How to have A Successful Yard Sale – PART FOUR – How and where to Advertise

ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE, to Reach Your Potential Customers!

People enjoy yard sales and there are a lot of folks who go out every week end in pursuit of treasures. So by advertising in advance you let them know about your sale so they have time to make the decision to attend YOUR SALE.

Although Signs are the best source of customers, don’t assume that a couple of signs put out the night before or early morning will bring a crowd. Also don’t forget the power of the printed word. Ads are still very effective at getting customers to your SALE. Use the for free available sites on the internet too for getting the word out.

Keep your budget handy so you don’t spend too much on your advertising campaign. Use the tips I have provided and look for FREE advertising options FIRST!

PRINT ADS AND FLYERS

When you need to save money or having a last minute sale, If at all possible watch for other yard sales being advertised and piggyback on their ads and signs. If there is a sale up the street from yours or on the same main street as you are off be sure to place your signs from their sale to yours. It is advisable to let the neighbor know you are going to put your signs after his and make sure you don’t confuse customers on where to turn. I always talk to the person having the sale and offer to refer customers to them if they will do the same for me. This works really well if you decide to have a sale at the last minute because there are so many sales going on around you and you decide to pull some stuff out to join in on the fun and of course make some cash.

People still read the newspaper so consider it for an ad but only if you have some high price items. Newspaper ads are not cheap and they could quickly eat into your profit. Ask if they have a cheaper online ad space.

Community papers are a great place for your ad. The only drawback is to check on their placement policies because of the different time frames of when they go to print. Sometimes they need your ad a month to 45 days in advance.

Craigslist FREE has a yard sale section so I would absolutely put an ad there a couple of weeks in advance of your sale. You can post pictures so it would be a good idea to list many of the items you will have for sale and include pictures.

Don’t make them guess Include in your title the date (day(s) and date(s), time (start and end) and location of your sale (Address and directions if hard to find.)

The Internet offers other FREE and paid sites to advertise your yard sale

Ebay offers a site that began as Kijiji.com and is now ebay classifieds  you can list your sale under the category garage sales in you area.

There is site weekendtreasure where you can post an ad for $7.99 (price may change)and people search for sales by their zip code. It’s like a google maps/classifieds combined. It lists literally thousands of sales plotted on an interactive and searchable map making it easy for people to easily find the sales they want to attend.

Flyers are a great way to get the word out about your SALE!

Print up some simple eye catching flyers to put up on bulletin boards around town.

Here are some samples of FLYERS for your YARD SALE

 

SIGNS, SIGNS, SIGNS

Your signs don’t have to be real big 11×14 or even 8×10 will work if the type is big and the information is easy to read. Save graphics and splashy artwork for your flyers. Keep your signs simple and include an arrow to keep them going in the right direction. If you have a printer then print your signs on 8 ½ x 11 card stock. For the 11 x 14 signs you could have those printed at the FED X (KINKOS) or other office supply store (you only need this size for major intersections and Turns)

Signs are easy to read if lettering is dark and background is light. Do not use fancy letters, plain simple lettering is best.

Sign Samples:

 

If your local allows you can staple signs or you can use wooden or metal stakes. Covering signs with plastic wrap or plastic sleeves will protect them from the weather or you can spray them with clear polyurethane, Krylon makes a good one and it dries fast.

First things first you must check with your local government about any rules that pertain to posting signs for yard sales. Most locals restrict posting on street signs, traffic signs, and trees.

Where should you Put your Signs

Start at your house on the google map and then look for major through roads big and small. Plot out where you think your signs should go. Don’t have the internet then drive around and make a drawing of the roads and where they intersect. Include intersections of close major roads and post a large sign and then lead them in using smaller signs with arrows. To figure out how many signs you will need plot the signs on the map and get your number. This pre plan will save you time and money.

Post a Large sign facing traffic from both directions at major intersections using a sign with arrow pointing in direction they should turn.
Post a smaller sign about every couple hundred yards so they don’t think they are going the wrong direction.
Post Large sign for Turns. Then again Post a smaller sign about every couple hundred yards to next turn.
Use a Large sign at your sale with balloons, banner or anything that will let the customers know this is the sale. I usually put my bigger items near the road to draw customers in.

