Garage Sale Advice From
Pros
WHEN BUYING AT A SALE: When considering whether to buy one or a few of many like items (old canning jars at $3 each), for example), ask the seller what kind of deal he would give you if you bought ALL of the items. Most sellers will leap at the opportunity to sell it all for a fraction of the individual prices. Bad weather often produces good deals for shopping. At the end of the sale people will put unsold items at the curb for the trash, so it may be worth your while to go back a second time. Older folks who are downsizing have the best stuff and great prices, too. If you find something you really love, never walk away with the idea of coming back later for a reduced price--you might regret it. planning a garage sale to raise cash for summer activities and clean out the garage (and the linen closet and the play room and ...). If your kids are old enough, let them share the work and the profit. Successful garage sale-ing calls for advance planning, so allow two weeks (at least) before your sale date to scour storage areas, sort, price, and tend to administrative details. For minimal frustration and maximum profit, use this step-by-step plan. Two Weeks Before Take inventory. Follow this declutter-in-a-day plan and start gathering items to sell. If you don't have enough merchandise, ask friends or neighbors to join you. Having a wider variety of things to advertise and display makes your sale more interesting to shoppers and will bring more profit. Set the date. The Saturday after the first or fifteenth day of the month is ideal since most people have more money to spend after payday. Avoid holiday weekends. Decide what time to begin and end your sale. Experienced shoppers like to come early, before merchandise is picked over. Count on half as many shoppers in the afternoon. Have a contingency plan in case of rain. Check out local ordinances. Look online or call your local community government to learn about any garage-sale regulations. Spiff up merchandise. Oil tools and repair broken items; they'll bring a higher price. Polish wood furniture and cover scratches with scratch remover. Polish silver pieces; clean dishes and glassware. Wash and fold linens; wash, iron, and hang clothing. Advertise. Place an ad in your community newspaper. Also consider an online posting on craigslist.com or free Internet bulletin board. Include dates, times, address and sampling of merchandise. Week of the Sale Start pricing. Use stickers or masking tape to price merchandise. Secure display tables and racks. Go to the bank. Get at least fifty singles, a few fives, and twenty dollars in quarters, dimes, and nickels. Don't take personal checks, and be wary of shoppers who say they only have a large bill to pay for a small item. They could be hoping to exchange a counterfeit bill for real money in change. Gather equipment. Have an extension cord available for customers to check electric items, a tape measure or yardstick, sacks, plastic tarps to cover merchandise in case of rain, and a full-length mirror. Create signage. Create eye-catching signs, and keep your message simple: "Garage Sale," your address, the dates, and the times. Use stakes or tacks to place signs in prominent locations two days before your sale. Print notices and post them on public bulletin boards at libraries, bus depots, churches, restaurants, supermarkets, and Laundromats. Schedule a pick-up. Arrange for a charitable organization to pick up leftover items soon after the sale. Apply finishing touches. The day before your sale, decorate your yard with banners, tinsel, lights -- anything that looks good, draws attention to your sale, and is easy to take down afterward. Set up as much as possible the day before the sale. Setting Up Shop Keep off the ground. Merchandise looks better on a table and is less likely to get dirty or broken. Use any spare tables from your house or yard -- card tables, folding TV tables, or patio tables. Create departments. Organize your merchandise by department -- household items in one area, exercise equipment in another, and toys in another so people can find things more easily. Make displays. Use straight pins to hang necklaces and display other jewelry on a bulletin board with a dark background. They will show up better. Offer refreshments. Invite an older child to set up a coffee and doughnut table. Early-bird shoppers will welcome the refreshments and your child can earn some extra cash. Offer lemonade and cookies later. Be cautious. Keep cash and change in a safe location. Keep it clean. Place a garbage can in an easy-access location. H olding a garage or yard sale can be a great way to clear out clutter and earn some cash. Here’s how to increase the odds that your sale will be a success... SCHEDULING The best time to hold your sale is on a weekend when a local church or civic group is staging a large rummage sale. These big sales draw bargain hunters from surrounding towns, and many of those shoppers will visit nearby garage sales as well. Post signs with arrows leading from the exit of the big sale to your own sale. Otherwise, choose a weekend when a large number of garage sales are scheduled in your