Yard Salers! What do you like to see @ y.s.?
Question:I am having a huge mulit-family yard sale this weekend.
Fri & Sat.
In your experience of yard sale-ing, what are positives & negatives of ones you have visited?
Would you like to see free lemonade, popcorn for .25 cents
& sodas for .50 cents? Or would you not bother?
How about after 12 pm on Sat afternoon, everything is half price?
How about after 2 pm, everything is free?
What makes a good yard sale?
Answers:
I like to see organization.all like items together, displayed neatly and individually priced.
Place all furniture closest to the street. This will draw attention.
Hang clothes. Piling them on a table is messy and creates traffic jams.
If something is in good shape, but dirty, clean it. It will sell better. This is especially important with glassware, dishes, pots & pand, and kid's toys.
Having drinks is a nice idea, but don't expect to make a fortune. Most people have drinks in their cars.
Don't be afraid to put out the '60s decor. Antique dealers love this stuff!!
Don't overprice yourself out of the market. Remember, chances are someone 3 blocks over has the same thing for half the price. Give yourself some "wiggle room" so you can negotiate down and still make some money. Having a set time to reduce items is a good idea as you can tell people to check back at 2:00 for 50% off (or whatever).
Keep your money on you by using a fanny pack.
I find food/drinks at yard sales annoying. I just want to see if they have anything that I might be interested in and then want to go on to the next yard sale. A good yard sale is a wide variety of useful and usable things (not home decor from the 60's) priced to go (i.e. I hate people that try to make a lot of money from yard sales and over price everything). Hope this helps.
Negotiating gives me a rush, if I see everything is free - I tend to think junk (unless the sign is on the actual property and I can see the items).
I love yard sales that have kitchen gadgets and appliances and any type of furniture. I don't usually like clothes from ys but thats just me.
Good Luck!!
No food at all, maybe some cheap cold drinks, but usually if I am yard sale-ing.
I want to buy things for less than a dollar, I want books for 25 cents to 50cents. etc.
People who yard sale are looking for the great bargains. Occasionally I will find something over 10 dollars that I will buy.
I like it when they have things organized well with prices because I just hate haggling... some people love it, not me...
Have a great one!!
Usually don't mind buying popcorn or soda, kids seem to sell that better.
You have good ideas. I have done the half price and give away and had little to clean up when done. Good yard sales have variety for different age groups. If you don't have a lot of things, neighbors sometimes will put their stuff in.
The give away part was for people who couldn't afford and really needed the stuff I had.
th equality of your items, the way you display items for easy access will be a big hit and draw crowds. Don't go too much out of the way for them, they may have bigger sales to go to and miss yours.
soft drinks for .50 or make lemonade or koolaid per cup.
I have even had Sams boxes of doughnuts or rolls & coffee. Most people get up real early and don't eat yet. Offer cream & sugar packets if possible.
Nicer expensive items stay close to money box and sellers
clothes sorted & cheap, sort by size for shoppers helps
dishes and accessories sorted out in groups
nice Big signs for directions to sale to read. Make signs out of wood and nail steaks on each side to drive into ground for visual effects.
Place cardboard signs every 2 blocks around you and on end of streets. Place ad in paper.
Be out and in front close to traffic so everyone can see you.
Keep items clean & in place, make sure it works
1/2 price sale @noon till 2-3 is good
donate rest to charity or if too big, leave free sign on pieces and somone will come by and help take it away.
I like items clean and marked clearly with a price. Also things should be laid out so that everything can be seen without having to sort through boxes of unknown stuff. As for lemonade or popcorn. probably not, but you could sell bottled water for 50 cents . keep it in the shade and on ice. I wouldn't put on a sign that after a certain time things are half off, but I would wait until maybe 3 or 4 o clock to do that. Signs ! Make sure that you put up signs that are easy to read with bold black print. Do everyone a favor and remember to remove them after your sale. Good luck with your sale!
I like oraganized YS with a varity of things. Some days I am looking for the kids and some days I look for the house. It depends. I loath seeing things that are broken (IE broken toys and lamps) if you wouldnt give it to a friend, dont sell it. Also do not overprice, you may have paid 30 for the item 2 years ago but you have used it and it did depriciate.Just have a well organized YS and you wont need all the frills. Posting it on freecycle helps to as we all are a bit excessive on deals and you can also say that things not sold will go to goodwill or free at end of day but I wouldnt advertise too much as some people will wait to end of day and clean you out! Good luck!
Having been a garage sale "go"er & seller for 9 years, I feel uniquely qualified to answer your question! :) In short, have the kind of garage sale that YOU would like to go to! First is **organization**: To start, make sure the places you plan to display stuff is logical. If you have clothes, HANG them up--no one wants to to go through layers of clothes that are on a table & if they do, it will end up looking like a mess for the next person. 2 ladders & 1 or 2 rods you can get a Lowes will allow you to hang things up & make a world of difference. On the rods, I even tape the sizes so that folks can see in a glance the area that they are looking for. NEXT, get/borrow/steal lots of shelves. Group like things together. **I refer to what I do as a garage STORE-not sale! :) **
As far as tips/hints. for my clothes/shoes, I offer promos like: buy 4 (used clothing) /get 1 free. Also, I price everything to SELL as if I were the buyer (meaning, I never price things HIGHER, thinking some people will want to dicker me down. Life is short enough!) Putting high prices will scare other sales away. I think 50 cents for pop is good--even offer free with a sales amount of a certain type ($5-$10--is up to you!) The other suggestions you had: popcorn sounds messy & time consuming. 1/2 off after 12 noon sounds GREAT for the buyers & if you are desperate & don't want to move anything back inside, I guess I would say that makes sense, but I wouldn't do that myself.
IMPORTANT-1) play music that you & others will enjoy listening to& light scented candles . That will make them linger & the more time they stay the more likely they are to buy. Lastly, advertise in http://craigslist.org if there is one in your area. List the things you are selling that people will want to know about. Best wishes. Garage/yard sales are ALOT of work, but our last one we got close to $800! :)
To have the clothes hanging or laying on tables is good.Hang some eye catchers on the fence.I would sell lemonade for a donation,that is always good.Price everything you have clearly.No one wants to ask how much for things they like.The labels on clothes make good price places.The last day of the sell put a sign saying--Bag of clothes__.That gets the attention of everyone and they will come.Nothing is free when they buy,then ask them about the other thing they looked at then offer to sell it cheaper.Iced down sodas are good.water is good.Not free.Have a large sign pointing to your sale.Fluorescent is easy to see.then remove signs after.hope you make what you need...Good luck(watch people do steal at sales)Take good care of the money box,too.
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