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First off, let's try to see your yard sale from your customer's point of view. What are you going to notice when you browse? Is it well organized, can I find what I'm looking for, are things clean or cobweb covered? Appearance is 70% of your yardsale. So, let's get started on how to make your yardsale a success.
1. Let's talk rules and regulations. Some cities/towns will permit you to have signs, no restrictions, no questions asked. In other cities, you may be allowed 2 signs, but they must either be on your property, or not on a major highway or a city pole. In the city I live in, there are no restrictions to signs, but you do have to have a license to have a yardsale, which prevents the never-ending sale. The license costs $5/sale. Also, in my city, you're only allowed to have 2 yardsales a year. Check with your city office/hall to see what the regulations and restrictions are there.
2. Let's talk advertising, now. If there are no restrictions to signs in your city, GREAT! Put your signs up everywhere. Make smaller signs highlighting your bigger items, and hang them on the corkboards at the grocery store, or at the local Wal-Mart. Newspapers normally charge about $15.00 for a three day, four line ad. (note: that's approximately what it is in my city, varies) You'll probably earn the money back from your ad anyway. Especially if you advertise it in the paper. If you have larger items (i.e. lawnmower, chandelier, car, tires, stereo, t.v., rugs) or an abundancy of an item (i.e. clothing, glassware, electronics, cd's/tapes, antiques, ceramics, videos, etc.) make sure you add them into your ad. Try to avoid the word 'miscellaneous'. I don't know about you, but when I see an ad that reads "Clothing, tv, miscellaneous" I think "clothing, tv, junk". Try to include most of your items in your ad, avoiding the M word.
3. You'll want to make sure you have enough stuff for your yard sale. You don't want to sell out your first day! Accumulate items weeks, even months, before your sale. Ask friends, relatives, neighbors, co workers, anyone you know, if they have anything they'd like to get rid of. Most people will say "Yeah! I've got so much junk..." or something of the sort. Try to avoid buying things at other yardsales just to turn around and sell at yours. I did this once. I bought a vacuum at a yardsale for $3. I took it home, it worked, but I didn't really need it. So I decided to sell it in my yardsale. The vacuum had a large purple stain on the white bag, so it would be recognizable to the owner. And guess what? The woman I bought it from ended up at my yardsale. She asked how much I wanted for it. I told her ten dollars. She says "Funny, you bought it from me for three." Needless to say, she didn't buy anything. So, try to avoid buying things just for the sake of reselling them.
If you're selling your kids' things, make sure you ask them a few times first if they're sure they want to get rid of it. If you sell your daughter's favorite dress, and three days later she asks where it is, it'll probably end up in an argument. Make sure you have it through their heads that you're selling it.
4. Make sure you price everything! I don't know about you, but I get tired of asking the seller, "How much do you want for this?" and having them say, "Oh, how about..." If you have a lot of clothes, make a sign saying "Clothes - 50 cents a piece" or something of the sort. Unless of course you want to price all your clothes separately. "Free boxes, quarter boxes, and dime boxes" work amazingly also. If you have larger items, make signs for them. Try neon paper, and print them off your computer. (i.e. LawnMower - Works - $20.00 OBO)
5. If you just have to have the dog with you, because he'll whine and cry if you leave him, (mine does), make sure you tie him up somewhere. I went to a sale once where the seller couldn't answer my questions because she was too busy trying to keep her dog off the stuffed animals. Although keeping the dog out of sight is better, make sure the animal isn't going to be in the way.
6. Here's a tip for you women: ATTRACT MALES TO YOUR SALES! "How?" you ask? Ok, so it may take a little bribing to get your husband to stop at a yardsale, but if he see "man" things, he's likely to want to stop. Try putting the lawnmower and tires at the end of your driveway, in sight from the road. Try putting electronics, jars of screws or nails, tools and things like that on one table. Another thing I've noticed men are interested in is computer periphreals. Mice, keyboards, speakers, monitors, old computers, printers etc. Make sure you're "man" things are visible from the road.
7. Don't overprice!!! My grandmother once had a sale where she was trying to sell a pair of Jnco jeans, (yes, they're namebrand, but wait...) with the bottoms completely torn out of them, and they had a huge grease stain on the front for $15.00! I don't think anyone ever bought them. Try to think 1/3 of what the item costs in the store. Of course, no one is going to care if you paid $30 for the record you bought 30 years ago (unless it's a collector), and they probably won't pay $10.00 for it, either. Try to think, "What would I pay for this?" and go from there. Remember, you can always go down on your prices, but not up.
8. Make sure the items are clean. Your customers aren't going to paw through a box of clothes if everything is covered with cobwebs, or if the glassware is full of dead bugs. Try to at least dust everything, and empty out the bugs.
9. Bags, bags, bags. You can get them from your local grocery store. They normally won't just hand out the paper ones, but the plastic ones they will. Just ask for some for a yardsale, and they'll give you some. If what they gave you isn't enough, go to the next store and get more. If a customer buys three armfulls of clothes, it'd be nice to have a bag to put them in.
10. If you just have to have your sale on the hottest day of the summer, provide your customers with something cold to drink. If you don't like the idea of putting out money for soda or lemonade, try paper cups and a pitcher of ice water.
11. If you're selling electrical equiptment, expect to be asked if the item works. If it does, tell them it does. If it doesn't, tell them it doesn't. Don't lie to your customers, they're more than likely to find you out. Have your electrical equiptment near an outlet, so your customers can try things out. If you're selling a can opener, grab a couple of soda cans, and use them as your "test cans."
And last, but not least, BE FRIENDLY! Don't treat your customers as if they're not worthy of your items, and don't lie to them. Don't overcharge, if you know something isn't worth what you're charging. They'll likely complain on their way out of your sale. Be friendly to every person that enters your garage. Good luck, and happy yardsaling!
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