Urgent garage/yard sale help needed

[wendy522]

We are having a last minute garage/yard sale this weekend, I haven't had one in years. I need every tip anyone/everyone can give me, PLEASE!!! Our last one we planned and wasn't a huge success, I would really like to do much better.

 

[sweetsusannah]

Put a detailed ad on craig's list pumping up how great your sale is and put out big easy to read directional signs to get to your sale from all incoming roads. I have often abandoned a garage sale on my list due to poor directional signage and inability to find it quickly. Also, get your ad out pronto...many people start planning out thier route for Saturday morning way before Saturday, we have planned out routes to save gas. Good Luck!!

 

[java]

I saw signs around here that really caught my eye and were so cute I hit the sale. It said "monster" garage sale and had a picture of a cute monster with all the info. All the signs were exactly the same so they were easy to follow. They were also bright blue so easy to spot. I am sure they printed out the graphic. It wouldn't take long to do.

Good luck.

 

[Janepod]

When you have everything set up, take photos and put on Craigslist. And if you're selling any Legos, mention that - Lego buyers are crazy!

 

[nunzia]

I go to yard sales every weekend.
Price EVERYTHING..even if it's putting junk in a box and writing 25 cents each on it. Keep pets INSIDE..I am really tired of having dogs run at me when I get out of the car. I'm sure Fang is very sweet to you, but he might not be whee someone invades his space. If you are selling your kid's toys make sure they are ok with that. I had a toy in my hand once and a kid grabbed it from me screaming "MINE!". Make sure you have alot of stuff..I don't like seeing ads saying HUGE SALE and I drive up and there's a blanket on the ground with clothes tossed on it and a table with some old Cool Whip containers. Gas is not cheap, so try and make it worthwhile for folks to use some to get to you. Pay attention to your customers, don't get so wrapped up with talking to people involved in the sale with you that they can't ask a question or get your attention to pay. Finally price things reasonably! I don't care what you paid for it, I don't care if you "saw it on Ebay" for some price (did it SELL on Ebay for that price or was it just LISTED for that pirce? I can list a pencil for a thousand dollars, but that means nothing) Also, if you say something is worth something on Ebay then YOU go ahead and sell it there and do the work and pay the fees...
Have a good sale

 

[nunzia]

When you have everything set up, take photos and put on Craigslist. And if you're selling any Legos, mention that - Lego buyers are crazy!

..just make sure they are really LEGOs not the off brand. I bought a tub of Legos one time and less than half truly were.

 

[puffkin]

I hang all clothes on chain link across my garage doors. 1 hanger per hook. Displays nicely that way and they don't slide together. I also price clothing super cheap....usually 50 cents a piece...maybe a $1 or $2 for something really nice like a coat or blazer, but other than that really cheap. I move tons and tons of clothes so I still end up making a lot on it.

I always have a junk box marked free towards the end of my driveway. Draws the kiddies in and the parents usually end up buying stuff.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

If you live near a Dollar Tree they have yard sale supplies- signs and packs of price stickers. Slapping on a pre-printed sticker is so much easier than writing them all out!

 

[rszdtrvl]

I go to yard sales every weekend.
Price EVERYTHING..even if it's putting junk in a box and writing 25 cents each on it. Keep pets INSIDE..I am really tired of having dogs run at me when I get out of the car. I'm sure Fang is very sweet to you, but he might not be whee someone invades his space. If you are selling your kid's toys make sure they are ok with that. I had a toy in my hand once and a kid grabbed it from me screaming "MINE!". Make sure you have alot of stuff..I don't like seeing ads saying HUGE SALE and I drive up and there's a blanket on the ground with clothes tossed on it and a table with some old Cool Whip containers. Gas is not cheap, so try and make it worthwhile for folks to use some to get to you. Pay attention to your customers, don't get so wrapped up with talking to people involved in the sale with you that they can't ask a question or get your attention to pay. Finally price things reasonably! I don't care what you paid for it, I don't care if you "saw it on Ebay" for some price (did it SELL on Ebay for that price or was it just LISTED for that pirce? I can list a pencil for a thousand dollars, but that means nothing) Also, if you say something is worth something on Ebay then YOU go ahead and sell it there and do the work and pay the fees...
Have a good sale

I agree with ALL of this. Also, Craigslist is great, but make sure to put an ad in the newspaper too.

