My friend Mitzy has come up with what I consider a brilliant fundraiser for our Russia trip: a multi-family yard sale of people we know. She has gone so far as to secure an ideal location in Fallston--her parents' place. Huge garage for keeping stuff protected from the elements the night before, and a big yard on a main street in a nice neighborhood.
Date: Saturday, April 28
Here's where you, my gentle readers, come into play. I have never had a successful yard sale. Probably for a combination of reasons, I'm sure, so I need advice from seasoned yard salers --both buyers and sellers.
Please give me advice on:
-what sells and what doesn't
-what makes a good ad
-what time to start and end
-how to make the yard sale inviting from the street and comfortable for shoppers
-what not to do
-how to prepare
-how to price things efficiently and effectively
-how best to discard of leftovers (I want to donate the winter clothing to GAiN)
-anything you can think of to make the most of the opportunity
Also, anything you want to put on this yard sale that fits into the "will sell well" category is welcome! The drop-off place and time will be at Mitzy's parents' garage the day/evening before the sale.
Thanks! We appreciate your input.
19 comments:
Darn, I just dropped a bunch of stuff off at Goodwill last weekend. If I'd known about this I'd have put it towards your cause!
I have no tips about yardsales. I remember going to them with my grandmother and she'd stay FORVER looking at every single thing and buy nothing! Not fun for a kid! :)
Daneille, we are also looking for people to bake things to sell and individually wrap them (coffee cake, cheese danish, brownies) for the day. Want to help that way?
Hmm, right now I don't have a kitchen. I hope by that point I do! (I really really hope so!) So we'll have to see if we have where we are with that and that our appliances are all back into the kitchen and running!! But if so, I could possibly!
Die hard yard saler’s come very early. They read the ads the night before to see what your are selling... furniture, baby items, clothes, etc... it might help to read other yard sale ads to get an idea. If you start at 7 am expect die hard’s to do a drive by at 6:30 am. Some will even want to start shopping then. If you price too high the die hard’s will let other die hard’s know when they see them at other yard sales and people won't even bother stopping at yours. Die hard’s stick together.
Group items in categories (all shirts $.50, all pants $1.00, etc.) Also realize that half the fun of a yard sale is the wheeling and dealing so most people expect that you will come down in price, even if it is for a good cause. Instead of taking a quarter off of this and a dime off of that,(wheeling and dealing on each item) wait until they are ready to check out and then see what it all adds up to and give them a discount. You will still come out ahead and they will feel like they got a deal.
Food and drinks are good to have at a yard sale.
You could probably end by 2 or 3 pm if you want, but some go until 4. Most of the money is made in the morning.
Bright easy to read signs telling people where to find the house are good, but die hard’s read the paper. If you mark a few corners with a sign and a balloon or two out front you will be good. People follow the cars.
Over pricing will kill your yard sale the fastest. If you under price word spreads like wildfire and you will have a great turnout, but maybe not a lot of profit. If you post a sign saying where the profits are going that might keep people from wheeling and dealing too much. You want your ad to be diverse. I wouldn't go to a yard sale that only listed baby stuff, but if it listed kitchen items and baby stuff I would, so you want to make sure there is something for everyone. That is my two cents on yard sales (I am a recovering die hard in case you couldn’t figure that out...) I hope it goes well for you. Vicki
I gave Sacha a ton of stuff to sell for Russia and just recently gave a ton of stuff to Goodwill, but I do have some tips and they are just like Tori's. Definitely be ready by 6:30 am and yes the die hards come early and expect good prices. If you don't have good prices, it won't sell anyway and you want to get rid of it. Price to sell! 50 cents is a great price and so is a dollar. Grouping items and giving discounts is important AND so is putting an ad in the paper. I bet you'll do great.
Thanks for the tips. Vicki, you are a walking treasure trove of hints and how-to's! You and Beth both said to give discounts. What kind are you talking? Like if they have $10 worth of stuff...take off how much? I tend to be too generous with discounts, I'm afraid, so help me be realistic.
Danielle, my offer's still good for dinner over here. I won't bug you, but just so you know, the door's open if you want to give send out an SOS.
Regarding discounts I guess about 20% discount is the most I would go. $10=$8 if they are getting a lot. If it means keeping the sale, sometimes you just need to knock a little more off and they are happy ($7.50). People like to wheel and deal. It makes them feel good about themselves. I would also suggest that if you don't see stuff moving by mid-morning (11 am) that you cut prices. Your biggest traffic time will be between 6:30 am and 10:30 am. By noon at the latest you could really discount stuff. You don't have to change all the prices, just let people know when they come up that you are willing to work with them on the price, or have a sign ready to post by noon or two hours before you close that announces prices are cut in half.
Have plenty of food and water, I have seen people make a lot of money on food at yard sales. And you wouldn't believe how many people will eat hot dogs and sauerkraut at 8 in the morning!(me included.)
Also, save your Wal-Mart bags and newspaper ready so people have something to take their stuff home in. Sometimes people won't buy something because they are afraid it will get broken and they didn't bring anything to wrap what they wanted to buy. If you can stop buy a liquor store or grocery store for boxes that would be helpful too. Liquor stores have nice, sturdy, small boxes. (Might send the wrong message when you are raising money for a mission’s trip, but I always use them for moving, they are the best.)
Last, have plenty of change ready. Be ready to break any amount of change and have lots of ones, fives, tens, twenties, quarters, dimes, nickels, & pennies. Not being able to make change can lose a sale too. You will have to decide if you will take checks. Some people do, some don't.
