Garage Sale Tips For Sellers

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Your Stuff/Getting Ready
• Gather the items you want to sell in a location that will be easy to take outside on the sale day
• One person’s trash is another person’s treasure; little bits of wire, nuts and garage junk is strangely popular
• Check all the pockets or drawers and flip through books for personal information (credit card numbers) or money
• Don’t sell anything without the owner’s approval. (Example: your grown children’s toys, baseball card collections, etc.)
 

Sale Day Displaying Items

• Decide the location of your garage sale: driveway, garage, yard, etc. Allow shoppers in the sale area only. Keep side gates, house doors, garage doors (if you’re on the driveway) shut and locked

• Gather card tables or put plywood on sawhorses to display items

• Consider parking cars in the driveway Friday night to get organized in the garage so you can take everything out quickly on Saturday morning

• Remove everything from the sale area that is not for sale; especially if you are opening your garage

      • If you can’t remove it, cover items not for sale with an old sheet

      • If you can’t cover it, clearly mark it as NOT FOR SALE

• Put more interesting items close to the road (furniture, sports equipment); some people will just drive by to see if looks worthwhile to stop

• Make your sale organized and inviting

• Place similar items close to each other (books, kitchen stuff, tools)

• Arrange books and CDs so the titles are easily read

• An area with nothing but “guy stuff” (jars full of screws, nails, bolts, washers, etc.) works well

• An area where you put all the inexpensive odds and ends works well

• Tools, lawn equipment, weights, electronics, furniture are popular ‘finds’

• Dust, polish or vacuum the better quality items; clean stuff sells faster

• If you are selling things that plug in, have an extension cord available so people can see that they work

• Put breakables towards the back of tables or higher

• Put clothes on inexpensive metal hangers from the cleaners so they can take the hanger and clothes; if you have a lot of clothes, try to get a rack for display

• Kids clothing usually goes well

• Adult clothing is more difficult, display it nicely and organize by size; be sure it is clean!

• To avoid any hassles later on, post a sign that says “All Sales Final”

 

Pricing and Negotiating

• When possible, put a price tag on everything

• Buy printed price dots at the office supply store or blank colored dots

• Blue painters tape and a sharpie pen to write the price works well and comes off easily

• Put a sign when you have a lot of something such as “all books $.25 each”

• If you use colored dots, you can have a sign says how much each dot is, and then it’s easy to lower the prices later in the day

• Bigger items can have a price tag that’s an index card or piece of paper (use painters tape to attach it); include information about the item, including flaws

• A good rule of thumb is to price things at 1/3 of what it cost new, though some things like books, dishes go for much less

• Remember that people will want to bargain so give yourself a little room, but don’t price things so high that you turn them off – the objective is to get rid of this stuff!

• If you still have the original boxes and instruction manual for an item, you can probably charge a little bit more

• Check the internet/amazon/e-bay for more expensive items as a guide to what people are paying (this works well for golf clubs)

• If you have ads or know the ‘new’ price, it might be helpful to have the ad or put the info on an index card

• If your item is less than perfect, clearly mark it ‘as is’

• If someone asks how much an item is, don’t give them a range; respond with a clear one price answer “How about 50 cents?”

• If a customer is interested in an item but puts it back, offer a slightly lower price “or how about 25 cents?”

• Don’t be a high-pressure salesperson; give your buyers space to look items over, but be ready to answer question if they ask

• Be prepared to haggle and set your prices accordingly

• Don’t allow anyone to intimidate you and be firm in your response and tone

• If it is early in the morning and you don’t want to bargain, just say “I think it’s worth that price. I may lower the price later in the day if it doesn’t sell.”

• If you are running out of change, and someone is trying to haggle a price down, be willing to negotiate if the buyer has the exact change

• But remember that in the end, it’s all stuff you didn’t want and some money is better than packing it up and taking it back inside!

Taking Money/Packing Up

• If you have them, offer plastic grocery bags (or boxes from Costco) for buyers and have old newspapers handy to wrap breakables

• Be sure to have lots of change for your sale; coins and dollar bills; you can stop at a bank and get a roll of quarters and dimes and some bills

• Do not accept checks; agree to hold the item until a specified time while they run to an ATM (there is one at J&O’s)

• Don’t be afraid to ask people who give you big bills for small items if they have something smaller

• Having a calculator handy is helpful in totaling up purchases.

• If a customer who wants to “help” you by totaling up their items for you, tell them you need to go through the items to keep track of what is being sold

• Leave the customer’s money out in view until after you have given them their change; that way they can’t claim to have given you a larger bill

• Don’t negotiate while you are also totaling and making change – it gets confusing; set the price for everything, add it up, make change

 

Safety

• People will come early and try to engage you while you are setting up; unless you want to open early, politely tell them to wait if you are busy or have a helper deal with them; tell them they are welcome to look, but you are not selling until 8 am – that’s fair to everyone.

• Keep your home locked at all times!

• Politely, but firmly, refuse requests to use your bathroom!

• Keep your money on you, in pockets or a fanny pack; don’t leave money in a box on a table unless it is attended by a helper

• If you can get a helper during the first few hours to watch people or take money while you are negotiating, that is good – expect to be busy

• Keep dogs and cats in the house or away from the sale area

• Some sellers like to station someone at the end of their merchandise, closest to the street. It prevents people from “forgetting” to pay for an item and they can easily answer someone who drives by and requests a particular item

 

Make it a fun day for you, your neighbors and your shoppers!!

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Links to More Yard Sale Tips for Sellers

Below are links to online resources that Committee members thought you might find helpful:

- Yard Sale Resources.  Things you might need for the best yard sale ever!
 http://www.bestgaragesaletips.com/best-garage-sale-resources.html  

- Yard Sales Scams. Here are some things to watch out for when having a yard sale http://www.yardsalequeen.com/yardsale-garagesale-scams.htm

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