Garage Sales 101 – Preparing, pricing and advertising

Here’s the next installment in our Garage Sales 101 series. Today I’ll talking about how to attract potential buyers for your sale, preparing your stuff and pricing.

Step 3: How to Attract Buyers to a Garage Sale

Advertising is obviously a very critical planning task – without bringing in lots of potential buyers, you cannot have a financially rewarding sale. The time and effort invested in having a garage sale is significant, so it makes sense to invest time in promoting your sale to ensure you get the biggest bang for your time investment. Here are some thoughts and tips for promoting your garage sale:

Advertise, Advertise, Advertise

Look for free or very low-cost ways to get the word out about your sale. Neighborhood newsletter, local community papers and signs strategically placed on the street are also good options.

• Capitalize on the internet – I’ve had two garage sales in the past two years and I found Craig’s List to be the best free way to advertise a garage sale.  Several visitors to my sale shared with me that they go to Craig’s List on Friday or Saturday morning to print out the garage sales they want to attend. Then they map their route. I did not do any paid advertising for either of my garage sales after I learned about Craig’s List. Another online resource is http://www.garagesalestracker.com/.
• E-mail friends and family who can pass it along to others. I even shared my garage sale information with Facebook friends and had two people attend that had read it on Facebook. One visitor from Facebook was actually an old high school friend who I’d not seen in 30 years.
• Signs – Make sure these are visible from a distance. Avoid pastel colors, and use block lettering. If your location is not obvious from the address, you will need to post directional signs on the day of the sale. Arrows at each corner also are helpful. Remember to remove the signs once your sale is over.

Step 4: Preparing the Stuff

As you prepare your items for sale, be sure to:

• Search through pockets, purses, and books. You may find items reflecting personal information such as credit cards, Social Security numbers, cards or pictures with sentimental value, or even money. I recall several years ago when I was selling some of my grandmother’s items when she was downsizing, I found a c. 1875 bill in one of her purses.
• Put big items in view of people from the street. This entices buyers to stop. Since certain items like tools, lawn mowers, and exercise and sports equipment seem to catch the eye of make shoppers, be sure these are among your visible items.
• Have bags and boxes available for customers. Begin collecting plastic and paper bags a week or two before your sale. There is no cost to you, and it is a nice convenience that is greatly appreciated by your buyers.
• Minimize buyer objections by sprucing up your items – Use all purpose cleaner or just damp rags to clean off and spruce up your items. I had a buyer once ask me to lower the price on a trash can because she would have to take it home and clean it.

Step 5: Show Me the Money

Now the fun part …setting prices.

Mark the items with a price. This will save constant questioning from potential buyers. Set a price that is realistic and allow for some typical negotiating – but never up – when bargaining with a customer. To price an item in good usable condition, a general rule of thumb is 25 percent to 30 percent of its original value.  Of course, age, style of item will play a part in pricing. For example, an old printer, even in good working condition, won’t bring in the typical 25-30% because of the type of item it is.  It may be hard to sell clothing or accessories in gently used or even new condition if either the style or color reflects its age.

Try to take the work out of looking. If you have lots of similar items like books, CDs or kitchen utensils, save time by simply putting a sign on the table or box indicating your prices. For example, pricing may be 50-cents each or three for $1. Piling all the items on a table or having multiple layers in a box is not conducive for easy shopping. If you take the time to arrange the items in some order, buyers may be more encouraged to browse. Try to set prices at whole dollar or half dollar amounts to make it easy and quick to make change.

Have sufficient money on hand to make change. I typically start with $50-$60 dollars in mostly small bills. Keep all money on your person, either in your pockets, in a money apron or a fanny pack. Money sitting around in an envelope or box is just too tempting if you get distracted. It is advisable not to accept checks.

Post a sign that says all sales are final. You don’t want someone asking for a refund if a cheaper substitute is found down the road.

Originally posted 2010-08-27 13:41:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Garage Sales 101 – Get the most out of selling your unwanted stuff

I’ve been wanting to do this series all summer on planning a successful Garage Sale, but I’ve been so busy this summer helping clients to take control of their homes and offices and rid their lives of unwanted stuff.

No worries … the end of summer is still a great time for a garage sale. Over the next week I’ll be posting the steps that I recommend for planning and organizing a successful garage sale.

The steps I’ll be discussing are:

• Step 1: Determine the cost benefit of having a garage sale
• Step 2: Pre-sale planning
• Step 3: Attracting buyers
• Step 4: Preparing the goods
• Step 5: Money issues
• Step 6: The day of the sale
• Step 7: What to do with the leftovers

First in the series,(covered in this post) are conducting a cost benefit analysis of even having a garage sale and Pre-planning.

Step 1: Determine Cost/Benefit of Having a Garage Sale

In other words, when you consider the stuff you have to sell and the value of your time, is it worth it to spend your time on this activity vs. other ways to spend your time. Let’s delve into this more.

OK … your house is overflowing with “stuff.” Its good stuff and it meant so much at one time. But it just doesn’t meet your current needs. Still, it’s too good to throw away – and it would be nice to receive some financial benefit. A garage or yard sale MAY be the perfect solution, but it may not.

Before you decide, remember there will be a significant time commitment to this effort: gathering items, cleaning up items that are dusty and dirty, grouping and organizing – and then the 20 hours of personal time you will spend waiting on your customers during a two-day sale. In addition, you may need to clean up the garage or yard to make it workable site for the sale. (But what a great excuse to clean out the garage – you’re killing 2 birds with 1 stone here – getting rid of unwanted stuff and cleaning out the garage at the same time!)

What is the cost of your time versus the financial gain? One way to find out is to do some research on eBay or Craig’s List to see what similar items are currently selling for. Then consider the fact that garage sale items typically sell for less than on eBay.

If you have a few items you believe have significant value, you may want to consider selling them through a newspaper ad or an internet service like Craig’s List or eBay instead of a garage sale or consignment.

If you truly believe you can reap a financial benefit to compensate for your time and effort, then full speed ahead. If you can join in on a neighborhood or community sale, you may reduce your time commitment for site preparation, and you are not burdened with finding enough items to justify your own sale.

Before you put out your goods for a garage sale, make sure you take the steps necessary to make it successful.

Step 2: Pre-sale Planning

• Check zoning laws and neighborhood covenants. Some governing boards may have good reasons for not allowing a consumer sale in your neighborhood.
• Pick a date that works for the population you are trying to attract. Joining in on a date chosen by the neighborhood for residents to have their own sales is preferred. Usually, the more sales there are in a general area, the more people it will draw. Likewise, the neighborhood association may pay to promote the event, reducing your out-of-pocket costs.
• Begin going through your home and pulling items that you have deemed to be no  longer useful, loved or outdated. Be ruthless, this is your chance to clean out and make some money for your efforts. For strategies on how to tackle this, check out this post – 5 Boxes, a Bag and a List. There is also a list of more related posts at the end of this one.
• Prepare your garage or yard carefully. If you have it in the garage, isolate or cover the items not for sale. Any valuable items should be kept out of sight or moved into the house, if possible.

Next up is how to attract buyers, how to prepare your stuff for the best presentation and pricing …

Originally posted 2010-08-24 12:53:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter