Garage Sale Question?

[joey74]

Hi everyone,
I am planning a garage sale this weekend and was wondering if any of you ladies have any suggetions to help make it successful?
I have had them in the past and the most I ever made was around 100 dollars. I go to garage sales every weekend and the stuff I sell is so much nicer or just as good as the ones around here (brand named little girls clothes and adult & good condition misc.).
Anyway I was temped to buy this how to have a successful garage sale book I saw on line, but then I decided I would probably get much better advice from you all..
Thanks a bunch.
:)

[Angelseyes28]

Run an ad in your local newspaper and make sure you have plenty of signs out (bright florescent work best) so people can find your sale. Also in the ad make sure you state some of the main things you are selling so it will catch people's eye. Another good thing to do is try to get other people to have the sale with you, the more things displayed the more tempted people will be to stop;) IF there will be others selling with you, make sure you put "multi family yardsale" in the local paper.....I love going to multi family sales:D Good luck:)

[nightrider127]

Well, I agree with the advertising part but there is a couple other thigs that are important, at least to me. Make sure everything is arranged neatly and with the price clearly marked. I wont even stop at a sale if things just look thrown together.

[rain_cries]

Flyers in your local grocery store? I did that and got a ton of people and we live in the back of beyond, too....

[schsa]

I sold almost every thing I had in less than 3 hours. BIG LETTERS on your signs, black on yellow. My signs said things like "My Loss, Your Gain" Please Take it Away" "Something for Everyone" and in big dark letters so that it could be seen from quite a distance. I put my address on the bottom and arrows (big fat arrows) on the bottom so that it was easy to find my house. Most people came because they loved my signs and I did a great business.

Signs are important. Big letters, bold statements "Cheap and Tasteful" and signs everywhere so it is easy to find your house.

Price it to sell it. That means that if you don't want to be dragging it back into the house, price it so you can get rid of it. After all, what you treasure may not be worth $1 to someone else. Put stickers on everything so there isn't a problem determining what you want for any item. Things on tables sell better than things sitting on the ground.

Good luck!

[sprintx]

If you are selling furniture dont put things on it. Put bigger items outside of the garage and maybe some tables of stuff too so it looks like you really have a lot of stuff. BIG signs that say HUGE GARAGE SALE TODAY are good. I never put the dates on my signs or put fri , sat , sun etc on my signs because after the first day it sounds old and people think all the good things are gone. TODAY implies a sense of a new sale. We had people trying to buy an old blanket the dog lays on lol.

[2chevys]

Wear a fanny pack. Get change from a $20-nothing over $5 bill, ones and quarters etc. Then use the fanny pack as your wallet. If you use a cash box they can sometimes walk off (if you know what I mean).

If you have lots of small items such as costume jewelry, baseball or pokemon cards etc. put them on a table next to you so you can keep an eye on them. If you have a lot of stuff enlist the hubby or a friend to help you keep an eye on things and answer questions.

I put in my ad that everything would be half price after 10am. That way if they really wanted something the early birds would pay full price or have to come back and chance the item being there or not. Otherwise be prepared to have people offer less than priced. Decide before hand if you are willing to deal.

Put clothing in piles by sizes. I like to open my garage door and put a lot of things on hangers on the rail that runs across the bottom of the door. Then I price on a sign "jeans $1, shirts .50 , jackets $2" etc. If you have kids clothes that are outfits safety pin them together so they don't get seperated while people are pawing through.

Let your neighbors know you're having a sale so they can join in. They more houses involved the more likely people will stop instead of just driving by.

I always take whatever is left over to Goodwill so I have a clean garage when done.

[joey74]

Thanks for all of the great advice everyone! Now I just have to pray that it doesn't rain....There is a 50% chance, maybe I will get lucky and it won't rain until that evening!!