I am having my first yard sale in a couple of days. Any tips or suggestions?
Question:this is my first yard sale. Im a little nervous about how its going to go overall. Any tips or good advice. Also, i have some cute dresses i want to hang up, but i dont know what to hang them from.
Answers:
You can hang the dresses on a nearby tree, or set up a ladder and hang them.
Best advice: have one or two friends to help you at your yard sale. If you get several customers milling around your yard, you'll appreciate the extra eyes to make sure no one goes where they're not supposed to.
Put your big ticket items (things that you expect to sell/popular) nearer to the road so that people will see them as they drive by and be tempted to stop.
Have everything on tables. Older women and busy shoppers will not want to take the time to bend down and root through a box. Make sure everything is priced. If you have a bunch of items selling for the same price, and have just a sign saying so much apiece, remember how much it was, because some unscrupulous shoppers will try to tell you they got it from a cheaper pile.
Be willing to bargain and make deals.
Make sure you have a shady spot to sit in. If you have a patio table with an umbrella, have it moved out to your yard sale. You will appreciate having a table to put your drink, cash box, book, cordless phone, etc on.
Take a bunch of plastic sacks to put your sold items in. Customers appreciate having sacks to carry their items home. If you are selling glass or fragile items, have newspaper or extra bags to wrap them with.
Keep empty price tags and a marker handy to re-tag items throughout the sale. They might fall off, or someone might remove them to try to sucker you into a lower price.
You might even want to keep a cooler of cold drinks to sell to thirsty customers. $.50 a can or $1.00 for a bottled drink is reasonable. A good way to make bonus sales.
Good luck with your yard sale! I usually have fun either throwing one, or going to them. I hope you do, too!
keep cash on you, hang dresses from clothesline
put a price on everything
Main thing is to make sure to have plenty of change(quarters,dimes,nickles and one dollar bills)
List the prices as higher than what you plan on selling it for, because people will try to talk you down in prices.
Make sure you have plenty of change as in coins on you.
Price everything up with lables but be willing to take offers - better to get rid of everything.
You could provide drinks - just cheap cordial with water in plastic cups.
When you have only an hour left - sell everything for anything to get rid!
Good luck! x
String a piece of rope between two trees , people don't like to look through clothing that is sitting on tables . Price things a little higher then you expect to sell them for and always be willing to lower a price but draw the line when the person is being ridiculous. Keep your money box in a secure area and do not allow people into your home to use your bathroom. Good luck !!
A lot of times Antique Dealers or treasure hunters will request to see your stuff a day early for a 10% upcharge or so. My father sold a rug that he was using to cover a table for $300. He wasn't even planning on selling it.
Be prepared for people to show up at 7am or earlier. You may be able to unload a bunch of stuff early, while it is cooler.
Make sure the cool stuff can be seen from the road so they don't think it is a bunch of baby clothes and drive off.
Check with your city hall to see if you need a permit to have a yard sale. In my town they do and if you are having a yard sale without the permit taped to a tree or some other visble place you will be fined.
Also, some people start to arrive at yard sales at 5-6 a.m. I don't know if they do that everywhere but they do around here.
Place an add in your local paper. Make a short listing of the types of things you will have and what time you will accept shoppers.
Don't overprice. Advertise.
If you have a portable wardrobe (im not sure what they are called) you can use that, or else get creative. Use rods or pipes in your garage.
Be ready to meet the cheapest people on the planet, and to deal with early birds there hours before the sale starts. They will bombard you with insulting requests for price reductions. For example, you can have a $30 toaster oven out for $3 and they will want it for 50 cents. Refuse to move more than a few cents on may items as 99% of the time they will take it to a local flea market and sell it for $40. Make sure everything has a clearly marked price. Have plenty of spare change in $1 bills and quaters, accept NO checks! Make sure your money box is well hidden. Let no one in your house for any reason. Set your sale up so you can easily see and keep an eye on everything from your home base location. You can hang clothes on the hanger by stringing up a clothes line between two posts or tall objects. Have a helper there in case you need to use the facilities or go get change.
My dad has had MANY yard sales...make sure to price the stuff a little higher, because there are always going to be people trying to talk your down in price...if you don't want to budge on price, then don't..but sometimes you have to drop prices to get rid of things that may not be popular, in order to get rid of them
Take all of your stuff and donate it to the charity of your choice. Have them give you an itemized receipt for the value of your things and right it off on your taxes. Unless you just need a little extra cash.
