Rummage Sale Newbie- What Should I Charge?

[Kims09]

Hi everyone!

My husband and I have decided to hold a rummage sale this summer. We have quite the pile up of stuff, primarily children's toys and clothes as we have kept all of my only child's clothing as she has grown (and she's just turning 9). So all of her baby clothes and up until now. As she is our only child and the only grandchild on both sides of the family, she has had an overabundance of clothes and most of it is in really, really good shape.


As I do not frequent rummage sales nor have I held one before, I am unsure of how much to charge. I have been hemming and hawing on what to charge and as we're planning on having the sale in about 6 weeks, I have to get moving on pricing this stuff out. Who better than to ask than the budget board?

What are the prices that are typically charged for clothes in a rummage sale for kid's clothes? Jeans, shirts, shoes, etc? Also, do you charge different prices for different size clothes? For example, a 2T jeans vs. a size 8 jeans?

I do have a small amount of clothes that I or the grandmas have bought on clearance that my daughter didn't end of wearing and still have the tags intact. I was thinking about offering them at a bit of a discount from what's on the tag...does that seem acceptable?

Also, are there any tactics anyone has used in a sale that seem to work? For example, I am toying around with the idea of charging maybe $20 or $25 for as much clothing as an individual can stuff into a paper or plastic bag that I provide...any thoughts?

Thanks in advance to any advice given!

 

[chris31997]

The bag is a great idea. I would supply grocery-style plastic bags and call it $5 bags. Usually you see it at the end of the day. But you can use it for clothes if you have a lot of them.

I have done clothes several ways. The best results have been when I have sorted it into lots. $.25, $.50, $1.... lots. Baby clothes tend to be cheaper due to stains BUT if it is name brand or in excellant condition I would charge more. Those items would be seperate. Older kid clothes would be more than baby clothes.

Brand name clothes, shoes, purses are seperate and priced alittle less than half the cost, with wiggle room to haggle

Toys and things like that are priced in $5, $10, $20....depending on quality, cleaning needed(if I don't want to clean it I price cheap ), and how old said toy is.

I have a $.25 box/bin usually stuffed toys or little stuff that I want gone!!!
I also have a $.50 and $1 table of kitchen/bathroom/household items

I price things to go cause I don't want to deal with it afterwards.

Be ready for early birds. People who arrive before you start.
Advertise and put up signs.

Good luck

 

[akcire]

Hi everyone!

My husband and I have decided to hold a rummage sale this summer. We have quite the pile up of stuff, primarily children's toys and clothes as we have kept all of my only child's clothing as she has grown (and she's just turning 9). So all of her baby clothes and up until now. As she is our only child and the only grandchild on both sides of the family, she has had an overabundance of clothes and most of it is in really, really good shape.

As I do not frequent rummage sales nor have I held one before, I am unsure of how much to charge. I have been hemming and hawing on what to charge and as we're planning on having the sale in about 6 weeks, I have to get moving on pricing this stuff out. Who better than to ask than the budget board?

What are the prices that are typically charged for clothes in a rummage sale for kid's clothes? Jeans, shirts, shoes, etc? Also, do you charge different prices for different size clothes? For example, a 2T jeans vs. a size 8 jeans?

I do have a small amount of clothes that I or the grandmas have bought on clearance that my daughter didn't end of wearing and still have the tags intact. I was thinking about offering them at a bit of a discount from what's on the tag...does that seem acceptable?

Also, are there any tactics anyone has used in a sale that seem to work? For example, I am toying around with the idea of charging maybe $20 or $25 for as much clothing as an individual can stuff into a paper or plastic bag that I provide...any thoughts?

Thanks in advance to any advice given!

Not sure where you are located but in my area typical garage sale clothes sell between 25cents & $3. Honestly I'm not even sure 9 year old baby clothes will sell.

I've done all you can bag for $5 at the end of the day.

Here people want to buy non stained sets such as Gymboree for $5. Any stains no more than $1

Good luck

 

[powellrj]

I have always read that you can expect 20% of the price paid for items at a yard sale. That said, I have never found that to be true. I usually price things to sell meaning most things (even new with tags) at under a $1. Unless they are timeless items like oneies and sleepers I wouldn't count on getting much at all for 9 year old clothes.

I have done the bag sales before and always had good luck, but I charge $5 for the bag. Unless you have really high end items I can't see getting $20 for a bag of things.

 

[Kims09]

Wow, glad I asked. I would have been way overpricing stuff.

 

[zoemurr]

Wow, glad I asked. I would have been way overpricing stuff.

I rarely get over $1 for any clothes at a sale. The nicer stuff never seems to sell, and I don't think I have ever marked something over $3. People want super cheap. (Myself included.) Do you have a local consignment sale? (Not a shop.. but a one time huge "event".) You can get a lot more for them that way. Or, since you have time I would make some lots of same sized clothing and put them on Craig's list. That way you can list them high and keep dropping the price, or take what someone offers. Definitely put an ad for your sale on CL. Include some pictures.

If you can swing it it's nice to have them hung and divided by size. Folded in bins by size works too. Placed on a table never works because the first person will mess it all up.

I have sold clothes lots of different ways. Honestly it's not usually worth the time and aggrevation for such a low pay out. I get more pleasure out of finding a young mom to give them to. They are always appreciated.

Why don't you go to a few sales before you have yours and check it out? It's a great fun way to spend an afternoon.

 

[jana616]

You may want to check out your area and see if there are any children's consignment sales. There are for profit companies that run some (like Whale of a Sale), but around here we have a few non-profits who hold them as well, like a Moms of Multiples group and a local cooperative preschool. Different sales take a different percent, but I do the local multiples sale where they take 25% of my sales. I price everything, drop it off, and pick up the leftovers. I usually sell 3/4 of what I bring (more of my toys, games, and books than clothes), and make $400-700 depending on what I bring. There are several advantages to this as opposed to a garage sale. First, everyone coming to shop at these sales is looking specifically for kids' items. You have a large, interested audience. Because of this, I find I can price things a little higher than I would at a garage sale and offset most of the percent they take (for example, I price most of my boy t-shirts at $1.25 when I would have charged $1 at a garage sale, and I keep $.94). I price all of my Gymboree clothes higher, $2 for t-shirts, $4-5 for two piece sets, and $4-5 for dresses. The other advantage is that you don't have to do anything with the actual selling-no haggling, no finding tables, etc. Just tag, put them on hangers, and be done!

Just thought I'd throw out another idea for you

 

[ArmyWife7]

My sister and I had a yard sale this past weekend. It's amazing what sold and what didn't and for what price. We had a ton of stuff as well...baby clothes from 5 kids. We marked all the nice outfits (I'm talking smocked outfits here) at $1 and all knit play clothes at $0.50. We sold a lot, but still had a lot left over. We bagged all the left-over clothes in large garbage bags and completely filled the back of a pick-up truck. I took a picture of all the bags in the truck and posted it on FB for $20. I had 3 people fighting over those bags. Next time (there won't be a next time) I will price the left-over bags higher.

With all that said, I would place your nicer items on a FaceBook yard sale group. To give an example, I had Playtex Sippy Cups priced at .50 (Reg $4). No one even looked at them at the yard sale. I put them on FB the same day for $1 each. Again, I had 3 people wanting them. I easily get $3-$4 per nice outfit on FaceBook; whereas, it would be $1 at a yard sale.