Garage Sale Tips for Success
This weekend, August 6th & 7th is the first ever Windsong Valley Community Garage Sale hosted by your Resident Realtor, Terri Holladay. We have a growing sellers list and the flyers and advertisements have been placed so we should have great foot traffic.
Here are a few tips to maximize our success this weekend:
1. Advertising: Check! Taken care of by host Terri Holladay
2. Enlist Some Helpers: Have your spouse and kids help on the day of and let your kids put some of their stuff up for sale. This way they have a reason to be present and help out. Who doesn’t need an extra pair of helping hands?
3. Prep your items for sale: In the days leading up to the sale, look over and clean all the items. There’s nothing worse than selling a pair of jeans for $3 and remembering there was a $20 bill in the back pocket.
3. Consider Your Layout: Presentation matters! Especially when it comes to rummaging through other people’s used stuff. * Arrange the items by category to make it easy to navigate between sections * If you are selling books, CD’s, DVD’s stand them up on a bookshelf for easy browsing * Hang up clothes on an old shower rod and order them by size. (No one wants to dig through piles of precariously stacked T-shirts, and you don’t want to be the one stuck folding and refolding them.) * Place your hot ticket items near the end of your driveway to lure in customers 4. Create Ambiance: Give your yard a classy boutique vibe. * Play some nice background music so shoppers aren’t shopping in silence * If your kid is really into it, he could even open a lemonade stand and sell packaged snacks or your favorite homemade cookies to make some extra cash. Make sure to have a garbage can nearby to keep things tidy 5. Advertise Each Item’s Value: Make sure all your items are clearly marked with price tags, which will discourage bargain-hunters from offering a bargain-basement price on items that aren’t marked * I recommend using masking tape or blue painter’s tape your will appreciate the easy removal once they get their item(s) home * For bigger items like furniture, make large price signs so shoppers aren’t searching for that small, elusive price tag * Try these tips to spruce up drab items: **Put (half used) batteries in that remote controlled car so shoppers can test it out **Have an electric outlet available so customers can try plugging in their just-purchased blender or lamp **Many of your items were probably once featured in catalogs or online. Clip out old ads of your camera or Amazon printouts of kids’ toys (with the original price, of course) ***DON’T OVERPRICE*** and price your items with numbers: 25 cents instead of 15 cents, $2 instead of $1.80; this avoids you having to juggle loose change and making math errors when calculating totals
6. Checkout: Instead of putting all your money in a box or can try using one of your cutest aprons with pockets so you have cash on you all the time * Have lots of small bills to make change for customers, and when they’re ready to pay, tally up their items and keep a ledger of what you sold for how much * Once your customers have selected their treasures, be sure to wrap breakables in newspaper and provide bags for easy transport * As the day winds down, don’t be afraid to lower prices or offer everything half off Stick with these tips and we will have a successful community garage sale!!
