Yard sale tips?

[kuhio98]

What time should I drag my butt outta bed.... I mean, should I start setting up? Early! We had everything set up the night before (in the garage) and put a sign out that we would open up at 9:00 and people showed up starting at 7:30!!!!

Should I have items marked with prices or give them off the top of my head? Signs like - All books 25 cents. This table $1.00 should cover it. But, it is best to have everything marked. Because if it turns into a madhouse, you won't be able to keep track of what table they got them off of.

If I price them, should I price them much higher than I really expect to sell it, figuring people will haggle? Price them to sell -- if the goal is to get that crap errr treasures out of the house. People will still haggle, that's okay.



Anything else you can offer as advice that I didn't even ask? I'd LOVE To walk away a couple hundred dollars richer this weekend.

Please tell me that you will have help from hubby or the kids. It was just Bobcat and I when we did ours (made $500 for iMOM) and we spelled each other off. On my watch, someone stole some tools while I was making change. It's just too much for 1 person to keep track of everything.

[AbbyMom]

On my watch, someone stole some tools while I was making change. It's just too much for 1 person to keep track of everything.

My neighborhood had a similar problem with a couple of men that went from home to home trying to conduct rip-offs.

I was home alone and one tried to swipe something while the other was paying.

At another house, he pulled a fast one with the money (something like "I gave you a 20 when he really only gave her a 10). She didn't want to call the police, but she did go around warning others.

Have someone with you at all times!!!

[catland]

regarding getting ripped off: have the cheaper stuff out front, and the more valuable stuff further from the street and this should help.

As one who likes to frequent garage sales in the summer, I know that I don't care much for overpriced sales. If I want to pay near retail, I'll go to the retail stores - when it comes to garage sales, I want BARGAINS

Also, a FREE pile up front is a great way to get rid of trash - its amazing what people will cart home when its free.


Have fun.

[Blue_Frog]

We haven't done a garage sale in years -- I should have asked my Nana, she spends almost every saturday all summer out at them with her SIL.

Last time we did ours, we bought some of those coloured dot stickers from the office store, and did things in batches with a price sheets posted around indicating what color was what price ...

so anything with a blue sticker is $1, anything with a red is $2, etc. -- good for bulk items like books, or things that you want to price all the same. Big things like tools or things that are worth more got an individual price sticker on them

Good luck with your sale!