by Selena Karan

Created on: April 08, 2009   Last Updated: May 14, 2009

Secrets for a Successful Garage Sale

Garage sales are an excellent example of one man's junk is another man's treasure. And with the current financial environment garage sales are growing rapidly in popularity. It takes a lot of energy to plan and run a good garage sale, but the results are worthwhile. Following these tips can help your sale be profitable for yourself and your visitors.

Tip 1: Quantity-A large collection of items is key to a successful sale. If you can provide people with variety to choose from they will spend more time looking at your items, and that increases the chance they will find something that they want to buy. If you don't think you have enough items to have a strong sale try combining with other family members or neighbors. Neighborhood and multi-family sales and draw lots of people; they get a large variety spread out over a small distance.

Tip 2: Variety- If your sale has only a limited selection of types of items, for example mostly clothing or mostly kitchenware, it won't draw much attention. Collect a variety of items that will appeal to all sorts of people. People of all ages and walks of life visit garage sales; it's important to have something to appeal to most if not all of them. This is another advantage of holding a group sale; you can coordinate with others to increase variety. Particularly desirable items such as furniture, high-quality baby equipment, electronics, appliances and regional items will also increase traffic to your sale.

Tip 3: Clean the Items-Just before the sale date, take some time to clean all of your items. Nothing turns away a potential customer as fast as dirty items. An item that is neat, clean, and looks well taken care of will fetch a high price and customers will be less likely to dicker over the cost.

Tip 4: Prices- On the day before your planned sale, or even earlier, price all your items. There will be no time to do it the day of, as people start arriving as soon as they see you putting out items. Price things within reason for a garage sale, remember this is the cheapest form of second-hand shopping so full store price for anything will not be acceptable, even if it is new. Price things with enough room to bargain, most people dicker over prices. A few people will buy it without bargaining, and for the rest you have enough room on your price to maneuver. Be careful not to price it too high though otherwise people won't even bother to look. If you are unsure of the

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>