neighborhood... or ask your neighbors to join you in a multi-family or block-wide sale. The more sellers in the area, the more buyers who will visit. Saturday morning usually is the best time of week for a garage sale because that is when the most garage sale shoppers are on the prowl. Other times are acceptable only if sales are commonly held at those times in your region. Also... Start your sale 30 minutes earlier than other sales. This will encourage shoppers to begin their garage sale day with you. Avoid scheduling your sale for a holiday weekend when people are away -- unless your home is in a resort community or located on a heavily used route to, say, a local beach. If there’s one big employer in your region, schedule your sale for a weekend that closely follows its payday. That’s when people are most likely to be in a spending mood. To find out when payday is, ask someone who works there or try calling the company. If it rains on sale day, take down your signs and postpone your sale. You can proceed with your sale if your merchandise is protected by a garage roof, but expect business to be slow. Many garage sale shoppers make other plans when it rains. MERCHANDISE AND PRICING Small, inexpensive items, including housewares... tools... costume jewelry... DVDs and CDs... books... and child-related products, sell well at garage sales. Large items, such as furniture, typically do not sell well, because most shoppers cannot fit them into their cars. Items priced above $10 or $20 tend not to sell well either and are better sold through eBay, Craigslist or a newspaper classified ad. Before holding your sale, visit a few garage sales in your area to determine appropriate prices. Relatively new, clean items can bring as much as one-third of their original prices, but most goods sell for much less. Examples: Used hardcover books rarely sell for more than $1 or $2 apiece... used adult clothing rarely brings more than $2 or $3 per item. Used designer clothing is likely to fetch a better price in a consignment shop. Shoppers do not like to have to ask the prices of merchandise. Attach a price sticker to each item... or post price signs when multiple items all cost the same amount. Example: "Paperbacks 50 cents each." Goods bring better prices when they have been cleaned, but consider the value of your time before you start scrubbing. Cleaning a child’s toy might increase its sale price from $1 to $3 -- but the 10 minutes you spend cleaning might be worth more to you than $2. Other smart sales strategies... Scan newspaper circulars for store ads offering the products that you are selling -- particularly if you’re selling things that are relatively new or priced above $10. Clip out these ads, and attach them to your items so that shoppers can see what good deals you’re offering. If you sell electrical items, have an outlet and extension cord handy so you can show that they work. Put in cheap batteries. Items powered by batteries bring much higher prices when they contain working batteries. If an item requires many batteries or large batteries, however, the cost of these batteries could eat up much or all of your profit. Buy cheap generic batteries at a dollar store... or pull used batteries near the end of their lives from electronics that you are not selling and buy new batteries for these. Place all of your merchandise (except large items) on tables, even if this means borrowing folding tables from neighbors... or improvising tables from upturned boxes or boards placed across cinder blocks. Goods are less appealing when displayed on the ground, and many shoppers won’t bend down to examine merchandise. Be sure to have a "man’s table." Have at least one table of merchandise that’s likely to interest the stereotypical man, such as tools, DVDs, electronics and books. If possible, also position a lawn mower, barbecue grill or large tools near the front of your sale, where they can be seen from the road. Many garage sale shoppers are married couples, and these couples are more likely to stop at your sale -- and remain longer -- if there is something for the man to examine. ADVERTISING Spread the word about your sale through ads in your local newspaper classifieds... on the free classified ads Web site Craigslist.org... and on community bulletin boards in local stores. Emphasize the size of your sale in these ads. Use words such as "huge" or "multifamily" if appropriate. On the morning of your sale, post signs on the roads around your home. Provide large, easy-to-follow arrows pointing toward your sale, along with the words "Garage Sale" (or "Yard Sale") and your address in big, thick print so that it can be read from a moving vehicle. Caution: Do not post your signs any earlier than the morning of your sale... and don’t leave them up after your sale ends. Many towns and neighborhood associations prohibit private signs along roadsides. Garage sale signs often are ignored by the authorities and accepted by neighbors, but the longer you leave your signs up, the greater the odds that you will face a fine. Ask your homeowners association or town about garage sale sign rules in your area. SALE DAY Greet those who visit your sale, then give them