yard sale gurus question

[LWatson]

We are going to be having a yard sale next month and I'm organizing everything for it right now.

So far I have set aside for it...
2 Formal gowns (1worn 1x 1never worn)
A high chair
A crib
A toddler bed
A playpen
A crawl thru outside toy
A bunch of Little People Sets
A printer
A Crystal Picture Frame
A LOT (and I'm talking like crazy ammounts) of Baby Clothing
A Double Stroller
Johnny Jumper
A ton of kids toys (big and small)
Kitchen Decor (pictures etc)
Christmas Decor
Children's books (we have a lot that we have no room for)
and Adults Clothing (still in style, but I've lost 45lbs so cant wear anymore)

How should I go about pricing stuff (specifically the baby and adult clothing)? We are doing it because we are moving in a few months and want it GONE, but we still want to make a decent ammount to do souvie shopping at Disney.

This is what I have found the past few weeks just by rearranging stuff inside teh house. I havent even touched the garage yet...that has stuff we havent touched in almost a year in it.

 

[PigletsMommy]

This is hard to answer over the internet because I think people pay differently in different areas. When I lived in Michigan I would get more $ for the same thing sold here in TN

That being said... I just had a yard sale in July but I price low because I was moving and wanted it all gone. Everything I didnt sell went to Goodwill...so if someone offered me something I usually took it. Some money is better than nothing.

Here is a few things I can remember:

Baby clothes: 25-cent a piece
I also had a box of free baby clothes - things that were stained or really worn
$35 for a swing
$50 for walker -got $40 for it. Like brand new
Adult clothes: 25-cent for tshirts
$1 for blue jeans
$1 for dress
$5 for suit coat
$5 for coats
$20 for formal dresses
50-cent for books
50-cent for stuffed animal toys

I think thats all I had that was the same as your list.

Everything kind of depends on how worn it is. If its like new, then look on craigslist in your area and see how much people are selling the items for. Especially your baby items. That will give you a good idea.

 

[dakcp2001]

I just wrapped up a yardsale yesterday! We did 2 days and made 499 bucks! I was shocked! This is the first yardsale for me, so I was shocked at what people bought and what people did not buy. SO put your stuff out even if you think it is worthless junk that belongs in the trash! Things I would never buy sold and the good brand new stuff I thought people would want, I am still left with.

Clothing- sold remarkably well! I washed and hung it up. The clothing hung on hangers sold FAST the stuff in bins people would dig through but not buy. Once we had empty hangers, we hung up bin stuff, and then like magic is also sold! I started off asking 1 dollar per piece of clothing, more for jackets & stuff, but ended up asking 2 or 3 bucks per item and it still sold well. I also made some outfits and sold them for 5 bucks each. Those sold so fast I couldnt keep up with it.

YOU MUST WASH AND HANG IT for it to sell! We made a rack out of a shower pole, but I have heard people hang chains across their garage to hang stuff.

People also bought lots of used sneakers & shoes, I did not expect this, I charged a buck a pair, and had NONE left at the end of the day. These were keds and dress shoes were mostly from Target. I do not buy fancy shoes, I did have some Nike's though.

Bottles of shampoo, lotion, body wash etc etc. For some reason my mom has been stockpiling this stuff, and I never thought anyone would buy it. Some of the shampoo had been used and was only half full. We started selling at a quarter a bottle, but they were selling so fast we ended up selling at 1 buck each bottle and sold EVERY single one. I did clean them all before I put them out. I would have thrown the used ones away but people bought them all.

Books sold well, but only if they were neatly organized. I sold hardcovers from 2-5 bucks each and softcovers for a buck.

People really bought more when the tables were neatly arranged by category- kitchen stuff, tools, books, etc etc. When customers made a mess, people avoided the messy areas like the plague.


Dishware, glasses, vases, plates, wine glasses did not really sell. Pots, pans, lids, utensils, small kitchen appliacnes sold really fast.

We hung up neon pink signs, cut out like arrows, and we clearly marked with our arrows from the main street to our home, an arrow at ever intersection. many people commented on the arrows, and people from out of the area liked them.

