Help with my first garage sale

Disneyfan1977

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 29, 2007
I am planning on doing my first garage sale next weekend to raise money for our upcoming trip to DISNEY....:thumbsup2

If you have any tips, please post them. I am not sure how I want to sell things....like price each thing individually or just a price off of the top of my head...

Any help/tips are appreciated.
 
Price every item individually. Use safety pins to clip outfits together. Make sure everything is organized. Housewares one area, clothes in sized piles in another. If there are things in your space that you are using that are not for sale cover them with a tarp or sheet so people do not even ask. Decide a head of time if you will take checks. (I would suggest no.) Make a sign stating CASH only if you are not taking checks. Do not hold items for anyone unless they pay for them in full. Make sure your signs are readable.

Thats all I can think of right now.
 


Mark stuff so people will be willing to buy. My sister and I have a garage sale every year. We have a lot of clothes from our kids that we sell. We mark clothing $1 per piece.Then we don't have to mark everything just put up signs. If things seem to not worth a dollar put them in a bin for a quarter. People will dig through the quarter stuff. We had a garage sale this weekend and are up to $600 with three of us selling things. Also keep things organized. Find out if your neighbors are planning on having a sale, maybe you could do it the same days. If someone wants something for a buck and you have $2 marked, let them have the deal. Its one more dollar for the mouse. Have good signs!! Good Luck
 
Get your neighbors to have yard sales too--people like to park and walk from house to house. You'll get more people that way. Be organized--especially for kids clothes--put all the same sized clothes together and outfits too--you'll sell more. I put them in plastic bins with the sizes marked on the outside and people dug through them. Sell cheap--people love a bargain and you don't have to lug it back into the house later. Also, I never mark any prices except for kids clothes which were 50 cents each. An outfit for a buck--that's a great deal. My neighbor taught me not to mark prices--it saves you a ton of time and if your goal is to make some cash and get rid of your junk--then you're more likely to price it low and get it sold. We cleaned out our basement and made quite a bit of money selling things under a $1. Many people bought stuff that we couldn't figure out what they would do with it because it was so cheap. Guess I'm in that category too--going to yard sales myself today. I need more junk for my basement. :lmao:
 


I have found that I often underprice items, so this time I am not going to tag some of the nicer items and just ask people what they would be willing to pay for them and see what happens. Good Luck!
 
We made just under $300 last weekend...I priced things low, main objective was to clear the place out a bit, and hopefully make $150. I put my larger items along the sides of the driveway (Fisher Price basketball hoop, bikes, bedding in bags, snowboard,bright color items) had types of items listed on our signs in front...people are like speed garage saler...they drive by and if they do not see what they are after, keep going! I was amazed at this ability...lol....anyway, I had people asking for dishes, tools, and if any batter operated toys worked, so we had batteries in them so we could let them try it. I had old sunglasses in a basket for a quarter each, gone instantly, games for $1 each, DD's (19) tank tops/T's for 50 cents, we had quite the collection of heavy duty plastic dinasaurs that went for 50 cents each..I did tag everything, I had water bottles in a cooler for a quarter each ( cost me 12 cents each so, worth it) CLEAN everything, all 3 of our bikes went and neighbors told me I would not sell them, that they had been trying for years..I used super bright colored plastic table cloths and had music playing...DS has a Red Bull costume that I made his last year, he put that on and was dancing out front directing people to stop...and it worked! I think if you offer a happy atmosphere, folks willstay, browse and buy! Good Luck, We also advertised that while we want the community to support GoodWill, we are cheaper ( and we were)!
 
The things that I can think of ...

Im one that thinks you should price everything.. except maybe the large items.. It bugs me to death when I go to a GS and nothing is marked.. I actually normally just leave..

Dont leave things in boxes.. I went to a garage sale and EVERYTHING was in boxes.. nothing was set out.. I left pretty quickly..

Make sure everything is clean..

Id also maybe sell some bottle water and maybe even some soda drinks for 50 cents each..

put a garage sale on Craigs List about the garage sale.. its free!!

small small toys maybe put in gallon size storage bags and put a price on it..

group like items together.. such as kitchen items, clothing, toys, etc..

Good luck!!
 
I second the scheduling with your neighbors! My neighborhood does that, and we get a lot of people.

Also, offer volume deals - like if you are selling books for 25 cents, make the sign say "Books - 25 cents or 5 for $1.00". People who only would have bought 2 will buy 4 instead, just to get one free.
 
I have a different perspective;If I go to a sale and things aren't marked,I leave.
 
I also second (or third) the idea of pricing your items. You can save yourself time by pricing like items the same (all books 50 cents, clothes 50 cents, VCR tapes 1.00 etc.) Also my boys always set up a lemonade stand/table and sell lemonade and cookies. I think they charge 25 or 50 cents and have a "tip jar" set up (they make the signs, etc.) They always make about 30.00 each from that. They LOVE it, and it keeps them busy during the yard sale.
 
Signs, Signs and more Signs! Big, bright, poster board signs with thick black sharpee markers giving your address, dates and times. Post them every where and even consider an arrow in the direction of your house/street if it's off the main roads. Nothing annoys me more then those tiny little signs you make out of construction paper or buy at walmart that you can't read. It shows buyers that not only are you serious about your sale but the proper way to get there. Then please dont forget to take them down. We drove to way too many expired sales today since people wont take down signs.
Sorry if that rant came out harsh but we laugh about it these past few weekends when we are driving around. Have a great sale and let us know how you made out. :yay:
 
I sell things at a local flea market which is my form of a "yard sale."

I make sure everything is marked and mark everything UP in price. Nicer hanging clothes are marked $1 over what I will sell them for. So if somebody picks something up I'll tell them I'll take less before they ask or have a chance to set it down. Even if it is the first customer of the day, say something like "I'm trying to get rid of this and I want to make you a deal."

People want things for nothing at yard sales. You want to make them think everything is a GREAT bargain.
If somebody has 2 or more items in their hand, offer them something to put their items in, like a basket (who ISNT selling a basket at their yard sale?!)

I did a $1 table yesterday, full of random junk. Later on it went down to 50 cents, then 25 cents. Then "take whatever and throw me some money."

Group junky things: Bag of junk jewelry. 10 coloring books. Bag of rubber duckies. McDonalds Barbies. Bag of Beanie Babies.

Do price groupings too: Box of Toys 4/$1.00. Baby clothes 8/$5.00 or $1.00 each. DVDs $4.00 each or 3/$10. VHS $1 or 6/$5

Good luck!
 
Quick question - have tons of VHS tapes to sell - can someone suggest a price to get these to move quickly? Thanks!
 

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