Garage Sale Secrets from a family of Sassy Garage Sale Girls!
Yes, we admit we are sassy garage sale shoppers and sellers. Always in the know about the absolute best garage sales to shop, and best way to merchandise your sale, to maximize profits. Today is your lucky day as we are going to tell all so you avoid these mistakes.
- Up until 2 a.m. the night before pricing items or didn’t finish
- Waited until the morning of to finish signs
- Waited until the day before to start setting up
- Did not advertise, just hoped people would see your sign and stop
- Only put one sign out at the end of your driveway and street
- Did not get enough change ready
Some women in our family secretively shop at garage sales and never tell their friends how they acquire their fabulous finds. But now in today's economy its actually the in thing to save $$.
In fact, I remember being totally embarrassed to be seen going to garage sales and being the house that had a garage sale when I was growing up. That was around age 12, and now 20 years later I’m learning that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree! I sometimes enjoy shopping and selling at garage sales but I still think my Mom is the Queen of garage sale shopping. Her latest find for me is a double jogging stroller in great condition for $40! Retails for $200! How much fun is that?
I love sunny weekend mornings, with dew still on the grass and the sounds of few cars on the road yet. Folks taking it easy, and driving around trying to find those yard sales and baby toy bargains.
In addition to making money, it’s a great way to meet neighbors you haven’t been introduced to yet, and socialize with those you are already friends with.
All in all, it’s making money while you get a tan, and socialize or multi-task. Sometimes I bring out a
little project to do while I’m having a sale. It can be clipping coupons, beading/jewelry making, planting flowers outside, or even surfing the web or
doing research.
I’ve listed some tips to help you make the most of your sale, and ensure you are profitable!
Before the sale, preparing and gathering your inventory:
Gather items in your home and begin to stage them to make sure you have enough to sell to make it worth your time. Invite family members to join so you have a larger selection of
merchandise to get those potential customers “drive-byers” to stop and get out
of their car.
Although a popular garage sale day is Saturday when most people are off work, the true die hard garage-salers start on Thursdays. If you have the ability to do this, it’s the best day.
Early birds and all will show up.
The first thing is scour your house for clothes you haven’t worn, knick knacks, big ticket items you no longer need, etc. List all rooms of the house on paper and start writing the items you
feel you no longer need. Just brainstorm at this point so you don’t overlook
anything.
Ask yourself whether you’ve used it in the past year? Review and walk through 2-3 times to check for more potential sale items to add to your inventory. Wedding accessories stashed
away, to appliances you received that you will never use?
Collect your stuff in one area. Sort it by type of course (clothing,toys, knick knacks, etc). When
ready, take items to the garage to start cleaning off anything that’s dusty.
When beginning to set-up in the garage, I like to price items other than
clothing. It stands a better chance that the price sticker will stay on that
way.
The only exception I have for this is clothing. Since I sell a lot of baby clothes at Mom 2 Mom Sales, I spend more time with the tagging. I like to price inside the house using a
safety pin, or larger label. I write the price, size, and Brand Name. I find it
makes it easier to shop and warrants a higher price if the tagging looks
appealing.
Since you usually plan for weeks prior to a garage sale, start early by saving all your paper and plastic grocery shopping bags.
Pricing your items
A general guideline for pricing is 80-90% less than the cost of the item. For clothes, its more like 95% less than what you paid. A lost of garage salers only want to spend $1 on a piece
of clothes since they can’t try it on. But, I would stick to your higher price
and to what you feel is fair.
Clothes are expensive, and if the sale just started you may come across the one customer that buys everything in that size.
Since many garage salers find part of the fun to be negotiating, I add some flexibility into my pricing. Think about what the minimum price would be that you’d accept on things that you
particularly like. I would hold firm on the beginning part of the day to some
degree and not just give stuff away at the early point.
You can always have a last day ½ off Sale! I love doing this for my customers who see the ad posted on Craigslist.org and mention it.
Price every item. Many people will not ask the price of an item even if they are interested in it. If someone asks if you will take less. Say yes, and let them make the offer.
permit, or limit the number and time of day you can hold a garage sale.
Set The Dates
Choose your day, and plan a one-day sale, maximum. In yard sales, as in life, there is
a point of diminishing returns. Sitting around at 4:00 p.m. watching the last
few pieces of mismatched food storage containers stare down the '70's era
macramé hanging isn't worth the last few pennies that may--or may not--come your
way.
During the end of your sale, start thinking about your strategy for getting rid of the
unsold merchandise. I personally have a hard time parting with some things that
you’ve paid good money for. Although it’s the picked through stuff, decide on
what you want to donate, or save the rest for the foundation for your next
sale. If you have the space, box up in plastic totes unsold merchandise for
your next sale.
so you have a convenient way to dispose of anything you’d like to donate. Plus,
don’t forget to get a receipt so you can deduct from your taxes.
Get the word out, and advertise:
to get a driver’s attention from a distance. Bright Green, Pink or Yellow does
the trick. It’s my experience white, or orange don’t stand out as much. Orange
looks too much like a caution sign of sorts.
Your goal is to attract as much traffic to your sale as possible. Ensure you have
signs posted and arrows to route customers through your subdivision to locate
your sale. The worst possible thing that could happen is your potential
customer turning their car around because they got discouraged when they no
longer knew where to go to find your sale!
The more traffic, the greater the chances are that others will stop for fear that someone
else will snatch a treasure right up.
Tell as many people as possible about your sale. The numbers add up. Also, post signs on local bulletin boards at hardware stores, or restaurants in the neighborbood. If you have time you
may also want to send out a flyer for neighbors to join in, and coordinate a
mini-block sale. That generates a lot more traffic than a single sale.
Invite your friends and relatives to bring items over to sell, as that will help to spread word of mouth
advertising and add to the inventory available for all types of folks to take
interest in your sale, and stop the car to browse.
Post signs in your neighborhood the night before your sale, so customers know you are planning a sale. It also helps to save time in the morning when you are setting up tables on your
driveway.
Craigslist is an excellent to get additional customers to your sale as they have already read a description of what you are selling. You can also offer extra discounts for those that mention
they saw your ad on Craigs. I have done 50% off on the last day of the sale for
my Craigslist customers only.
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