Here are several tips for a successful yard sale:
HAVE FUN!
By Joyous from Knoxville, TN
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Great tips! To add a few additional:
Your signs need only have the address written boldly. No need for the words "yard/garage/Sale/huge/giant" ...everyone knows what your advertising. As well, absolutely NO need to list any items. You will not have room to write them in a readable fashion on at least an 8x10 card stock. Plus the mystery will bring them to your sale.
If someone is looking for a specific item they will drive by, as long as they can easily read your address. Maybe use arrows if you have room; that helps when people are scanning the road ahead for signs. They have more time to change lanes if they need to. Believe me! I know. This is the way I do yard sales myself...not all sales are in the paper. The sign is very important.
If you must display items on the ground, let it be the bulk of the clothes, and consider pricing them by the bagful or 5/$1 so the adding is simple. If you have nicer clothing items, they can possibly be hung in a different area with their individual pricing.
Customer do want to know the prices without having to ask. If you choose to use signs instead of individual pricing, make your signs clear (use thick markers, not ballpoint pen) and display in the same area as the items,not behind the check out area...or at least do both.
Be prepared for folks to gather multiple items which they have added up for themselves, then come to you asking for a lower price. That is a good way to move a lot of items. Be willing to negotiate more on the multiple item purchases.
Hanging clothing is not as hard as it may seem. If you don't have a clothes line, trees or the garage door opening readily available, a broom laid across the back of 2 chairs will suffice for about 2-3 feet of hanging space for shirts/blouses/skirts/folded slacks. Use a ladder to hang longer items, or 2 ladders to create a longer, higher hanging space.
Shoplifting does happen at yard sales, unfortunately. It's not that you can't be charitable and give away your things, it's more of the principle. They are getting your nice items for reasonable prices (let's hope) so there's no need for anyone to be dishonest about acquiring them.
Keep jewelry on the check out table or at least near by where someone will be sitting at all times. Have a helper! or 2. Give them permission to negotiate or not; it's up to you.
Decide beforehand if you will negotiate on all/most/none of the items. It is not required that you do negotiate. Some people just will not pay what you have marked on an item no matter how cheap...it's ok to say, "I think $.50 is reasonable." But if you fear taking it back into the house after the sale, then take a dime! Packing it all up afterwards to donate to a charity relieves some of that stress about having to sell no matter what. Decide beforehand what you will keep if it doesn't sell.
Have bags ready for the customers, but preferably bag their things only after they've paid for them. It is tempting to offer a bag to someone carrying multiple items in their arms. If you do this, also offer to hold the items in the bag but place it up close to your check out table; even put their name on it for them. They will thank you and you will have less stress keeping track of the people who've paid and those who have not; since the bagging would no longer be the indication.
If you're starting very early in the morning (even if you're not), consider having free coffee for your customers. It gives the sense of goodwill and encourages them to linger, and even buy something they might not normally because they are more relaxed and not hurrying on to the next sale.
This is making me want to have a yard sale!
Another good yard sale tip I just heard was: Use a fanny pack for your money. That way your money is around your waist, not sitting on table and you're free to move around.
Re pricing, please-please-please attach prices with something that will come off easily! Those super-adhesive price stickers are so hard to remove and sometimes using a liquid remover damages the item.
And oh boy! Please DO NOT mark the price directly on the item with a permanent marker!
For clothing, buy a box of cheap straight pins at the dollar store, and use scrap paper to write the price on a pinned tag.
For other items use that blue masking tape-no residue, even on painted wood surfaces:)
I know a garage/yard/car boot sale is not a 'business' where good customer service will help bring about repeat customers, but you do live in that neighbourhood, and people remember things like "...the way Ms Jones tagged her sale items made them useless!".
Be honest about your products. When we had our one & ONLY moving yard sale in Arizona we had many items that had sat for a few years and even one television that was almost junk - good for someone to fix that wanted to work in electronics. We put a tag for $5 - needs repair. Many people looked at it and walked on with the comment "at least they're honest". We sold that piece of junk and $500 worth of more items because we were honest about that tv the people knew that if we said it works, it would be true. Much of our items were electrical/electronics.
The money we made paid for the gas in both vehicles to travel across country and 5 meals every day for all 5 people for 4 1/2 days. When I go to sales I almost never buy anything except cloth/notions/craft supplies.
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