With all the work that goes into a garage sale, you might as well bring in as much revenue as possible. That is why you should operate your garage sale like it?s a business. My recent garage sale generated more than $ 1,600 in sales.
Here are some guidelines and tips:
- Besides all the items from your household you want to sell, embellish your selection with items you purchase elsewhere, just like any other retail business. For example, I bought 200 paperback books at an estate sale for ten cents each and offered them for sale at my garage sale for fifty cents each. The bigger selection I offer, the longer buyers will browse for something they like.
- Bring in items from the family business. Maybe your family is in the construction industry, for example. Are there unused items leftover in the construction office, or jobsite? These might sell quickly to a do-it-yourselfer. I sell items on eBay. The items that do not sell end up on the shelves of my garage sale.
- Make your garage sale an inviting atmosphere. Lots of lighting. A fan if it is hot. A radio or TV on. Pricing signs posted on the walls or tables.
- Bottled water. Garage sales are usually held in hot weather. How about selling bottled water in an ice cooler? At my recent garage sale I bought three 24-bottle cases for $ 10 ($ 0.14 per bottle) and sold eight bottles for one dollar each. I could have done a better job of merchandising the bottled water than leaving it in a closed cooler. I had signs posted, but should have put the bottles in an open bin with ice to suggest their sale.
- Advertise? advertise? advertise. First, online. You can place a free posting on craigslist or ebayclassifieds and go into lots of detail about what you are offering.
- Use the local newspaper, the daily newspaper if possible. A 3-day listing of 7 lines in the Garage Sale section cost me $ 42.48. Avoid general phrases, like, ?Something for everyone.? Instead, promote your best products with phrases like: ?Baby clothes;? ?Hand Tools;? ?Xbox Games;? or ?Vintage Vinyl Records.?
- I put up 26 garage sale yard signs in a 5-mile radius of my home. The idea is to capture as many passersby as possible. I placed signs at every main intersection. You can buy pre-made signs. The office supply shop near me sells four for $ 20. Or you can make your own, like I do. All year I am looking for abandoned real estate signs, political signs, and other yard and roadside signs. For a backing I use standard construction paper 22 inches x 28 inches in fluorescent colors. Two pieces will fit nicely over a standard yard sign frame. Staple them together along the edges. For the print, I use a contrasting fluorescent color of 8.5 x 11 paper. Using the same combination on all your signs lets drivers more easily follow the route to your garage sale. Use as few words as possible. Print them as big as possible on the computer, using Microsoft Word or the equivalent. The letters on my signs are 4.5 inches high. Simply highlight a word or letter, hold down the CTRL key, and touch the right bracket key ?]? till the letter or word gets as big as you want it. The idea is to allow drivers to quickly read your sign as they pass by.
- After your garage sale is over for the day, drive around and inspect your signs. I found one sign had been relocated so the arrow pointed the wrong direction. Two other signs were stolen.
- Set your hours to match the retail world. It does not have to be 24 hours, but my hours are 8 am to 6 pm.
- Pick your own days. Standard garage sale days are Thursday, Friday and Saturday. My recent sale started on Tuesday and ended on Saturday. Next time I might try Monday through Wednesday. That way, you do not have any competition.
- Make a daily deposit. Just like your local retailer, you should drop money in the ATM at the end of every day. This gives you the structure to know what your sales were and to appreciate the hard work it took to get them.
- Consider the upcoming holiday. I didn?t plan it, but having my sale the week leading into Father?s Day helped me generate additional sales.
- Take enough money out of the bank to provide all the change you need. Consider the worst-case scenario, when a customer presents you with a fifty or one hundred dollar bill, or even a twenty. My change bank was $ 170:20 dollars in quarters/50 dollars, in singles/40 dollars, in fives/60 dollars in tens. At the end of the sale the $ 170 goes back into the bank.
- This sale I set up bargain bins containing items priced at $ 0.25, $ 0.50, $ 1.00, and $ 2.00. I also had two free bins, one for books. Garage sale buyers like to rummage for bargains.
- I used two old bed sheets to cover up the wall behind the workbench that is full of tools. Otherwise I would have spent lots of time explaining the tools were not for sale.
- Sweep the floor and driveway. Empty the trash. Keep the place clean for your customers.
- If you plan on holding garage sales every summer, consider buying retail display racks. I bought two for $ 75 each from a video store liquidating its stock. Note the photo of it holding paperback books.
- ?Are there any other garage sales in the area?? Many of your customers ask that. Clip out the garage sale section of the newspaper and post it on the wall for your customers to review.
- Security. Best to have one other family member on hand. Do not leave doors to your house unlocked. Do not allow anyone into your house to use the bathroom. Watch for a large group of people coming in and creating confusion. Call the police if necessary. Set up a cashier station and stand at it when customers are shopping. Pay attention. Do not use your garage sale as a social gathering with neighbors; you won?t be paying attention to your customers.
- Finally, keep notes of what sold well and what did not for your next garage sale. Make special note of items shoppers asked for, like coins or jewelry, or hand tools. You may want to add some for your next sale. Keep track of your sales and expenses.
Therefore operating your garage sale like it is a family business will definitely reward your hard work.
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