Top Ten Tips - Holding A Garage Sale
By Tip Diva | Apr 15, 2008
Categories: Activities, Advertising, Charity, Cheap, Clothing, Craigslist, Home, Household, Neighborhood, Outdoors, Selling, Shopping, Tips
Springtime is here, bringing the perfect weather to go outdoors and sell items cluttering up your home. But before you have that tag or garage sale, here are a few tips to make the event more successful:
- Decide What To Sell - Spend an afternoon finding items to sell, and sort them into boxes based on the type of item. Clean items, and make sure nothing is broken. If you have clothing you want to sell, make sure they’re washed.
- Choose Your Day - You may want to do a day or an entire weekend. But choose your day well - you don’t want to do the sale on a holiday weekend, for instance.
- Prepare For Weather - Decide what to do in case of inclement weather. You may have a tent you can pitch or a garage you can open. If not, choose a rain date.
- Work With Neighbors - Garage sales sometimes work better if you have joint sales with your neighbors. Browsers will usually go house to house if they see more than one sale. Feel free to spearhead the efforts and choose a date that works for many people.
- Advertise - Put ads in your local Pennysaver or newspaper and Craigslist and tack brightly colored, visible posters around town. Make sure you have the date, time, address and an arrow pointing in the direction of your house. Garage sales do attract early birds, or people who come to scope out the goods before the sale starts, so make sure you note “No Early Birds” if you don’t want to deal with them.
- Price And Sort Items Ahead Of Time - Don’t price as you put the items out; it just wastes time. Make life easier for yourself and buy pre-printed garage sale stickers at an office supply store, or write on a piece of masking tape. And when you price below $1, make everything in quarter denominations - you’ll be able to make change much faster.
- Have Enough Money On Hand - If you have big ticket items, have $20s and $10s, but with smaller items, you can get away with mostly $5, $1 and quarter denominations. Wear a fanny pack that zips up - unstylish, but the safest way to keep your money close at hand.
- Have A Backup - Don’t be the only one out there selling. What if you need to go to the bathroom? And you’ll probably want to stop for breaks. Have a family member or neighbor back you, and do the same for them.
- Don’t Be Afraid To Haggle - Don’t be set on the price; if a person wants an item for less, feel free to haggle. Would you rather sell the item at a lower price or not sell the item at all?
- Donate What You Don’t Sell - If you don’t sell it the first sale around, there’s a good change you’ll not sell it at another tag sale unless you drastically reduce the price. Donate items that don’t sell to a local charity or thrift shop.
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This is awesome - I am in need of having a garage sale very, very badly!