And while you can sell everything on eBay, Craigslist, or any number of other online websites, sometimes it pays to go “old school” with a garage sale.
No need to take individual pictures, upload them to a website and write out descriptions for your things…just set them out nicely for shoppers to discover, collect cash and you’re done.
And of course, there’s no shipping costs!
Having a successful garage or yard sale doesn’t just happen…make it easier on yourself and take some time to plan your steps and you’ll have a more profitable…and less stressful…time unloading your extra stuff!
What’s the date?
There’s a reason why most people choose Friday and Saturday mornings for their garage sales…it just works.
Of course you can also add a Thursday or a Sunday to have a multi-day garage sale if you have a lot of things to sell…or your neighbors are selling things as well.
By starting early you’ll get more people coming by as they’re often shopping many different yard sales, and they may want to wrap up early to be able to spend the rest of their day doing other things.
Also, it’s usually cooler in the mornings – especially if you plan your sale in the late spring or early fall – which means people may not be in as much of a rush to jump back into their air conditioned vehicle. (i.e. longer shopping might equate to more sales)
Set hours for your garage sale. A common time is from around 6 am to noon or one o’clock.
Permits needed?
Check with your local city or county to find out if a permit will be required to hold your garage sale.
Nothing would be quite so annoying as to have a city official shut you down…and fine you…because you failed to buy an inexpensive permit.
Hint: Look for your city government website online – you may be able to apply online and avoid the trip to city hall.
Advertise
You could simply put a sign out by the road and in your yard, but depending on where you live it might be smart to also pay for a newspaper ad.
Ask how much space you’re allowed and keep costs down by sticking well within the word limit, otherwise, if you go over you’ll end up paying per word.
Make the ad short, listing your highest ticket items first, especially if you’re selling kids’ toys, furniture and/or collectibles as these are very popular items at yard sales.
And, of course, don’t forget to provide your address and the date and time of the sale.
Hint: If you have it, advertise in your local paper to bring even more customers to your door.
Online
Use free advertisement website to gin up interest in your garage sale for free. Following are a few of the more commonly known ones:
The benefit of online advertisement is not only the fact that many people are searching online, but you’ll also have more space than with a traditional print ad.
Post your ad a day or two before your sale to reach serious buyers.
