How to Have a Successful Yard Sale

Yard sales can be a great way to make some extra money, but they also can be a lot of work. By the time you sort through your stuff, price it, advertise and set up for the sale you have done a lot of work before the sale even starts. Make sure your yard sale is worth the work by using some tips to maximize your profits.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Research local laws. Some areas require permits to have a yard sale or have limits on how many sales you may hold in a year. Find out what the restrictions are because if you're in violation, your sale may be cut short.

2. Place a small advertisement in the local newspaper. The advertisement should give people the time and place of the sale and highlight any items which might draw a lot of people to the yard sale. A good tip, however, is to limit the items you list to a few because people may get tired of reading a long list of items. This also keeps the price of your advertisement low.

3. Seek out free advertising. Place signs on bulletin boards at stores in the area of the yard sale during the week before the sale. Also, place a free advertisement on the Garage Sale Tracker website.

4. Put up signs on busy streets near the yard sale. For this tip, you'll also want to place up signs giving directions to your yard from the signs. Put up arrows where people need to turn.

5. Select the right day for the yard sale. Consider what the weather will be like for the sale. A hot day in August or a cold day in March may cause people to stay home. Holidays are generally poor times for yard sales because people are busy with family and traveling.

6. Open early. Because yard sales around town open at different times, people will often go to a yard sale early. Have your sale set-up an hour before opening time to accommodate early birds. Have some change ready as soon as you start putting items out in case someone passing by wants to buy something.

7. Price items appropriately. In general, you should not price an item at a yard sale more than a one third of its new price. However, you may have to price items lower than this based on their condition and age. If people start noticing high prices on your items, they are less likely to look around at all of your items.

8. Make sure your yard sale items are visible. Often you have to pile items up on tables to make room for everything. However, a good tip is to continually spread items out as the day goes on and your items begin to thin out.

Tips & Warnings

• Ask your neighbors if they would like to be included in the sale. You can split advertising costs and multi-family sales are more attractive to customers.
• Provide refreshments on hot days. You can give away water or lemonade to keep people at your yard sale longer or you can make some extra profit by selling refreshments.
• Play music. Select easy listening music to keep entertained so they will stay and look longer.
• Utilize your driveway. Place items along a driveway with the pay table at the end. This way customers will look at all your items at least twice.
• Avoid pets at your yard sale. People who are afraid of pets or are allergic to them likely will stay away from your sale.

Resources

• Place an advertisement on Garage Sale Tracker.

[psychonurse]

on 8/15/2009 Great tips--think I'll try to organize a neighborhood yard sale! Thanks! 5*****

[charlie01]

on 6/8/2009 Great advice. I also like to create flyers with arrows to post around the neighborhood to show people where my garage sale is. I went to www.peanutcafe.com to create my flyer. It was pretty easy to do.