Ready to be successful with your yard sale? Check out my top 10 tips for garage sale that will make you sell more unwanted stuff and have better profit!
So you have decluttered and are not quite sure yet what to do with the items that you no longer want?
A garage sale or yard sale is a great way to both get rid of your items and make some money along the way.
So if you have started your spring cleaning and decided that is it time to get rid of your excess stuff, read below to find all my favorite home sale tips and hacks.
First we will go through yard sale do’s and don’ts and then steps you need to take to have successful neighborhood garage sales!
What to sell on a garage sale?
Wondering what to sell on your garage sale?
Though people think you can virtually sell anything it is not quite like that. Some items are not worth even pricing in my opinion but don’t obviously it is up to you what you do or don;t sell in your yard sale.
Below I have a list of things that are great to make a successful and profitable garage sale happen divided by room.
Living area
- Indoor live or fake plants
- Home decoration items
- Flower vases
- Working lightbulbs
- Lamps
- CDs, DVDs, VHS and tapes
- Furniture
- Curtains
- Rugs
- Home gym equipment
- Seasonal decorations
Kitchen
- Unused or duplicated kitchen appliances
- Cookware and dishes
- Silverware
- Cooking Dishes
- Cookbooks
- Cupcake and cake decoration supplies
- Cookie cutters
Kids Room
- Clothes in good condition
- Kids clothe’s hangers
- Costumes
- Toys in good condition
- Complete game sets
- Kid’s books
- Kids bedroom’s decorative items
- Kid’s furniture
- Toy boxes and organizers
Bedroom
- Linen
- Clothes
- Accessories
- Jewelry
- Purses and bags
Office and Hobby
- Stationery
- Paper goods
- Scrapbooking supplies
- Desk organizers
- Sewing supplies
Garage and Outdoor
- Outdoor toys
- Tools
- Screws and nails
- Outdoor sports items
- Building supplies
- Gardening equipment and supplies
- Luggage
- Car maintenance supplies
What not to sell on a yard sale?
Some items are best to be either sold online, discarded or donated.
Not everything you don’t want offer any value to someone else, like old underwear…
If an item has a high value it is best to sell it online where people could bid or you just have more time to give until you find the right buyer. The same for antique stuff and collector’s items.
A few items that you should avoid selling in your yard sale:
- Adult only items
- Games and toys missing pieces
- Used underwear and swimwear
- Half used beauty items
- Damaged items
- Poor quality products
Tips for Garage Sales
Don’t do it alone
Don’t try to do this alone or with the kids around. Get help! It is a bigger task than most give credit for.
Kids are demanding and you will likely have to leave your items without any supervision to go attend for your child’s need.
Contact family and check if they can help with the kids and find at least one more person to stay around with you so you can take a bathroom break and pick up a phone call etc.
Check the whether forecast
You know Spring and Summer is the when you see most of the yard and tag sales.
Well it makes total sense, first people are invested in their Spring cleaning and realize how many things they don’t want anymore.
The other reason is because the weather is better and having an outdoor sale when the weather is good is so much more fun and profitable!
So to get the most of the Garage Sale Season just make sure you pick a date that is likely to be dry but preferably sunny.
You can start getting organized for your sale before hand but just make sure you check how the day is going to end before you put all of your unwanted belongings outside.
To make the day even more perfect it helps if you have your sale around either the 1st or the 15th because many people get paid bi-monthly and they will therefore have the most amount of money to spend.
Map out your garage sale display
Think ahead how you want to display your items and what you need to have in place to make the most of your space.
I like to use clothing racks to display clothes, that makes it so easy for customers to peruse items. A bookshelf is also great to display books, DVD’s and tapes.
I add big items on the floor to maximize my table space for small things.
It is nice to have things in tables because of the elevation but if you don’t have enough tables try to lay things on the floor in the best way you can. Use table towels and cloths on the ground to protect the items.
Tip: Be aware that some locations demand you to get a garage sale permit to be able to sell your stuff. Check with your council about garage sale permits.
Put up sale signs and advertise everywhere you can
Everybody loves a bargain.
If you tell them that there is a bargain happening in your yard chances are people are going to come to check it out, and who knows they might actually buy a lot of stuff!
Put up signs in your front yard of course and by the end of the street if you can.
Maybe you can out signs in your local grocery shop if they have a local advertising board.
In this modern area you can also tell everyone in messenger groups of school or work and get people interested in your second hand sales.
Don’t forget to advertise on Facebook and Craigslist a couple of days ahead of the garage day too. The more people you can reach the better.
After your yard sale is gone remember to remove your signs.
Organize items by category
The good thing if you follow the Konmari method of decluttering is that you have already all your items separated by category.
Why is that important? To help the consumer navigate and find things for areas in their house that they are searching for.
It will help you stay organized, display and store the items easily too.
This also makes a lot easier to price items as you can compare the utility and value of the items in the category.
Price all items before hand
You can add tags to individual items or add a price per display of products but make sure that people coming to your garage sale can easily find the price of an item without having to ask for it.
Some people are just looking to get a bargain but others might be just interested in looking around with nothing in mind.
If they are only partially interested in an item they might not stop to ask the price question if it is not obviously displayed which means you might lose a sale.
Don’t let lack of preparation stop you from selling unwanted items, get yourself some tag labels ahead of time and price stickers to add to all your items.
Doing this will also help you price your items adequately as you can discrepancies in prices yourselves when organizing the iterms and fix itr before your sale starts.
If you need help on how to price items for a garage sale you can ready this handy post here.
Get plenty of changes
This is important because not everyone will have little changes to by cheap objects. Everything adds up and I totally recommend you not ignore the very cheap items in your yard sale.
If you can plan ahead spend a few weeks collecting change and go to the bank to change some close by the garage sale date.
Have more change than you need you will think! Get 1’s, 5’s, and quarters
It is better to exchange later than run out of it in the middle of the day when people are around your sale.
Keep the money with you
It is a lot easier to have a hanging bag or fanny pack to keep the changes and received money with you so you can walk away from the register and help customers around the displayed items.
In this bag it is also good to have a pen and paper to keep track of what you sold.
Have plastic and boxes available for customers
If someone is just passing by they might have anything to carry their items away so make sure you have these available to help your customer take their items home.
Donate what you don’t sell
Of course it is nice to make money out of unwanted things but since you already decluttered your home and made space for a more organized home please do not bring the items back to your home!
If you have decided that you no longer want it there is no need to be making up excuses for why you might still find uses for an item!
Find a charity shop locally and take the remaining items there. You will be feeling so much lighter and with a sense of accomplishment knowing that the items you don’t want any longer can help raise funds for charitable causes too.
Do you hold an annual Spring garage sale?
PIN FOR LATER!
