Going to have a yard sale this weekend...

[billsmrs]

Well, hubby and I may be crazy but we decided to have a yard sale this Saturday. Only bad thing is we live on a dead end street and our house isn't the easiest to find....unless of course you are from the area.

It means alot of work though. I am going to start now getting stuff ready. We have several storage containers FULL of clothing here at the store that we put in the back room that we bought for the store from other businesses that went out of business. We are going to put that in the sale too. Hubby said we could sale it cheap and get our money back and still make a small profit and put it in the store acct. God sure knows that acct is going to need some help!

I thought about having the sale here at the store but hubby said no. He would rather have it at home where we can relax. (Obviously he has NEVER done something like this!!)

Wish me luck!! Any suggestions on how to make this a success and go as smooth as possible?

[dianemarie]

Price everything. Don't use color coded stickers. I hate having to consult a sign on the wall to figure out how much something is going to cost.

If you are selling anything electrical have a place where the items can be tested.

Keep your money for change on you. I use a fanny pack so it's always with me.

If it's going to be hot in your area have a cooler filled with soft drinks (that you bought on sale!) and ice available. Sell them for .50 cents.

Don't leave things (like clothing or books) in boxes. Make it easy for people to see what you have for sale.

[billsmrs]

If it's going to be hot in your area have a cooler filled with soft drinks (that you bought on sale!) and ice available. Sell them for .50 cents

That is a good idea! It is over 90 degrees here now. I know that by the weekend it will be even hotter.

Don't leave things (like clothing or books) in boxes. Make it easy for people to see what you have for sale.

I thought about taking some racks from the store home and use them. We can always borrow tables from church to use also.

[Dyllan]

A couple of ideas. Make sure you put up pleanty of signs the night before. Every one should have an arrow pointing the way to your house, so that if someone sees one, they can follow them to the yard sale. There is no such thing as too many signs for a yard sale.

And don't put them up days in advance either - people will see them, and then forget. You want them to be fresh when the sale's starting.

Also, fill a cooler with ice and sell drinks. Bottled water and cola sell fairly well in this heat, so long as they're predominately displayed. If you have any children, let them be in charge of selling drinks (and possibly snacks). You'll sell 10 times as much if kids are running it.

If you have any neighbors you can convince to have a sale with you, do so. And then put up "X family sale" or something like that on your signs. More yard sales mean more customers. And the "competition" doesn't really hurt any when you're all selling different assorted junk.

If you can get it in the local paper for cheap, that can help too.

-Dyllan

[DaizyMae]

WOW I'm an avid yard saler.....so here's my ideas and why...
The more families the better, I agree....that's the ones I go to first.
YES....plenty of tables and shelves to display things...I hate digging through a big stack of clothing, etc...
Always put $$$ on everything...I WILL leave otherwise...
Put up a Not responsible for accidents or injuries, sign...self explanitory...
Put up as many signs as you can directing them to your sale....I do know though that in some places, (like around here) you can't put up any signs on the telephone poles, or in your yard between the street and the sidewalk...so that makes it a little harder...advertising in the local paper is the best way here, but that can get costly. We have a local radio show that if you are lucky enough to get your call in during the half hour show, it is free advertising.
The drink idea is a great one, we don't do that here...but maybe I can get it started...heehee...I'm having a sale hopefully on the 13th...
Always be willing to haggle with the person...most love to haggle with you...
Smile and greet everyone that comes with a hello, or hi...makes them feel welcome.
Have tables set up the night before and tarps or plastic over them.....this is for you, not the customers...you'll be tired enough by the end of the day without having to set it up in the morning...
Some people don't do this, but have everything clean looking...please, no dirt in glassware, etc...
Have a "free" box for the kids that come...put little things in there and tell them they get to chose one thing...this usually "suckers" oop....lours the parents into buying something...heehee
Make sure you have a comfortable place to sit...and it would help if a neighbor or someone could releave you for a few minutes, different times of the day, if you know what I mean..
I could go on, but this is really getting long...good luck with your sale!!!

[mama2calli]

I agree too with the pricing thing. I've been disappointed too many times when stuff isn't priced and when I inquire it is through the roof! Saves embarassment on both parts.

