How to have a KILLER garage sale!

[bablondie]

Okay not all garage sales are about "stuff" but more about "presentation".

First off, you need to get people there, and lots of them! So an ad on Craigslist (for free in the garage sale section, with a couple pics and your address/directions) will work. Some people like to pitch in together on an ad in the local paper (costing around $15). Lots of visible signs on posts, or boxes work with arrows on main roads, make sure they don't blow down! A biggie is to park your car or both your cars out on the front road and make a big box (cut it and fit it in your windshield) or you could even use stuff to write on your windshield and that makes a huge yard sale sign!

Try roping in neighbors or making it a neighborhood/block thing. I live in condos and one year I sent out letters and so 10 people in my complex joined in at their garages and carports and I would call it successful...I made 850$ that weekend! Try asking family members to come join or at least donate.

Try opening getting set up EARLY. There are early bird garage salers out there!!! So setting up by 7 am is good, 8 at the latest. Getting ready days or the night before will make it easier on you. An option for a HOT day is to have soda pop in a cooler for all the guests or made with a sign 50 cents per cold pop or bottled water for people garage saling! My mom used to sell icecream as kids and she would just buy some Albertson's cheapie stuff and sell in bowls for like a buck or two as well as pop and people would buy them up on an 80 degree or higher!!!

Have a clip board with pen and paper ready to write down who made what and how much! The best way to do it is to buy (or use pieces of white masking tape) and write on the tape, tape it to the product, then tape the amount to the paper and add it up later on when you have time. Get some sort of locked box. You could use a lunch box, a locking box, a shoe box, a container of some sort to organize money. It's best to take 100$ to the bank the day before and get lots of dollars and fives, and quarters.

Organize like mad! Hang some things up, you'll have to figure out how. One year we had a headboard, so we hung stuff on it and it made them sell better. People hate digging in piles and will just walk or drive away. Fold things nicely. If you use boxes or tables, label the SIZES!  For instance if you have a 5T boy's clothes, fold them in a box and write on the box 5t boys in big lettering!

Use old sheets to lay out things on blankets on the lawn. Use coffee tables, kid's tables, patio tables, dining room tables, folding tables or make shift tables (lumber) to present stuff. Organize it nicely, Put knick knacks together, kitchen appliances in one area, bathroom stuff in another, linens in another. Put prices on everything, no one wants to guess or have to ASK.

Pack a play pen for small kids to hang out in (in the shade with toys), plan snacks and lunch throughout the day. Tell young kids when going through their room that if they sell their old toys they can keep the money or get half or something (it turns them into helpful kids knowing they may make a few bucks). In fact my DD cleared out her room, clothes and old toys and stuff and she made 130$ that year, we only made 28$!!! lol. People loved her old stuff, I loved to get rid of it!

Don't sell crappy stuff. Just put in free boxes. Come one, be realistic, no one's gonna buy it! If a shirt has bleach on it, forget it...a bowl with a crack and so on!

Don't give up at noon, people go home for lunch and then people trickle in again at 1:30. Don't shut down EARLY! Some people give up at say 3 pm. We say we'll be open til 4 but then people start coming at 4:15, 5 and even 6 pm!!! Shoot, just make a fun, relaxing day out of it. Get out your lawn chairs, get sodas and sandwiches...bask in the sun, help customers, when it's slow laugh with your family, tell jokes, hang out...just make it fun!

Drop everything off at Goodwill when you are done.

 

[bablondie]

Jul. 9, 2009 at 11:52 PM

Yeah, I'm the first to comment. No one ever comments on my stuff!

(Original Poster)