Garage sales hints and tips help me plan my sale?

Question

I am going to have a garage sale....should I sort the items by type (kitchen stuff, toys, office supplies) or by price ($5 table $1 table)

Is theft a big problem - do you think 2 people working the sale is enough to help watch for thieves? I know the last time I had a sale with just junk stuff came up missing and people switched prices, I don't want that to happen this time with nicer stuff...

As for clothes - what is a good price? I was thinking $1 for shirts and like $3 for pants...

what would be better thurs fri sat , or fri sat sun and after the 1st of the month or the middle of the month??

any help would be great

Answer 1

I don't know what you are selling, but here are some  hints for certain items. If you have clear glassware such as vases, bowls, bottles (even some liquor bottles)  to sell---they will sell quicker if you put water and different food colors (red, purple, blue, green, yellow) in them, people can see how pretty they are. Vases are usually hard to sell for even a dime. (my friend's husband did this at their garage sale and in about an hour all the glass stuff was bought).  She had a baby swing for sale, so we put it close to the street and put a big stuffed bear in it and wound it up, it sold pretty quick after that. Also we sat some dolls in a lawnchair and  we arranged the books with the titles facing up in a big box, so they could be scanned quickly by customers. Many times people come to look  for one specific type of item, baby stuff, gag gifts, toys, kids clothes, glassware, books, dvds, jewelry, etc....so it is etter to group items.. If you can have an extension cord handy so customers can try out electrical items, that is a big help. And if you are selling a stereo or radio, plug it in and have it playing. Setting a box of free items close to the curb also helps people stop at your sale, put a big sign with FREE on the front. Keep the nicer stuff closer to you, the larger cheap items (plastics etc) farther away, and have help especially the first few hours, a few  people take advantage of a single person being distracted to pilfer  or even grab the money bag. And if you really need to get rid of your stuff, you can advertise 1/2 price after a certain time, and also take numbers of people who are dealers who buy up leftovers at garage sales.

Answer 2

Hi!

You should definitely sort your items by type and sorting your clothing by size and gender will be greatly appreciated by your customers.

I live in a pretty rural area, but I have not noticed theft to be a problem. If you do want to have a watcher though, you should maybe have 3 people helping (1 to watch and 2 for checking people out).

In my area, Fridays are the HUGE sale day. I usually do mine all day Friday and until noon or 1:00 on Saturday. Sometimes going into a 3rd day is just not worth it, unless you are having your sale on a holiday weekend when you know you will have a lot of traffic.

Kid's clothing usually sells well.  You can price these items a little higher especially if they are in great condition and name brand, like gap or gymboree jeans $3-5, tops $2-3. You can go lower on no-name brand items. Adult clothing sells for just about the same as kid's clothing.  Check out the kid's clothing pricing guide referred to below.

Don't forget to advertise! Put an ad in your local paper, make up some fliers to post locally or at your workplace and tell all of your friends and family!

Good luck!

Answer 3

,Hello when you are having a garage sale and need to get organ sized, are you having it on your own or with some one else going in with you, maybe a friend or neighbors,   easy by the numbers, and  like you said place all the kitchen and nic nac price all items put on a table, is it in a garage or out in the open, do you have a lot of things or just a few, if you have furniture put  to one side and marked price but be flex able with price, don't give it away. as well as clothes $1 and $3 are good price,make sure they are clean and hung up or folded,  Fri, sat, n sun are good days starting time is to be on time say 7am or 7.30 till  2pm as a lot of people will get there before and try and buy things for low prices some are buying for markets stalls or are dealers so be careful don't let them get to you by under selling, have plenty of bags to put items in and news paper to rap items up with, don't leave money on table, and have a bum bag or tin to  put change in, lock doors to main house and don't let anyone in, even to go to toilet if needed get some one to go with them and stay with, as house is open, and  some people use it to see what they can take, so watch thief is easy to do when you are busy, so be on your guard, as your house and items are open to many people, and don't want to have things stolen good luck.

Answer 4

As for switching tags, could you write what the item is on the price tag? For example, instead of just $7, put "Toaster $7" on the tag. That takes more time, so I would probably just do that for the higher priced things.

I go to garage sales looking for really good deals. I think $3 for pants or jeans is really good. One dollar for a good shirt is fine.

I think 2 people is enough. Pretty sad that people have to steal from garage sales, huh?

Definitely Saturday and Sunday. The days the majority of people have off work.

One other thing...Please, please take down your signs as soon as the sale is over.

Answer 5

Sat or Sunday for sure, I organise by type, for many reasons, but it is also helpful to keep an eye on things, for eg: if you are worried about CD's it is easier to watch them if they are all in one place, also think about the buyers, you go to what you are interested in, so having that stuff together is helpful.

2 people is ok, but aim for more, to allow for toilet breaks, lunch break etc while still leaving 2 people there, and especially if you have had theft problems prior to this, maybe you could get some cheap t-shirts in very visable colours to wear and put STAFF on it, and ask your helpers to move about and keep an eye out, hopefully that will dissuade people from stealing, also, keep things visable, don't put things out of sight, for people to rummage in.

Hints:  Have bags for purchases and have change (coins and small notes) ready for the day and WEAR it, don't be tied to a table that has a cash box, use a f***y pack/ bum bag to put the money in, it allows you to move around.  Be open to haggling of course but try to have a lowest price in mind before hand.

Label stickers are good, but if you have the label price swap problem, maybe you could label some things with a marker? On the bottom of things preferably.

Clothes, the prices sound good, stick to that.and be warned the BIGGEST problem with all garage sales is people turning up before you are ready to start, it is sooo annoying cause it is the last half hour or so you need to get 100% organised and these people take that away and you don't get the time to catch that time up, so if you can keep people totally out until you are 100% ready (on time) do it.