Profitable Yard Sale Tips

First, choose the date for your garage or yard sale carefully. Saturdays are generally best, followed by Fridays. Sundays are rarely a good day for outside sales as most people are either busy with family or just catching up on the work around the house. After picking the day of the week, check your date against the community calendar. Are there any major events going on that might draw potential customers away? Does your community hold festivals, concerts, road races, or other large events? If so, stay away from those dates. Pick a day when nothing is scheduled as people are more apt to go shopping when they have nothing else to do.

After you have picked your date, check with the local authorities to determine if you need a permit. Many cities and some unincorporated communities require garage sale permits to limit the number of sales going on throughout the year. In cities with regulations, the most common limitations are on the number of sales you can hold annually and where you can place your sale signs. Permit fees vary but are generally in the $5 to $10 range. Thinking about skirting the law? In communities with aggressive code enforcement programs that could be costly. Ticket penalties range from a verbal warning to shut down all the way up to a $100 fine per offense.

The next thing you need to do is advertise. The most successful sales are a direct result of how much advertising the owners do. Check your local newspaper for its classified rates. You might be surprised at how reasonable a two line garage sale ad will be. For around $20 you can receive area-wide exposure. Some cable television companies also advertise on the local access channel for free. Many communities provide this service on their government access channels in return for obtaining a permit.

On the day of the sale, pricing is everything. Label each item with your asking price or better yet, group items together on tables by price. Have a $1 dollar table, $2 dollar table, $10 dollar table, etc. Items that are unique or more expensive should be labeled individually. Many people are too shy to ask how much a particular item is. By having everything marked, it allows them to think about whether they really want to buy that rocking chair, instead of wondering how much you are asking. Also, if you are flexible on your prices, make a huge sign that says so. Garage sale shoppers love to wheedle you down. If you are willing to play that game, let them know. On the other hand, if your prices are firm, adding that to the price tags is helpful as well. It limits confusion for both you and the customer.

Have plenty of change on hand early in the day. Even if it means making a special trip to the bank to buy a roll of quarters, it will be worth it when that first customer buys a 25 cent trinket from the toy box and hands you a $5 dollar bill.

Start early. The serious customers, willing to pay the most, are out searching the streets by 7:00 AM. Having your sale set up by first light will guarantee you access to the best garage sale shoppers. Likewise, some shoppers look for people just setting up and take advantage of the chaos going on as you move items to the driveway or are looking for your price tags. Being caught off guard can mean letting a valuable piece go for much less than you intended or missing out on a sale altogether. Better to have your prices marked the day before and set your alarm early. At the same time, do not hesitate to close after a few hours if you have sold everything important you wanted to get rid of.

Another key to garage sale success is to recognize that the value you place on an item may not be realistic in today's marketplace. Even though you paid $100 for that crystal vase, you may only get $5 at your garage sale. If you are not willing to part with it for less than $50, it may not be garage sale material. Better to donate those expensive items to a charity thrift store and take the tax benefit next April. Suddenly, that $5 dollar garage sale income turned into a $50 tax deduction, benefiting a worthy charity in the process.

At days end, tally up your profits! By following these tips, you may very well find yourself with an extra $100 in your pocket after four or five hours. Not bad money considering you have a less-cluttered home as a result.

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