We put a "FREE" section at the end of the driveway, clearly separated from the rest of the tables and we put green sticker dots on all of the free items. People loved the free section, lots of people stopped for it and people took stuff that surprised us. Things we didnt want to clean, broken electronics, etc etc.

We made a dot sticker system for US, not for customers. We color coded prices, red dots= 5 bucks yellow = 1 blue dots meant we had a unique price, and the dots were all placed on the bottom of the item so when someone took it up and asked a price we could easily look at the bottom and tell them. The second day we lowered all our prices to unload and it was nice to not have to relabel. Big ticket items were clearly marked with a price.

No one looked at our TVS or brand new ait conditioners, until we put a little neon sign with a price (ie 27 inch sony, only 40 bucks!) and then people driving by stopped to come look at them.

 

[estherhead]

Look up your exact stuff on e-bay. Then price below the going e-bay price. We did this for ours this summer and made $100's. I think my family cleared around $600 and my sister almost that amount. Then we took what didn't sell to a used kid's clothes store. The stuff they wouldn't take, we donated to Goodwill.

And everything everyone above me said. We did almost everything they said.

To advertise in our local paper is $30.00 so we did that & on craigslist. And I made 3 very professional looking signs (on my Cricut) and put them in key points.

Tons of traffic is key in selling the little things. We probably had 30 cars in the first half hour. It was totally overwhelming.

Oh, we also buy soda & water when it is on sale (in cans & bottles) and put it on ice with a sign $.50. We sell out of that once it gets warm. Just a nice little boost to the profits.

 

[LWatson]

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. I'm hoping to make this a success (meaning getting rid of unwanted stuff b4 we move and make money).

I'm going to rent a few tables and advertise in the post paper, and on our local yardsales site online (oh and craigslist). I am really really excited. Even $50 is more than I had b4 we started (though the cost of the tables may cost me that).

 

[SandrA9810]

If it's still hot, a nice cold drink will keep people looking longer. I would fork over 50 cents for a drink. And today would be a good day to stock pile on sodas and stuff. Memorial Day, Labor Day, July 4th, Superbowl, you can always count on good sales that the grocery store. Right now Publix has pepsi 12 packs, 5 for 11$, 18cents a can.

Maybe you could ask neighbors if they have any card tables you could borrow. And rent a few chairs as well, there might be some one with not much stamina or a little kid that "needs to sit". I know my g'mother just sits in the car if we ever stop at the store or something, but if there's a bench near the entrance she'll wait there for us there.

 

[overlyspoiled4sure]

If your garage has rafters, here's a tip we discovered when we were at a garage sale--toss 2 pieces of rope over the rafter & put a sturdy pole between. Perfect spot to hang clothes because, pp's are right; hanging clothing sells much better. It's so much easier for customers to flip through too. We'd have a section for boys, girls, mens, womens & even baby clothes. We collected hangers everywhere we shopped. Most stores were more than willing to let us have the hangers clothing we bought were on. Some even let us pick through their basket of hanger discards.

If you don't have that much room, you could still hang clothes up by "section"--girl,women,boy,men, etc.

I don't have many suggestions for pricing; my daughter prices stuff at a cost she'd pay if she were buying a similar item.

Before you put out your baby furniture, check to see if any items have been recalled; if not, then you can mark them saying you'd checked for recalls & didn't find that item on the list. I think new moms would appreciate that, what with all the flap about recalls now & baby furniture safety issues.

Good luck & have fun!!

 

[natashag76]

What kind of hours do you guys run? 9-3? 7-5?
I try to do a yard sale with some neighbors every year, but I've yet to turn over a $100. Of course, combined, we probably pull $300 or so for a 9-3 sale.
Suggestions or recommendations?

 

[estherhead]

8am-2pm here. No one comes after 2 around here. As for tables, borrowing is the best idea. That is what we do. And we use saw horses and plywood for the non breakables. And for the stuff that we know will sell fast, we put it on the tables with lesser stuff underneath. Then as the stuff sells, we move the other stuff onto the tables.

