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1. Advertise. When I did it, CL and other online tools weren't available, so I was very descriptive and made sure my advertising was appealing. CL and other online advertising tools could only help the process, in my opinion. But advertise thoroughly.
2. Put out directional signs.
3. Get everything ready the night before because people will be sitting at the curb just waiting for you to open that garage door!
4. Have things ready on tables or racks (or both), and pull your best stuff out in front of the garage.
5. Oh, be sure you have lots of change - lots of $1s and $5s and small change - ready in an easily accessible and easily closed, smallish box that you can either keep in your hands or have a family member or friend keep in their hands. Be sure you have a comfortable and warm place to sit. At this time of year, garages can tend to be chilly in the early mornings so you may want to have a space heater handy. And plenty of coffee or water for yourself.
6. Price things to SELL, not to KEEP. If you price things well, you won't be packing them back up and hauling them back into the house - you don't want to do that, do you? I mean, look at it this way - if you didn't sell it, you'd give it away, right? So price things ridiculously low and watch the feeding frenzy commence. DEAL with people, especially when other people are around. If they think they can "get more for less" they often will start picking up everything in sight! Oh, and be sure that every item is clearly marked. I always just buy those little sticky price tags at an office supply store but pieces of masking tape would work just as well. Use a thin Sharpie pen to write the prices - easy to read.
7. After noon, slash the prices again - EVERYTHING HALF PRICE! Get a big piece of cardboard or plywood and make a sign that says that and prop it outside the garage so it can be read easily from the street.
8. At about 3 pm, stack up everything you have left into boxes and take to the curb. Flip the piece of cardboard or plywood over, and spray paint: FREE - TAKE IT! and prop that up next to your pile of stuff (hopefully it's a small pile). I promise you, if you live in a neighborhood, that stuff will disappear by 4 pm - maybe even sooner.
9. Anytime after 2 pm, if some guy in a pickup truck comes along and offers to pay you $50 for everything, let him take it but tell him he's got to take all or nothing.
Voila!
I have never made less than $400 doing a garage sale, and it was pretty fun. One time I made $1200 but I had quite a bit of furniture (bedroom furniture for little girl and a kitchen table and chairs from what I recall).
My husband and I have done several yard sales and have helped his mom with a few, too. Our take is never less than $400 and the most we made at one was $800. We love going to yard sales, too, because you just never know what you can find. One of my favorite purchases from a yard sale included a set of 6 retro, gold-rimmed poinsettia highball glasses and an awesome set of 6 martini glasses- cost me $3 for all of them. I recently looked up the highball glasses on EBay and the like and they go for $40 per glass!
We haven't had too much craziness at our yard sales because we make sure to do a few key things:
1. Price items WELL. Can't stress this enough, as there is nothing more laughable than going to a yard sale where someone has an item that is worth a 50 cents and wants 5 dollars for it.
2. Make sure you have clear signs and advertise.
3. PUT PRICE STICKERS ON EVERYTHING. Oh my Lord, it is SO annoying to go to a sale and there aren't price stickers on anything and you have to ask the people hosting it for the prices. You can get a large pack of price stickers at the Dollar Tree, people, USE THEM.
4. Have plenty of change available but do not accept too many large bills.
5. Don't be afraid to be rude to pushy people or people who just start grabbing. I don't care how much you want something, you are not allowed to bulldoze your way through my property and be a wanker.
We've been told by people at our yard sales that they really appreciate the organization and the fact that we have plenty of change. Just be realistic and have fun!
1. Advertise. When I did it, CL and other online tools weren't available, so I was very descriptive and made sure my advertising was appealing. CL and other online advertising tools could only help the process, in my opinion. But advertise thoroughly.
2. Put out directional signs.
3. Get everything ready the night before because people will be sitting at the curb just waiting for you to open that garage door!
4. Have things ready on tables or racks (or both), and pull your best stuff out in front of the garage.
5. Oh, be sure you have lots of change - lots of $1s and $5s and small change - ready in an easily accessible and easily closed, smallish box that you can either keep in your hands or have a family member or friend keep in their hands. Be sure you have a comfortable and warm place to sit. At this time of year, garages can tend to be chilly in the early mornings so you may want to have a space heater handy. And plenty of coffee or water for yourself.
6. Price things to SELL, not to KEEP. If you price things well, you won't be packing them back up and hauling them back into the house - you don't want to do that, do you? I mean, look at it this way - if you didn't sell it, you'd give it away, right? So price things ridiculously low and watch the feeding frenzy commence. DEAL with people, especially when other people are around. If they think they can "get more for less" they often will start picking up everything in sight! Oh, and be sure that every item is clearly marked. I always just buy those little sticky price tags at an office supply store but pieces of masking tape would work just as well. Use a thin Sharpie pen to write the prices - easy to read.
7. After noon, slash the prices again - EVERYTHING HALF PRICE! Get a big piece of cardboard or plywood and make a sign that says that and prop it outside the garage so it can be read easily from the street.
8. At about 3 pm, stack up everything you have left into boxes and take to the curb. Flip the piece of cardboard or plywood over, and spray paint: FREE - TAKE IT! and prop that up next to your pile of stuff (hopefully it's a small pile). I promise you, if you live in a neighborhood, that stuff will disappear by 4 pm - maybe even sooner.
9. Anytime after 2 pm, if some guy in a pickup truck comes along and offers to pay you $50 for everything, let him take it but tell him he's got to take all or nothing.
