A garage sale is a classic way to clear out some things you don’t want, whether you’ve had a spring clean at home or need some more room in your self storage unit. But are they worth doing? What can you expect from a garage sale?
Plan The Right Time
The best way to ensure success is to have your sale at the right time. Think about when people are liking to be home and strolling around the neighbourhood. Weekends are usually going to be best for this reason. Check the weather forecast. Nobody wants to browse a stall in the rain.
Some areas have a day for street sales in the local area, so find out if this happens near you. If other people are selling, you’ll have more luck as there will more people out definitely looking to buy things.
Organise Your Sale
Don’t just chuck everything onto a table and hope for the best. You want people to easily see what you have and be able to look through without rummaging. Buy or borrow a clothing rail to put out any clothes you’re selling. Use a paper plate to make a clothing size market so people can easily find the things that might fit them. Pair up any shoes and lay them out together near the clothes, perhaps on a rug, blanket or a tarp.
On the table, lay things out neatly so people can see things. Use boxes for items like books, DVDs and CDs. In the box, put these things spine up so people can see what you have without them taking up too much space. Just avoid overfilling the boxes so people can’t get things out!
If you have room, lay out a few different tables so you can group categories of things together. For example, have one table for toys and games, one for kitchen items and another for tools.
Clean Everything
Show off your items to their best advantage. Put any clothes through the wash first so they look clean and smell fresh. Iron the clothes too so they look better. A nicely pressed shirt is more tempting to buy than one that looks like it has been slept in. Anything else needs to be cleaned or dusted. Nobody wants to buy a grubby stuffed animal or a picture caked in dust.
Use Price Tags
Buy some price tags and label everything with prices. If a few members of the family are going to be helping you to sell during the garage sale, having price tags means everyone is on the same page about what things should cost. People will still haggle on prices, but it does mean you have a base point to start from when negotiating. To decide on prices, look for similar items on eBay or other selling sites to see what they’re selling for.
Have Change
Only accept cash, as this is far easier to handle during the sale and make sure you can make change. A small cash box full of some loose change is an easy way to do this.