Also if you have a bigger item like a large piece of furniture, I would suggest that the person has to pick it up by a certain time, give a phone number of where you can reach them, and also give a deposit or pay in full. Sometimes people want something and don't have a plan on how to get it home and then leave it at the seller's house for a long time.
Hope this helps.
Very, very helpful. I wouldn't have thought to have tens and twenties, just smaller bills. Also we plan to ask lots of people to bake and I'll have lemonade for our kidlets to sell. Probably skip the sauerkraut. Gross! I mean gross at 8 a.m. I'll talk to the group about hot dogs.
Another question: how long would you hold an item for someone who has put down a deposit? How about for someone who says, "I don't have the money. Gotta run to the ATM. Can you hold it?" Fifteen minutes? Half hour? i'm talking for like a piece of furniture.
Hey Zo-
I wasn't able to sell (due to time) all of Beth's stuff, so I am going to send it on over for the yard sale. I just talked to Mitzy. I will drop it off to her the week of. I will keep an eye out for anything else too!! : )
Have fun with this!
Thanks Zo. I'll have to talk to Josh and see. Most nights he's actually working on the house when he gets home from work, but if we have a night when he doesn't have to do that, I'll let you know. This week it's been plumbing and framing. Thanks so much!
As far as how long to hold something, that depends on when they come. If they don't put a deposit down, I wouldn't hold it. If it is first thing in the morning, maybe 30 minutes. If it is noon maybe an hour. It will depend on what you feel comfortable with, the "vibe" you get from the person etc... I don't know what your town is like and how long it would take to get to an ATM. Where I live, you could get money and be back in 15-30 minutes. It depends on traffic, and what your area is like.
I have known some people that will let someone put a deposit on something and come back hours later or even the next day, some make the person come within the hour. It is all personal preference.
You also need to ask why the person is leaving. To get money? To think it over before buying, do they want to continue shopping at other yard sales and MIGHT be back, are they leaving to get a truck to bring the item home in... Talk to them to get an idea of how serious they are about the purchase.
Here's my 2 cents!
Make people happy. If you're selling food maybe offer free coffee? Give little kids 5 and 10 cent toys for free. If a kid looks bored, but his mom wants to stay offer to give the kid a coloring book or toy from the "freebie" box. If people drive up and see others leaving with something, it gives a good impression! They won't want to miss out. If you're going to give stuff away at the end anyway, tell people to make you an offer for stuff they are eyeing (especially after 10am)
Organize. Group clothes in gender/size groups. For example boy 0-12 month 50 cents per item. Or special baby outfits $4. Clothes will sell a lot faster if people can see them stacked neatly on a table and not thrown on a tarp on the lawn.
Have lots of Big items. Ok here's my crazy idea for you. Go through your family room and get rid of all that stuff you dislike. You may end up living without a TV stand for awhile, but you may get some money for it and you won't have to look at it anymore! (We lived for 6 months with NO living room furniture except a piano! We just pulled up folding chairs when company came over =) and explained that we hadn't found what we wanted in the right price range yet!)
Christina, you're brilliant. Absolutely confirms what my heart wants to do with the TV stand! It's big, so will attract buyers on a front lawn. My daughter suggested getting rid of it, too; we just have to pray my hubby wants to part w/ it.
Great other tips, too. I'm so afraid of giving absolutely everything away, yet I know we are still nearly $3900 short our goal, due in April!
Oh, I thought of one more thing. When I bought a crib at a garage sale the husband offered to take it home for me in his truck. (I lived around the corner.) You might have your teen son? do that if you can tell the person is ok and it's not too far. A lot of times the garage sale lookers are moms with little kids like me!
I'll be praying for you to meet your goal!
I think the key to letting go of old furniture that your husband is ok with but you hate, is contentment. My husband wouldn't be happy if I got rid of something only to feel like I had to get something new (that cost money!) when I could have used what we had. However, if I'm content to let it go and be without (while still keeping a quiet eye out for the right thing at the right price) it doesn't stress him out, or make him feel pressure to "provide".
You're right, Christina. Contentment is key. Our family room would look bare without it, but we could make do.
I do hope to have some strong arms on site (male arms) the day of the sale. My bodybuilding son will probably be at work but I imagine we'll have men thru-out the day helping to haul stuff.
In your experience, is there anything that just DOES not sell, and we shouldn't even bother putting out? For example, I won't put out those cheap plastic cups you get at restaurants. Why poeple think they'll sell is beyond me. Or used underwear. Someone actually donated it. Clean, but used. But, still! (See my tongue sticking out.)
Also,l I have a LOT of fabric to sell. To give you an idea, imagine a bag that a sleeping bag comes in. I have fabric loaded to the hilt in a bag just like that, a clear zippered bag. I was thinking of pricing the fabric like this: stuff as much as you can into a Ziploc gallon bag and zip it, for _______ how much? Or is there a better way?
In my experience, there are the die hards who are looking for specific things or a great deal. They know their stuff. They won't buy used underware or plastic sippy cups. But the other type of garage salers will suprise you. In other words, you never know. I'm with you. I wouldn't put out the underware! It would just gross me out!
As for fabric, sewers love to buy good fabric at a garage sale. If they're big remnants, I'd fold them and say $1-2 per piece. I've been at lots of garage sales where it was priced by the box. It sounds like you have 2 good sized boxes worth and I bet you could get $10 per box.
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