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How do you Yard Sale?
tardcore
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've got a lot of stuff, I mean a lot of stuff that is just sitting in my basement and garage, collecting dust. Old books, toys, action figures, etc., so I've decided I want to throw a yard sale and just be gone with most of it and try to make a little bit of cash as well.
I've been to Yard Sales, my parents had one or two when I was young, but I'd be throwing this one myself and I have no idea where to start. What do I need to do? What do I need to be successful? How should I advertise? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
I've been to Yard Sales, my parents had one or two when I was young, but I'd be throwing this one myself and I have no idea where to start. What do I need to do? What do I need to be successful? How should I advertise? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
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Personally, I'd just hock anything that's worth money on craigslist or ebay and toss the rest to some charitable organization.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
don't think about making money, concentrate on getting rid of stuff you neither want or need; set prices at a point where people will buy things impulsively, not at how much you think something is "worth".
YARD SALE, Apr. 4-5 8am-5pm,
123 Main St, Furniture, Appliances,
Clothing, Collector's items all priced to sell!
Newspapers in my hometown charged per word, so keep it simple and snappy, but seriously listing in the paper will garner much more attention, surprisingly.
-Posterboard signs in the vicinity of the sale. Bright yellow background with black writing. Basically stick to the same info as is on the paper listing. Make sure your writing is good/big enough for the signs to be visible to drivers. Also, check and make sure posting said signs on telephone poles and the like is legal in your area.
-As far as pricing goes, I'd say don't price things. Maybe have a range in mind for any big-ticket items, but don't go through the hassle of pricing everything. It's a yard sale, so have fun bartering. You can usually make more money that way anyway.
-Also, if you don't have tons and tons of stuff, it may be a good idea to combine sales with a few friends. It can be fun, everyone makes money, and everyone splits the cost of the newspaper ad.
-Have fun.
-OH! This sounds weird, but go to Costco or Sam's Club and buy bottled water, sell it for like, $.25 or $.50 a bottle. My mom always did this, people loved it, they stayed and shopped longer cause they were more comfortable in the hothot California desert summer sun.
Also, be a good neighbor and take down the signs and balloons when the sales over. It's a pep peeve of mine, I hate seeing people leave their shit up because they couldn't take the 10 minutes to drive around and take it down.
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
If your items are mostly old toys and action figures and stuff, don't yard sale them. Yard sales are NOT a way to make some coin off of your junk, it's a way to encourage people to come haul away your junk and possibly make enough money for some pizza and beer afterwards.
If your stuff is worth anything, ebay, kajiji, or craigslist it all.
Most people who go yard sale shopping are seniors, and they won't be looking for what you've got for sale.
Hah, fuck that.
There are many many reasons why there might be a huge neon arrow in the middle of the street.. open house? birthday party? some sort of tournament?
You should definately write "GARAGE SALE" on your sign, along with the arrow.
Also, most people who will come to your sale will have read your ad in the paper the day before. Not many people simply pass by a huge neon arrow and think "Oh look I'm going to follow it.. dum dum dum"
HOAs? Why haven't you run those Communists out of the state yet? :P
Pretty much this, if you actually want what things are worth stay away from yardsales. In a similar vein, going to them as a buyer is an excellent way to pick shit up for 10% of what it would cost elsewhere, such as an almost-complete copy of arguably the finest hummingbird-based shooter available for the 32X.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
People are crazy. Make sure if you put in a start time that you are ready a few hours earlier then that.
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
HAHA, so true. It's like eBay, except they know where you live.
Be sure to ask the newspaper if they have any yard sale kits; signs, string, etc.
You must consider the context of the arrow. It's Saturday morning and your Market is not random people driving around going about their daily business -- it’s people who are looking for garage sales. Said people, in their weekend morning/afternoon search, will see a giant pink or yellow sign with an arrow and know what it leads to. Anyone looking for something that might require a bit of information as to its purpose (birthdays or open houses, as you mention) should have already figured out how to get there before leaving the house. I don't picture parents relying exclusively upon stumbling across giant signs in order to find Suzie's birthday party. But fine, go ahead and put ‘garage sale’ on there. Just don’t do it in any way that interferes with the arrow.
And, hey, if there’s any justice in the world, maybe you’ll manage to disappoint a few kids with parents dumb enough to expect to find a birthday party at the end of your sign path rather than by following the instructions they should have printed out before leaving the house.
Also, if you are selling anything for less than a dollar, an assload of quarters.
Nobody ever brings exact change.
Apparently you never go garage sale-ing. You don't drive around looking for random fucking signs to find them. You look in the newspaper, see what sales are happening, and make up a route to take early the next morning.
No one (who isn't a dumbass) drives around randomly looking for garage sale signs on a Saturday morning.
Definitely do this. Otherwise you'll end up adjusting your own prices to accommodate whatever your patrons have.
You're both right.
The newspaper ad will attract the serious garage sellers, its your main investment. The signs will pick up impulse drivers. Seriously, I would be driving somewhere on a Saturday with my mom, say, trying to get to a movie that starts in 20 minutes, and she would see a sign and swerve onto the street it was pointing towards. If you live near a main road or intersection, use the signs. If you DONT, then put the signs near the intersection, (with a big arrow and the address written below it regardless of what people have said, that way if someone is walking by, they can atleast see what bloody street it is on). Then from that intersection lead the trail of signs to your house.
At the garage sell, its a good idea to have items arranged by price. You can have a box full of stuff that is just 50 cents, $1, etc. We would have clothes racks that were seperated by price as well. For bigger stuff, put a price tag on it that is reasonable, but be open to bartering. The main idea is "Certain Price or Best Offer" and it doesn't hurt to write that on the big stuff.
Someone mentioned the waterbottles, which is a great idea, and make sure they are in a iced cooler. We would also have cookies for sale (something like 25 cents each or 5 for a dollar) which sells. You can even do hotdogs, chips and soda.
This is all assuming you arn't running the thing alone. We would have our own big garage sell with just our family and everyone usually had their own chore, ( my mom would do most of the bartering as well as cooking, and leave the cash box to me and my brother or something). This is where doing it with other people can help.
If you DO do the garage sale with other people, color code EVERYTHING with colored stickers. Orange dots are your stuff, red dots are someones elses, yellow dots someone elses, etc. This way you can keep track of who sells what and you wont have to deal with any tension of you "accidentally" selling something that belonged to your friend and keeping the money.
Hope this stuff helps and have fun.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
It needed to be linked. Good advice so far, so I'll just add good luck!
Thank you, Rubacava!
A conversation would go like this.
Guy: I'll give you $10 for the table.
Mom: $8.
Guy: I..um...ok.
Me: MOM what are you doing?!
Mom: Dangit thats the third time I've done that today.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Seriously though, that story about your mom downselling her own stuff is hilarious. At least she's not accidentally upselling at other people's sales.