Yard Sale Hints and Tips, Please

[eacatwork]

Hi gang! DH and I will be moving at the end of next month, so I'm planning to have a yard sale - the proceeds from which I intend to use to buy new curtains for the new house...and maybe add to the Disney fund as well.

Anyhoo...I've never had my own yard sale, so I need some tips/pointers. I am fortunate that I live on a heavily-traveled road...not in some obscure cul-de-sac...so other than a few signs, I hadn't planned much publicity.

Here are some of my questions, and then I'd like other tips and hints as well:

1. How much money to start?
2. How best to display clothes if I don't have a clothes rack?
3. If I put things like table clothes and curtains in gallon zip bags and write the dimensions on the label, is that OK?
4. How do I determine prices for bigger ticket items like small appliances, bikes, etc.? Is eBay a good point of reference?
5. What else can any yard sale gurus share to help me?

Thanks!

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Hi gang! DH and I will be moving at the end of next month, so I'm planning to have a yard sale - the proceeds from which I intend to use to buy new curtains for the new house...and maybe add to the Disney fund as well.

Anyhoo...I've never had my own yard sale, so I need some tips/pointers. I am fortunate that I live on a heavily-traveled road...not in some obscure cul-de-sac...so other than a few signs, I hadn't planned much publicity.

Here are some of my questions, and then I'd like other tips and hints as well:

1. How much money to start?
2. How best to display clothes if I don't have a clothes rack?
3. If I put things like table clothes and curtains in gallon zip bags and write the dimensions on the label, is that OK?
4. How do I determine prices for bigger ticket items like small appliances, bikes, etc.? Is eBay a good point of reference?
5. What else can any yard sale gurus share to help me?

Thanks!

Hello. Here is a thread that I started a while ago. Start here.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1418422

 

[coolbeans]

Just in case you don't find exactly what you are looking for on the other thread..although it is great!
1. I always start with at least $30 ($10 in quarters, $10 in fives and $10 in ones) In my fanny pack, that way the money is always with me. I have used a cash box at a table and eventually someone always gets up and thinks someone else is/was watching it!
2. we get extra hangers from local clothing stores ( a lot of stores toss them rather than reuse them) and hang clothes on pop up canopies or on broom sticks between ladders. The canopies provide shade for us and a great display for clothes. Try to size them for ease of shopping.
3. I put lots of stuff in ziplock bags but be prepared for them to be opened, people want to be sure the items inside are not stained or damaged. (you will refold and restuff many times durring the sale) (I put baby outfits, toys, anything that is a set in a ziplock)
4. price stuff to haggle, but make sure it is priced. Most of the time if it's not clearly priced people are funny about having to ask about everything. We have never had appliances, other than a 10 year old tv. I wouldn't use e-bay to reference but that's just me.

I always have to decide before the sale, am I here to make $$ or get rid of a bunch of stuff. If I don't want to drag it back to the garage I am more willing to haggle the price, but I won't give it away!!

 

[snomofinn]

Our whole block has a garage sale every year or so...I hang all my clothes on a rack, I invested in a cheaper rack at Target, serves the purpose once a year. If I run out of room I hang them along the fence. If you have a clothes line wire, that actually works the best. I start out with about 25.00-30.00, a mixture of quarters/dollars/fives and tens. We always put an ad in the local paper, they have a section of garage sale ads. When you advertise then you could list a few items that will draw attention to your sale. One year my husband sold quite a bit of his tools, I added that into our ad and it really drew alot of people. We put signs on both ends of the street. I never price anything less then a .25 that way I don't have to mess with little change. People come to garage sales for a bargain, I never sell anything in a garage sale that I could get more for on ebay. I sell on ebay anyway. My DDs clean their closets out a few times a year and I have abercrombie/hollister/express, etc.. clothing items that I sell on ebay, people don't care where the stuff came from at a garage sale, they just want the cheapest price. It's nice of you to put things FOLDED in a ziploc bag! don't expect it to stay that way for very long...I find that people don't care they just look through your stuff and leave it for you to fix. If you have larger items, they way I figure is start by remembering how much you paid and then decided what condition it's in. Like for example I sold my daughters mountain bike a few years ago, I paid 175.00 for it and it was in excellent condition, I got 50.00 for it. Don't worry if your too high, the people will let you know! Good luck and have fun!

 

[kaddjr]

I haven't read the other thread in awhile, but here's my .02¢:

Money- As previously mentioned, price in increments of .25¢. At the very least have $10 in quarters, $10 in ones, $10 in fives, and a ten dollar bill. Also, get a counterfeit detector pen. Most people are honest, some are not. Plus, I had someone make a large purchase at my sale last weekend and paid with a $100 bill. Believe me, I was happy I had that pen! Keep your money in a fanny pack and when you have a lot, put some of it in a safe place in your home.

Hanging clothes- can't help you with that one. DH rigged a pole on some rope and hung it from the ceiling in the garage. Do you have a couple of trees in your yard that are close together? If so, string clothes line between the two.

Putting things in ziplocks- yes, I did and it worked out fine. I sold patterned scrapbook paper and some quilting material in them. As long as you have a good description on the bag, they should be fine.

Small appliances, bikes- as another poster said, price to sell but don't give it away either. Ask yourself this- what would you be willing to pay at someone else's sale?

If you really want a certain price for something, price it a little higher so you have room to haggle. Be friendly, talk to your customers. My speil went like this: "Good morning! How are ya? Feel free to look around and don't be shy. I'm not and I don't have any problem haggling." I also would ask (if I wasn't busy with others) if there was something in particular they were looking for. If I had it, I would help them find it. Have plenty of grocery bags on hand. If you are having this sale with another person, use different colored tags. It makes it so much easier when adding up totals at the end of the day.

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head. Good luck. I made $425.50 at mine last weekend.

 

[3mickeymom]

While having a sale on her front lawn and driveway, my Aunt had a woman distract her with questions about some items while the other people the woman was with, entered the garage and walked toward the entrance into her home. Her son found them and told them that there was nothing for sale in there and they ran away. Running away made things very suspicious!!! Just be careful, lots of expensive items are often kept in the garage, power tools, bikes, sports equiptment that might seem very appealing to the wrong kind of people. Keep your sale area well marked and your home and garage locked. That way you can enjoy your sale and hopefully make lots of money!!!!

 

[cats mom]

Some good info here already.

You could use e-bay as a general price reference, but be prepared to accept much, much less.

I put out a bunch of clothes at my last yard sale - just wanted to get rid of them quick. Several outfits I had priced under $5.00 and didn't get any takers. I put them up on e-bay and every one of them went for over $25
Go figure

I'd advertise on Craig's List as well. They have a section for yard sales. We had several folks say they saw our post there.

I know a lot of folks here have good luck with the baggie thing. Has never worked for me though.

Good Luck with your sale!

 

[karla63]

I just had a 2-day sale this past weekend. This was an annual sale that runs along the same state highway (about 60+miles), so it is advertised very well from many different aspects. Go ahead and put an add in the paper with some of the more popular items. I also had a table that was a "five and dime" table. My clothes was neatly folded and refolded and refolded again. I had 2 huge trees with nice lower branches that worked as my clothesline. My more expensive stuff was near the money box area. I had nothing over $10 and ended up making $855 for our trip in 3 weeks. I was just rolling in pixie dust after everything was over. A long weekend, but very much worth it
Since I had nickle items, I made sure that I had plenty of nickles, but I usually start out with about $100 and lots of signs at either end of the street, etc.