space to shop undisturbed. Chat with customers only if they initiate conversations. Background music can make shoppers feel more comfortable. Garage sale cash boxes can get stolen, so carry the cash generated by your sale (along with plenty of $1 and $5 bills for change) in a carpenter’s apron or pouch worn around your waist. Be wary of accepting checks, which might bounce. Do not let strangers into your house to use your bathroom or make phone calls -- they could be thieves. Garage sales can be a great way to turn a houseful of odds and ends into a fistful of cash, and make your messy garage a gold mine. On "The Early Show Saturday Edition," consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen shared pointers to help you have the best garage sale on the block. She discussed what sells, how to price things to move, how to best display your wares, and how to get the word out. A first-rate garage could help you clear out your stuff and fatten your wallet. Make Signs/Advertise Let people know you're having sale. Put ads in the newspaper and online. Make sure your signs are big and visible, with arrows pointing to your sale. Check with your town to make sure there are no restrictions on when you can have a sale and whether you can post signs. Ask friends and family if they want to join, so you can advertise that it's a neighborhood sale or huge sale, with lots of big-ticket items. Organize your items Make sure you clean everything off, then group them. Set them up in nice displays -- clothes in one spot, electronics in another, etc. Line up your books and CDs and DVDs. Put your big-ticket items out front to attract attention, and if you have something like a vacuum cleaner for sale, make sure you have an extension cord and bring out a carpet so folks can test the merchandise and make sure it works. Price your items right Make sure people know how much things cost -- label everything with a price. To avoid guesswork, put individual tags on everything or have a big sign that says, "All books 25 cents." And price things to sell. Clothes generally don't sell well, so make them a great deal. Be willing to bargain People want deals when they go to garage sales, so be flexible with your prices. The last thing you want to do is put all this stuff back in your house at the end of the day. Make sure you can make change. So have a fanny pack and fill it with about $100 dollars in change and small bills. A couple of tens, a few fives, I like to have about 50 dollars in ones and then a roll of quarters, nickels and dimes. GENERAL TIPS Have boxes and bags for folks to cart away their goods after they buy them. Before you sell your purses and coats, check pockets for cash you forgot about! Sell bottled water and soda: You can make a lot of money, and folks on a hot day are eager to get a drink. Make sure you take your signs down when the sale is over! Cash In on Clutter with a Yard Sale Finished your spring cleaning and still aren’t happy with the results? Maybe it’s time to do something about that clutter you just dusted off and shuffled from one end of the house to the other. Having a garage or yard sale is a great opportunity to get rid of your functional junk, clothes that don’t fit anymore, and those old record albums collecting dust in your garage. Here are some tips on how you can unload some of your unwanted stuff and put some cash into your pocket. Join forces with friends and neighbors Make it a neighborhood event by inviting your neighbors, family and friends to participate in a block super sale. Multifamily sales tend to bring a lot of foot traffic, according to the article “Yard Sale Tips for Success” on frugaldad.com. Once you’ve all agreed upon a date for the sale and gotten the thumbs up (or a permit) from the powers that be such as your homeowner’s association or city, it’s time to get the word out about your event with eye-catching signs on bright posterboard. With multiple households hosting a yard sale together, you can share the advertising costs and the signage workload. Attract attention to your deals Be sure the prices on your items are clearly visible. That’s what’s so appealing about Avery Neon Removable Pre-Printed Garage Sale Labels. If your unbelievable prices don’t catch the customers’ eyes, these bright neon round labels will. Each pack includes pre-printed prices ranging from 10 cents to $20 and additional blank labels so you can specify your own price. And because the labels are removable, you can easily change the label when you want to change the price or remove completely when the item is sold. To run an organized community sale, color-coded dots can help identify which item is being sold by which household. Before the sale begins, assign a color to each household with Assorted Pastel Removable Garage Sale Labels, and attach the colored dots onto each respective household’s items. These handy labels come in assorted bright colors and can be peeled off cleanly after the sale. Get ready for your customers Create a shopping environment that’s easy to walk through and navigate. That means putting away that tangled garden hose and steering customers clear of those perilous sprinklers. Place items