Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Garage Sale Advice

I'm working hard to prepare for my very first garage sale.
A moving sale/fundraiser/I'm tired of packing and moving so many boxes kind of sale
I figured this year was the time to host a big sale before our move.

I've gathered
men's & women's clothes, accessories, shoes
household items, electronics,
DVDS, books, kitchen stuff,
some kids stuff, golf stuff, etc.

It makes me happy to see my piles in the garage growing.

I'm wondering if you have any garage sale tips for me - as a seller and as a buyer?
Is there anything you loved from sales you've been to in the past?
Any tips you could tell me to make my sale run smoother?

We are planning to have the sale on a Saturday and just have it be one day.
I'm thinking it'll be too hard to manage a toddler and a sale for two days.

My questions...

1. How much cash should I get from the bank so I can make change without trouble?  My bank is closed on Saturdays so I'll have to have everything I need the day before the sale.
2. What's the best way to organize things?  Tables of similarly themed things?
3. Do you take the price tags off the items as you are tallying the total?
4. What's the best way to advertise - physical signs? on-line? both?
5. What are the best hours to hold a Saturday sale?
6. Anything else that would be helpful for me to know so I don't make any rookie mistakes?

 Any and all tips are much appreciated!!

9 comments:

  1. I love yard sale's! I grew up going to them. I think to organize them the best way is to lay out the clothes on a blanket instead of a bin- cuz most people won't take the time to look through the bin. Fold them up and put them by size or by gender. I like to put my decorations, kitchen items,etc on a table and under the table. I think the best way to advertise is online and a couple of signs with an arrow pointing in the direction they need to go. I start mine at 7 for the early birds! Good luck!!

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  2. We just had a yard sale! I used shower Curtain rod and another rod to hold a lot of the clothes and most of those sold. I sorted by gender and size. Then all toys together, all household, etc. and get a lot of change!!

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  3. Be ready earlier than you think you'll need to be ready. :) The hard core shoppers come even before daylight sometimes - and if you're not set up and ready for customers, they won't stop. Also be prepared for those hard core shoppers to offer you WAY less than you priced things.

    You could also set up a little table with some cookies for sale - I doubt people would be able to resist yours! :)

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  4. I'd say the earlier, the better to start. Even if you say you're going to "open" at 7 a.m., there's going to be those people that ALWAYS come at 6:30 while you're setting stuff out asking if they can shop. And be willing to go cheaper on stuff after you've tagged it.. say you've tagged books $1 a piece, chances are there will be someone that grabs 5 and says "will you take $2 for all of it?" Most of the time I agree, just so I don't have to repack stuff up that doesn't sell!

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  5. I'd plan to be open from 6-noon or so. I'd utilize Facebook and any b/s/t pages to advertise. Then street signs the day of should be good. I'm trying to remember how much change we got- maybe $50? In quarters, ones, and fives. Of course, that depends how you've priced your items! I wouldn't worry about keeping the price sticker- unless you're doing a multi family sale and need to keep track. I have a garage sale post or two on my blog, you could check out :)

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  6. Post signs around your neighborhood and messages on local online communities to let people know what you have for sale. Let people know that the more they buy, the more they save! So total everything up, and then knock money off of it. For example, if their stuff comes to $25, sell it to them for $20. It'll move your items faster and you'll make more total money that way.

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  7. Depending on how much stuff you have, I would get between $100-200 in small bills for change. I would take the sticker tags off the items and track them on a piece of paper (even if you barter a bit, you still know how many things you actually sold). If you can, keep your house door locked so people don't try to go in the house (it happened to a friend of my mom).

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  8. We like to set out things like clothes or household items together. We hang some clothes while fold & display others on tables. When people are checking out, we take the sticker off, and place them near the calculator so we can tally up. Then we stick the stickers in a notebook. We divvy them up cause we always have more than one person selling. I would use signs to direct people & maybe (if budget allows) with the signs do some balloons. It may intrigue people to stop by.

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  9. Organizing is the key. I like to shop baby clothes from one table, adult clothes at another and keep fixing it up throughout your sale. Another tip I've learned, have plastic bags available for folks to take their goodies home in. The ones from grocery stores work fine. Hours: the early bird gets the worm. You can begin at 7:00, but expect folks about 6:30... be prepared.

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