If you want to get rid of unused items in the house, a garage sale could
be the answer. Here are some tips on how to go about it.
What To Sell
First decide on which items you really want to sell. Think carefully about
this because you don’t want to sell something only to find you want or
need it later.
How Much To Charge
Having decided on what you want to sell, the next step is to clean or fix
up the items so they are in the most saleable condition possible.
Presentation is everything.
You then have to determine how much you want to charge for each item. The
price you charge will depend largely upon how new the item is and how much
it cost in the first place. Also, how current the item is. Is it modern or
dated?
When you have decided on the prices, up each price by ten percent so that
if somebody wants to knock you down on an item, you will have that extra
room to go down a little. You’ll probably end up getting the price you
were after in the first place. By the same token, the buyer will go away
feeling they’ve picked up a bargain.
Preparation
Tidy up your garage or yard where the sale is to be held. Now you will
have to find tables, etc, on which to display your goods. If you can’t
find enough tables, get two chairs and place a piece of board, or
something similar, over the two. This type of arrangement will suffice for
the lighter items.
Advertising
Once everything is clean and tidy and you have price tags on your items
(sheets of sticky labels will do for this), place an ad in the local
paper, stating the day, time and place of your garage sale. It’s up to you
if you want to include your phone number or not. Just be aware that you
may get phone calls very early in the morning.
Before you place your ad, you must decide which day would be best.
Generally, weekends are the best time; especially Saturdays. Public
holidays can be good days for a sale as well.
What Time To Open Up Shop?
The earlier the better really. In my experience the bulk of the sales have
occurred well before midday. I’d recommend having everything set up and
ready to go by no later than 7am.
Beware the dreaded dealer. Second-hand dealers are very early risers and
their weekend hunting ground is the garage sale. Although some people may
be happy to sell to a dealer, most will offer to take virtually all your
items off your hands for a very meagre sum. Resist this. With patience you
will make a lot more through sales to individual buyers.
Signs
Make sure you have at least our signs to direct traffic to your street,
and one to place in front of your house. All you need is a piece of stiff
cardboard, or similar, and paint the words GARAGE SALE in big block
letters. Also paint on an arrow to point the way.
If you live in a street that is not very busy, make up a couple of extra
signs and place them along the nearest busy street, with arrows directing
traffic and people to your street.
Change
The day before your garage sale, make sure you have plenty of coins and a
variety of notes on hand. If you haven’t got the exact change to give a
customer, you could lose money on the item, or even lose the sale.
Setting Up
Be sure to set up your tables in easily accessible positions. If you are
selling clothes, hang them on a line between two poles or trees.
Decide which items you most want to sell or will bring the greatest
rewards, and place them in the most noticeable positions (i.e. just inside
the front gate or the front of your garage).
When placing your items for sale on the tables, be sure that no item is
covered by another. People like to view everything clearly. Also make
certain that all price tags are visible.
Where To Position Yourself
Take a seat in an out-of-the-way corner of your garage or front yard, but
in a position where you can see everything clearly.
Through experience, I’ve found that people are hesitant to come in and
look around if they can see you sitting there out in the open, staring at
them, willing them to come in and buy something.
Keep A Record
Be sure to keep a record of the sales you’ve made. Write down the type of
item sold, the time the sale was made, and how much it sold for. This
information will be helpful when you plan another garage sale.
Marking Down Prices
As the day wears on and if you find you aren’t making many sales, mark
down the prices a little on some of your goods. You’ve already put an
extra ten percent on your original prices, so you won’t really be losing
much.
Be sure not to stick on a new price tag. Just cross out the old price and
write in the new one next to it. Seeing the price marked down will help
influence people to buy.
When To Close Shop
This depends on how much time you have available and how business is
doing.
If you are still making sales consistently by mid-afternoon, then you
might do best to stay open an hour or so longer than you originally
intended.
What Sells The Best
In my experience, things like sporting goods and household electrical
items sell the best. As do pot plants and furniture items. Clothing and
shoes don’t tend to sell particularly well.
What you are able to sell depends on many factors: How many people come to
the sale, what they can afford, the variety of items for sale, the
condition of the items and the price of the items. Also, some shoppers go
to sales looking for a particular item. But, even if you don’t have what
they’re originally looking for, they may see something else that appeals
to them.
Good luck!
About The Author:
Born in Sydney, Australia, Darren G. Burton has been writing for more than
20 years. He has written numerous full length works of fiction and
non-fiction. In addition to his books, he has had many articles and short
stories published in major Australian and international publications.
