We are going a garage sale in a couple of weeks to try and offload all our baby stuff and other not worthless crap
I've never done one before. Any tips? We are doing one day only. Suggestions for pricing? I'd rather get rid of stuff than get a higher dollar amount. Like 30% of retail for gear and .50 cents for clothes? How much cash should I get for change? Any other tips?
Post by SusanBAnthony on Jun 28, 2020 12:52:27 GMT -5
My suggestion is don't have one, lol.
It takes forever to set up and then you have to sit out there the whole time. All told maybe 20 hours of work for what? A couple hundred bucks? And then you still have a ton left and have to pack it back up and haul it to Goodwill.
Maybe you have better stuff than we do, lol, but people expect low prices. If you want a reasonable price you have to sell individually on CL/Marketplace.
It takes forever to set up and then you have to sit out there the whole time. All told maybe 20 hours of work for what? A couple hundred bucks? And then you still have a ton left and have to pack it back up and haul it to Goodwill.
Maybe you have better stuff than we do, lol, but people expect low prices. If you want a reasonable price you have to sell individually on CL/Marketplace.
Everyone here told me it would be better to just do a garage sale! Lol
I did sell some higher priced items individually but we live in the boonies so it's a real PITA.
It takes forever to set up and then you have to sit out there the whole time. All told maybe 20 hours of work for what? A couple hundred bucks? And then you still have a ton left and have to pack it back up and haul it to Goodwill.
Maybe you have better stuff than we do, lol, but people expect low prices. If you want a reasonable price you have to sell individually on CL/Marketplace.
Everyone here told me it would be better to just do a garage sale! Lol
I did sell some higher priced items individually but we live in the boonies so it's a real PITA.
I'm sure it's situation dependant.
When I had one the kids were 3 and 5. Fri is garage sale day in our town so h was at work. I was trying to be in the garage, the kids kept needing me in the house, I had to organize everything which took forever (compared to just piling it in the trunk), set up and take down and borrow all the tables, etc. Huge hassle. But YMMV. Some people seem to love doing them.
Post by maudefindlay on Jun 28, 2020 13:39:20 GMT -5
I agree woth SusanBAnthony. Will people even come to a garage sale in the boonies? If you want to get rid of more than get $ I would donate, get a receipt, and write it off on your taxes.
Post by icedcoffee on Jun 28, 2020 13:43:57 GMT -5
If it’s mostly kid stuff the morning of take a few pictures of the stuff set up and post on FB groups with a “yard sale now at this address” note. List a few of the things you have. It only takes 1 or 2 people who are in the market for baby stuff to show up who might buy multiple things.
I’d just organize bins of clothes by size with a note they’re $1 a piece with discounts if you buy a lot.
Unfortunately I think it’s hard to predict whether it will be worth it or not. I’m more likely to stop by a sale if I see pictures of what they have on FB first though. I hate just approaching and then realizing al they are selling is their dead grandmothers clothes or something.
I agree woth SusanBAnthony. Will people even come to a garage sale in the boonies? If you want to get rid of more than get $ I would donate, get a receipt, and write it off on your taxes.
Yes, the whole "neighborhood" is doing it the same weekend. It's a pretty big event.
Post by thebreakfastclub on Jun 28, 2020 15:17:14 GMT -5
We made 25 cents in our neighborhood sale last year. Never again.
When I have successfully sold kids clothes, it was as a trash bag labelled "boys 18-24m summer" for example, and the bag was $10. Nobody wants to go through items unless you have high end brands imo, especially boy stuff.
I don’t think we ever made that much anywhere from $100 to maybe $250 max. So overall not super worth it unless you have some big ticket items that you can sell for $30 + each.
I always send people to other garage sales nearby and ask them to send people to mine because we were in the boonies as well.
We always had annoying people trying to get in before we opened that bought for antique shops and other businesses. I haven’t done one in years so my advice might be outdated.
Post by HitchedIn2006 on Jun 28, 2020 16:01:31 GMT -5
Kids clothes- all you can fit in a Walmart size bag for $5 or 50c each piece. I unloaded a lot more clothes that way. I also bagged up lots- 20 sets of socks for 25c, set of bibs 50c, large ziploc of misc toys 25 or 50c. Have a freebie box or table- I like that one car in the edge of the yard so they can shop it on their way out. Free kids books. Encourage venmo and have your account name up at checkout. I would never price anything under 25c for ease of making change. Group things together. I had $50 of change to start (bills and coins).
I went to a town wide yard sale this weekend and appreciated the few sellers who had signs encouraging masks and organized their tables with signs to go one direction (up the right side of driveway, turn 180 degrees in garage and go down left side of driveway. No awkward moments trying to maintain social distancing!
Be organized — have things displayed nicely. Bins for bulk priced clothes (ie: every item in the bin is similar quality and size and costs the same per item, like 50 cent onesies). If you have items you want to price differently (coats, specialty clothes, costumes), consider hanging them on hangars and pricing individually. If it’s organized and looks attractive, people will stop and look. If it’s piles of clothes on the ground, people might not bother.
Use tables. Borrow or rent if you have to.
