Ithaca College

“Tuesday Tips” is going on a summer hiatus. We will return when the fall semester starts. But before we leave you, we want to share with you 6 TIPS for planning a successful yard sale. You may ask, “Why yard sales? These aren’t real events.” Oh but they are! Whether you love them or you hate them, yard sales can be a great way to clean out your living space and make some good money…if you plan ahead.

1. Do not wait until the last minute to pull off a garage sale.  Either it will flop or you’ll run yourself ragged–or both.  If you’re in a new location or you’re new to hosting a garage sale, you should consider getting organized at least 2-3 weeks in advance.  At least a week before the sale you should go through your home from top to bottom and clear out clutter.  At least 2-3 days before the sale, take an afternoon to price everything and organize it. And then the day before the sale, devote a few hours to final organization, posting an ad on Craigslist, getting the cash and signs together and so forth.

2. Advertise, advertise, advertise!  Place newspaper ads, advertise on Craigslist or Facebook, and put up fliers at local grocery stores & coffee shops.  Also make sure you make good, readable signs so drivers have no trouble finding your sale.  Put some time and effort into making a number of quality, clearly-readable signs which you put in conspicuous places to easily lead to your home.  The brighter, bolder and bigger the sign, the better!

3. Clean up and organize the items you have for sale:  Think of your sale as a mini-department store, with sections for things like housewares, sporting goods and entertainment.  Most people don’t like digging through boxes of dirty, disorganized junk placed on the ground.  Once it gets put on a table and cleaned up a little, it looks much better to potential buyers.  A little trick to selling appliances and electronics is to run an extension cord out to the sale site and have all items plugged in. Buyers won’t be wondering if you’re selling them something that is broken.  If you are selling something broken--disregard the previous :)

4. Clearly mark your prices:  It takes a little extra time to put price stickers on your items or make signs (i.e “All DVDs $2”), but instead of having to make up prices on the spot, people will know exactly how much something is.  In addition, some people are too shy to ask the price of an item, so you could possibly lose a sale if an item isn’t marked.

5. Be prepared to sell:  Have lots of change and small bills — and protect yourself by keeping the money in fanny pack or carpenter’s apron, not in a cigar box on a table.  Also make sure you have newspapers to wrap breakables in and extra grocery bags to bag purchases.  Be available to answer questions from buyers, too. 

6. Have a plan for your leftovers:  Some things may sell better at a different time of year.  You may have better luck selling Christmas decorations in the fall than in the heat of July.  If you want to try again, store those things for a future sale.  If you decide to donate your leftovers, find out the drop-off times and hours for local charities.

These tips are courtesy of Yard Sale Queen & MoneySavingMom.com.

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