How to Have a Successful Yard Sale

Believe it or not, there is a right way and a wrong way to hold a SUCCESSFUL yard sale.

Here is a list of DOs to help you get rid of unneeded items while bringing in a little extra cash.

1.  Don’t do this on your own! Get several neighbors to hold a yard sale on the same Saturday. Yes, now you have competition, but the increased traffic will more than make up for it. you can then promote it as a multi-family yard sale or as a community yard sale.

2.  Place a yard sale announcement in your favorite local paper on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the week you’re holding it (my paper charges $17 total for all for days and you can split the cost with the neighbors.
3.  Place signs at strategic places that are closest to the main intersection and then place other signs that lead them to your home. It is best to put these up on Friday morning before the event. If you put them out sooner, you run the risk of losing them.
4.  Also make sure your signs are large and legible. Put a day not a date on the sign so you can use them again. You can buy them at Lowes and Home Depot or you can make your own with bright colored poster board. Again, purchasing or making the signs can be a group effort with neighbors with respect to cost and placement.
5.  Place your best items closest to the street and spread your things out nicely so it looks like you have a ton of stuff.
6.  It also helps to organize your items into “departments” — sporting goods, clothes, household appliances, tools, etc.
7.  Price everything in one way or another. You can use individual price stickers or make small signs such as “Everything in the box $1″. Some people aren’t hagglers and feel uncomfortable asking. There are not many of these folks. Most people tried to get you down and make a “Will you take …” type offer. If their offer is too low you can state a counter offer and tell them what you will take. Remember, it’s a yard sale so price accordingly.
8.  If you have new, unused items that may still have tags on or be in the original packaging you can price these higher and make note on the sign that they are new.
9.  Another idea if you are having a pre-holiday yard sale, you can package up some ready made gifts.f I had a bunch of unused perfume that I had collected over the years. I put them in holiday gift bags with tissue, made a little hang-tag with the fragrance name and sold them as gift sets. When the men walked by I promoted them as Christmas gifts for their wives and girlfriends and mentioned that they didn’t even have to wrap them. They sold like hotcakes.
10.  If you make crafts you can sell them too. There’s nothing that says it all has to be used stuff.

Cheers to a successful yard sale.

Happy Dickering!