GARAGE SALE TIPS
If you’ve started spring cleaning or plan on starting, having a garage sale is a great way to bring in extra cash and get out of debt.
There are plenty of places to sell your way out of debt, but garage sales are great when you have a lot of items, fragile glassware, heavy items, or want cash now.
How to Have a Successful Garage Sale
My husband and I have the best garage sale tips to make the most money. Yes, getting rid of junk is good, but let’s be honest, making a lot of money while doing it is even better.
Get your garage sale signs out, plan ahead, and follow the tips in this post and you’ll be raking in the cash in no time!
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We made over $1,000 at our last garage sale just from selling things we didn’t need. That’s enough to pay off some bills, start an emergency fund, and even go on a mini vacation.
Get out your junk and let’s get started.
PICKING THE DATE
I’ve seen garage sales held all days of the week, but mainly on weekends.
The last one we did was Saturday/Sunday.
If you’re on a busy road, a garage sale during the week can be just as good because you’ll have little to no competition and let’s be honest, it’s different.
Basically what I’m telling you is to pick any day that works best for you as long as:
1) It doesn’t land on a major holiday (Easter, 4th of July, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day). However, you never know, maybe people want to pick up a last minute gift, but it’s risky.
2) The weather is potentially going to be good. This is hard to tell, which is why you should have at least a two day garage sale so you decrease your odds of getting shut out. If you want you can schedule a rain date.
If it’s too hot less people may come, if it’s windy your stuff will blow all over the place. Check the weather forecast as close to the time you are going to need to pick the date as possible.
PICKING A GOOD TIME
One of the best garage sale tips to make the most money is to have it start early and end early.
People going to garage sales will go to the ones that open earlier first. If your garage sale opens later they may not have as much money to spend by the time they get to yours.
If your garage sale ends later than other garage sales, your traffic later in the day may be lighter and you may be wishing you could just pack up your stuff.
ADVERTISING
There are so many FREE places to advertise your garage sale that it amazes me when people just pay to put an ad in the newspaper and are disappointed when no one shows up.
Advertise your garage sale on your personal Facebook page and multiple group pages.
List your garage sale multiple times on Craigslist, gsalr.com, yardsales.net, etc.
Add photos to your posts. This creates excitement and is a great way to drive traffic. If you can’t get a photo of all your items, try to post photos of the big and popular items. People love vinyl records, furniture, collectibles, etc.
If you’re having a two day sale post photos of what’s leftover from the first day and
MULTI SALE
If you can get at least two of your neighbors to have a garage sale with you it means you can advertise as a multi-family garage sale.
When people see the word multi their eyes light up because it means less driving and more stuff to look at and buy all in one convenient location.
Having a multi-family garage sale also means being able to have people help with signage and advertising.
We have always done our own free advertising, but if you want to everyone can chip in a set amount (maybe $5) and you can get some paid advertising too. Or charge $5 and you take care of all the signage and advertising. This makes it convenient for your neighbors and you can make a little extra cash before the garage sale even starts.
YARD SALE SIGNS
I see terrible garage sale signs all the time. Even ones that people spend a lot of money on are lacking, so here is one of the best garage sale tips to make the most money.
All you need are neon colored poster boards and a thick black marker.
Make your sign as big as possible without compromising stability. Are your signs going to be on a pole, stuck in the ground, or hanging? You can even put up balloons.
If your sign is too big it’ll flap in the wind or curl up.
Make sure your writing is bold and legible.
Your garage sale signs should have this information on it:
GARAGE SALE – at the top
ADDRESS/LOCATION
DATE – I write the days of the week AND the dates
TIME – When does it start and end
RAINDATE – If applicable
DIRECTIONAL ARROWS – This is very important. We put up signs at major crossroads leading to our garage sale.
Good signs will get people who are just driving by to go to your garage sale too.
Drive past your signs after you put them up to make sure you can read them. If you can’t and you’re actively looking for them, no one else can either.
Garage sale sign DONT’s:
Not enough information.
Some people will just write “garage sale” with an arrow. Unfortunately in prime garage sale season people will put up signs like this so they don’t have to take them down. These signs can be left up weeks after a sale has passed.
With dates on your garage sale signs people will make mental notes of the date if they want to go back.