Make sure everything is well organized. It is a shame but some people will try to steal from you. Make sure the prices are clearly marked. I like to group items by prices so if a sticker is lost, I can remember about what I had marked it. Any rope tied to two places with a cloths hanger will work to hang the items, make sure they are wrinkle free and look clean. Keep a small amount of change on you. A fanny pack looks stupid but is an excellent way to keep incoming money and change safely on your body so no accidental losses. Set up at least 30 mins early. There are some people that just show up very early. Be prepare for the end of the day shoppers looking for the great deal. Decide ahead of time if there are items you will practically give away or will wait to resell later. You don't want to get put on the spot and make a decision you will regret later. Have fun.
Have plastic ags that ppl can use to put things in while they are shopping...and have a stack of rand new ones that you put things in after they have paid.
We sold everything we owned and moved out of the country. The first day I just recycled and used old bags to put purchases in. Ppl were walking off with things because I didn't know they hadn't paid. I bought a stack of new bags that were white with thank you stamped on them and let ppl use the other bags (no white ones) to put stuff in as they collected it. This worked really good as just by glancing I could tell if they had paid.
Also keep your money on you. A money belt or something. Do not get distracted and walk away from a money box. If nothing else...keep it in your pocket.
Run a rope between two trees or across your porch to hang the dresses from.
Have some 'freebies' available...magazines, small toys, etc. Have a great time and I hope you sell a bunch!
Hope this helps.
EDIT:
Others reminded me of this :) I put up a sign that said 'Early Birds Shot On Sight' With a big smiley face. Ppl laughed and not one person was offended.
One thing to beware of, especially if you are putting up signs or advertising in the newspaper, are the early birds. They will start showing up about a half hour before your posted time to try to get a deal on the 'good stuff.' These are usually older people, so if you don't have anything they would want, then no problem. If you do, be firm and tell them you won't sell anything until your posted time. They will try to hover until you give in. I saw an ad not that long ago that said 'Early birds pay double,' which is a good thing to advertise if you go that route next time.
As for the dresses, if you have your garage open, hang them there. The porch is a good place too. If you don't have a ton of room, hang a few and if you see someone looking, tell them you have more.
Always greet people that come with a smile and let them know that you are there if they have questions. If it is going to be hot, you can keep a cooler with water and pop for around 50 cents.
If you are selling a radio, plug it in and have the radio on softly in the background. If you are selling anything that has a plug in, make sure to have somewhere potential buyers can test it to make sure it works.
Also, have everything clearly labeled. It makes it easier on everyone. If people come wanting to buy a bunch of stuff, instead of trying to add it all up, guesstimate and just say, "How about $5?" If they are more expensive things, adding them up is okay.
Make sure to thank people who stop by as they are leaving even if they don't buy anything.
Hope that helps a little. Don't be worried if it is slow at times. Usually people come early in the mornings and then around noonish. If you have big items they may come back towards the end of the day to see if they can get a deal. People usually come in waves, so be prepared for down time (bring out a book) and busy time. Having some plastic bags handy isn't a bad idea either.
Don't stress and have fun with it!
Most papers will let you put free ads for yard sales, start really early, don't put prices on anything, it makes people have to come to you and ask, this gives both parties a chance to decide on a price. Most people will just an item down if they think it's too much. When they ask how much something is, tell them how much you want to sell it for, then say "but I'll negotiate" Your most likely to get a good deal and stuff moves fast. Also if you have kids that's a good time to have them do a bake sale or lemon aid stand.
great yard sale. these are some of the items that sold really well. snow cones, sliced home made cake and pie, hot dogs, water and non-brand name canned drinks. It was a hot day and they were cold. The ladies sold lamps, dishes, shoes, clothes for children, men's shorts and shirts,sandals, house hold items, laundry drying racks.visors sell fast. (adjustable) .DVD and video products sold well. old jewelry, some one sold fish sandwiches. (they used a fry-daddy) right out in the yard (they used a heavy duty extension cord.) We had open sided tents and just enough chairs to make people comfortable but not enough to encourage them to stay a real long time. The police dept in our area does Not allow residents to post signs even though we had to buy a Permit for the day to have the Yard Sale. So we had to make flyer's and post them at the local stores and just hand them out to people. We cannot put them inside of mail boxes because it is against the Federal law. You can put them on the out side of the mail box or in the door way.I hope you have a great yard sale
First thing to do:
Bull doze yard
Set up surveillance cameras
Get old cigar box for the oodles of cash you Will be making
Hang old dresses from a tree
Don't forget to get guide ropes to control the mad stampede to your yard
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