You can also consider putting things at half price after a certain time, or maybe doing "fill a bag" for a certain dollar amount, at a certain hour (pull out anything you don't want to include in that sale).

Put signs everywhere and anywhere - just remember to avoid telephone poles as it's against the law!

And if you can, post some signs at local grocery stores, any place that has those free ad boards!!!

Good luck and make lots of money! Kath

[3tbear]

Sounds like your DH has not done this before. People will be trying to get a lower price on items, so mark them higher so you get your price.

The first thing you need for your yard sale is a box that says FREE on it, with all items in that box free for the taking. That keeps your customer's kids busy. It doesn't have to be toys, just anything you planned on giving away anyway.

A sign posted by the corner of the road leading to your house with hours of the sale, and of course a yard sale sign at your house.

Another nice touch if you have the time, is to sell lemonade at your yard sale. Since it is getting very hot out, people would probably like that.

You could even buy cans of soda, an even easier thing to do, put them in a barrel or a kid's swimming pool with lots of ice, and sell them for more than you paid, $1.00 a can, whatever is above what your cost was.

If you want to sell more clothing, put a price per each piece, and then put (or) buy 2 pieces of clothing for say $1.00 less.

Best of luck with your sale, and try to have fun with it!

[buckeyemomma]

don't forget to put ads on all the local laundrymats. and you might put some balloons up to easier identify your house.

everyone else has given good advice IT IS A JOB!!

you mIght even fire up the grill and sell hotdogs or the frozen jtm hamburgers! everyone around here does it. They sell hotdogs from 75 cents to a dollar and hamburgers from $1.25 to $1.50.

one advice tho....I do not do lemonade any more because of the bees. my ds got stUng on the throat 6 times by bees while selling lemonade at one of my yard sales.

Don't forget your "not responsible for accidents" sign and also an "all sales final"
ALSO BE ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR THIEVES.

GOOD LUCK

[cata5]

I had my garage sale a couple of weeks ago and one thing that I did differently than other years was that I priced all of the clothes stacked on tables in categories and used a sign instead of pricing each individual piece. I priced all of my boys clothes at 50 cents/item. Teen and adult clothes were 50 cents for tops, $1 for pants or shorts (since shorts were expected to be a good seller at that time of year...otherwise they would've been 50 cents also) Anything that I thought I could get more $$ for I hung on a rack and priced separately. It made it so much easier and prevented price switching etc. which bugs me more than just starting out with lower across the board prices. After the boys clothes were picked over, I just changed the sign to say 25 cents each. I did sell alot more clothes than usual. They were cheap, too, but overall the whole idea of looking through without having to check for prices can be appealing.

Some people don't like looking through boxes, but a neighbor always sorts clothes by sizes and puts all one size in the grocery style boxes with handles. They are just lined up on the table and easy to see what size you are looking for. I have to admit that because I had a variety of stuff infant through 4 and I didn't want to take the time to sort so I just boxed them according to t-shirts, shorts, pants, etc. More confusing, but my customers had no problem pawing through.

I cover my tables or boards on saw horses with old sheets for a uniform, neat look. You want it to look nice and smell nice. I also hung a tarp to cover a bunch of stuff that I didn't want people to think might be for sale. If it is nice out put as much as possible out on the driveway. Of course, if it is too hot people would rather be IN the garage than browsing in the stifling heat.

Pop and water would be great to sell ice cold. There are lots of deals this week as stores try to pull you in to buy your 4th of July picnic stuff. We paid $.14 can for pop and sold it for $.50.

As far as signs are concerned, make sure you put your signs next to others that are advertising sales. If someone close to you advertises in the paper, all you have to do is put up signs near theirs and all the people that hit their sale will see your signs and hit your sale, too. Your signs will make or break your sale. I would stick to address and arrows. Don't even bother putting times or days. Sometimes I won't go to a sale that has been open for a day or two.

Have plenty of bags.

If you can, mark some of your items with what they are. I have bought things before that I didn't know what they were until I saw the description written on the tag! One example is the plastic locker shelves. I didn't realize what they were until I saw the description.

Good luck with your sale!

Oh yeah, one comment about having a sale this weekend. Many people plan vacations around a holiday so I'm wondering if you think you will have a good turnout since it is a holiday weekend??