Garage Sale Tips Please!

[Jdarg]

Help! We are having a big garage sale this weekend. A sale of mythical proportions. Just shoot me now. :roll:

Any ideas or tips for a successful sale are appreciated! What sells the best? The worst? I want to hear from people that have had sales, AND attendees of sales. Good set up ideas? I was thinking about having sections, like a store- Manly Man Stuff (tools, weights, etc.), Kids, Holiday, Clothes/Accessories, Garden/Outdoors Stuff, "Dustables", Books, Technology, Furniture, and a bunch of "free to good home" stuff.

Don't give me any links to garage sale websites please- there is too much info there and they bore me. I just want first hand info.

 

[Cheering472]

My kids clothes sold well, adult clothes not so much. It was hot weather & people wouldn't even look at a sweater or coat, they were more interested in summer clothes. Baby items moved well and toys and books flew out of there. I also sold alot of my ex husbands tools. I kept my stuff organized as you said. You never know what someone is looking for so stuff you wouldn't think of may move fast.

Be ready early, because people will be there an hour before you're ready, to get the best stuff. Very annoying. Also for some reason no one wants to pay the price listed on the item, you are expected to bargain. It's a quarter people, lighten up. Good luck Jenay, take a valium that morning or drink wine during the day.

 

[dbuck]

Bless your heart. I hate yard sales, but for some unknown reason Mr. dbuck likes to have one once a year, maybe it's all that extra golf equip, he needs to get rid of. Anyway, I have found that if you are thinking about throwing it away . . . then it will sell. The good stuff will sometimes sit longer than anything. My observance is that people just love going thru boxes. If you will put several things in a box, put $5 on the box, they think they are getting a bargain. People do love baby stuff. I still remember the sale when I sold all the baby stuff, high chairs, walkers, etc, kind of sad. Kids bluejeans sell very well. Best of all . . . there is a lady here in town, that I always call when I have a yard sale because after the sale she will come and take everything that didn't sell away, that way you don't have to find a home for it AGAIN. Maybe you have someone like that in Louisville.

Good Luck.

 

[Beach Crazy]

Ditto what cheering said. Departments work great.

Why don't you mark your stuff a little higher so you'll get what you want for it but they think they're getting a bargain after they haggle with you

And watch your more expensive small items (jewelry, etc.) they will be shoplifted before you know it. Sad but true.

 

[Ocean Lover]

We had a garage sale about a month ago. I thought it was funn! People actually give you money for something you were going to get rid of anyway!

My biggest sellers: books, $1 hardcovers, video games $5,chest of drawers, dinnette set, 24" 10 speed bike

Men were constantly stopping by looking for tools!!! I told them we just had toys!!! We sold a few Barbie items too.

Things that didn't sell: boardgames & puzzles

Dylan had a lemonade stand set up and did very well. No one can resist a budding entrepreneur! Kate would make a killing on looks alone.


Good advice from everyone: do mark prices up a little higher because they WILL haggle....but that's what makes it funn. If you want $3 for an item make it $5 and they will feel like they're getting a bargain...and then you have some people that may pay $5 anyway.

Be nice to the ones that arrive earlier than the scheduled time----they are the buyers. Annoying yes but they are there specifically there to buy...and haggle.

We gave a free stuffed animal away with any purchase. The kids loved that. I got rid of a few beanie babies that way.


I had a two day sale: Friday and Saturday morning until noon only. Make sure your signs have not blown away on the second day. :roll:

Good Luck Jenay! I still have things in my garage from the sale- I need a lady like Cheering mentioned too.

 

[jessifunn]

you see what you do is get all your old s"it and put it on a blanket in the middle of the driveway. when the stuff is nicely displayed nobody wants it. let kate make a sign and put it at the end of your street. sit kate outside with a jar for all the money she is going to collect. everyone will give her money b/c they think it is so cute she is having a yard sale. they key is to not put prices. people will give her way more that what the stuff is worth b/c you have a cute little girl sitting out there. when the sale is over take the blanket with the remaining collectables and store them in the storage container at the end of the driveway.

p.s. you could also dress up darg vadar and let him dance up and down the street to pull more people in.

 

[Cil]

We had one last fall before we moved.
I am like Dbuck, I hate and detest having a garage sale, but sometimes you just have to.
One thing I learned:
People will buy anything! ANYthing! If you don't want it, put a sticker on it for a quarter or fifty cents and it will suddenly become sold merchandise.
I agree with Dbuck about the Boxes for Browsing.
We had a lot of plants for sale and they all went, as did CDs and videogames.
And early birds really do come annoyingly EARLY because they want first dibs.
Make sure you have plenty of dollars and quarters.

 

[SGB]

As previous posters have said, put out all your junk. We have found that tattered towels sell like hotcakes, while nice stuff just sits there. At our first garage sale a black velvet blanket with pictures of buffalo, that you hang on the wall, that my husband's brother had given him, actually incited a fight between two buyers. I couldn't believe it.

 

[tamara]

A friend told me to put out my never used makeup items that come with the gift with purchase...like all the stuff from Clinique that I had in a basket and won't ever use....I put $1 each on all and I sold so much of that it blew my mind.

 

[Jdarg]

Wow- a lot of "who would have thunk it" here--thanks you guys!! I have been downstairs all morning pricing stuff. I may need to re-price some items- I'm too cheap!


J-funn gets "Most creative yard sale idea" award.