At noon we start telling all our customers (loudly) "We'll bargain, make us an offer." At 8am I tell anyone who asks, "Too early in the am for me to barter, prices are firm until noon." This isn't exactly true, I barter all day, but the auctioneers, cranky old ladies, and other resale people make me angry. I'm a mom selling my stuff cheap to other moms to make their lives easier, not to business people so they can resell it to the moms at profit. I know this is silly since I like local businesses (and buy from some of the very people I snub) but it is an emotion I can't stop as the yard sale dawns and I only get more firm about it every yard sale (we have one every other year.) A lot of the auctioneers buy at our full price anyway cause we make it cheap enough they can resell still at a profit. But we have a carload of "church ladies" (nothing against normal church ladies but that is literally 4 women's nickname is around here) who go to every yard sale every Saturday and yell at the homeowners for trying to gouge them when we won't cut our prices by 75% for them. I'm not even kidding. The first year I didn't know about them and they almost made me cry. The other customers told me who they were after they left. Every year without fault they are one of the first carloads to come and every year they yell at me. So I include them in my "no bartering until noon." Because I also don't barter with cranky people.

 

[Perditamarie]

I would recommend selling your baby items on Craigslist...you will have people looking on Craigslist for your specific items, whereas at a yard sale you have to hope that folks looking for baby items will come and be prepared to part w/more cash than they may be planning for a yard sale.

Also, you will have people wanting to bargain with you all day, even if you have set a fair price. You could also group your smaller toys together and sell as lots....stuff like Little Tikes and Step 2 and outdoor stuff does really well on Craigslist as well.

Books and stuffed animals don't seem to sell well...perhaps do a bag sale for books, small toys, stuffed animals, and even baby clothes for a flat price..especially if you don't want to move it back into the house/garage after the sale.

I consider Craigslist a virtual yardsale and I don't have to do as much work setting up/putting away, just putting photos/listings on line and answering a bit of email!!! You could list your stuff on Craigslist now and sell whatever doesn't sell at your yardsale.

 

[dismom24]

My son and his friend did a yard sale this weekend and made over $1300. They thought the best was having one of them stand on a main road with a bright sign waving people to the yard sale a few blocks away. They did not know how to price anything, but seemed to do very well. They slao advertised on Craigs List.

 

[Perditamarie]

My son and his friend did a yard sale this weekend and made over $1300. They thought the best was having one of them stand on a main road with a bright sign waving people to the yard sale a few blocks away. They did not know how to price anything, but seemed to do very well. They slao advertised on Craigs List.

Holy Toledo!!! What were they selling??

 

[Crystal0608]

Here is what I would price the items at. Some I would list on Craigslist or eBay first to get more $$$.
2 Formal gowns (1worn 1x 1never worn)-$10-15 (never sell for me)
A high chair- $20 list on Craigslist higher first
A crib $100 Craigslist (check for recalls first if older)
A toddler bed $20 Craiglist
A playpen $20 Craigslist
A crawl thru outside toy ?
A bunch of Little People Sets eBay
A printer-$5-10
A Crystal Picture Frame $2-3
A LOT of Baby Clothing-safety pin matching sets $1-4
A Double Stroller $50 Craigslist
Johnny Jumper $10 Craigslist
A ton of kids toys (big and small) ziploc similar items together-will sell faster
Kitchen Decor (pictures etc) $1-5
Christmas Decor- again, ziploc similar items to sell as lots
Children's books (we have a lot that we have no room for) .50
Adults Clothing $2

I usually have my sale from 7am-noon, which is the norm around here. My last one was mostly my kids clothes from my previous ys and I made around $280. I had 2 easy up tents, 2 folding tables, & a picnic table. I sort the clothes by size, gender, & season- always sells on the table, no one looks through bins.

I list free on craigslist, yahoo groups, and local newsstation websites. If the clothes are name brand, put that in listing and also size ranges, gender, etc. Make youe signs big. Use a picnic table, kitchen table, etc to get items off the ground. Either price everything or make a sign for every similar group of items (i.e. ladies jeans $2, ladies tops $1, ladies shoes $3 in the adult clothing section). Save your grocery bags. Price everything in quarter or dollar increments to make it easier to give change, have a roll of quarters, ones, & fives on hand and a pocket calculator. Good luck and have fun!