I saw this yard sale sign posted and just shook my head. They chose to use alphabet stickers, which in theory is great because it’s legible and bold. However, what they didn’t account for was that the moisture in the air would cause the letters to curl up.
The sign was in a good location, at a busy traffic light intersection where I’m sure a lot of people see it. I live in the area and it took awhile to figure out what street it was. People with little time to read the sign won’t try to figure it out.
Pay attention to where you place your signs. I have seen a bunch of signs posted on the poles along a major highway. Yea a lot of cars drive by them, but most will never see what they say for two reasons.
1) They are on a highway driving at least 50 miles per hour and in order for them to be stopped in that area traffic would have to be atrocious.
2) The sign was neon, but the marker they used was so thin you couldn’t read it from afar.
Place signs where people stop, traffic lights, intersections.
Another pet peeve of mine is when people place signs and it’s facing perpendicular to the road. Who is reading that?!
The sign should be facing in a way that the cars passing can read them. Even if someone was walking by they would have to go around the pole to see signs improperly placed like this. It happens ALL THE TIME.
Don’t do it. Just don’t.
Here are some HILARIOUS garage sale signs that you have to make for your next garage sale. They are so different and you’ll attract a lot of people just out of curiosity.
CHANGE
Make sure you have a good amount of small bills and change. The goal is to sell lots of items and if that happens, you’ll be getting a lot of $20 bills.
Keep your money safe and manage it by wearing an apron with pockets/zippers or having a lock box that is always manned. You don’t want that walking away.
SORTING/ORGANIZATION
Group like items together. Holiday items in one area, clothes in another, kick knacks, books, etc.
If someone is looking at baby items you’ll have a better chance of selling more of it if they are grouped together.
I like having items on tables, but if you don’t have enough tables, blankets on the ground will work too.
Having items such as cd’s and DVD’s in boxes are okay as long as you can see what they are. Sometimes people don’t like to dig around and make a mess. Other people will love throwing your stuff all over so don’t go too crazy organizing.
I like to have the clothes separated by gender and age. If you can, hang the extra nice, more expensive pieces on a clothing rack. You’ll be able to ask more for those clothes.
YARD SALE STICKERS/PRICING
There are pros and cons to pricing out your items.
PROS
If you get busy you won’t have to deal with people asking you every second how much at item costs.
People who are introverts won’t be deterred from buying. Some people are just uncomfortable asking for prices.
You can color code items by price or use pricing stickers.
CONS
When you have a lot of things to sell, pricing them all out might be impossible.
Stickers can come off.
Don’t put stickers on items that can be damaged. E.g. vinyl records, magazines.
When you price your items assume people will want to negotiate. Look online or go to other garage sales before you have yours to get a feel of how you should price your items.
If your prices are outrageously high people might just leave because they think that even if they haggle it’ll be too expensive for them.
Don’t price too low. All your good stuff will sell fast and you’ll be left with junk and not much money either.
PERMITS
Each state has different rules and regulations. I had gone to a town-wide garage sale once and there were barely any signs.
Some towns prohibit the hanging of signs and will even fine you for doing so.
Lots of towns also don’t allow you to nail things on telephone poles because they are a potential hazard. I normally tape up our signs. If I do use nails I always bring a hammer to remove them.
Do your research so you don’t get stuck paying a fine. The objective is to make money, not give it away.
FOOD
Having prepackaged foods (chips, candy) and drinks is a good way to bring in extra cash at your garage sale.
I’ve even been to garage sales where people will be having a barbeque out front and selling baked goods.
Cold drinks are popular in the hot months.
Again, some towns may have rules and regulations about selling food so check!
NEGOTIATION/HAGGLING
People love garage sales to get good deals. If someone comes over and asks you for a price and then walk away stop them with a counteroffer. Sometimes feeling like they are getting a deal is all is takes to make the sale.
BAGS, PACKAGING, NEWSPAPER, BOXES
Always have bags and boxes. If you sell a lot of clothes or glassware they make it easier for your customers to carry them off.
People are strange and you’d be surprised what would prevent a person from buying more items. Be proactive and accommodate them.
Don’t pay for packaging items. Use bags from the grocery store and newspaper in the recycling.
KIDS
I personally haven’t done this (yet), but I’ve seen it work.
