How to Hold a Garage Sale

Looking for a great way to get rid of your household clutter and make some extra cash at the same time? A garage sale or yard sale may be just the ticket. Garage sales are easy to plan and manage, and they can turn large, unwieldy old lamps and dishes into smaller, more manageable piles of cash. Depending on how much you have to sell, you could realistically make $1,000 or more in a weekend. Let the selling begin!



Steps
1. Gather items for sale. Go through those boxes in the attic, shed or garage and select items you can sell. Then walk from room to room in your home, identifying things you no longer need. Most of us have trouble parting with things, even if we never use them: if you haven't used something for over a year, it's a good sign you won't miss it!


2. Inventory each item on a sheet of paper as you identify it for sale. A lot of people skip this step, but it can make your sale go a lot smoother. Price tags have a strange way of getting lost at garage sales, and it’s hard to come up with a fair price on the spot, especially if you’ve got other people asking you questions or if you’re working a multi-family sale. An inventory list solves this problem. Keep in mind; you don’t need to inventory everything: if you’ve got a box of books that are all 25 cents each, inventorying each of them is a waste of time.


3. Review your completed inventory sheet and assign a reasonable price to each item. If you really just want to get rid of an old knick-knack, price it accordingly. For items that are more valuable, a general rule is to price at 1/4 of what you paid or less. Obviously, you may want to make exceptions for some things, such as those that are nearly new or valuable antiques. Remember, though, garage sale shoppers are looking for bargains, and if you don’t want to have to pack everything back in your house at the end of the day, you’ve got to give people the low prices they’re looking for. Some people won't pay over 10% of the retail price when they go garage-saling.


4. Attach a clearly written price label to each item. Using brightly colored labels will make it easier for your customers to find the price and will save you time on the day of the sale. You can purchase adhesive labels, or you can use a “sticker gun.” If you have a lot of similar items that are all the same price (e.g. books), don’t bother pricing them individually. Put them all in one box and label the box. If you don't have sticker labels, you can also use small pieces of masking tape.


5. Check with your city or homeowner's association and obtain a permit if one is required. Many cities place restrictions details such as placement of signage, hours of operation, frequency & etc. It's better to take the time to do your research and pay the $5-$20 for a permit than risk losing more money than you made in fines.


6. Set a date and place for your sale. A two-day garage sale is usually perfect, and summer weekends—-especially Fridays and Saturdays—-are the best times. Check your weather forecast and try to avoid rain, and be careful about scheduling your sale during special events and holidays, as many potential customers will have something better to do. Also, avoid holding a sale when there is road construction occurring on the main route to your sale location. If you’re just having a single-family sale, your location is pretty much set, but if you’re having a multi-family or charity sale, be sure to pick a spot that is large enough for everybody’s wares, and choose a location that is easy to find and to get to, preferably close to, but not necessarily on, a major thoroughfare.


7. Advertise your sale. Your local paper probably offers a deal for garage sales. For a Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday sale, you only need to advertise on Thursday, Friday, and possibly Saturday, but you’ll want to make sure to get your ad in to the paper before the deadline, which could be several days in advance. You should also advertise in free weekly community shopping papers, such as Pennysavers or Thrifty Nickels, and on community bulletin boards in grocery stores and laundromats. Don’t overlook the internet, either: a good, free place to start if you’re in a metropolitan area is on Craigslist (check the external links below). Be sure to include the basics—days and times of the sale and the address (and directions or landmarks if it’s hard to find)-—and list specific items you have for sale, particularly big-ticket items or antiques. You can also look into posting your sale for free at Salenook.com, which caters to garage sales with Google Maps integration. If you choose to advertise your sale, one possible drawback is that occasionally people will show up before the sale (sometimes in the wee hours) to try to get the pick of the best items.


8. Tidy up your yard and/or garage. You’d clean up your house if you were trying to sell it, right? Garage sale customers are more likely to buy (and to buy at higher prices) if it looks like the merchandise came from a good home with owners that care for their things. They’re also more likely to feel comfortable stopping and browsing if your sale space is attractive and clean.


