalequeen.com/yardsale.htm

Garage sales are so fun! Good luck with your sale - when is it?

 

[J Lynn]

Let us know how your garage sale went. Was it this past weekend?

 

[ZipaDeeDooDah]

Bumping because I'm curious too - please let us know how it went!!!

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

Hey everyone!! Thanks for the interest! Such great friends here on DIS. Our sale is the 7,8 and 9!!!! I will surely let you know!!
Thanks again.

 

[ZipaDeeDooDah]

Good luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get lots of customers!!!

 

[jessica52877]

Good luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get lots of customers!!!

Every week I see a zillion kids selling coke, lemonade, etc. I would probably not bother with it myself as I simply cannot buy from every child selling that day and seldomly see any customers.

Organized and clean makes a difference, but don't waste more time cleaning something then what it is worth. Change! Change! Change! I cannot stand people that do not have change and I start out with $10s, $5s and $1s , if you cannot make change for that then you don't need to be having a sale! People try to sucker me in by not having change! Oh, why don't you pick something else out, no thanks!

And have everything priced!

 

[englishteacha]

It's worthwhile to put an ad in the paper. Our paper has 2 choices- 1 is a "garage sale kit" with the ad and with a few signs and a tips book. This is about $15. For $7 you can place just the ad. I do this and make a LOT of signs! Make your signs large and easy to read. Too many people around here use printer paper and write tiny. Bright signs and large writing will draw people to your sale, and help the people who read the ad locate you.

As a shopper, I'm looking for items that are clean, organized, and priced. If it's not priced, I generally won't ask, and will leave. The exception is if I know the seller.

As a seller, I've had good luck with toys and books and housewares here. Adult clothes aren't a big seller. I usually display like items together and make a sign for the price- Stuffed animals $1 each, Paperback books 25¢, etc.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

Question: Would you sell a wedding dress at a yard sale? I am thinking why not?? But I don't know how much to price it for. Its 6 years old, it good condition. Needs a dry cleaning, but other than that very traditional avg. sized. What are your opinions??

 

[ZipaDeeDooDah]

Keeping in mind that most people are looking for bargains at garage sales ~ I would think you might be able to get more $ for your wedding dress through a consignment store (assuming you have one in your area). Something to consider too, is that people may want to try on the dress, etc at your house ~ would that bother you? If it doesn't, then it certainly wouldn't hurt to try selling the dress at your garage sale (you could check out ebay, other consignment stores, etc. to get an idea of going prices) ~ and then take it to the consignment store after if it doesn't sell.

 

[bevtoy]

We keep all money in Belly Bags to be worn constantly, if you walk away from your till for even one second someone will take advantage.

 

[PigletFairy]

If you are selling something electric, make sure you have somewhere that it can be plugged in. We had a couple of things that people wanted to make sure it worked. My idea of a yard sale is I am trying to get rid of my stuff. I usually price it low and will practically give it away. I usually take the nicer clothes to a consignment shop and we even have a furniture consignment store. My little sister likes to sell drinks and chips but usually she sells out of the bottled water first. My mom loves to sell clothes but she puts them on the floor and they really dont sell. Hope you sell your stuff.

 

[sameyeyam]

We always make popcorn and give away small bags or paper cups of it at our garage sales. We say hello, let us know if you have any questions and hand them a small serving of popcorn. It keeps them around and browsing longer while they finish eating their popcorn.

Popcorn, margarine & a little salt are really cheap and people really appreciate it.

Also, if you have kids that want to earn a little money, have them buy some soda pop and sell it for 50 cents a can or so. People will be thirsty after eating the popcorn and will buy soda.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

Hi! Our Yard Sale was a Big Success, we made about $800. And my dd sold drinks and made about $10 for her piggy bank. Selling Water Bottles and Diet Pepsi at .50 cents a can. We ended up only doing the sale for one day since it was such a successful day and most of our good stuff was gone. And would you believe that it was a Friday??!!! Thanks again for all the help I found on DIS!

 

[ZipaDeeDooDah]

Way to go Nicole! Glad your sale was successful!!!