 

[Cakegirl]

Totally agree with everything already posted. At my last big yardsale the Craigslist ad went over really well, I made lots of signs to get more car traffic, loved those already printed price stickers, and worked hard to have everything fairly organized. Oh, and be ready early -- people were pulling up before 7am even. And DD had a little lemonade stand that kept her & DS(12) busy.

My downfall was the $25 I paid to have an ad in our local newspaper (my DH about died at the price of the ad, offset my profit). I guess around here, not as many people look in the paper anymore for yardsales like I'd thought. However updating my Craigslist posts were a winner. So I guess it depends on your area.

Good luck to you! Sending you lots of awesome yard sale vibes!

 

[canadianjovigirl]

I always price everything and try to have it nicely organized (all kids toys on one table, all books together, all kitchen etc) as i find that i have more sales that way. I also price stuff to get rid of it as anything that does not sell needs to be packed up and hauled to the thrift store so i'd rather get rid of it. I also do the free box at the end of the driveway and use good signs etc.

Good luck and have fun with your sale.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Craigslist ad is a must.

Bright colored, large simple signage. Ours just say "Sale" with our address, date, and an arrow. People use a 8x11 piece of paper with 30 things written on it and expect people to be able to read it sitting at a traffic light, it's not happening.

If 2 days, make the 2nd half of day 2 the 1/2 price sale. We cleared almost all of the garage last time by doing that, with only 3 boxes going to the Goodwill.

Have alot of change, the first person to buy something will always have a $50bill.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Wow, it's incredible to see how far yard sales have come with the help of the internet. It's no longer just something that happens in your neighbourhood, you can plan for it online!!

I agree with everyone here. My family moved a lot of stuff because we just wanted to get rid of our things as opposed to make any real money (we were moving), so we would almost always take the offer of the buyer.

Good luck! The hard part is all the preparation!

 

[phred52]

Interesting... we hit garage sales every weekend and have NEVER looked at craigs list while plotting out the route. Guess what I'm going to do tonight??

 

[puffkin]

Interesting... we hit garage sales every weekend and have NEVER looked at craigs list while plotting out the route. Guess what I'm going to do tonight??

I threw a quick post up on Craigslist for our community sale back in May. Figured why not, its free and took 2 minutes. I mentioned it to the lady who organized the sale later in the week. She had been polling people who stopped at her house how they knew about the sale so that she could advertise correctly next year and at least half said from Craigslist. She had no idea who put the post up until I told her and it seemed to really draw in a lot of people

 

[SandrA9810]

When I look at garage sale ads on craigslist, I'm looking for names of things being sold. Don't just write, video games, clothes, tools... Write out Playstation 1 with 10 games, children's clothing sizes 1-3 years, women's clothing size 10-14, hand tools, garden tools, and list brand of power tools.

Always hang clothes up. When I had a garage sale at my aunt's house, my cousin let me borrow a rack. It also worked great for blankets. Tables are good for displaying items too, and even use ones your trying to sell, just clearly mark that the tables are for sale.

Reading a post that says "lots of stuff" reads to me "lots of junk".

