Having a garage sale. Tips, trick, prices?

[Jody22002]

We are having our one and only yard sale of the year this weekend. I can never fathom how people have more than one a year because holy crap, it's a lot of work. Perfect time to do it because my H is on vacay from work and it's almost that dreaded time of back to school clothes shopping for three teenagers. I could use the extra $$$.

I hate going into a store or to a yard sale and things aren't priced. Drives me nuts to have to ask. On the flip side, it's a lot of stuff to tag. Do you guys price it all? Or do you have areas marked at one price? What the heck do you use for tables? We are going to need a lot of them. Do you hang all the clothes on hangers? Or just put them on tables?

Tips, tricks, and ideas...PLEASE!

[ginger150]

I price everything, but check out Dollarama - I got a pack of price stickers there for a buck, especially for garage sales, some with pre-printed prices, and some blank. I just had a garage sale a couple weeks ago, and did very well. I made sure everything was priced low. For me, the garage sale was to get rid of stuff, and the thought of having to drag it somewhere else after the garage sale made me unhappy, so I priced everything really low so people would buy. And they sure did! If someone made an offer, I took it. I was happy to only have a little left at the end to pack up and drop off to the Goodwill. I made sure everything was spread out and easy to see. If you can, I owuld hang the clothes up - easier for people to look through, and they stay neater.

[ginger150]

Oh, also - I advertised on kijiji and craigslist, and made big, colorful signs to post around town.

[Natalka]

For sure, it's a lot of work, but can be worth it! Yup, price everything, and keep prices low. Anything you want more for, list on Kijiji.

I won't repeat - but so many great tips from last year's thread

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/148641-...stions-canada/

[NovaScotiaGirl]

Lure them in with a freebie box by the checkout or enterance, always get people in a mood to buy when they already get something for free. You always have things that are worth like 10cents or so and this way you avoid pricing a million tiny items. Also sell things as lots in some cases, like collection of carebears, kids dvds,etc sometimes it helps too.

[Lynn49]

I can't agree strongly enough about pricing everything! It's so frustrating to go to a sale, pick something up I'm interested in, then not being able to get the attention of whoever it is having the sale, to ask the price! So I walk away.
Even if you toss like-priced things in boxes, at least it's better than nothing.

I've read some good ads in newspapers, too...One I'll use is "Selling off the results of a life of excess!" Humour can really work in your favour. And name a few specific things that might attract people....sell "nice junque"...Good luck with your sale!!!

[Mrsb07]

I had one last weekend. Sold tons and made over $300. I try to price pretty much everything. I had a lot of odd dishes though and just put them all in a box with a big sign "2/.25 cents or 10 for $1 and got rid of most of it. I don't put an ad in the paper anymore just on Kijiji and do fine. We also bring out the bbq and sell hot dogs, bottled water and cans of pop. Sold $70 worth of food and drink this year but we almost hit $100 one year. Yardsalers get hungry and thirsty especially if it's a hot sunny day. I also had a ton of books to sell and not enough table room so I layed down a tarp and put the books on it. A table is better but we still sold lots of books.

[mle]

Definitley price everything! You can actually stick a price on everything, or sort items according to price (ex. this table is $3, this table is $1 etc.). I've seen neighbours do this colour coding system, where each item had a coloured sticker (blue, red, green, yellow) and each was associated with a price that was listed on a chart. This might be a fast way of getting it done cause you can get the little dot stickers at dollarama and you don't have to write the price out on each item. You'll also know the price when customers pay by looking at the item.

Hanging clothes is neater and a lot more attractive to people who come by. You can just tie some thick yarn between trees or doors and use clothespins.

For posters etc. make sure you specify 2 things: the items and the price. A poster that says "Kids clothes under $5" or "Baby stuff under $20" is something that would attract people more than a lengthy sign nobody can read.

[DaveP]

Quick question. I went to my first garage sale last month, got some decent stuff. But I didn't know if it's okay or expected to haggle (so I didn't). I know haggling is expected in the US, what's etiquette north of the border?

[ginger150]

Quick question. I went to my first garage sale last month, got some decent stuff. But I didn't know if it's okay or expected to haggle (so I didn't). I know haggling is expected in the US, what's etiquette north of the border?

It's totally fine to haggle - at my garage sale, almost every single customer did. Totally cool.

[Lynn49]

I think most things are priced for haggling.
Others, obviously the lower priced items likely are not.

[DaveP]

Thanks both! The reason I hate haggling is because I absolutely hate taking advantage of someone or feeling like I have. But if haggling is normal then I know that items are actually priced a bit higher than people actually want for it (because they know people are going to ask for a bit lower.)

Edit to add: I really enjoyed going to my first yard sale, and am looking forward to going again. This is very helpful knowing prices are negotiable (in a friendly way, of course). There are a lot of things others don't have a use for anymore that my family does. Very helpful. Thanks again!

[Jody22002]

Ugh. My back is hurting and I am getting cranky! This is so much work! My H's idea of helping me today was to sit at the kitchen table taking magnets out of old hard drives.

It would be easier to donate it all for sure. I donate a lot of stuff because I hate it sitting around. I have a purpose in mind for the money though. We have made 500+ the last few years at our yard sale.

What do you guys charge for refreshments? I have 6 free cases of coke coupons from icoke plus tomorrow, at our Double Coupon Day, it will only cost me a 1.50ish for cases of Brisk. Thinking I should probably pick some up for the sale. .50c a can? 1.00? 1.00 for hotdogs too?

[Mrsb07]

We charged $1 for pop or water and normally we charged $1 for a hot dog but this year we got bigger weiners and charged $1.50 and still sold lots. We also get a jar of no name sourkraut (sp) and most people did put it on their hot dogs. We had people buy a hot dog only after they saw we had the saurkraut (sp again lol). Personally I hate the stuff but it sure seems a lot of people liked it. It was under $2 for a big jar of it and I think it really did increase sales.