Ten Tips for a Great Garage Sale
Before putting your house up for sale or packing away all your belongings to move, consider having a garage or yard sale. They are a great way to remove the clutter from your home and/or get rid of all those unwanted or seldom used items, and make some quick cash while doing so. Here’s a list of ten tips and tricks you can use to have a great sale.
1. Assign Responsibilities – It’s a great time for the entire family to pitch in and help out.
- Make sure everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities, and is capable of following through
- Assign some people to be Helpers and Runners. Their responsibility will be to answer questions and help customers move items out to their cars.
- Make sure there is at least one Cashier at all times and that the cashier role is their sole responsibility. It’s a common scam for thieves to distract a cashier away from the cash box and have an accomplice grab it when the cashier’s attention is diverted.
2. Be Neighborly – As a simple courtesy, be sure to mention your yard sale to any neighbors. It avoids any traffic problems or concerns and keeps everyone happy.
- If your neighbor seems anxious or concerned, offer to sell a few of their items and/or post a few no parking signs near their home
- Put up directional and promotional garage sale signs the day of the sale and be sure to take them down when its over.
3. Improve Traffic Flow – One sure way of attracting more customers is to have more sellers.
- Ask your neighbors if they would like to have a common garage sale day. Some buyers like to hit the most sales in the least amount of time and it’s a sure fire way to get them to visit yours.
- If you do have your sales on the same day, consider sharing the cost of a larger ad in your local newspaper and highlight the number of families involved.
4. Ample Supplies
- Be sure to have plenty of plastic bags for your customers to take with their new found treasures. Grocery bags can work well.
- Have plenty of change on hand – a safe bet is to start with at least a role of quarters, nickels and dimes, and pennies each. Also, have a few fives and tens and at least 20-25 singles. If you have a number of higher priced items, consider having a few twenties as well.
5. Posted Rules – A few rules to simplify your life the day of the sale are All Sales Final/No Returns and No Early Birds.
- Post signs near your cash register/box stating that All Sales Are Final/No Returns. You’re having the sale to get rid of your items and you don’t want a hassle of a customer showing up a day or two later to return an item, no matter what the reason.
- The day of the sale, you also won’t want customers showing up before you’re ready. Post No Early Birds in all your ads and outside the location of the sale and be firm with anyone asking to get an early start.
6. Weather Permitting – It’s nearly impossible to get a reliable weather forecast beyond a week so you’ll want/need to post classified ads in your local paper before you actually know what the weather is going to be like.
- Rainy days usually lead to bad customer turnout and poor sales. If your schedule is somewhat flexible, consider having a Rain Date for your sale and include it in any ads you place.
- If your sale day is exceptionally hot, consider having a few refreshments (water or lemonade) for sale
7. Promotion – Be sure to post ads for your sale in any local or community newspapers.
- Make sure your ad includes any prize items and try to cover the remainder of items using basic categories (baby toys, antiques, sporting goods, lawn tools, etc.).
- Post a few large, bright, waterproof signs the night before your sale. Be sure to include your address, directions, and any highly sought after items/categories included in your sale.
- Post another large sign outside of your house, and include the sale hours and any parking instructions.
8. Keep It Outside – Depending on your situation, it’s usually best to keep the sale outside of your home.
- It’ll avoid the heavy dirt and grime that can be tracked through a home.
- It’s safer - Make sure all the doors and windows to your home are locked during the sale and post signs that the house is off limits.
9. Pricing – Remember, your goal for the sale is to reduce clutter and get rid of unwanted items. But the goal of anyone going to a garage or yard sale is to find a bargain.
- Price items in such a way that it’s worth your effort, but also won’t scare off potential buyers.
- Garage and yard sales are also all about haggling so price your items expecting to have someone make an offer for less.
10. Be Organized – Arrange your items by common sizes and themes.
- Have a $1 table. Display any big ticket items prominently and near the cashier.
- Assign a helper to continually reorganize and straighten up your displays so that they don’t look overly picked through. Buyers like to find the diamond in the rough, but if everything looks picked over, they may not look very hard or stay very long.
- Rig a few extension cords to allow customers purchasing any electronic items to test them and have a few extra batteries on hand
- If you are selling anything you know to be broken but that may have value for parts, label it as such
- Consider giving any unsold items to a local charity or create a Free Items table halfway through the day