Garage Sale.....would you

[momxx5]

We had a garage sale last weekend and made close to $300.....that paid my tuition and the water bill.

I am thinking of doing another one next week because I was not totally organized for the first one and know that I have more to sell......really decluttering and needing the money for the rest of our bills.

The question: The huge sub-division next to our street is having the annual Fall yard sales. The whole sub-division participates and people come from all over. I know families who live towards the back of the subdivision have said they do not get a much traffic because people stop and shop at the first sales.

Do you think it would be worth it to compete against them or wait until the following week?

The way our area is set up people would more likely stop at their sub division first....our street is next after their street. So it is likely that people will shop there and maybe spend all their money or find what they want.
OR
We may benefit from the traffic in the area.

What do y'all think?
Thanks in advance.

 

[moniot]

Tough choice. I wouldn't think of it as a competition since everyone has different things to offer. I would think you would benefit from their traffic.

If you don't sell as much as you would like could you move it all inside and then bring it back our the next weekend?

Good luck.

 

[DisMN]

I used to be able to offer accurate garage/rummage sale advice but the past 5 or so years everything is up in the air. Just one example would be that for many years the advice was be one of the first sales to open in the morning. Now, not so much.
A few weeks ago I had the best sale EVER and my customers were telling me it was due to my opening time. I didn't open until 10:00 a.m.!!!!!!!!


What I'd do is attempt to do both. LOL Open near the time the other sales are and see how it goes. Then do another one the next weekend. Make sure to move your stuff around so it looks fresh. Lots of people see things they missed the first time when you mix it up a bit.

Good luck! Please post an update of how it goes!!

 

[phred52]

No Question. Same weekend. Make very obvious signs with big arrows and place them on the near-by street corners that get lots of garage sale traffic. You'll pull in a LOT of buyers this way, those people who come to neighborhood sales and cruise around.

I'd probably get several big sheets of a neon color poster board then cut out huge arrows. Write something like "MORE garage sales" and place the signs so the arrow (obviously) points in the direction towards your home. When we place signs to pull in traffic for garage sales, we walk the route and make note of how many arrows to make and pointing in which direction....

We found we get a ton more traffic having our garage sale same weekend as near-by neighbors compared to having one by ourselves.

oh. And when it's all over, remember to take down your signs.

Good luck!

 

[Ericandjenng]

Don't forget to post an ad on Craig's List--with directions! When I have a sale, I try to put ads on for several successive days leading up to the day of the sale. I also try to put either categories of items or some explanation as to what I am selling. I have had people show up specifically because of something I advertised.

Also since you've already got some of the stuff gone through and ready, just plan on having sales off and on until you have gone through everything and got rid of the majority of it.

Last summer I two sales two weeks apart. The first did better because it was the first week of the month (BEST TIME because of when people get paid). This year we've had two so far--one in June and one in August. We did not do as well this time but we got rid of so much stuff last year that we just don't have as much to sell. We plan on having one the first weekend of October to see if we can sell some more of our excess of Christmas/holiday decor.

Good Luck!