Yard Sale Fail

[3DisneyBuggs]

We are having a yard sale and it is a failure. I advertised on craigslistt and our street gets some traffic. I made a whopping $17 and it's hot so I'm ready to give up. Our local paper wants $30 for a one day ad- not doing that. We didnt put signs on the corner though- this is my first sale attempt. Im listing the sports stuff on craigslist and donating all the clothing. The other good household stuff I'll donate o our schools Christmas fair. Guess Im not meant to make $$ LOL!

 

[G719]

Yard sales can be a pain. I like to consign at kid consignment sales that are held twice a year near me. I sell kid clothes, toys, books, and other kid stuff. I made $400 at the fall sale. It takes some work to get everything ready but the pay out is better than a yard sale. This website can help you find sales near you: http://consignmentmommies.com

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

That's too bad. A sign on the corner would have gotten you more yard sale traffic.

I don't do them. I tried it once and got fed up quickly with the people who wanted to talk down stuff that was already cheap - ie: stuff marked for a quarter, they wanted to pay .10.
I may try it again someday but not unless I really, really have to. I'll stick with Craig's list, donating and the occasional ebay listing.

 

[CopperWife]

I have had luck with facebook "garage sale" groups. I am a member of one for the county that I live in and there are well over a thousand members (and growing). I had about 8 storage bins of kids clothing that has sat through garage sale after garage sale. All price to sell, mind you, as I don't haggle. Anyway, so I took photos of all the stuff and listed it - I am now down to 3 bins! I've also sold some miscellaneous stuff and I've made a decent chunk of change. I would try this route before you donate - good luck

 

[Disneylover99]

Yah, yard sales are not really worth it now adays. If it's worth money, you have to sell it on the Internet. Everyone wants something for nothing at a yard sale.

We have a yard sale once a year to get rid of crap. I don't expect to make much money, I do it with the attitude that I just want to get rid of it. At the end of the day I put what's leftover from the sale at the side of the road (someone will take it) or I donate it.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

we made $4 at our last yard sale, so I hear ya.

Every spring our entire neighborhood has a huge yard sale, this year it was the pits

 

[kajs22]

Glad for this posting - I was contemplating having a garage sale, but, have been waiting because of the amount of work it takes. Probably won't do it - not worth all the trouble.

 

[christineangel]

There are fb yard sale groups in my area and they are FABULOUS. Less sketchy than cl bc you can see the person and so much easier to post. Check out your area for one and if there isn't- start one. I actually started one specifically for crafting items and it was a huge hit.

 

[saucymb]

Ack, I know how frustrating that can be!

I sell on eBay a lot for extra income at our house. 90% of my inventory comes from yard sales and thrift stores. I go out "treasure hunting" every Saturday, only taking August, and Nov-March off.

my yard sale buddy and I look for specific clues as to whether or not we go to a yard sale. We only look at ads on Craiglist. We look for signs...bright green or yellow, the date, and an arrow help us to know that the seller is committed to the sale. When we drive up, if it looks like piles of stuff, we usually don't stop. If it is organized, we always stop. We tend to not buy as much if things aren't priced. I hate asking over and over how much something costs! And I negotiate not for the sake of negotiating, but only if I truly think something is overpriced. Today, out of around 40 transactions, I "haggled" no more than 5 times.

Don't give up! Today in NC it was verrrrry slow out, not many sales and not many shoppers. Try again between Labor Day and Halloween. Coordinate a street sale...that will really get the shoppers in!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Sorry things are not going well. I agree with some others that you put so much effort into it and you really dont make much.

Last time we had one we found out someone ripped our signs down. We didnt get a lot of traffic because of our location.

I just donate the clothes and our church just had a big garages sale so I donated a lot of stuff to them.

My mom used to live in a great location. We sold a lot of our stuff at her house. It was a hassle though since she lived out of state. Glad we have a big van!

Maybe a friend or family member lives at a location with higher traffic etc. that might help your sales.

Wishing you all the best.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Next time, you need to put the signs out and also recruit a few neighbors to sell on the same day. You would not believe how much that helps. Staying open later (when other sales are closed) also helps a lot. Case in point:

Our sons' boy scout troop had a yard sale at the local elem school about 4 wks ago. About 6 families brought a lot of stuff, some of which was good and a lot of which was junk. We advertised on Craig's List and put up 2 green posterboard signs. We put our large items as close to the street as the parking lot allowed.

Honestly, we felt like it was slow. It was so slow, we put the boys to work putting up and taking down tents (lots of family-style tents donated to sale) to keep them from driving us nuts. Just putting those tents up did a lot for us. We sold almost every tent, and we sold them for more than we originally put on them b/c we could show that they were complete and in good shape. I think we made about $125 on tents.

We found that we got busier in the later afternoon, when most sales were over. We didn't pack up until about 2:15. With the tents and the late afternoon sales (the lamps, the Christmas trees, the leather saddle bags and all the beer mugs), we mad about $575. And we were worried b/c it was so slow.

 

[ceecee]

We did some great garage sales. I usually made $1000-2000 at each one. We were in a great area with a lot of traffic going by the road, so I put a sign with arrows and a big sign in our yard. We had better luck with a lot of items in the drive way, some people just drive by to see what you have. Most of our things were inside the garage. DD sold pop, water and cookies and usually made $50 on that. Kids clothes and toys are the big draw especially the bigger toys! Without that they aren't as well. No one wants to buy used teenager clothes!!! I guess they would refuse to wear it.

