Garage Sale Tips for Success
These garage sale tips will make your next de-cluttering adventure the talk of the block! For the most part, the biggest benefit from hosting a garage sale is just freeing up space in and around your home. If you can make a few bucks selling an old tube TV or a banged up cabinet then that’s just an added bonus. Either way, the success of a garage sale still involves attracting people to the site and making them feel like they’re getting a deal and not just taking ‘junk’ off your hands. Here are some garage sale tips on how to make your garage sale the event that the whole cul-de-sac is buzzing about.
Timing of Your Garage Sales
Finding the perfect time for a garage sale isn’t an exact science, but there are a few tips to follow. For the best turnout it’s a wise idea to time your sale with community sanctioned events or when you see a bunch of fliers around with others promoting their garage or yard sales. Holiday weekends can be hit or miss and you probably won’t have much success with a Tuesday morning garage sale or one in early February. Aim for a quiet weekend in spring or fall for the best opportunities.
Promote Your Headliner Items
Much like a concert, sometimes a garage sale needs a big headliner for people to discover the opening act. Rare items such as pool tables or collectibles will draw customers who may be looking to fix up items or sell them on a secondary market. The big ticket products are the bait, but your goal is to send them home with your unwanted household items, clothing and toys.
Know Where to Advertise
When determining advertising for your sale the motto of ‘local is focal’ is a good mantra to follow. Unless you’re selling a rare Monet painting, you probably won’t draw too many visitors outside your central location. Shopping markets, community papers, and telephone posts are great marketing spots, but don’t forget about Facebook , Twitter, and Craigslist which are free methods of advertising.
Know When to Advertise
Most people forget their own wedding anniversary or relatives’ birthdays, so it’s not likely that they will remember a garage sale that’s advertised two months in advance. With garage and yard sales you want to create early hype, but not so early that people forget about it. Go for about 1-2 weeks before the sale for maximum potential.
Pricing Items
There’s a definite ‘pro-tag’ and ‘anti-tag’ bipartisanship when it comes to whether or not you should put prices on your items. If you do put a price tag on the pieces, buyers are likely going to barter you down anyway so it’s best to list them higher and allow some room for negotiation. Then again, if the tags are too high they’ll just walk by anyway because this isn’t the black market – people are looking for a deal. No tags might have you feeling awkward when somebody offers you $1 for something you wanted $50 for, but along those same lines you might get $20 for a disco shirt in which you were only seeking 25¢. You know the old saying, one man’s disco shirt is another wife’s nightmare man’s treasure.
Follow these garage sale tips to make your event more successful, but keep in mind that there are external factors like weather that may affect your sales. The good thing about garage sales is that your livelihood likely doesn’t depend on how successful the event was. There aren’t going to be any payroll cuts or meetings with upper management to discuss low sales. Instead, you’ll have the opportunity to get some fresh air, meet your neighbors, and hopefully get rid of some clutter.