9. Make signs a few days before the sale. If you are lucky, your newspaper may give you a few signs as part of your ad purchase. But you can also buy signs or you can make your own out of poster-board or cardboard. Children need a lot of guidance if they will be making the signs. Plain, bold colors, simple lettering, and sturdy posting hardware are essential. Remember that the sign should be perfectly legible to people driving by, and may have to stand up to wind, rain, or heat if you post it a few days early. Give the date and time of the sale, the location and--if you have room--list some items for sale.


10. Hang your signs a few days before the sale in places where they will be noticed by many a passersby. Make all your signage distinctive in some way, and make them all the same. This will be especially important if there are a lot of other sales that particular weekend. Don't forget to put a sign at the entrance to your neighborhood, or in front of your house! If you live near a major road, hang the signs on telephone poles or street signs at an intersection on that road (intersections with stop signs or traffic signals are particularly good). Draw arrows on the signs pointing the way to your sale. It's a good idea to first check your municipality's or homeowners association's rules regarding signs so you don't run afoul of the local authorities. If you live in an out-of-the-way area, be sure to construct a "path" with your signs that is easy to follow. Post one sign at each corner where a shopper should turn. People might not be able to read your sign very well, so one missing sign could lose your customers.


11. Make sure you have enough table space. While customers do see and buy items that are on the ground, it's important to have enough tables to display small items to protect them and to ensure that people can easily inspect them. You can use tables and bookshelves from your house or you can rent folding tables if you don't have enough.


12. Get plenty of change and petty cash. Unless you’ve got a lot of change at home, chances are you’ll need to visit the bank the day before the sale to get some rolls of quarters and plenty of dollar bills. You’re going to be making change for a lot of customers, so be sure to have a fanny pack to organize your money.


13. Set up the morning of the sale. Get up early so you’ll have plenty of time to arrange your vending area. Seasoned garage sale customers often arrive before the posted times to get a first crack at the premium merchandise, and these customers come ready to buy. Make sure you have everything ready an hour or two before your advertised start time. 



14. Keep your display visually attractive. Many potential customers will drive by first, and you want to make your sale look intriguing and well-organized so that they stop. So take things out of the boxes you gathered them in, so that people driving by will see your goods instead of a bunch of cardboard boxes. Place premium items (nearly-new merchandise, antiques, large tools, etc.) close to the street. Arrange your tables so items are neatly displayed with enough room between items to allow people to comfortably inspect them. Instead of folding clothes on tables, hang them from a clothesline strung from trees or from your garage ceiling near the door. Hanging clothes are easier to look through, and you won’t have to worry about refolding them on the table.


15. Be an active seller. Running a garage sale is a lot like working at a retail establishment, so bring out the salesman (or saleswoman) in you. Greet your customers with a friendly smile as they arrive. You want people to feel comfortable at your sale, so greet them as you would if you were a business owner. Tout your wares proudly. Offer package deals (if a person buys a blender, for example, why shouldn’t they buy those margarita glasses as well?), and reward big buyers with bulk discounts. Don’t just hope things sell themselves.


16. Have extra help on hand. Always have several people at the sale - it's important for personal security and convenience. This way you can take a bathroom break when you need one, and you can keep things in order. As your sale progresses, things will unavoidably get disheveled and disorganized (possibly even broken). If you want to sell as much as possible, you should try to keep things looking nice. Keep all books with spines showing. Keep all clothes on hangers. You might need to refold clothes or linens frequently. Keep all the brightly-colored, newest-looking things in front of your yard, and on the tops of all the piles.


17. Negotiate with hagglers. Even though your prices are clearly marked, some people will try to haggle. Play along; haggling can be a fun experience, and you’ll likely make a lot more sales if you’re willing to reward these bargain hunters. Don’t be afraid to decline an offer, but consider all offers. After all, you’re trying to get rid of this stuff. Be sure not to drop your price early in the day. A successful rebuttal to a haggler would be 'I can't drop the price before 10 am, we just got started'. If you've done the previous steps, you should have plenty of traffic that will pay full price.


