Garage sale help

What supplies will I need? How should I set this up, do I have sections on the table ...like one section $1, another $2 , and so on? I also have full bottle of perfume like Tommy Girl, Curve ,and a few more that are full , could I sell them for $10 or is that too much? I need help this is my first time lol. I guess you can call me a garage sale virgin b/c I have never even been to one

Re: Garage sale help

sell your stuff cheap and get lots of plastic bags and change. $10 bucks is too much for perfume...id say 4 bucks. If you want you can start your prices higher and as the day goes on make them cheaper just to get rid of the junk. Also post signs and i usually put an ad on craigslist or the pennysaver.

Re: Garage sale help

I learned you can never have enough singles and quarters!!!

If you see people looking at something and start walking away- make a deal!

Re: Garage sale help

signs, signs, signs!!

I sell and buy, so I do this a lot. The more signs you put up, the more people you will attract. Try to keep your signs the same color so people can follow them.

Don't do "tables" of a price because people pick things up and put them down wherever they feel like it. If you want, do stickers of a certain price. I don't price all my stuff, I just make it up when they ask

If someone makes an offer on something, just sell it! Remember, it's out there for you to get rid of and you do NOT want to bring that stuff back in at the end of the day.

Re: Garage sale help

I had one back in July and made over $800.00!!!

Here is what I did:

I advertised on CL.

Posted an ad in our local neighborhood paper.

Posted signs everywhere, with arrows too (pointing in the direction of the sale). Huge signs, poster board size.

I priced everything individually. I was advised by another Garage sale "Queen" that people don't like to ask how much something is and sometimes the items get mixed up if you have then on $1 and $2 tables.

Play music

We also had soda and water on hand too.

Re: Garage sale help

Don't mean to piggy back on this but my sister's having one on Sat and I'm selling my bedroom set, it's a complete bedroom set - queen sleigh bed, two night stands, dresser w/7 drawers, and an armoir - how much do you think I should sell it for? Its in mint condition.

I also have a double stroller. how much? $20? or more

Re: Garage sale help

I agree.. signs are crucial to getting people there

they need to be large, easy to read, and posted at all routes to your house, with arrows to help direct.
We had a garage sale recently and so many people commented on how good our signs were (my dh is a graphic designer and we did 11 x 17 signs and 15x20 signs for the main road, all mounted to cardboard so they'd be seen). it never ceases to amaze me when i see little signs posted up with small type on them that you can't read from a car. What's the point?

Also, when people come to garage sales, all they're looking for is a super bargain. Doesn't matter if the bottle of perfume you're selling is worth $40, if you price it at $3, they'll offer you $2!
You also don't want to price things too high to start with otherwise people won't even bother giving it a second thought

i find its easier to price things with stickers (and then be prepared to accept less), than making prices up on the spot because there are often times where there are several people asking you prices all at once and it can be confusing to remember what you quoted one person vs another.

Have plastic bags on hand, have lots of singles and some quarters available too.

We had music playing and drinks for ourselves since we were out there from 7:30 - 3:00. It's a long day!

Be prepared for people to show up early, no matter if you put 'no early birds' in your listing. We had someone show up the night before wanting to get a sneak peek at our stuff!

The same woman was back at 7:30 the next morning as we were setting things up, despite the fact that the signs said 9:00. We had a big amount of people show up at 8:30 too, luckily we were done setting things out!

I'd say also group like things together and try to display them in a pleasing manner, not just have a jumble of stuff on a table. People are more likely to notice things if they are presented nicely.

Re: Garage sale help

Re: Garage sale help

Thank you everyone !! This was very helpful !!