After you post your signs drive the route and see if you can follow and see all the signs.

Just a reminder after your sale be sure to take your signs down.

FREE OFFER to MY READERS

If you want the pdf of the signs I made up like the ones above but with blank space for you to write in date, time, and place just send me a comment with your email and request it and I will email it to you for FREE. Just fill in the form below.  until later… betti b.

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There is Only ONE part left of the yard sale series.

PART FIVE –The day of the Yard SALE. What to expect. coming soon!

If you missed one of the Yard Sale Series find it below and click to read it.

Part One-

De-Cluttering your HOME

Part Two –

Time Line for the yard sale.

Part Three –

Where and when will you hold the Yard SALE and what will you use to display your items?

Thanks for reading my blog, hope this helps…

Good luck with your Yard Sale! until later

 

 

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How to Have A Successful Yard SALE – Part THREE

 

Part Three –

Where and when is Your Yard SALE?

Includes – What you can use to attractively display your items.

Selecting the location for your yard sale is pretty easy. If you plan to have the sale by yourself and you have a garage and it has available space it is a good place in case the sun is really hot or it is raining. Your driveway is also a good choice. You do not want to have it in the backyard if this can be avoided because you attract customers by sight. If they pull up and don’t see any activity because it is in the backyard they may not stop.

If you are planning a combined yard sale with neighbors or friends, if someone lives on a cul-de-sac or dead end it is a good choice. Or you could consider the location that has the most traffic.

If you are real ambitious you could ask a school or church if you could have it in their parking lot for a small fee.

The things to consider if you are choosing a location other than your home is proximity to main roads and traffic. The more people who see your signs the more customers.

Choose the date that best suits your schedule but consider trying to choose close to a pay day like the 15th or the end of the month. I advise to avoid holidays as many people have commitments. Another consideration is the duration of your SALE. Many prefer one day. I will sometimes do 2 or 3 days depending on how much stuff I have to sell. Sometimes I will start on Friday afternoon and end Saturday evening. I like starting and 7am and ending at 6pm.

It is not unusual for shoppers to show up an hour early. These are usually the dealers looking to catch you off guard setting up and they can make some deals, but sometimes they are those dedicated ‘yard salers’ who have a long day planned and want to get a jump on things. If you put a list of your items in your ad they may have chosen to start with you because you have something they particularly want. You have the option to put up a sign stating your opening time or you can let them look at your stuff. It’s up to you.

Let’s look at what we have so far…

Where to have the sale:

Your home garage or driveway.

A friend’s house if near high traffic roads.

A Church or School parking lot.

Pick a date near a pay day 15th or 30th

Choose 1, 2, or 3 day sale venue.

Displaying your stuff

When items are displayed at waist/table height they are easier seen and touched. Keeping your stuff off the ground and out of boxes is your goal. To do this you need tables, if you don’t have any or not enough, Borrow, or buy portable tables to display your items. But don’t buy tables if you won’t ever need them for anything else. You can make tables that will work for your sale using stuff from around your house or scrap wood more about this later.

Stuff on the ground can work but having it up on tables allows it to be seen and bought. If you have to put it on the ground make sure it is on a tarp, blanket, etc. Never put it on the grass, ground, concrete, asphalt it devalues it. People will rarely even look at it unless of course it’s lawn equipment, tools, or a mower. lol

 

Your stuff on tables is so much more inviting. People are more likely to buy when items are displayed at waist height and clean

Use large items you have for sale to display your stuff until it is sold. Be sure they have price tag and people know they are available.

 

Building Your Own Tables and Hanging Units…

You can make tables from empty or filled boxes turned upside down. Boards run between two ladders will work to display items, or you can make your own display tables. I recommend going to a house under construction and asking if you can pull some of the trashed lumber out of the bin. I have never been turned down when I have done this. I look for pieces that I can turn into shelves, clothes racks,  or tables. 2×4’s work great and there are always a lot of these in different lengths in the trash. You might even score some plywood. Consider a door on two sawhorses. Borrow or make sawhorses if you don’t have them. For the top use a door from inside your house, like a closet or bedroom door. You can easily remove an interior door by just using a screwdriver and a hammer to tap out the pin in the hinges (you do not have to remove the hinges) Then when your yard sale is over just put the door back on its hinges and tap the pins back in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make your own sawhorses with brackets from Lowes or Home Depot under $8 and scrap 2.4s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Need racks for hanging clothes, quilts or linens.