18. Offer last-minute deals. If you’ve still got things left over during the final scheduled hours of your sale, go ahead and slash prices. Offer buy-one-get-one deals or bulk discounts. Say How about both of these items for the price of one? Do everything you can to make the sale, especially if you plan on throwing away or giving away the items anyway.


19. Catch those latecomers. If you wait until after closing time before you start to pack up, you may find that some stragglers will come by. Sometimes people will come by to offer you a set dollar amount for the entire load!


20. Hold a free garage sale after the sale. Once you’re done selling, place an ad on www.craigslist.org or your local freecycle.org and advertise the remaining stuff for free. You can leave it right out in the yard and stay inside counting your money while people come pick stuff up. Don’t throw potentially useful items away, and don’t take unwanted clutter back into your house just because it didn’t sell, unless of course, you think you will want to hold another sale in a few months. In that case, pack your items up and put them somewhere dry and out of the way, where you will be able to get them out easily for your next yard\garage sale.


21. Take down your signs after the sale, right at closing time. Be a good neighbor and community member! Nobody likes to show up at a garage sale after it's already closed, and nobody likes to see old, faded, sagging signs taped to poles, either.


22. Ask your friends to participate, Even though you have a lot by now, close friends may be wanting to sell at least 2-3 large items and/or clothing at your sale. You have organized it, now reap the rewards! Make sure they have done inventory to avoid hassle later on. Haggling on friends' items should only be done with their permission. "It's not mine, so I have to stick with that price for you and the other buyers" is a positive line if somebody is not willing to compromise on their bargain.


23. Secure the area *Keep an eye on your customers. A garage sale brings all kinds of people, including shoplifters. As long as people know you’re watching, you probably won’t run into much trouble, but if somebody does steal a small item, it’s probably not worth confronting them. If you suspect somebody has stolen something valuable, confront them tactfully, and call police if necessary, but do not detain them.

• Watch your cashbox. Anybody can come up to it and steal the money you made, so make sure someone is attending it at all times. Try not to keep more than $20 or so in it at a time. That way, if somebody does steal it, they’re not getting too much. Better yet, don't use a cash box. Someone could steal all of your money, or even try to buy your cashbox! Use a fanny pack instead, and keep large bills (50's and 100's) in your home if possible. A good fanny pack has two pockets, and you can keep the bills in the large compartment, and the coins in the smaller compartment.
• If someone really needs to go to the bathroom, direct them to the nearest public building, or make sure someone in your family (or you) takes the person there and waits until they get out so that you don't end up with problems inside. You are under no obligation to let anyone into your house, even to use the restroom, but you might consider making exceptions for small children or the elderly.