 

[C.Ann]

I go to yard sales every weekend.
Price EVERYTHING..even if it's putting junk in a box and writing 25 cents each on it. Keep pets INSIDE..I am really tired of having dogs run at me when I get out of the car. I'm sure Fang is very sweet to you, but he might not be whee someone invades his space. If you are selling your kid's toys make sure they are ok with that. I had a toy in my hand once and a kid grabbed it from me screaming "MINE!". Make sure you have alot of stuff..I don't like seeing ads saying HUGE SALE and I drive up and there's a blanket on the ground with clothes tossed on it and a table with some old Cool Whip containers. Gas is not cheap, so try and make it worthwhile for folks to use some to get to you. Pay attention to your customers, don't get so wrapped up with talking to people involved in the sale with you that they can't ask a question or get your attention to pay. Finally price things reasonably! I don't care what you paid for it, I don't care if you "saw it on Ebay" for some price (did it SELL on Ebay for that price or was it just LISTED for that pirce? I can list a pencil for a thousand dollars, but that means nothing) Also, if you say something is worth something on Ebay then YOU go ahead and sell it there and do the work and pay the fees...
Have a good sale

Excellent advice!

Exactly what I would have said, so you saved me quite a bit of typing.. LOL..

The only other things I might add are to make sure that you have lots of change and bills; bags to put things in; don't put piles of stuff on the ground and expect people to kneel down to go through them; and if you have children, try to keep them inside as well - or have someone else watch them for the day..

Good luck!

 

[acmmommymouse]

We had one last weekend. Kind of last minute. We decided to rely on advertising of other people and did not invest anything in advertising. We had a nice flow of people who were out at other sales. Talked about doing the Craigslist thing, but like I said, it all just happened last minute.
I think a very important thing is that Presentation is everything!!!!!!!
How you display things makes a lot of difference.
Also, it is a garage sale!!!!!! Keep that in mind when you are pricing things. Remember, that the things you do not sell you are probably going to donate or throw out so anything is profit. Also in this day of Dollar stores, keep your prices low.
We had most items at 1,2 and 5 dollars, most of it 1 or 2 and we were really successful this time. Also a few .50 items.
We met so many interesting people. That is one thing I really enjoy doing this......then there are always a couple of crazies that make for good stories after.
Have fun and I hope you do well!!

 

[pklein09]

I second (third, forth, fifth??) Craig's List. Super easy and it doesn't cost you a dime. I made a detailed list of items, but did not include any pictures (didn't have the time). I had tables with cheap plastic table cloths on them so everything was on a clean surface. If something needed to be cleaned or dusted (like glassware), I cleaned it. I had everything priced. I also organized things according to group - linens, glassware, housewares, toys, etc.

When pricing things, I will say that I referenced Ebay to see what things were priced at there. I found that I priced some things higher than I initially thought based on Ebay, but lower than the Ebay price. I did have one lady question me about an antique Maxwell House tin which was priced higher than a cookie tin and a saltine biscuit tin (all antiques). I told her the Maxwell House tin was worth more so it was priced higher...that I checked Ebay first. She got a little huffy with me and put everything back - all of about $4 worth of merchandise. About 15 minutes later, a gentleman arrives and pays full price for all the tins, no questions asked!!! Yes, you get the crazies that give you stories for later

Best of luck and I hope you had good weather. We were out in 102º heat that day

 

[nunzia]

I second (third, forth, fifth??) Craig's List. Super easy and it doesn't cost you a dime. I made a detailed list of items, but did not include any pictures (didn't have the time). I had tables with cheap plastic table cloths on them so everything was on a clean surface. If something needed to be cleaned or dusted (like glassware), I cleaned it. I had everything priced. I also organized things according to group - linens, glassware, housewares, toys, etc.

When pricing things, I will say that I referenced Ebay to see what things were priced at there. I found that I priced some things higher than I initially thought based on Ebay, but lower than the Ebay price. I did have one lady question me about an antique Maxwell House tin which was priced higher than a cookie tin and a saltine biscuit tin (all antiques). I told her the Maxwell House tin was worth more so it was priced higher...that I checked Ebay first. She got a little huffy with me and put everything back - all of about $4 worth of merchandise. About 15 minutes later, a gentleman arrives and pays full price for all the tins, no questions asked!!! Yes, you get the crazies that give you stories for later

Best of luck and I hope you had good weather. We were out in 102º heat that day

Then why don't you sell the items on Ebay?