You can run clothes line between trees, hang stuff from branches, borrow those roll around laundry hanging units, buy it but they are about $19 at Walmart or make some hanging racks. See the pictures below for ideas.

To make a clothes rack make two bases like this and then run a 2×4 across the top. To make a table use this same idea but make the bottoms and tops a little bigger so you can run plywood or 2x4s across the top to create a table top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clothing rack made by building two stands and attaching, in this case, a mop handle between the two stands using stainless steel plumbers tape.

This is what the stainless steel plumber’s tape looks like. Plumbers use it to hold up duckwork and pipes. This stuff is great for attaching stuff. It is inexpensive, easily bent into shape, and then just screw it where you want it. I also use it to hold top heavy furniture like bookcases to the wall especially in a child’s room.

 

 

 

 

Only 2 parts left of the yard sale series and you are ready to have your sale.

Part 4 is next –

How and where to advertise your Yard SALE?

includes making signs, flyers, and writing ads

If you missed one of the Yard Sale Series find it below and click to read it.

Part One-

De-Cluttering your HOME

Part Two –

Time Line for the yard sale.

Part Three –

Where and when will you hold the Yard SALE and what will you use to display your items?

Part Four –

How and where to advertise your Yard SALE?

Plus least I forget, Part Five –

The day of the Yard SALE. What to expect. coming soon

Thanks for reading my blog… Good luck with your Yard Sale! until later betti b.

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How to Have A Successful Yard SALE – Part TWO Quick Peek at TIME LINE

 

Part Two – Yard Sale Timeline

 

Now your home is clutter-free…let’s get on with the sale!

To assist you with your Planning read through this timeline:

4-8 Weeks Prior to SALE

De-clutter your home setting aside items you want to sell, either in a Yard Sale, on consignment, or on the internet. Put aside clothes, toys, books, furniture, appliances, Kitchen stuff, tools, anything you no longer want into boxes or designated area discussed in Part One.

Prepare Advertising For Your Yard Sale – check community papers (some require 30 even 60 days prior to Paper printing since many are monthly) and newspaper ad deadlines
Invite any neighbors and/or friends you would like to get involved; send emails to potential customers; call people you know and tell them about your sale.

Start saving your grocery and shopping bags for your sale.

You should also start saving newspapers for wrapping fragile items.

Contact your local government and see if you need any permits and what the signage laws are.

 More Details on how to De-Clutter in part ONE

2 Weeks Prior to SALE

Confirm print ads are placed.
Post ads on the internet
Make your arrows and signs for posting  –   be sure to include days, dates, and time of sale, and don’t forget the location (ADDRESS) of SALE.

 More Details on how to advertise including how to make signs and flyers in Part  FOUR

1 Week Prior to SALE

Complete your final yard sale inventory and place all the items for your sale in a easily accessed area. Finish any pricing and make sure all the small items like jewelry and small toys are bagged or contained in small boxes, individual containers, ziplock bags, egg cartons, etc…

If local laws allow post signs all over your neighborhood; make sure you get one on major roads and connecting roads; ensure they are sturdy and upright. (Make sure you have checked with local authorities for laws pertaining to signage.) Make flyers and put them up wherever there is a bulletin board that allows for such announcements.

Locate card tables or other tables in your house to use for the sale and put them with the items you have set aside for the sale, if you don’t have enough for your sale, ask neighbors, family or friends if you can borrow theirs. Try not to rent tables unless you absolutely have too, money spent on the sale will reduce your profit. If you plan to rent any tables, look into it at this point. Consider making some. You can visit a construction site especially where they are framing a house and ask to get some scrap wood out of their trash to make tables. You would be surprised how many good size pieces you can get this way. ***See sawhorse tables and easy racks made from scrap lumber in Part THREE.

