Tried & True Tips from the Gypsy Queen of The Yard Sale:
(to the doubters out there: my last one had total sales of over $700)
1. Use your Family-
Not in a bad way, but in a good way, the more items you have in your sale, the better! So put some stuff out from your mom, sell those tools for your dad and let you sister put her kid's toys in the sale too. Each person gets a different color sticker: yours are white, mom's are pink, you friend Julie's are green, etc. They make enough different colored dot stickers these days that this is an easy thing to do. Tell folks this when they ask to join your sale so they can pick a color. Make them clean & price ALL their stuff BEFORE it gets to your house (Trust me on this). The important thing to remember is this: EVERYONE will ask you to sell their stuff for them, so you must stand firm on the rest of these rules to preserve your sanity!! If they don't want to follow your politely phrased requests, they can have their own sale!
2. Everyone Pays to Play-
If your friends and family have things in your yard sale, you must, must, must politely stand firm on the rule that everyone must help out in some way. They need to commit to working the sale with you for a day, or put time in the week before helping you to organize and put stuff on tables, or help tear down, or help to watch kids or put out signs, you get the picture. Even if it is just paying for the newspaper ad or helping to make signs, requiring them to physically help with the sale is a must. I speak from experience when I say that spending your weekend selling everyone else's stuff for them while they are out enjoying themselves and then just drop by to collect their cash will result in mass amounts of resentment, even if it's your best friend. They will try to make it seem like they are doing you a favor by having their stuff in your sale, "it makes it bigger, more appealing, etc," do not let them get away with this!
3. No Crap!-
This is a very important rule for a successful yard/garage sale. If it's stained, broken, missing parts or so beat up that you would not be caught deal using/waring it in public, don't try to sell it. Yes there are some dumpster divers out there they would possible pay 50 cents for your piece of crap if they happen to show up at your sale, but you will lose more folks to slow drive-bys and automatic turn-offs by having junk in your sale. Think about it, if it looks like piles of doo-doo, people will keep driving. If they do get out of their car, nasty clothes, broken toys and other assorted junk will make them think anything they buy from you is defective, full of bugs, or not properly cared for. Make sure everyone else knows about this rule, you are going for a neat clean sale full of quality stuff, trust me, folks will be impressed and will spend more (and will tell others who will stop by on day 2)
4. No Dirt!-
Everything must be clean. Get yourself some Clorox wipes and some paper towels. Take 10 mins to wipe off your tables, go over toys, dust off the stuff you drug out of the basement. It's extra work, but a quick clean will make everything more sellable! (Tweens are great to get to do this and they work cheap)
5. A word about set-up-
Borrow tables. If you can't then make them out of sawhorses and wood or old doors from the Re-Store (I bought some for $1 each) If you don't have sawhorses, use the big plastic totes that we all have in and around out house as legs to put boards/wood on to make knee-high tables. Toys can go out on the lawn or driveway on a clean tarp.
6. If it works for the stores, it will work for you-
I have gotten more complements on my yard sales then the window decorators at Macy's. You know why? Because when I am hauling everything out, I group like things with like. You are already hauling it all out there and setting it up, so it takes no extra time to have one table be for holiday items, an area for "man stuff" like tools, sporting goods, lures, etc. A kid section with everything kids related, etc. If you have stuff that lights up, run out an extension cord and plug it all in ( I have sold more Christmas surf in 80 degree weather this way) Put "works" in big letters on anything that folks might ask "hey does this work?" Make sure you prices are easy to see, put descriptions on anything they might be confusing to the easily confused (hey, just because you know they are bread basket liners, doesn't mean everyone else will) If the tables look nice to you, they will look nice to buyers, if it looks like you couldn't care less about you stuff, they won't care either.