Furniture, bikes, large toys, etc draw people to your sale. If you don’t have anything large to sell, maybe join forces with a neighbor to see about combining sales. You can collect money separately, but a “multi-family” sale l with lots of different items will draw more people to your sale.
Post by cricketwife on Jun 28, 2020 19:50:40 GMT -5
Sell bottles of water for $1 in addition to whatever you are actually selling. People will buy the water as they are walking around. (This advice only tends to work at neighborhood sales.)
For pricing, I expect gear to be at least 50% on FB sales and even more off at a yard sale.
I was in the “Dont do it” camp until I got to the part where you said it was a neighborhood one. That helps a lot.
There are several ways to do a garage sale, and which one I do just depends on my mood and my goal.
The last one I had was a fundraiser for a friend going through cancer treatment. I just marked things by category (unless marked otherwise). I had several friends also contribute to the sale, and that just made it a LOT easier! I borrowed tables and hanging racks and got hangers from dry cleaners. I have some rolling shelves that I took our storage boxes off of and used as display shelves. The nicer and more organized you can make your stuff look from the road, the more people will stop. Put your bigger items where people can see them, but know if they’re too close to the road, they might disappear. I keep everything super neat. I’m constantly folding clothes, and find that the more I have folded, the more likely people are to at least loosely fold things when they put stuff back. Folded/hung stuff is more likely to sell.
I agree having cold beverages is a great idea. My kids loved doing that part, but with COVID, I wouldn’t have them doing that this year.
If people appear friendly and open to chatting, I’ll ask what they’re looking for and help them find it.
Sometimes I just want stuff GONE and will bargain with anyone. Other times, we have a set goal to make, are raising money for a cause, or I find a place where I’d rather give the items than sell them for nothing to someone who makes it a game of getting things as cheap as possible. Again, just depends on my mood.
I always have a free box. That’s where I put anything that has a spot or small blemish. When people see decent stuff in there, I think they trust more that the stuff on the tables is decent.
I keep all cash on me, usually in a crossbody purse where I can look in and pull out what I need without advertising what is in it. I frequently send the extra money inside with one of the kids so I don’t have much on me at any time.
I think I started with 100-200 in ones the last time. A couple of rolls of quarters, probably 10 5s and a few 10s. I don’t mess with dimes or nickels. If it’s not worth a quarter, it goes in the free box.
If it’s mostly kid stuff the morning of take a few pictures of the stuff set up and post on FB groups with a “yard sale now at this address” note. List a few of the things you have. It only takes 1 or 2 people who are in the market for baby stuff to show up who might buy multiple things.
I’d just organize bins of clothes by size with a note they’re $1 a piece with discounts if you buy a lot.
Unfortunately I think it’s hard to predict whether it will be worth it or not. I’m more likely to stop by a sale if I see pictures of what they have on FB first though. I hate just approaching and then realizing al they are selling is their dead grandmothers clothes or something.
This, although be prepared for tons of people to ask you to 'hold' items or if they are still available. I'd do a blanket "I'm not checking fb, come by and see what we have" with the pictures.
I agree with pp to sell cold bottles of water, to have 'lots' of clothes for cheap price (I'd do walmart sized bags for $5), and to have a free bin. And for change, I would honestly not price anything less than $1 and then not deal with coins at all, and have $100 in ones for change.
Be organized — have things displayed nicely. Bins for bulk priced clothes (ie: every item in the bin is similar quality and size and costs the same per item, like 50 cent onesies). If you have items you want to price differently (coats, specialty clothes, costumes), consider hanging them on hangars and pricing individually. If it’s organized and looks attractive, people will stop and look. If it’s piles of clothes on the ground, people might not bother.
Use tables. Borrow or rent if you have to.
Furniture, bikes, large toys, etc draw people to your sale. If you don’t have anything large to sell, maybe join forces with a neighbor to see about combining sales. You can collect money separately, but a “multi-family” sale l with lots of different items will draw more people to your sale.
Have plenty of change.
Be willing to make a deal.
Thanks for the suggestion to team up with a neighbor. She was in a similar position!
So... my MIL started doing this like between 8-10 years ago, and we now do the same. We don't price anything. Big items we have an idea of the price we want. We post a sign the day of the garage sale- "Name your best offer". We end up making more than we would have ask for (I remember specifically a hat my FIL wanted to label as .25 sold for $4. Ha! Anyway, our goal is usually just to offload crap, and any money made is a bonus. Plus we are saving ourselves the hassle of photos, pricing and posting online to deal with no-shows. So basically, we do a name your best offer garage sale the weekend that the neighborhood has it's annual garage sale weekend, and anything that doesn't sell gets donated.
Post by longtimenopost on Jun 29, 2020 12:44:31 GMT -5
We team up with the neighbor every year. Some tips:
-we also do "fill a bag of kids clothes for $5," they are in plastic storage bins organized by size -nice outfits or dresses we hang on a line above the bins and sell for $1 each -adult clothes go $1 for shirts, $2 for pants and dresses -I put stuff on nextdoor and FB for sale during the sale and say come on by, but no holds unless they paypal/venmo me -put your paypal/venmo on a big sign in case people want to pay that way -give out free little water bottles, and we also have a bin for free stuff, usually we let kids pick out a toy for free (occasionally we'll have people just take free stuff, but more often they'll buy something as well