You’re going to need change at your SALE. Start saving up your smaller bills tens, fives, ones, and your change, and keep it all in one place. You will need about $70 to $80 cash and coin to make change the day of the sale! In the weeks prior to your sale, whenever possible, pay with a twenty for small purchases so you can start getting lots of small bills and change to put aside. This is helpful especially if you have a tight budget. (Your alternative is to make a trip to the bank to get change, but just getting change from purchases is easier on your budget. You’re not having to withdraw $70 or $80 out of your banking account at one time.)  More about Day of the Sale in Part FIVE

 

2-3 Days Prior to SALE

Pick up your cardboard boxes for the sale so that people can use a box for their purchases, a great place to get boxes is the Wine Store or Liquor Store, grocery stores have boxes too, You have to call them in advance and request boxes because stores recycle boxes these days very quickly breaking them down and bundling them up.; gather your plastic and paper bags and put them with your tables;

If you are selling of offering coffee, drinks, food at your sale then you should purchase it now. Be sure to get napkins, cups, condiments etc and be sure to get someone even one of your kids to man the refreshment stand so you are free to interact with customers. Hot coffee in the morning sells well matched with some doughnuts or brownies. If it’s hot lemonade, bottled water, or canned drinks sell well. You should have change for the refreshment table separate from the change for the yard sale. Keep the monies separate throughout the sale so you can figure out how much you made from the drinks and food sales. Don’t forget to subtract the monies spent for supplies. This way you can decide if it was worth it so when you have your next sale you will know if you want to have refreshments.

Be courteous to your immediate neighbors (if they don’t already know and aren’t involved with your sale) and let them know that you are holding a sale and there may be a lot of cars parking around the area throughout the day(s) of the sale. This is not required but certainly a nice gesture. (If you are selling or giving out doughnuts or brownies the day of the sale, it’s also a nice gesture to invite those neighbors over for a bite and a preview of the sale. It’s a sure sign of goodwill and sometimes it could mean a couple sales).

 

The Day and Night Before SALE

If possible set up your tables and racks the night before. If you feel your stuff will be safe go ahead and put out as much as you feel will be ok. If you don’t feel good about putting out any merchandise then maybe you can just put out the tables and racks. After you set it up cover it with tarps or sheets to keep it safe from the dew. If you can’t set up the night before, make a final check to be sure all your stuff is in one spot and can be easily carried out in the morning. Make sure you have an apron with big pockets, tool belt, fanny pack, or box you can use to hold money and make change. (tip during your sale take the large bills out of the money holder and put on your person or take into the house and hide it. Try to keep only $70 in you money holder.

Don’t forget to set your alarm for a good two to three hours before your sale is set to open to allow for set up (how much time you allow depends on how much you have to set up)!

 

The Morning of SALE

If you set up everything the night before you should Get up at least an hour ahead to allow you time for removing the tarps and doing a final set up of your merchandise for your sale. If you didn’t set up the night before allow yourself plenty of time to get set up. I have had to get up as much as five hours before a sale because we lived in an apartment.

Enjoy yourself! Don’t take it all too seriously. I think the most important thing is do not be offended if someone doesn’t love something. Remember this is your stuff but you are selling it, so be neutral. The customer is not judging you or your stuff they just want to get a good deal.

If however someone is abusive you don’t have to sell to them Politely say you have changed your mind and you are not selling the item or my favorite is “ooops, it’s sold already” and tuck it under the table. I read once where a lady was having a yard sale and she was selling a box with a set of her kids books, it was a series of 34 books from the 60’s and she had priced it for $75.00 which she felt was an ok price for them and a man was literally harassing her trying to force her down telling her she was nuts that books sell for very little, usually $.25 at yard sales and he was trying to make her accept $10 which she refused to do. The story continued that another shopper saw what was going on and stepped up and paid the $75 gladly and took the books. The man was outraged and followed the buyer to her car offering her more money for the books but she ignored him because she knew the books were worth over $3000. The point of this story is twofold one make sure you know the value of your stuff and the second is don’t be bullied, you can say no after all it’s your stuff.

