My garage sale was a huge success – get my Garage Sale Tips!

I made $1000 and that was my goal, I did not have quite as much stuff as I had at my last sale where I made $1300. It was my mother and I having the sale and we sold about $1800 total.

My kids were very happy with their profits as well, my 13 year old stepdaughter made $28 with her concessions and $30 on some of her clothing and books. My 2 younger kids got to help price some of their toys and put the stickers on (you can read more about that experience here) they did well also, my 6 year old daughter made $27 and my 4 year old son made $14.

Our ad for the local newspaper cost $38 and we rented 6 tables for $25, I think it was well worth the cost.

This is the perfect spot for the kids to hang out while mom shops! We have all of the kid’s stuff outside, including a nice low table (a sheet of plywood with 3 Rubbermaid tubs underneath) for the toys.

The toys were a big hit!

Usually I end up with a lot of toys left over, but this year we really sold a lot! I was surprised at how much we sold and here are the reasons why I think we did so well:

• The low toy table was easily accessible for the kids
• Every toy had a price sticker on it
• Like items and sets were grouped and bagged together ( like the Dora doll with about 20 accessories in the clear plastic bag)
• Everything was set out and displayed nicely (stay away from piles and big boxes that shoppers have to dig through!)

I had 2 big boxes full of free toys, which included all of those little toys that you get tired of cleaning up or stepping on, and any broken toys. They went like hotcakes…I think there were about 5 items left at the end of the sale!

For similar items like books, you can use a flat price like $ .25 each if you are not concerned about keeping track of the book sales or if there is only one seller. Add “Unless Marked Otherwise” if you do have some items with price stickers – I usually price the hardcover books higher and they will have a sticker.

We were fortunate to be able to use my grandparent’s pole shed for our sale, so we had quite a bit of room. It’s hard to shop when everything is crowded.

Here we have movies (VHS & DVD) and music Cd’s. Here is the exception to putting your items in boxes or tubs. These are displayed best if they are in low sided containers standing up or on their side so the titles on the spine can be seen.

I love it when I go to a sale and I can see right where I want to go, boys clothing sz 4-5…I am there! We also add the sizes to the women’s jeans (which we always seem to have a lot of).

Here I had some New eBay inventory that I wanted to clear out and have used signs to show what’s here.

I love this idea, I used this box sign for the intersection by my house that had traffic coming from 3 ways, so I put a sign on 3 sides. Just tape the poster board to the box and set a rock or something heavy inside the box!

You can add some of the types of items you have at your sale to your signs, if you have room.

Some think that I go a little overboard with my garage sale, but I think that all of these little extras make your shoppers feel a little more comfortable, help them find what they are looking for and encourage them to spend their hard earned money at your sale!

Please share some of your garage sale tips with us!

Tags: garage sale pricing, garage sales, having a garage sale, making extra money, yard sales

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 9:05 am and is filed under Finances, Garage Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.