Skip to Content

Garage Sale Tips

Want to clean out your house and get rid of junk? Garage sales are a great opportunity to clean out while making a little cash at the same time. I have had garage sales that have done fantastic and other not so well.

Based on what I’ve learned here are few tips:

   1.  Determine why you are having a garage sale:

    Are you having it to get rid of your junk- or to make money? If making money is your motive maybe you might want to consider selling your stuff online on ebay for example. People are generally willing to pay more for something online- versus at a garage sale. So if money is important the online option might be better for you.

       2.  Pricing your items:

    The main thing I have to say about this is- price things reasonably. Especially if you want to get rid of your stuff- otherwise be prepared to bring your stuff home. If you don’t know how much to price something for- think about how much you’d be willing to spend on that item if you were the customer, then price accordingly. Generally speaking people are not willing to spend half of what you paid for something- even if it is in good shape. If it is an item I spent alot of money on or is valuable to me- I might price a little higher then bring the price down half way through the day if it doesn’t sell. Or if it something that I think I can make a decent dollar on online- then I price it accordingly and if it doesn’t sell I then list it on ebay at a later date.


      3.  When to have a garage sale:

    If you don’t have enough stuff to fill three tables it’s not enough for garage sale- if people don’t see much they often don’t take the time to come in and look. If you don’t want to wait to collect enough stuff- partnering with a friend for a mutli-family garage sale might be a great idea.
    Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays are usually a good days for having a garage sale. Some communities tend to have a day thats garage sale day for the whole community. Thursday is garage sale day in our community, and it’s a great way to do it because then people can go garage sale-ing for one day at a whole bunch of garage sales and make it more worth their while.
    If it is forecasted to be a rainy day, maybe reschedule for a sunny day. In my experience it hasn’t been worth the time to have a garage sale on a rainy day- it’s just more of a pain in the butt that it’s worth. I have had much better luck re-scheduling for a sunny day.

      4.  Advertise:

    Newspaper, internet and outdoors signs are all great ways to advertise. The biggest mistake with outdoor signs is small sign, small print with too much writing on it. Keep it simple- the sign should say garage sale, the day(s), time and address. Make it big sign with bold large print so that it can be read quickly while people drive.


      5.  Be creative:

    examples are:
    If you have a lot of low priced items, try to sell in bundles, like “This Table Buy 1 Get 1 Free” or this box “3 Items For $5″.
    Sell snacks, baking and cold beverages- especially on a hot day it’s a welcomed site.
    Have a free box for stuff that isn’t worth much but that could be useful to others- that people can help themselves to I always have an empty free box at the end of the day.

      6. Have fun!

    If you are having fun so will others- be friendly and talkative. Not only does it make it fun for people coming to your garage sale- but you will sell more too!
    Garage sales can be alot of fun, especially when they do well.
    Have any tips for great garage sales? I would love your feedback!

    Auqakuh

    Monday 6th of December 2010

    There are some really great tips here. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

    We've just moved and while we decluttered before the move we are still finding plenty of stuff we just don't or won't use. I'm not sure it's enough to host our own garage sale, but I really liked your idea of teaming up with other friends and neighbours. We have a lot of extra electronic items too that we might do well to list online. Thanks again for the great tips.

    Karen ~Georgia Angel

    Saturday 5th of June 2010

    Loved all the tips. I just sold online about 40 craft kits that I had bought and never worked. Now I need to finish decluttering more craft stuff and toys. A garage sale may be in the very near future for me.Happy SITS Sharefest Saturday!

    Isaac

    Friday 4th of June 2010

    Great points.One more thing you can do if you do not have enough stuff for a garage sale, you can list it on one of online garage sale sites. The one I like is www.privategaragesale.comThey charge no fees whatsoever. Free for the seller and free for the buyer. Amazing!

    Jenny

    Friday 4th of June 2010

    Following you for Fun Follow Friday!

    Please return the favor at www.freebiespot.net :)

    Crystal

    Friday 4th of June 2010

    Love this! Posted the link on my Facebook Fan page to share with my readers! Love it!

    http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Hurst-TX/Crystal-Co/188484568601?ajaxpipe=1&__a=11