 

After SALE

Take any leftover stuff to The Donation Center of your choice. Here are three:

Salvation Army Donation – salvationarmyusa.org‎

Purple Heart Official – purpleheartcars.org‎

Locator | Goodwill Industries International, Inc.

and don’t forget many Churches take donations. Just give them a call.
Count your money: )
Subtract your costs.
$$$ This is your profit.

 

Celebrate your Success!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please Remember –

The night your sale ends, or at the latest the next morning…Don’t

forget to take your signs down!

 

Yard SALE series continues. After you have all your yard sale items pulled and ready to go, and you have your time line it is time to make decisions as to where you will hold your sale and prepare information for  the advertising for your sale.

Part Three – Where and when will you hold the Yard SALE and what will you use to display your items.

Part Four – How and where to advertise your Yard SALE.

Plus least I forget,

Part Five – The day of the Yard SALE. What to expect.

BACK TO THE TOP OF PAGE

I hope you are liking this series on How to Have a Successful Yard Sale.

Until later… betti b  : )

How to Have A Successful Yard SALE – Part ONE

 

Part ONE – De-cluttering your home…

We’ve been doing a lot of cleaning around our house because it was becoming too cluttered. Every time we straightened up it would be just a day before or even just hours before the house was messy again. I consider that as a giant red flag that you have acquired too much stuff and not gotten rid of enough. My kids and I decided we would go through the house one room at a time analyze what we had and decide what to keep, what to replace and what to get rid of. . Now how do you get rid of all that unwanted stuff you’ve accumulated and maybe make some money back. The kids decided they would like to have a yard sale to make money for our beach trip in September. That seemed like a good idea and we also decided that anything left after the sale would go straight to The Salvation Army or Good Will. It was a great idea and I have pulled out all my past yard sale information I have gathered over the years to make our sale a success.

NEED HELP WITH YOUR DE-CLUTTERING -College Hunks Hauling a JUNK is a great company to help you with your De-Cluttering. They hire college students and will come help you as labor only, or do the whole thing including hauling away any big stuff you don’t want to sell or keep. They even will clean clutter from your yard and/or demolish a deck or storage shed for you. Check them out on www.collegehunkshaulingjunk.com.

We’re starting now in the last week of July for our Sale first week in September. You need three to four weeks to get everything together before the sale.

A friend of mine who has since moved away was an amazing yard sale giver. She had been in retail and her yard sales were always a hit. She would sometimes make not hundreds of dollars but well over a thousand selling stuff her family had used and enjoyed. I am going to share many of the tips she shared with me plus many others I have picked up over the years.

The difference between a successful yard sale and a sale where no one comes and you spend your time waiting for nothing is planning. It takes work to prepare for a yard sale. Dragging a bunch of junk out into your driveway or in your garage, throwing up some handwritten signs and expecting people to come and spend money is a fools task. You are wasting your time and your Saturday. Planning is the difference between having customers, making sales and watching the money roll in or spinning around in the hot sun trying to take care of customers who do show up and want to know prices, try an electric appliance, asking endless questions and buying nothing or waiting for customers that never come.

De-cluttering for Yard SALE!

Let’s Plan My Yard Sale

The first thing I am going to do is get my stuff together. Just like on those TV shows where they help people declutter their homes we are going to do one room at a time armed with a box for keeping, a box for the yard sale/goodwill, and a giant trash bag. I am figuring this will take us a week to go through the house.

A great tip that Cherri shared with me was during the de-cluttering process we should keep price tags close at hand and price the items as we put them in the collection box. This is of two fold benefits. It finalizes our decision to sell the item and it eliminates having to go through the stuff again to price it. She advises the price should be one fourth of the items price new unless it is still in new condition in the original box or with tags.

Here are some tips on deciding what to sell and what to keep.

Clothes:

Clothes do sell at Yard sales if they are priced reasonably. Prices for clothes range from two to five dollars average and ten dollars being on the high side for brand name designer items. Think thrift store prices.