 

[3boymthr]

We did a fund raiser yard sale last year and made $2500 in the rain no less - we figure if the sun had been shining we would have made even more.

Little toys, board games, and puzzles sold for 50 cents each
bigger toys sold for $1 each
Giant toys sold for $10 - $20 each depending upon what they were and condition (i,e, a rescue heros Mountain command center or doll house or little tikes toy ride on, etc.) A big kiddie pool with built in slide sold for $35 (it was little tikes or similar brand).
Baby items sold for $2 for little items and big items $5 to $10 each depending upon the condition
NO gowns were sold - take those to a consignment shop. If you want to maximize your money on the kids clothes do the same with those. We have a charity consignment shop that takes anything as long as it's not holey, ripped or stained - see if there's one near you... Other wise adult clothes sold for $2 each - again hangered stuff sold much much better. and kids clothes for $1 each
A fur coat sold for $5
Computer stuff for $5
VCRs - $2
Books for 25 cents
Furniture - it depended upon the item
Household stuff sold for $1 each for small items and $2 each for larger items.
Household soft goods again did not sell (fancy hand towels, tablecloths, curtains, pillows, etc.) We donated all of it to charity at the end of the day.
Lamps did not sell - those all went in the trash at the end of the day
Christmas lights - those sold for 50 cents for a giant box the size of a refrigerator - the guy was going to strip them for the metal - so basically their worth nothing.
Christmas decorations/ornaments - sold for 50 cents each.
Tools and sporting goods sold amazingly well and were priced according to what the item was and it's condition - we had none of these left at the end of the day. We sold 10 bikes at $10 each.

ETA - other items that did not sell - baskets, dried flowers, candles but candle holders sold okay at 50 cents each. And a HUGE seller was costume jewelry and the like - some people collect this but be careful if selling costume jewelry as some of this, when older is worth a ton of money (they used real gems mixed with glass back in the day)

We did not price individual items. We just posted an easel with prices for general categories and noted that all prices were negotiable. It worked really well and saved us a lot of time. Make sure everything is clean dirty stuff did not sell. Have an extension cord available for people to plug electical items in to make sure they work.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Definitely put the kids/baby items on Craigslist. Here are some of my latest sales and what I got for them:

I just sold a Weebles Castle to someone who drove an hour to get it! $10
Graco Pack and Play for $50, another for $60
Britax Marathon for $100, spare cover $30
Wooden activity cube $25
9 wooden puzzles, some Melissa and Doug $20
Baby Bjorn $25


I am having trouble selling the Little People Sweet Sounds Doll House with some extra accessories for some reason. I really thought that would sell ASAP and not the weebles castle! I have the dollhouse, a tractor/girl, mini bus/girl and older style school bus with people for $20. Guess I will repost for $15.

We had a ton of baby clothes up to 2t, some still with tags (I have friends in retail that went bonkers shopping). One weekend we set up two 8' racks between shelving units in the garage and had a 2-day 'shop in our garage' sale that we advertised on CL. Made a few hundred dollars! Then we just put the remaining in bins and brought it to a resale shop.

 

[DisneyBrat]

For some reason I have always had more people on Friday than on Saturday.... I always have a yardsale 2 days for more chances of selling my items and last but not least... don't let the early birds er dealers get your stuff for dirt cheap its too early to cut the prices you still have the rest of the day and next day to sell them

Good luck!!!

PS upsell upsell upsell.... alot of times you can talk people into the sale... I will pick out an item and push it til it sells then move on to something else... I've ALWAYS had over $500 sales Baby clothes are atleast $ 1 or $2 a piece and have been best sellers especially toys, cribs, ect..

 

[LWatson]

I'm not doing craigslist here for sales because people on there are worse than yardsalers here. I had a set of dishes for sell for $5 and someone asked me if I would take $1 for it online. I would wrather just have it set up and tell them no face to face than deal w/ constant emails trying to bargain. I might do ebay on the clothing if it doesnt sell at the yard sale.