Garage Sale Tips

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Choose your location carefully. If you live in an out-of-the-way or hard-to-find location, consider having your sale at a family member's or friend's house in a neighborhood where sales are common. An easy-to-find, high-traffic site is usually best.

Make a few large, colorful signs for your house and for nearby high-traffic areas. Attach balloons to the signs to make them stand out, and have an arrow pointing the way to your sale. Garage Sale Signs, arrow stickers, and markers and other helpful items are available in NFP's Garage Sale Kit.

If you prefer, many hardware stores sell large, sturdy garage sale signs. Some are reusable and a small investment could pay off for years if you intend to hold annual sales.

Consider selling tea, coffee, hot chocolate, pop, or juice and snacks such as cookies, brownies, or donuts. No one shops long on an empty stomach. This is a great way to get the kids involved!

• Have plastic covers available to cover your merchandise in case of rain. Garages and tents provide the best protection. If these are not available to you, consider publishing a rain date in your ads and on your signs.

• Wash soiled clothing, appliances, and other items so they look their best. Heavy plastic toys can be run through the dishwasher.

• Provide bags and boxes, and newspaper, tissue paper, or bubble wrap for wrapping breakables.

• Put items in their original packages whenever possible and include instructions if you have them.

• Have batteries and an outlet available for shoppers to test electrical items before they buy. Use an extension cord if necessary.

• Have a tape measure and/or yardstick available for people to measure furniture and other items.

• If you have a large number of tapes, CD's, books, sports cards, etc., arrange by category.

• Background music can help to create a fun, relaxing atmosphere, and playing tapes or CD's you are selling could generate a sale. Be sure to keep the volume at a reasonable level.

• Anything damaged or not in working order should be marked "as is" to alert customers.

• Clearly mark all items with price tags. Many shoppers do not like to keep asking about prices and it is hard for the seller to answer all of these inquiries quickly and consistently. For your convenience, NFP sells Garage Sale Kits that come with a marking pen and 60 price stickers.

• If friends and family members are selling items at your sale, use different colored price stickers or mark them with the seller's initials so the money-taker can record how much money everyone is making.

• Use NFP inventory sheets to keep records of your sales. This sheet is available in NFP's Garage Sale Kit. You may wish to make copies before your sale if you anticipate a high volume of sales.

• Have a calculator available. You may want to consider having one person packing items and another handling the money.

• Start with about $20 in coins and at least $20 in one dollar bills. Use a cash box or makeshift container and don't leave it unattended.

• A change apron or even a cook's apron with pockets in the front can be used for holding change.

• Periodically take larger bills inside to a safe place.

• Prices should generally be from 10-50% of the original price of the item, depending on condition.

• On more expensive items, consider cutting out a copy of the item from a sales circular or catalog with the original price noted to remind customers of the worth of these goods.

• If you are open to offers on some or all of your items, label with a sign saying "Make Offers." Alternately, if you do not want to take less on your merchandise, label with prices such as "$20, Firm."

• If someone makes an offer that is not acceptable to you, consider asking them to stop back in toward the end of the sale to see if the item is still available.

• Decide beforehand if you are going to accept checks. You may want to refuse checks from people you don't know.

• Don't hold items for people unless they have already paid. If they have, clearly mark the item with a "sold" sign.

• Toward the end of your sale, consider lowering prices or offering special deals such as "Fill a bag of clothing for $1."

• Consider visiting a few garage sales yourself before holding yours; this will give you an idea of acceptable pricing and the physical arrangements that seem to work best.

• Clean up your signs as soon as possible.

• Thank friends, family, and neighbors for their help and consideration.

• Consider donating unsold items to charity. Check for donation guidelines. Some of these organizations will even pick up certain items.

• Place classified ads with NFP to sell leftover items.

Sources: Shop, Save & Share by Ellie Kay, 1998.
               Holding Garage Sales for Fun & Profit, Bob Berko, 1990.