Tips

• To avoid people coming before you are ready to open, wait to put your signs up until you have everything out and you are ready to sell. Put the signs closest to your house up last. The early birds (usually resellers) can be distracting, if not pushy while you are busy setting up.
• Add more interest to your sale by offering craft items, home baked goods, or beverages. These will attract lookers, but don't expect to sell much. Most garage-salers are very serious about getting only bargains. Having coffee or donuts available encourages some to stick around and buy more. People tend to attract people. People will often pass up a garage sale if no one is there.
• Have an electrical outlet or extension cord available so that people can test electric products. You’ll get a better price if people can verify that something actually works, and if something doesn’t work, you shouldn’t try to sell it as if it did.
• Have empty boxes and cardboard trays available for shoppers to use as a "shopping basket" if their hands are full.
• People will buy just about anything. While there are certain hot sellers (children’s toys, old tools, books, antiques, and simple kitchen items, for example) don’t be afraid to try to sell things you can’t imagine anyone buying. Remember the quote: "One person's trash is another person's treasure."
• Ask your neighbors to contribute their items or have a multi-family sale. Customers are more likely to stop at a bigger sale. If you mix items in a multi-family sale, color code your price tags or otherwise clearly mark the items so that your cashier will know who should get the money for each item.
• Make sure merchandise is fairly clean and not broken so that it could injure someone. As mentioned, however, you might be surprised how many people will buy broken hardware items, old, kinked hoses, old doors, and other seemingly undesirable items.
• Spread the word through your local neighborhood grapevine.
• Use a sturdy material for your garage sale signs, like a couple of layers of posterboard or corrugated cardboard, so that wind won't bend them. Use a light-colored background and large dark letters at least a few inches high, so that people casually driving by the sign can read it at a glance. Do not put writing smaller than about 2" high on a sign. If you are staking them into the ground, make sure they are placed firmly enough that a little wind won't knock them over. A fallen sign can keep anyone from finding your house and sale.
• Helium balloons are an inexpensive way to draw attention to your sale. Hang them on your tables or at the end of your street.
• Remember, you're out to get rid of your stuff, not make a huge profit. No one is going to buy an overpriced item—-they don’t care what you paid for it! Price your merchandise to sell and you’ll make money.
• When you are pricing, look at each item with critical eyes, and ask yourself what you would want to pay for it, if you wanted to buy it. Coming up with an amount you would like to get for each item isn't realistic. The item is only worth what someone would really pay for it. That is what the word "worth" means. If you want to sell it on eBay, then sell it on eBay, but don't expect to get eBay (or craigslist) prices at a garage sale. It's not going to happen, unless the purchaser happens to be a close friend.
• Consider a 'back-yard' sale. Since folks can't see all your stuff, it will pull in a lot of the 'drive-byers' who will only take a few moments to examine your wares from the street. It also prevents having to haul everything in and out when you are having a two day sale.
• Check with local charities and missions. Some will pick up items that you don't sell and put them (or proceeds from their sale) to good use. This is even easier than a post-sale "free sale." Get a receipt for what they picked up. You can claim these items as tax-deductible donations.
• The phrase "make an offer" can be used.
• Some streets and vicinities will have "Annual Garage/Yard Sale" days. These are your opportune moments. On these days, everyone is out looking for yard sales in your area, so it makes advertising virtually obsolete. Often times, notices about these days will come in the mail. Look out for them!
• During your sale lock all doors into the house that you can not see - best is to lock all interior access doors including the garage! There may be a thief, or thieves working together, looking for your keepable-valuables indoors to five-finger-discount. Crowds bring distraction and the back-yard goes to where you can't see your flat screen or jewelry box disappear under a sweatshirt or in a coat pocket!
• Hagglers are common at garage sales, so price everything a little higher than the lowest price you are willing to accept. For example, you could sell a toy you're willing to take $.25 for at a price of $.30 or $.35. This works on higher priced items too, like a $20 item for $25. A good rule of thumb is an asking price 20% higher than your rock bottom price. As a bonus, you may earn a little bit more money!

Warnings

• If your sale is out in the yard, be prepared to move your merchandise into a garage or sheltered area in case of rain. Items on tables may be covered with tarps if you don’t want to cart them all in.
• Remember that each customer that visits your sale is your guest, and you have certain legal and financial obligations to your guests if they get hurt on your property. Reduce your liability exposure by tidying up your yard and garage and taking precautions to prevent injuries, especially to children. Place sharp or potentially dangerous objects out of kids' reach.
• Telephone poles and street signs are usually "no bills" zoned and you can get into trouble by posting signs on them. In general, posting signs on someone else's property without their permission is illegal and if discovered, will not be kindly viewed. Plus, they know where you live now.
• Sometimes, shoppers try to get items for free with the following ploy: They bring you a small, one-dollar item, and hand you a $100 bill to pay for it. What they expect is that this instant drain of all your change will make you throw up your hands in frustration, and exclaim, "Oh, just take it!" You can make the choice to give them the item, ask them to go get change, or have extra change ready for this possibility. Or, the $100 bill could be counterfeit, unlike the $99 in change you just handed to them. Gone could be all of your profit you worked so hard to make!