Voila!
I have never made less than $400 doing a garage sale, and it was pretty fun. One time I made $1200 but I had quite a bit of furniture (bedroom furniture for little girl and a kitchen table and chairs from what I recall).
Excellent advice, especially #6. I suspect that many people who don't make any money selling their items at garage sales price them too high. When I'm pricing my items, I price them CHEAP. Why? Because I want to get rid of the stuff, not haul the junk back in the garage. I usually make $400-$500 and get rid of about 3/4 of the stuff. I have sold all sorts of useless and incredibly ugly items that I swore no one would buy.
A couple of mistakes I noticed that sellers make at their garage sales is not pricing their stuff. Pricing your items seems like an obvious main task for hosting a garage sale, yet many sellers don't even do that. They just put the things out there, and the potential buyer has no clue how much any of it costs. That lack of strategy is a big deterrent to purchasing if you have to repeatedly the seller how much something costs, so putting forth the effort to put a price sticker on your items is worth it. Another buying turn-off is a mass of junk thrown willy-nilly in a box, requiring the buyer to sort to figure out what is in it, or items that are hard to get to. I see sellers throw clothes most often in boxes, and often lay things on the ground, requiring people to bend over to access. I gather up every table I can find so I can arrange as many items as I can neatly on them. People are much more likely to purchase something that's easy to see and reach.
If you're having a garage sale to turn things into money, yer wasting yer time. It ain't gonna happen. Folks that frequent garage sales are looking to pay near nothing for something. Most often the amount of money gotten from a garage sale is around 100 bucks for 2 days work. While you may think a shirt is worth 10 dollars since you paid 75 for it, in reality it will bring at most, if it sells at all, will be 50 cents. Same with kids clothes. Kitchen items are about the same with a working refrigerator maybe bringing as much as 25 bucks, unless you deliver and then you can add another 10 bucks. Garage sales can be fun but that's the biggest selling point of a garage sale- fun. If it's going to be a lot of work, give the stuff away and save yourself the headache.
I don't even go to garage sales. People just want to get rid of their junk, and don't sell anything they want to keep. Estate sales are different, but only high end estate sales are worth going to. Otherwise the family has picked over anything worthwhile, leaving only junk to dispose of.
I don't even go to garage sales. People just want to get rid of their junk, and don't sell anything they want to keep. Estate sales are different, but only high end estate sales are worth going to. Otherwise the family has picked over anything worthwhile, leaving only junk to dispose of.
That's the purpose of garage sales; the seller is selling things they don't want to keep. But then again, isn't that the purpose of every sale on the planet? Whether it's a $1.00 plastic cup or a $1 million house, the seller doesn't want to keep an item, thus he/she is offering it to a buyer in exchange for a certain sum of money. Although a lot of things at garage sales may seem worthless, there are also a lot of useful things that people can get great deals on. At our last garage sale, we sold a complete set of dishes and four pots and pans to a young college student for $25. We have a ton of dishes and pans, and she couldn't afford to spend $75 on these, so everyone was happy.
When my younger brother started college and moved out of our house, my newly empty- nester Mom decided to get rid of everything she had accumulated over 25 years. She made me the deal that if I would organize everything, I could keep whatever money I made. I was a broke senior in college and on Spring Break I spent a few days tagging everything, putting an add in the newspaper (no Craigslist back then), and making signs for the neighborhood. One thing I found very helpful was to mention any brand name stuff that I was selling in the ad. My Mom had a ton of Vera Bradley purses and designer clothes that were like new. I mentioned that in the ad and had a lot of people that came specifically for those items. I also found it much easier to price things because it was not my stuff. I only held it for one day and I picked a start time later in the morning. I didn't haggle with people, either.
I made about $750, which was more than I was expecting.
We don't have enough stuff to contemplate doing a yard sale.... whenever we have something past its welcome in our house, we just set it to the curb and the pickers get it.
Sold everything except what fit in my 2-horse bumper-pull trailer and moved from MS to CT. Sold everything out of the trailer plus my guy's entire household and moved from CT to HI. Sold everything we had and moved to Atlanta. I LOVE garage/yard/estate/tag/rummage sales!!
One of the best things I did once was to have tarps laid out (in different areas) and put $1, $5, and $10 items. Heck, you could do 25cent stuff if you wanted. But you really need to put prices on EVERYTHING so this enables you to have a "$5 section". I think it went over well. Also advertise. And let your neighbors know in case they want to get in on the fun.
Have a "free stuff" area. Baby food jars, magazines, etc. Ya never know!
People will buy things you would not believe, including used makeup.
If you have old towels and sheets that are really too ratty to use for their intended purposes, put them all in one box and sell the box for a few dollars. Someone with pets may take them (if not, give them to your local animal shelter).
One person cannot do a sale. You need one person just to watch the money and make sure people are not switching price tags or just walking off with things. Another can answer questions.
Group like things: 6 boy's tee shirts, 4 mugs, a set of tools.
Do look on Ebay first for items that might sell there, including small appliances. I once bought a coffee maker on Ebay just to get the carafe. It was cheaper than the carafe by itself. The maker is still going strong, and I have one just like it in the attic if the one I am using quits.
Have an extension cord ready to show that anything electrical works.
No stories here. I simply give it to Goodwill, Salvation Army or local charity store.
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I LOVE garage/yard/estate/tag/rummage sales!! 