 

[Jerseymomof2]

Our town designates certain streets for each weekend in the summer for garage sales. when 2 other houses on our block did it we made $500 then the next year they didn't and we made less then 1/2. guess it's just luck sometimes.

 

[jcemom]

I haven't had much luck with yard sales.

My MIL's church recently had an indoor yard sale. We paid $10 per table. I made $40 and DD made $20. So $50 between the two of us after I paid for the table. We didn't think it was worth it at all. (at least it was air-conditioned)

They had one small sign near the road that said "Yard Sale" with a few balloons on it. They didn't say "Indoor" or put another sign with an arrow pointing to the building around back. I wish I'd been in charge of that LOL. I'd have made much bigger signs, with arrows.

Last summer we had a yard sale at my SIL's house. She put one small sign near the road, written in ink pen, and didn't put it up until five minutes before we started LOL. I had DH sneak up there and write over it with a black marker so at least it was visible as people drove past. I made $60 and DD made $25...but then my SIL let her teenage DD order from Domino's and I felt obligated to pay half, so there went 1/3 of my profit.

 

[tinatark]

We have had good luck with the facebook sale sites, but I did a garage sale last spring - Thur/Fri/Sat. Thursday was the BIG day. Saturday was a bust.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I tried the yard sale thing several years ago ...once.

I think I made like $30-something. The time spent dragging all that stuff out, digging through it. Getting up at 4:30 AM, spending the better part of a day with my mother in-law, yea never again. I know people can make money doing it, but to me it just isn't worth it. I would just rather donate the stuff and save the time an effort.

 

[Whyowhy116]

We have a yard sale every year. Fri and sat from 7-1. Fri is our busy day. The key to a good yard sale is that you must advertise in the paper! That also bumps your listing onto your local news channel websites as well as the online newspapers. Almost everyone that comes by has the local county paper. I've never made less than $300 for a 2 day sale, and my parents (who join us) routinely make upwards of $500- they have better stuff to sell, while I'm unloading clothes and household an random furniture... Advertising on CL just doesn't provide enough traffic. (I use the FB pages and CL throughout the year and you def get better prices online!) Happy selling!

 

[Swimalie]

Our neighborhood has one almost every year. I participated once and found that I was the only one in my section sono one came to me. I made a total of $60 for hours and hour of work. Never again. In our county, street side signs are illegal so you can't advertise like that. We had balloons out at each mailbox that was selling. Still little traffic. I switched to consignment sale in the area and it has gotten too crowded and not worth the time and effort. Now I donate to Salvation Army and get a better tax write off for less effort. Just easier that way for me.

 

[plummer925]

I just want to say - thank you SO much for this thread!! We have a ton of stuff (probably literally!) - In-laws passed away and we inherited the homestead (estate stuff split 5 ways, tons donated, but we still got a LOT) AND we closed a craft business. I have over 10,000 baskets/wreaths alone!!

I thought of doing a yard sale but started listing a few things on ebay the other day. I find I can list about 30 items a day (including photographing/researching the next 30 for the next days' listing) without burning myself out. Even if I "profit" $1 from an item, that's a LOT more than I'd get at a yard sale.

But I don't really love ebay anymore (used to be a powerseller, etc) I thought of having a sale just to "get rid of the stuff". So many positive posts everywhere about sales (I've had VERY successful sales in the past - I live in a historic area so people flock here in case of antiques). As much as I hate the idea of ebay, I hate the idea of yard sales more.

Thanks to this post, I'll continue chugging along at ebay (even if it takes me a few hours a day, all summer!) and maybe (MAYBE!) have a sale at the end of the summer for the things that do not sell. Because, by then, I'd have made my money and the remainder will be money that I'd have otherwise donated. But I'm not going to START with a yardsale.

And the poster who said about a craft sale FB group - wow, fantastic idea!!! Thanks!

 

[reagansmommy]

I just want to say - thank you SO much for this thread!! We have a ton of stuff (probably literally!) - In-laws passed away and we inherited the homestead (estate stuff split 5 ways, tons donated, but we still got a LOT) AND we closed a craft business. I have over 10,000 baskets/wreaths alone!!

I thought of doing a yard sale but started listing a few things on ebay the other day. I find I can list about 30 items a day (including photographing/researching the next 30 for the next days' listing) without burning myself out. Even if I "profit" $1 from an item, that's a LOT more than I'd get at a yard sale.

But I don't really love ebay anymore (used to be a powerseller, etc) I thought of having a sale just to "get rid of the stuff". So many positive posts everywhere about sales (I've had VERY successful sales in the past - I live in a historic area so people flock here in case of antiques). As much as I hate the idea of ebay, I hate the idea of yard sales more.

Thanks to this post, I'll continue chugging along at ebay (even if it takes me a few hours a day, all summer!) and maybe (MAYBE!) have a sale at the end of the summer for the things that do not sell. Because, by then, I'd have made my money and the remainder will be money that I'd have otherwise donated. But I'm not going to START with a yardsale.

And the poster who said about a craft sale FB group - wow, fantastic idea!!! Thanks!

Do they have flea markets around you? My grandmother made decent money selling crafts and nicer items at a flea market booth