Consider those clothes that have been stored away for a couple of years. You know those boxes of clothes in your attic or basement that you have been holding on to over the years. The ones stashed under the bed in those space bags, in the window seat or your dresser’s bottom drawers. I know I have four boxes of clothes I will wear again someday in my bedroom closet all neatly packed away and they have been in those boxes for over four years. Yes they are in excellent condition, yes they were expensive, but who am I kidding. I probably never will wear those clothes and there they sit taking up valuable closet space. : (

I am going to go through them and try to make the hard decision. How nice it would be to have that space back.

If you haven’t worn it for two consecutive seasons you could probably let it go and let someone else actually wear it. Now if the clothing is vintage or really special then hold on to it I do believe in keeping classics, if it fits and it might come back in style then hold on to it if you have the space. My sister gave me six Polly Flinder’s Dresses that had belonged to my niece with all that adorable smocking, when my daughter was born size ten and I kept them until my daughter could wear them and I was very glad I did they were adorable.

Make sure all the clothing you plan to sell is clean and in good repair if it is damaged then best to tear it up for rags.

Clothing sells best at a yard sale when displayed hanging or neatly folded. You can run clothes line between trees for hanging or use clothing racks if you have them. If you hang your clothes and want to keep the hangers be sure to put a big sign that says hangers not included. You can choose to include the hangers at an additional charge of say 10¢ if you want to. But be clear or people will assume they get to keep the hangers and that will cost you unless they are those wire hangers from the dry cleaners and you want to get rid of them.

COSTUME JEWELRY:

DO NOT SELL FINE JEWELRY OR EVEN EXPENSIVE COSTUME JEWELRY AT A YARD SALE!!!

Now for regular costume jewelry you could expect to get one to ten dollars for pieces. I price them again using the thrift store pricing. I also keep the Jewelry close to where I am sitting so that I can keep an eye on it. Ziploc bags are perfect for displaying pieces and keeping them clean and sets together.  If I have more expensive pieces I will take them to a jewelry store to sell, consignment shop, or ebay. I do not think Craigslist or the like is a good way to sell expensive jewelry, too risky having people come to your home to see your expensive jewelry. I did make an arrangement with a local Jewelry Store where I advertised my diamond on Craigslist but met potential buyers at the Jewelry Store, it worked out really well and if the buyer wanted a jeweler’s opinion there was one available. It was a WIN-WIN.

TOYS:

My friend Cherri told me to always keep the boxes for toys and small appliances. She would keep hers in her attic. I never had the luxury of a place to store them but if you can it really helps them sell for a lot more at a yard sale or consignment shop. She would usually get half of what she paid and they sold like hot cakes. Especially games.

Have the kids go through their own stuff. Tell them to fill their sale box and all the money from their toys will be theirs to keep to buy new toys. This is an excellent motivator for kids to part with toys they no longer play with. I use different colored price stickers so I know whose toys belonged to who and when the toy is sold I remove the sticker and stick it on a poster board with a column with their name so they can see at a glance how their toys are selling. One time My youngest Andrew ran back in the house and got a whole box of more toys to sell.

Many of our kids have a collection of all those small toys that they get at McDonalds, Burger King, Chic Filet, etc… And if that’s the case I put some in a ziploc sandwich bag and price it accordingly. Like 10¢ or 25¢ depending on how many toys are in the bag. You can do this with any small items.

Another good tip here is that each time a toy comes in to the house an old toy goes out.

Once you have all your yard sale items pulled and ready to go it is time to consider the sale itself. Where will you hold the sale and what will you use to display your items.

If customer is Concerned about recalled toys give them this website to check.

web site: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Search/?query=toys%20that%20have%20been%20recalled&filters=all

BOOKS:

If you have too many Books – go through them, weed out any you no longer want to keep. Reference books can be replaced by the internet and could be considered for discard. Maybe purchased at your sale by someone who doesn’t have internet.

RECORDS, CD’S:

Records, CD’s, Cassettes – Soon there will not be a very limited market for these items. Now is still a good time to sell all those various formats of music you aren’t listening to anymore. (People have digitized their entire music libraries to homemade cd’s, and they sell their entire CD or record collections at these sales). Pricing for records is really hard because they are more for collectors so I would check ebay for pricing. CD’s are becoming obsolete so fifty cents to two dollars might be possible, again check ebay if it’s a famous artist.

