Yard Sale - How To Price and Negotiate

[BWV Dreamin]

I will be participating in a community yard sale soon. It's been a while. How are things priced? Is there a minimum price for certain items? Do you price higher allowing for negotiating?

 

[jperrot1]

I wouldn't price things high so that you expect to negotiate. Most people won't think about negotiating. Price things at what you would be happy selling it at. Some will try to negotiate. Maybe it's the end of the sale and you just want to get rid of your stuff and so...... you might be OK at that point selling below what you felt was a fair price. Look at the bright side: you got rid of your junk and your garbage bill won't be as high.

 

[Darcy03231]

If you price your items to sell most people won't negotiate. If you have something that's higher priced you can always take people's names and numbers with their offer and call them at the end of the day if the item didn't sell for what you had on it. This is usually for bigger priced items like furniture, newer electronics, appliances etc.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Are there prices that people just will not pay? For example we have a lot if CD's and DVD's to sell. Tools and a few coats. This is what comes to mind so far. I don't want to over price but would like to make a little money.

 

[ArmyWife7]

Are there prices that people just will not pay? For example we have a lot if CD's and DVD's to sell. Tools and a few coats. This is what comes to mind so far. I don't want to over price but would like to make a little money.

I had a yard sale last weekend, plus I place many items on a FaceBook yard sale page. I have had an extremely hard time getting rid of DVDs. I have them marked $2. I sold maybe 3 at the yard sale. I've had many people offer $1, but we're just not willing to go that low. I rather keep them then give them away.

 

[MrsPete]

General rule of thumb, price things at 10% their original prices -- or less.
Things that're genuinely brand-new (as in new, in the box) could be a little higher. Pretty much nothing will sell for more than five dollars.

Adult clothes will not sell no matter how low you price them.
Books, DVDs, CDs, etc. will rarely go for more than .50 no matter how new they may be.

Children's clothes, toys, kitchen goods and furniture will be your best sellers.

No, don't mark things high with the intention of negotiating. If I go to a yard sale and see that everything's marked "up", I tend to say to myself, "This seller is kind of out of the loop as far as selling used stuff goes, and I'm not going to bother."

 

[pampam]

I find it helps to have items of the same price together on the same table. for example, a $1.00 table, a $.50 table and a $2.00 table. Make sure items are clean, priced, and not laying on the ground. People like to look at items at table level.

 

[scrapquitler]

I had a yard sale last weekend, plus I place many items on a FaceBook yard sale page. I have had an extremely hard time getting rid of DVDs. I have them marked $2. I sold maybe 3 at the yard sale. I've had many people offer $1, but we're just not willing to go that low. I rather keep them then give them away.

I would probably buy lots of DVDs at a yard sale if they were $1 and movies I haven't seen. I probably wouldn't buy them for $2.

 

[MEM]

Also, beware of those people who will negotiate no matter how low your prices are. I always had that type come to my yardsales - they would gather everything they wanted into a pile and offer me "five dollars" or something else ridiculous. They try to wear you down while other potential customers get tired of waiting and leave. I no longer waste my time on holding yard sales. It really depends on your neighborhood. A friend of mine in a wealthy neighborhood was able to sell his Disney VHS and DVDs for $3-5 a piece - that would never happen in my neighborhood.

You might try a technique like - DVDs $2 each or 3/$5. Adult clothes tend to sell if priced at $1 a piece - just try not to think how much you have invested in them. Kids books and paperbacks should be priced from 50cents to $1 depending on condition. Hard backs about $1-$2.

 

[MEM]

I find it helps to have items of the same price together on the same table. for example, a $1.00 table, a $.50 table and a $2.00 table. Make sure items are clean, priced, and not laying on the ground. People like to look at items at table level.

That's a good idea except for those people who will argue that something from the $2.00 table came from the 50 cent table. You might try colored dot stickers - red for $1, green for 50 cents, etc.

 

[Hanover]

We have only had one yard sale and it was 3 years ago. We priced things very low with the intent of just getting rid of them. We decided before the sale that we'd donate whatever didn't sell and nothing would go back in the house. We had CDs and video tapes that we sold for 25 cents and then 10 for a $1 at the end. We had lots (32 rubbermaid large totes) of outgrown name brand childrens clothes that buyers could stuff a grocery store bag for $1 or a trash bag for $5. We pretty much got rid of 10 years worth of baby/children's clothes, toys and baby products that had just been sitting in our basement. Lots of household stuff too. The most expensive thing we sold was a ride on humvee for $15. We sold 4 other ride on motorcycles and a few bikes for $5 each. We sold things we knew we could get a lot more money for at very low costs because we just wanted to clear things out. We had someone from a community thrift store that was opening come by and offer to take anything that didn't sell and thanked us for pricing everything so low. Our sale was during a community yard sale and I had lots of friends not sell similar items because they had them priced too high. They kept them and ended up donating them later. We ended up making enough to pay for a 3 day cruise. Since then, we've purged quite often and just donate the items.

