Buying: Reducing Clutter: Yard Sale Tips |
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 Once you have decided to hold a yard sale you want it to be as profitable as possible. So here are the following helpful tips and hints for a successful yard sale.
(If you think a yard sale may be too much to deal with you may consider giving the items away. Many charities have trucks that will come to your home and pick up those things you no longer want.)
- Advertise your yard sale on the web for free!! There are several places online that have free yard sale ads. Topyardsales.com is just one. Your local community may even have it's own website with free online classifieds.
Advertise in your local newspaper & Advertise on bulletin boards in your community (grocery stores, community center, etc).
- TAKE YOUR SIGNS DOWN AFTERWARD! Many communities and towns have fines for yard sale signs – so don’t get a fine. Check with your county government or homeowner's association to see if there are restrictions on yard sale signs.
- NEVER, EVER put a sign on utility pole or traffic sign.
- Have a specific start and end time or you will have a perpetual, never-ending yard sale. Early birds will be there right at your starting time – you can bet on it.
- Don't pick a holiday weekend (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day) to have your sale.
- Start accumulating the items you want to sell, put a price sticker on them as you go..
- Look through the boxes, clothes, coats, and all containers you plan to sell. You might be selling something that you did not intend, so just check inside to make sure.
- As you accumulate stuff for your sale, make sure you do not sell something that you'll regret later. Do not sell anything without the actual owner's approval.
- Keep your pets inside your house and away from your yard sale for their safety and buyers.
- Make sure there are prices on everything and that they are in plain sight. Rule of thumb for Yard Sales - price items about 25% or less what they would cost new.
- Common priced item tables – "Everything for a $1", will help you sell your items quickly.
- Bigger bright colored price tags are better. Place them in an obvious place.
- Arrange CDs/DVDs in a box so the titles can be easily read.
- Place lawn mowers or power tools and more" interesting" items at the end of the driveway front in plain view of the road to attract buyers to stop & look around.
- Sell ice cold sodas or have the kids run a lemonade stand to entice people to stop by.
- High dollar items – have a receipt of sale pre-made with an "all sales final" receipt clearly printed. Also include any catalog ads & pricing (showing what a deal they are getting). You should have two copies of the receipt – one for them & one for you.
- Put away stuff you don’t want to sell. A kid’s bike was sold once when the kid was riding it – jumped off and it was sold by accident!
- Safeguard money, use a moneybox, have change on hand and small bills.
- Don't accept checks. If they really want it, they will go to the bank and get cash or use a local ATM.
- When making change – it is a good practice to leave all the money out on the table while making change – otherwise you can get –"I gave you a $20, not a $10". Remember you are going to be busy answering questions and may get interrupted and can lose track.
- Use paper or plastic grocery bags for sold items
- When having your kids sell their own toys, explain to them that they are making space to put the new toys that they buy themselves with the money they earn selling the old toys.
- Make available an extension cord and grounded plug to test electrical appliances.
- Fill a bag of kids clothes or small toys (Legos) for a small, single set price – "a bag deal".
- Toys – games etc. that have many small parts – seal in a Ziploc bag.
- Everyone wants a bargain – but do that toward the end of your yard sale, it will most likely go earlier for the price you have already set.
- Where possible- do a multi family yard sale, just keep track of who sold what so you can distribute the profits at the end of the day or arrange to do it on a day when many sales are taking place.
- Remember to TAKE YOUR SIGNS DOWN after the sale!
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