7. Prices-
Here is the deal, if you have something that is worth decent money, put it on craigslist or eBay, do not try to sell some priceless antique at your yard sale. A yard sale if for bargain hunters, therefore everything at your sales should be a bargain. Prices should be less than what something is worth! I don't care if it cost you $50 when you bought it 20 years ago, something is only worth what you can get a person to pay for it! If you can't bear to give a shopper a break on a price, that item should not be in your yard sale, period. Remember, you have already made the decision to get rid of the stuff in your sale, you don't want it any more! So you are trying to get rid of stuff that is cluttering up your life and your home, making a couple bucks in the process. This is not your full time job, your yard sale is not going to make you rich. If your goal is to pull a fast one on shoppers and bilk them, go work for the government. When you price your items, set them at a price that would make you (if you were shopping at your sale) say "wow! gotta have this" so folks will hand over their cash. There is nothing better than the sound of someone asking you "can I just start a pile? I'm still looking but I can't carry any more in my arms" $5 in cold hard cash right now is better then overpricing something that might be worth a little more, but never gets picked up. Mark stuff down a buck or two the 2nd day of your sale.
8. You are The King of Your Castle-
Be friendly, smile, be nice, but remember, it's your house. If someone offers obviously insulting offers for things, smile sweetly and say "I wouldn't go that low right now, but maybe at the end of the sale tomorrow." or "That's worth a little more because....(it's brand new, it's signed, it's an antique, you get the idea). Then smile again, if they are serious they will up their offer, but some folks are just jerks, don't let them bully you. It is totally fine to give a young couple a better deal on some furniture than you would give a seasoned yard sale professional. Do not let anyone use your bathroom, have a discreet sign taped up by your cashier table saying "all sales final" & "not responsible for accidents" to protect yourself from the guy who comes back the next day for his money back or the idiot who trips over his own feet. If someones kids are going ape-s*@t at your sale and touching breakables or fishing lures or bumping tables or picking up expensive items, speak up! A firm "Hey guys, can you please not do that" loud enough for the crappy parents to hear always does the trick for me.
9. Be Generous-
Always have a free box! People love them, even if they poke through them and take nothing. Make sure you throw some stuff in the box throughout the sale. I always put some books, curtains, candles, small toys, Santa hats, weird do-dads that I not sure what they are, etc. in mine. Duct-tape a piece of paper to the box that says "FREE BOX" and put it at the end of your driveway/wherever your sale starts. Basically anything you even thing about pricing for 10 cents should get tossed in the free box. If it's not worth a quarter, it's not worth your time. Making change for 10 cent items is a pain so do yourself a favor, forgo the lure of making 10 cents and earn yourself some yard sale karma instead. And if an adult is buying an armful of items and they have a kid with them clutching some small misc. item or toy, say "you can just have that honey" every once in a while. You won't miss the quarter and their smiles will be worth it.
10. All the little things-
Make signs: use boxes or printer paper boxes from work and bright yellow poster board from the dollar store. Duct take the poster board to the side of the box, write yard sale in big block letters with a sharpie, add an arrow. Put a brick in the bottom of the box and your sign will be eye catching and will stay put all day. All you signs should be the same color.
Early Birds-if you don't mind then you don't mind. I however put "no early birds" and they still show up an hour early. Make them wait, they are all dealers and folks that own stores anyway, they will wait, smile and tell them what time you intend to be ready. If they ask if they can come in and look around while you set up, tell them no.
Ads- I know it hurts to fork over the dough but you really need to have an ad in the paper, it will pay off in the long run (split the cost with everyone selling in the sale) Also post on craigslist, Face book, etc. Almost all new stations have online classified sections where you can post events and yard sales for free.
Keep it to 2 days-I prefer Friday & Sat. they traditionally get the most traffic, but if you can't take Friday off, be prepared to pull the plug Sunday late afternoon (you will be sick of it by then anyway) The marathon, never ending, every weekend yard sale will just make you look trashy and will cause your neighbors to key your car.
Nothing back in-If it's in the yard sale, you don't want it, so don't under any circumstances let any left over stuff back in your house! This includes stuff for other people. If they want to stop by before you pack up and pick through left overs let them. But when it is time for tear down there are 2 piles: really nice stuff that you can put on craigslist to sell & donations. Give it away! All of it, it will help those in need and the feeling you get when that truck pulls away (call ahead of time, Salvation Army and Goodwill will send a truck to pick it all up) will be worth the small pangs of "this is so cute, I can't believe no-one bought it"
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