Garage sales are a great way to make some extra money, and they are a great activity for kids during the summer break. With the proper amount of planning, you can have an easy, stress free garage sale where you make a profit.
If you follow these tips, it will be easy to manage your own garage sale.
Get With Friends
One of the easiest things that you can do to help ensure that you have a successful garage sale is to get with some of your friends. You can ask them to contribute items to the sale, or you can ask for their help with getting everything ready. If you offer to split the profits, your friends will be more likely to help out. In general, larger garage sales attract more people, so enlist your neighbors’ help.
Place An Ad
About a week before your garage sale, you might want to place an ad in the local paper, especially if you are having a large garage sale. This is not necessary, but if you do this, more people will know about your sale, which will hopefully lead to increased sales.
Organize Your Things
Now that your ad has been placed, it is time to organize your things. You want to start pulling out everything that you plan on selling. If you can clean it, you want to do so. You also want to test the items to make sure that they work, and you should be prepared to offer a much lower price if they do not work. Once everything has been pulled aside and dusted off, it is time to price everything. You can easily find tags or stickers at a local store that will help make the prices more visible. You want to price everything, and you want to be prepared to lower those prices when people start to haggle.
Make Some Signs
Two or three days before your garage sale, you want to make a few signs. These signs should include your address (or the address of the garage sale) and the date and time of the garage sale. You want to place these signs where a lot of people will see them. You also want to make sure that you can place the signs in certain areas. Some cities have regulations governing signage.
Get Some Cash
The day before the sale, you want to go to the bank and get some cash. You want to make sure that you have a number of small and large bills on hand for change. Very few people are going to write you a check, and all things considered, cash is preferable.
Get Some Tables
If you do not have some tables already, you want to borrow some from your friends. All of your small and medium items should be displayed on tables. This makes it easier for your customers to see the items, and it looks nicer.
Get Up Early
As a rule, garage sales start early. This means that the bargain hunters are out at the crack of dawn. You want to be set up and waiting before your scheduled start time to make sure that you catch all of the prospective shoppers. If you are not available early, don’t be surprised if someone rings your doorbell at 6 a.m.
Let Them Test Things
It’s always a good idea to have batteries and an extension cord on hand so that people can make sure that your electronic items work. No one wants to buy something only to find out later that it does not work.
Stay Late
You should also be prepared to stay late to accommodate any stragglers. This is an especially good idea if it’s your last day, and you still have a number of items left for sale.
Everything Else
If you still have items left over after your garage sale, you have a number of options. First, you can consider donating the items to a local shelter or thrift store. You can also list the items on Craigslist or Ebay.
By following these easy tips, you will be well prepared for your garage sale.
Is there anything that you would add to this list?
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Comments
10 Steps To A Successful Garage Sale — 14 Comments
Good tips! What is up with people(not gonna name any names) coming to garage sales way too early? I had a couple and we said it started at 8 am and there were a bunch of people outside at 7 am haha! We were still setting up and they were haggling prices and negotiating us down on 50 cent items..
I research the web for similar products to get a rough idea of prices, especially if I have old items, like my father’s vinyl collection, and not the first idea about pricing it. I also always try to fix things so they work, sometimes the fix is really easy, grease a rusty part, clean a plug… and you can get a higher price.
That is a smart idea! If you had something that was high value, you could try the garage sale, but maybe you’d have better luck at a targeted audience? Ebay and Amazon can be good, but sometimes idiots drive the prices of items down there because they don’t know the value of what they have.
Good post Dominique. We have had a few garage sales and always ask how they found our sale. Even with news paper and Craigslist ads most people say – “your signs”. We make them bright, large, and easy to read. We place them as many of them as we can, following our local regulations. We also specify no “early birds” and will rarely negotiate with someone before our advertised start time.
Great list. The bigger the sale is,the more people will come. From the last one we participated in – the biggest thing I learned is have stuff out. If it’s just in a box, or buried under other stuff, no one will look at it/find it.
The one time we had a garage sale we advertised on Craigslist and it worked decent for us. We didn’t optimize our sale though. We were moving and trying to make a quick Buck before we took the rest of our old stuff to goodwill.
Some really good tips here! Staying late is key for me. Being there till the end can seem like a waste but often it can be the most fruitful as others have left.
Garage sales are a great way to make some extra money, and they are a great activity for kids during the summer break. With the proper amount of planning, you can have an easy, stress free garage sale where you make a profit.
Good tips! What is up with people(not gonna name any names) coming to garage sales way too early? I had a couple and we said it started at 8 am and there were a bunch of people outside at 7 am haha! We were still setting up and they were haggling prices and negotiating us down on 50 cent items..
A penny saved is a penny earned and the early bird gets the worm 🙂
I research the web for similar products to get a rough idea of prices, especially if I have old items, like my father’s vinyl collection, and not the first idea about pricing it. I also always try to fix things so they work, sometimes the fix is really easy, grease a rusty part, clean a plug… and you can get a higher price.
Smart moves! most people just sit it out without doing any research on pricing.
That is a smart idea! If you had something that was high value, you could try the garage sale, but maybe you’d have better luck at a targeted audience? Ebay and Amazon can be good, but sometimes idiots drive the prices of items down there because they don’t know the value of what they have.
Good idea.. I personally like craiglist over amazon or ebay
Good post Dominique. We have had a few garage sales and always ask how they found our sale. Even with news paper and Craigslist ads most people say – “your signs”. We make them bright, large, and easy to read. We place them as many of them as we can, following our local regulations. We also specify no “early birds” and will rarely negotiate with someone before our advertised start time.
Very smart.. Placing signs in shopping centers and malls are very effective.. if they don’t get taken down 🙂
Great list. The bigger the sale is,the more people will come. From the last one we participated in – the biggest thing I learned is have stuff out. If it’s just in a box, or buried under other stuff, no one will look at it/find it.
Tiered shelving works wonders here!
The one time we had a garage sale we advertised on Craigslist and it worked decent for us. We didn’t optimize our sale though. We were moving and trying to make a quick Buck before we took the rest of our old stuff to goodwill.
Sometimes it’s best to go your route. If you have to sell.. price it to sell and keep it moving.
Marketing is key for any successful sale! The more community involvement the better.
Some really good tips here! Staying late is key for me. Being there till the end can seem like a waste but often it can be the most fruitful as others have left.