Planning
- Make sure you really have enough items to hold the sale in the first place. You should really also have no reservations selling your items to the public. Remember the purpose of holding a yard sale is just as much to get rid of the junk as it is to make money on it.
- Invite friends and family to participate. The more items on sale, the more cars are likely to stop as well as convert stops to sales. Plus your other participants can lighten the load and create breaks for eachother.
- Take an ad out in the paper. Make some signs for the front of your house. If you don't live on a main road, plant some signs well in advance leading the way.
- Go to the bank and get a large sum (we used $300) in various bills and quarters.
- Grab some bold, but bright markers and thick paper for signs. Pick up some labels/stickers. They make them specifically for yard sales, but you can always get by with masking tape or taping paper to items.
- Save up plastic bags and boxes. You'll need them to help people take their new purchases away.
- Decide on the space you'll use. The closer to the road the better. A lot of people will browse from their cars so it's important to make it easy on them.
- Plan for bad weather. A large canopy tent or hung tarp can provide shade and rain cover.
- Set your time. Consider 8am - 3pm. Hardcore yard salers could be there at the immediate start if you place an ad and they like what they see. Most visitor traffic (in my experience) is dying out around 3. Many yard sales will go till 4, but IMHO if you start packing by 3 it'll be 4 before you finish and you can still cater to those tricklers who will do some box rumaging.
- Price your items.
- Price them early.
- Price them low, but maybe just a little higher than what you expect to get for it. There's two schools of thought on this... Price it high and expect to bargain people (so they think they're getting a deal) or price it as you want it and let the right buyer come for it.
- Don't price items in increments smaller than 25 cents. Pennies, nickels, and dimes are not fun to deal with.
- Consider what you think is fair. If the item has value, price it as the value. However if you're pricing something higher than it's fair value because it holds more intrinsic value to you, it may be worth considering if it should be sold at all.
- Consistancy helps. Books, for example, might be subcategorized hard/soft cover but shouldn't have lots of different "cost levels." That just gets confusing. Clothing is another good example.
- Group items and try to sell them in a group. Have a collection of some kind? Sell the whole set rather than allow it to be split and become harder to sell the rest.
- Have something of extreme value ( >$500)? Don't sell it at a yard sale. People come looking for bargins with their dollar bills. They aren't carrying their check books. Place an ad or eBay it!
- Put the most expensive, most impressive, most desired to sell items up front. A lot of people will only browse 5 - 10 feet "into" the sale making the first impression most important. Keep moving things up into those spots as things sell.
- Set your items into "departments." Got a bunch of holiday items? Technology items? Glassware? Group them into sections so people can find things easier.
- Make things easy to browse. Get some tables. Organize books spine out so they can be browsed without being moved. Older folks, who will be a large portion of your patrons, won't bother if they can't see or get to it easily.
- Be conscious of walking lanes. If people can't get someplace, they won't try to go there. And then they won't see the silly lawn angel you've been trying to sell for 8 hours.
- Optimize your items. Got a fake christmas tree? Set it up. Stainless steel platter? Polish it. Electric equipment? Run a cable and be prepared to show it works. You may even want to create an opportunity for folks to try on clothing somehow as well. Just like selling a house, the more people can imagine how the item fits in their house the more likely they'll buy it.
- Get a lock box. Keep the key on you. Put the box out of plain sight.
- You may want to setup the night before and cover your things. It'll be a big day.
- Get out early. "Yard salers" are hardcore and will be out and about (we figure) as early as 8am. Setup the balloons and signs.
- Take shifts as able. Hopefully it will be sunny and warm.
- Be polite and greet people as you can. Creating a friendly atmosphere is important. Carry boxes for the old ladies dammit.
- Be prepared to make deals and discuss the value of items. Remember half of the purpose of a yard sale is to get rid of the crap you've acrued. Sticking to your prices may not be worth having to haul the stuff back inside.
- Having someone as a "greeter" in the front is a good idea, but you may want to station any other participants toward the back behind all the merchandise so visitors don't get the wrong impression and assume something is not for sale.
- Selling beverages is a good way to make some side cash as well as keep yourself hydrated. I wouldn't get crazy into selling foods. Most yard sale vets move quickly between sales and prolly have some tradition to eat out or at home.
- Hopefully it will be sunny. If it is remember your sunscreen. You'll be sitting under the heatlamp for several hours.
- Before throwing out all that crap you couldn't convert to sales consider donating. Clothing and books have several possible outs; most notable right now is the New Orleans area. Many other items are also valuable to the right organization. Housing items can be used by emergency housing for example.
- Large items might be worth holding onto rather than discarding. Wait for the right buyer. Take an ad in the paper perhaps.
- Two-Day Rule: Items too large to go out in the trash and you can't stand to look at them anymore? Leave them on the lawn with a FREE sign and they'll be gone within two days.
- Remember you can always eBay!
No comments:
Post a Comment