Kids will have their own stand at the garage sale and sell their toys or lemonade.
I’m a sucker every time. Even if I’m not thirsty I buy a drink.
These lemonade stand covers make fold up tables look so cute and professional. One person said their kids made $200 selling lemonade using this cover! It’s machine washable and can be used over and over, which means this is something worth investing in to help save and pay for college 😉
I can appreciate a kid learning how to make and save money at a young age.
Garage sales can get hectic quick. If your kids are too little or can’t be supervised, you’re better off having them stay at someone’s house so you can focus on making sales.
PARKING
If you have limited parking by your house make sure to move your cars further down the block. If you have several vehicles try leaving some at a friend’s house.
You want your garage sale to be as accessible as possible.
I’ve seen HUGE garage sales with little to no traffic because of limited parking spots.
Amazon has this affordable garage sale kit that comes with stickers, all-weather signs, and stickers. A great buy if you want to make money. All you need are thick black markers and you’re all set.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these best garage sale tips to make the most money.
Remember:
1) Pick a date and time
2) Get neighbors to have a garage sale with you
3) Advertise and make great signs
4) Organize items by type
5) Price big items and if you want and have time price smaller items
6) Check with your town for any special rules or regulations regarding garage sales
What are some of your best garage sale tips to make the most money?
This is perfect timing! I was just digging through a whole lot of stuff that needs to go and it’s been years since I’ve had a yard sale. I usually post them on eBay but it just seems quicker to throw outside. (Not literally, of course. Through I’ve considered that, too.)
LOL I know what you mean. Hope you make lots of money!! 🙂
Thanks for the thorough information! Maybe this will move me to host my own!
a very thorough guide and great tips!
thank you!
There are great tips! I really need to have a garage sale, I’m just finding the energy to actually do it a little hard to muster at the moment.
It does take energy getting your stuff out and organized, but feels so good once the junk is replaced with cash 🙂
We just recently had one and ran into a few issues wish I would have read this it’s very thorough many things we didn’t think about and you covered it all.
It happens. Our first garage sale was very chaotic 😉
These are great tips, we are actually planning on having our first garage sale this year so I’m definitely going to remember the tips.
That’s great. Good luck! I’m sure you’ll make a lot of money too.
These are great tips. Garage sells are such a pain to plan for. Ugh! But the outcome is nice!
Yes I agree especially when you have a lot of stuff. But it just means you can make more money.
These are great tips! We try to have a garage sale once a year, but sometimes life gets too crazy and it doesn’t happen. I love getting rid of the stuff we don’t need. I agree with having good signing and advertising. That is key. Now I want to go shop some garage sales!
Thank you. Yes I feel you on the craziness.
So much great information here! Garage sales can be a great way to make decent money while clearing clutter from the house so it’s something I love!
Yes, we’re getting rid of more junk now.
Great info! I have never had a garage sale before and I’m planning a pretty big one this summer, so I will be definitely be referring back to this info!
That’s awesome! Good luck. Get your signs!
Great tips, and very thorough. Anyone planning a garage sale should be successful if they listen to you!
Thank you! I hope so 🙂
$1000?!?! That is a lot! Good for you! We have several garage sale weekends in our neighborhood. I should get in on the action!
Yes you should! Make some money for savings or a nice vacation 🙂
Great tips! I am not much of a garage sale person but they can be fun!
I prefer going to them than having one, but gotta do what you gotta do when money is tight lol
Great tips! Yep, I would want to go to your yard sale. 🙂
LOL come get food
You’ve really thought this through– no wonder you’ve been successful! I have never had a garage sale. When I do, I will be better prepared from reading this article– thanks!
You’re very welcome.
Aw! We live in an apartment, so we don’t have garage sales, but we’re moving soon to a house, and now I want to have a garage sale! Maybe we’ll have a moving garage sale!
ohh that’s exciting. Maybe go to some garage sales to get some stuff for the new place lol
My husband and I love doing garage sells every once in awhile and your tips are very accurate! The date and time are key!
thanks!
Great guide! I’m gonna do one soon. declutter the garage. What seems to be consistent with everyone, is that organization is key. The way you group the things you’re selling.
Good luck! Yes. The items don’t have to look super neat. I’ve found people buy more when they get to dig through the junk, but yes definitely grouped by category.