on blankets or easy-to-access tables, and create categories with Avery Tent Cards so people can scan your yard sale quickly and find what they’re looking for, whether it’s “children’s clothing,” “vintage jewelry,” or even the cashier’s table. Another idea is to have everyone participating in the yard sale wear a name tag made with Avery Name Badges so shoppers can quickly and easily identify who the sellers are. If you’re selling electronics, have batteries and an extension cord ready so customers can make sure the item works before they purchase. For easy checkout, bring a calculator and have extra change available so you can break bills. Be sure to keep newspapers and bags handy to wrap up purchases. And to take advantage of all the early bird shoppers, make sure you’re ready to start your sale early in the morning. With a little planning and preparation, you can make your yard sale a success—and the talk of the town! nothing worse than looking around your already compact living quarters and seeing a closet full of has-been trends, shoeboxes of conquered video games, and stacks of textbooks the bookstore wouldn't buy back. Since the creation of eBay, you can quickly sell your stuff -- no garage sale required. Who knows? With an estimated 547,000 eBay stores worldwide as of March 2008, you too could make a profitable habit out of it. Going once, going twice… eBay acts as an online auctioneer for buyers and sellers of new and used goods. As of December 2007, there were 276 million registered users on eBay. Anyone 18 and older looking to sell can simply list an item and let the bidding begin. To set a price, find similar items being sold on eBay and check out other websites to find the current market value of your item. eBay charges a listing fee to your account for each item, as well as a fee when you sell your item. When using the auction format, set the starting bid lower than what you expect to get for the item. Buyers won't bid if you start too high, but you can always set a reserve price (that bidders can't see) to ensure your item won't sell for less than that amount. The "Buy It Now" feature gives buyers an option to purchase the item at a set price before bidding has begun. However, once the first bid is made, the item becomes auction-only and the "Buy It Now" option is automatically removed. List as much valuable information about the item as possible, and always add a few pictures to help make your item attractive to buyers. Sold! PayPal is the preferred payment method on eBay -- it's a safe and easy way to pay and get paid through online transactions. It's reliable for both parties and confidential information stays safe. Sellers have the option to accept other payment methods, including credit and debit cards or checks and money orders. You can include a zip code search for buyers to find out the cost of shipping the item to their location. Be sure to pack and weigh the item before listing it to give an accurate shipping quote. If your item is heavy or large, you can list it as "pick-up only," but this could eliminate potential customers. Commission permission If you develop a knack for selling on eBay, consider selling items for other people. Have them sign a consignment agreement to cover your back. You can draft your own contract from samples on sites like extension.missouri.edu or purchase one at allbusiness.com for $25. Set your commission at a percentage of the final sale -- 30 percent is reasonable for items under $500. Don't forget to advertise. Get the word out with cross-promotion by making sure buyers bidding on your item will see a display promoting other items you are selling. Set up shop If business is good, you might consider opening an eBay "store." As long as you have a seller's account with your credit card on file and good feedback, you can create a store at one of three levels of store subscriptions. The basic subscription is beneficial to people selling around 10 items (or $100 worth) per month. Creating this store costs around $16 a month and three cents for 30-day listings. You can open a specialty store or have several product lines. After designing a virtual storefront with a personalized logo and color scheme, you can build your inventory. Advertise your business using a link on your MySpace or Facebook page. Visit the U.S. Small Business Administration at sba.gov to find more information about obtaining a business license. If you decide to set up an eBay business, you should also look into local regulations before becoming too involved. You may be responsible for sales tax, personal property tax or use tax, any of which can create a liability for penalties if not paid and filed on time. Now that you've had a crash course in becoming a successful eBay seller, it's time to dig up all that stuff you don't need anymore and start auctioning away! The Bottom Line More than 1 million eBay sellers use the auction site as their primary or secondary source of income, according to a 2006 report by ACNielsen International Research. If those sellers can make a living, you should be able to make a few bucks while unloading unwanted junk. https://www.angelfire.com/celeb2/tulsa/BurningTree.html |