YOUR LINEN CLOSET:

Unopened toiletries, colognes, lotions, unused cosmetics, accessories will often sell.

Shower curtains, rings, bath mats, towels in good shape with no stains or tears sell.

Blankets, bed spreads, comforters, sheets, table cloths, napkins, place mats, aprons all clean, free of stains or wear sell.

A good rule of thumb for your home is to have two set of linens for each bed in your home (two top sheets, two bottom sheets, 4 pillowcases, 2 comforters (warm weather and cold weather) and blanket for each bed.) That way you have a set for when you wash the set that is on the bed. Only one to store. Any more than this could be considered excessive.

KITCHEN:

Your kitchen will be the greatest challenge. It is amazing how we accumulate so much stuff. All those plastic containers that deli meat and specialty items come in that we hang on to in case we need them. Plastic glasses, coffee mugs, souvenir cups, you name it, it’s tucked somewhere in our Kitchen cabinets or pantry. Don’t forget those small appliances, you know the ones, the quesadilla maker you used once and have been storing it in your pots and pan cabinet for over three years now. Yeah that one, let it go…

What Sells Well out of the Kitchen: dishes, drinking glasses, cookie jars, utensil holders, pots, pans, those woks, serving dishes, and don’t forget all the gadgets, they all do well at a yard sale. Caution here… Higher priced items should not be sold at a yard sale but should be sold on consignment or on the internet.

Typically, people coming to yard sales are looking for bargains, deeply discounted stuff. If you are selling a Longaberger basket don’t sell it at your yard sale. Same thing goes for your Kitchen Aid Mixer.

I do a cabinet at the time. I empty it completely and place everything onto the kitchen table or counter. Then I wipe the cabinet out. After I have cleaned the cabinet I look at all the stuff that came out and make the hard decision. What goes and what stays. The stuff that stays I put back in the cabinet. The stuff that goes I price and put in my yard sale box. I then move on to the next cabinet until I am done. In my kitchen I have a shelf unit, a cabinet, a closet and a pantry. I do them just as I did the cabinet.

TIP: As I accumulate stuff for the sale I will run it through the dishwasher so that it looks all shiny and bright making it much more inviting to buyers at my sale.

TOOLS:

Now believe me when I say that having tools at your yard sale or anything guys like will help you with your customers. Why you ask. Because many women come with their husbands or significant others and having something to keep the guys occupied gives the women more time to shop. Plus what guy can resist buying a tool?

FURNITURE:

Don’t forget to look at your furniture. Be ruthless. If a piece is outdated or you just don’t use it anymore then consider getting rid of it.

Prices for furniture consider ten to thirty dollars for a coffee table. Prices for sofas range from twenty five to one hundred dollars. Dining room tables can be twenty five to three hundred dollars. If you want more than that I suggest ebay, craigslist or other internet selling site. Or even a local community newspaper.

ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES, TOOLS, OR BATTERY OPERATED:

Electrical Appliances, small and large. Anything battery operated. Make sure you have a plug close by so people can try stuff or batteries at Your Check Out Table for them to use to see if something works. It can get too expensive to let fresh batteries go with the stuff but it is up to you.

WHAT ABOUT SOMETHING THAT IS BROKEN???

I read once that the very first item that sold on ebay before it was even named ebay was broken. It was laser pointer.

So consider this even if you think it can’t be repaired there may be a guy or gal that knows just how to fix it. So if you have a broken radio, tv, computer, printer, bicycle, chair, small appliance, etc… then offer it for sale. Just make sure you let the potential buyers know that it is broken.

Planning makes the difference between Making Money or Wasting your TIME!

 

 

 

                  more to come …

Once you have all your yard sale items pulled and ready to go it is time to consider the sale itself.

Part Two – Time Line for the yard sale.

Part Three – How to advertise the yard sale.

Part Four – Where will you hold the sale and what will you use to display your items.

Plus least I forget  Part Five – the day of the SALE. What to expect.  coming soon

 

   until later . . . thanks for stopping by           betti : )

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