Oh, garage sales.
They’re so fun to visit, so not fun to plan and execute. First off, I will give credit to my wonderful Mother, who is the Queen of Garage Sales. Anything I put forth in this post is wisdom from my mom.
And so, How to be a Garage Sale Ninja:
General Garage Sale Tips:
- Put your items on tables – No customer wants to look at your items on the ground (borrow or rent tables if you don’t have enough)
- Stay organized and group like items – all the shoes on one table, all the house wares on another.
- Hang clothes if possible – clothing are more appealing and stay more organized when hung
- Promote, Promote, Promote! Facebook, Craigslist, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Brightly colored signs w/ clear writing on telephone poles with arrows pointing to the sale will bring lots of customers in.
- No item is too small to sell! People will buy anything. So if you have half a bottle of scented lotion and you're just not into it anymore, slap a price tag on it and sell it.
- Get a garage sale buddy – If you can market your sale as a “multi-family” sale, you’re likely to get more business.
- If you’re selling mostly clothes, consider hosting a clothing-only sale. Grab several of your girlfriends and market yourself as a “Boutique Clothing Sale”. You could even make it a day of "shopping and cocktails" or something fun! Invite your co-workers and friends. Make it a party! (After having little success with resale shops, my mom and I had this type of sale with some friends this summer and made $1000 (collectively)! It’s completely worth it!)
- Prep your friends and family with posts on social media that you’ll be having a sale later in the week.
- Put a price tag on every item. I know a lot of people don’t put prices on items at garage sales, rather they let the customer suggest a price. I find that makes people uncomfortable. Customers will ALWAYS try to negotiate, so if you give them a price to start from, you’ll likely get more for each item.
- If you are having a sale with more than one seller, let each seller have her own color price tag. For example, pink for Vanessa, blue for Dani, yellow for Patti.
- Remember that your items are not worth as much as you paid for them. It doesn’t matter that you paid $125 for that beautiful duvet cover from West Elm, it’s been on your bed for the last two years and now it’s worth about $10 to your customer.
- When pricing, label clearly. People don’t like to ask the host of the sale what things are because then they feel committed to buy. Make it easier on your customer with a little note that says “Rice Cooker” – the right customer will know immediately if they need that item or not.
- If an item has multiple parts, tape all parts together or place in a large ziplock bag to avoid losing pieces.
- Don’t throw in the towel. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!
- Post your sale on Craigslist w/ address and hours. Make a list of larger items and category of things you're selling. List in several different categories (Kids, yard sales, sporting goods, furniture, etc).
- Post individual listings of the larger items in appropriate categories on Craigslist. Tell the Craigslist customer they can come pick up the item at today's sale.
- Post individual items on Facebook - your friends will have more incentive to come to your sale if there's something there they already know they want. Be willing to hold items for friends that can't make it to the sale.
- Have a "FREE" box - this is for the warped tupperware lids and similar items - someone will take those off your hands!
- Have treats for sale! Water bottles on a hot day for $1 each! Cookies that you picked up at the store for $0.50/e! Squash from your garden for $0.50/e! Speaking from experience, this is a great activity for your elementary school aged child to do. Gets them distracted from their treasures being sold and drives up business for them, because who doesn't buy lemonade from a cute kid? Let your child keep the profit, and everyone's a winner.
- Pull out your best inner Used Car Salesman. See that woman looking at that jacket? She probably needs a purse to go with it. Be charming, not annoying.
- Let your customer negotiate. You run this show, so you are in control ultimately, but remember that you want to sell these things. That doesn't mean you have to give it away, but making $5 instead of $10 on an item is better than making nothing at all.
- When the sale is over, pick through and keep anything that you absolutely cannot give away, and haul the rest off to your favorite Goodwill. You'll have some money in your pocket and a home free of clutter.
