5 Secrets to Selling More at Garage Sales

by Jenn

5 Secrets to Selling More at Garage SalesGarage sales are a great way to reduce the amount of clutter from the home without resorting to throwing perfectly good items away. Not only can a homeowner make room for new items, but they can also earn quite a profit doing so. Here are five ways to making the most by selling used items.

1. Make Your Garage Sale an All Day or Weekend Affair
To make the most profit from your garage sale, a flexible schedule will allow more people to come and visit. By opening shop early in the day, those who work during the evenings and night can drop by, while staying open later will entice shoppers who prefer to browse sales later in the day.

2. Make a Family Schedule
Involving everyone in the family means that sales can continue throughout the day or weekend. Making sure that there is always someone watching the sale means that the profits can keep coming, even if there are other errands or appointments the seller cannot miss.

3. Advertise
Holding a garage sale will do no good if potential buyers don’t know that there is one. Advertising with signs or ads in newspapers will alert the public that there are items of interest available. By hanging signs in popular places a few days before the sale will catch the public’s attention and give interested individuals a chance to plan on spending some time there. Listing popular items of interest that will be available on the signs, such as baby or children’s clothing, unique decor items or mementos may also peak the public’s interest.

4. Price Fairly and Create an Inventory
While every item may be priced and sorted, these tags tend to go missing and items tend to be moved around as buyers shop. Having an itemized list handy will help identify the prices for any items that buyers are interested in. If price tags go missing, quickly referencing the inventory will ensure a fair price for the item in question. If there are a number of similar items, they don’t need to all be priced separately.

5. Sell Actively
Setting up the items so that they look attractive to buyers is one of the main ways make a large profit from the sale. Buyers are enticed by visually attractive displays, and may shell out more for the items. Further, it is best to be prepared to bargain, as someone may be interested in an item but doesn’t feel that they are getting a good deal.

With these tips, the garage your next garage sale will be a complete success.

Author Bio
Hayley is a freelance blogger. She recommends Fontana CA self storage to her friends, family and anyone living in Fontana CA who needs extra storage space. She also recommends visiting Extra Place at http://www.extraspace.com/Storage/Facilities/US/California/Santa_Maria/900414/Facility.aspx, if you are living in Santa Maria, CA and require extra storage space.

26 comments

Peggy Greco May 16, 2013 - 6:14 pm
These are great tips and appreciate you sharing on post with us.
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Aimee May 16, 2013 - 6:25 pm
These are great tips!!! I had my first yard sale last month and didn't do so well. Thanks for the pointers, can't wait to try them out!!!
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Amanda May 16, 2013 - 6:46 pm
Great tips! Thanks
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judy watts May 16, 2013 - 8:46 pm
Thank You for all the great tips on making my garage sales more profitable
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Linda Bradshaw May 17, 2013 - 2:08 pm
I am about to have a yard sale next month. Thanks for this!!
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Amber Nara May 18, 2013 - 1:04 pm
Wow, This gives me a great idea to use on my first garage sale that I am planning. I was overwhelmed and really stressed. This is going to make my life so much easier! Thank you for giving me tools that help me live my everyday life just that much easier. I hope my sale goes as easy as 1-5!! ;-) Thank You again
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Becky Schollian May 19, 2013 - 6:47 pm
Wish I lived near you!! I just know you would put out a great garage sale!! My mom & I have already made our annual plans to do our garage sale running!! We just love it!! These are great tips. I especially like the advertise part. I know from experience of being a garage sale hopper how important it is to attract your passers or readers attention. I'll tell ya, we've passed by a lot of these sales due to poor advertising. The ones where the kids are out holding their signs & banners are my favorites!!~ Hey if they look like junk, it must be junk!! That's my motto!!
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carla bonesteel May 21, 2013 - 8:01 am
Ugghh...We had a huge "moving" sale a couple years ago, and tho it was fun, and we made some cash, the cleanup was awful! We tried to give stuff away for free, but we still ended up having to put away stuff we didn't want! LOL
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ANN*H May 23, 2013 - 5:03 pm
I love yard and garage sales. Not so much having them tho. We live in an area which is hard to find so we cant get alot of people here. Thanks so much for all your tips. I am going to use them next time and hope we do alot better.
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marissa lee May 27, 2013 - 11:35 pm
this is really good suggestion for a garage sale...i will pass this information on to my cousin, she's thinking about having one this summer..thank you for sharing.
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Sandy Cain May 28, 2013 - 2:59 pm
Great tips. Unfortunately, I am the one who BUYS at garage sales. I'm not quite a hoarder, but a dyed-in-the-wool packrat. I could never sell any of my possessions!
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Jeri Accardo May 29, 2013 - 11:47 am
I saved this. My neighbor and I last year had an unsuccessful garage sale last year! Thanks for the advice, maybe this year will be a lot better !
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Robin R June 5, 2013 - 11:29 pm
I think that children's items are always a big hit. A few years back my mom was having a yard sale, so I decided to bring some of my daughters clothing over that I wanted to get rid of. I was selling her clothes at $1 per piece, dress up/old halloween costumes at $5 per dress, and under shirts at .50 each. Almost ALL of the clothing went, I even sold my husbands old game system for $150 !!! Needless to say, my mom was a bit jealous! lol
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Elaina Wright June 8, 2013 - 11:57 pm
I never knew there was all that involved in having a yard sale. I will have to keep these tips in mind when I can get my things sorted and have one :)
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Gabriele Jolly June 12, 2013 - 3:52 pm
I appreciate you blogging about Garage Sales. These are really helpful great tips thanks for blogging, keep up the great work.
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Karen June 15, 2013 - 10:43 am
This is great! We are cleaning out our basement, getting ready to move. Ugh. I've never done a garage sale; this is super helpful. Thanks so much!
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Jeannie Eplion-Holley June 17, 2013 - 7:18 am
Thank you for the article. I am about to have a garage sale to clear out some of my clutter!! Awesome tips for success:)
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Debbie Petch June 25, 2013 - 7:37 pm
These are good tips but in my area it is very hard to sell anything! The cheapskates would only pay a buck for a dresser!
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cheryl lister June 28, 2013 - 11:31 am
I like your idea of the inventory price list. I once helped my friend put on a yard sale, and she wanted to put individual price stickers on every single item. They didn't stick well to clothing and she paid too much for all those stickers. Not to mention the time involved!
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lisa June 28, 2013 - 1:59 pm
Those are good tips. I usually run into trouble pricing items. I always try to make sure I have enough change and bags for the purchases.
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Athena August 10, 2013 - 6:59 pm
Definitely keeping an inventory of the items, enough change, & bags. Selling the whole weekend all hours is great especially if the families involved. Pricing things w/ stickers & or knowing how much u want for the item b/c people will bargain bad where I live. Thanks for the tips. I like to go to sales but not have mine although I need too!
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Miki September 5, 2013 - 2:14 pm
These tips are so helpful! I like the idea of having a garage sale but haven't done one in a long time because I've been overwhelmed at the prospect. These tips are handy! Miki
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Jennifer Speed September 28, 2013 - 9:47 pm
These are some great tips. We are trying to have a garage sale but we haven't had time to plan one yet especially with us being so busy.
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lisa October 4, 2013 - 12:48 pm
Those are good tips. I used to love going to yard sales. Sometimes you can find some pretty decent items.
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lisa January 10, 2014 - 11:42 am
Garage sale weather is just around the corner. I saw a robin last week so spring can't be too far off.I need to re-read this and start getting items together.
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lisa March 14, 2014 - 12:01 pm
A yard sale is what I need to get rid of the clutter upstairs. It's amazing how much stuff piles up over the years.
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