Whether you’re moving, cleaning out your elderly parent’s home or decluttering your own, a yard sale is a great way to unload unwanted items. Not only will you make some extra spending money, but you’ll also be keeping usable items out of landfills. Check out these tips from experienced yard sale ninjas.
Make it a team effort. Generally, more shoppers are drawn in by multi-family or neighborhood yard sales. It also makes the event more fun, and your fellow sellers can cover for you if you need a break. If older kids are out of school for the summer or on a break, get them involved with going through items and pricing.
Prepare your inventory. It can take days or weeks to go through the sorting process. Popular items include power tools, sports equipment, gaming systems, children’s clothes and toys. Mention these in your pre-sale ads (more about those later) and put a few of them near the street. You can also simplify visitor browsing by setting up and/or borrowing tables and portable clothes racks from neighbors and friends.
Be realistic with pricing. Unless it’s rare and/or collectible, it’s best to price items at around ½ to ⅓ of their original price. (Ask yourself what you would be willing to pay as a yard sale shopper.) Be sure to price everything, as many people won’t ask what something costs. You can bump some prices up slightly if you enjoy haggling or are unsure about an item’s current value. You can spur sales by creating a “gift with purchase” table to get rid of books, stuffed animals, and CDs. Be prepared to slash prices in the last hour or two of your garage sale.
Remember to stock up on change as you’ll need to be prepared to hand out change. Get plenty of ones and fives. If you have many items priced at 25 cents or 50 cents, have a few rolls of quarters on hand.
Get the word out. Sites like Craigslist, Nextdoor, and Facebook Marketplace are good places to advertise but don’t stop there. Veteran yard sale shoppers visit sites such as yardsalesearch.com, garagesalestracker.com, and garagesalefinder.com. You can also put up some colorful, easy-to-read signs at the intersections near you and have helpers dressed up in fun costumes or mascots to wave traffic in. Remember to remove signage immediately when the sale is over.
There are always some odds and ends left over after a yard sale. You can load up your car and take it to a thrift store or make a social media post about having free leftover items from your sale and leave items by the curb with a sign.
Happy selling!
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