 

[Cynt]

There's usually two type of yard/garage sellers - those trying to make money and those trying to clear out the house. I'm usually trying to clear out the house. I mark everything a dollar and put huge signs out - EVERYTHINGS A DOLLAR. I might have a few big ticketed items that I clearly mark $5, $10, $20 but those items are hot sellers and go 1st thing so they're gone before the master negotiators get there.

It's important to get every last use out of whatever you're putting out there. So when that $200 jacket sells for $1 you know you've gotten 200 uses out of it and you're not tripping about the price. Like someone else said I send everything to the shelter afterwards. Nothing goes back in the house. At least I try not to bring anything back in the house.

 

[scrapquitler]

Another thing I thought of: pricing things in multiples tends to get people to buy more than one of something. One of the vendors at our local flea market sells paperback books (and nothing else). They are $2.00 each OR 3 for $5.00. Almst nobody buys one book, she always sells in multiples of three People are much more likely to choose 3 than one or two if they think they are getting a bargain. So those DVDs that you had trouble selling for $2. each might fly out of there at $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Wow great advice!!! It's been so long since I had a yard sale, and even longer going to one! I guess everyone has CD's and DVD's to sell. I only have coats to sell, no other clothes (gave them to Good Will already). I do have a few books, so now I have a gauge on how to price them. I just found out I have a class on the day of the yard sale so now my husband has to sit out there and "sell". This yard sale wasn't my idea but I'm trying to be neighborly as this was started by one of my neighbors (trying to stay on good neighborly terms ).

I like the idea of pricing things in a group of "3". What about video games? They are a little more money than DVD's. Should I price them a little higher? Like $4-$5 each? Or is that too high?

 

[ArmyWife7]

Another thing I thought of: pricing things in multiples tends to get people to buy more than one of something. One of the vendors at our local flea market sells paperback books (and nothing else). They are $2.00 each OR 3 for $5.00. Almst nobody buys one book, she always sells in multiples of three People are much more likely to choose 3 than one or two if they think they are getting a bargain. So those DVDs that you had trouble selling for $2. each might fly out of there at $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00.

I actually did that and it still didn't work. The offers I got were crazy low. I have approximately 200 DVDs (DH bought a lot when deployed). I had people offer me amounts, such as $30 for the entire lot. For some reason, DVDs just don't sell down here (Gulf Coast). I watch lots of people post large lots of DVDs on the FaceBook Yard Sale page I belong to. They don't sell there either.

 

[swilshire]

I would suggest you spend a Saturday visiting a few yard sales in your area to get an idea for typical pricing. Also take mental notes of the ones where things are priced too high and everyone is leaving empty handed as opposed to the ones with reasonable prices where people are buying things. I usually breeze right through a sale with high prices. Not worth my time.

Sheila

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Well we had some musical items, xbox attachments (little drum set), some household items, a couple of wooden stools, and a craftsman saw. All of these items sold right away. Nothing was priced higher than $10 other than my son's drum set which he sold for $60. Sold a dvd player and under the cabinet little flip down TV, they sold for $8. All other items were priced around $3.00.

Feedback was good, pricing was fair. Not one DVD sold, nor any of my books. Overall there were not that many yard sale patrons. If I were to guess, maybe 25. But overall, we made a little money (my son made the most) and we now have much more basement storage space!

This should be it for our yard sale participation. Kept the neighborhood harmony going but we are done with it!

 

[Eastern]

I like the idea of pricing things in a group of "3". What about video games? They are a little more money than DVD's. Should I price them a little higher? Like $4-$5 each? Or is that too high?

I think you should price them at $1-2 each. I just went to a yard sale last weekend and my son saw some video games he wanted to go through. But then he saw the price ($6 each) and he was horrified. He didn't even bother making an offer. Remember you can get used games at Gamestop or on Amazon for $5 if you want to pay that.

 

[dakcp2001]

General rule of thumb, price things at 10% their original prices -- or less.
Things that're genuinely brand-new (as in new, in the box) could be a little higher. Pretty much nothing will sell for more than five dollars.

Adult clothes will not sell no matter how low you price them.
Books, DVDs, CDs, etc. will rarely go for more than .50 no matter how new they may be.

Children's clothes, toys, kitchen goods and furniture will be your best sellers.

No, don't mark things high with the intention of negotiating. If I go to a yard sale and see that everything's marked "up", I tend to say to myself, "This seller is kind of out of the loop as far as selling used stuff goes, and I'm not going to bother."

I had the opposite experience. Wash them, hang them on a hanger, and on a rack and they sell like hotcakes. Every time the hanging ones sold I hung up new stuff. The stuff in bags or baskets did not sell, the hanging stuff all sold. I also sold a ton of used shoes/sneakers which I did not expect to sell at all.

I had new tools in the packages that I had won at work (level lasers and such) and none of that stuff sold. I was not willing to sell a brand new in package item for a dollar. I ended up keeping all of those. People bought tons of kitchen glassware and pans and such.

My point is, you never know what will sell and what won't. People are weird. To me a yard sale just is not worth the effort, but if it were a community one where there was a lot less work I might do it.