How to Have a Garage Sale
Through the years, households build up a lot of household items and pieces that are no longer deemed useful. Having a garage sale is usually seen as a great way to declutter your house and at the same time, profit from it. However, a garage sale is a serious project that needs to be planned carefully before being executed. Here’s how.
What to Sell
Make sure that you actually have enough items in your household you’d like to get rid of before actually having a garage sale.
garage saleLook through your things for the items you no longer want and you no longer need. You can also sell your broken things, but make sure that you inform potential buyers of their condition. Otherwise, buyers will start to distrust your word on the things you sell and end up not buying anything at all.
On the other hand, label things that have never been used as an encouragement to buyers.
Go through your house systematically and check in your kitchen, cabinets, cupboards, dressers, beds and areas in the house for items to sell, namely:
Accessories: Scarves, bags, belts, luggage
Baby equipment and baby clothes. Just make sure that these items are in excellent condition, out of courtesy to the infant who will use them in the future.
Books and magazines. Do not sell books that are torn, missing pages and covers.
Clothes and shoes
Camping and sporting equipment
Electrical goods. It’s usually better to include the original box, manual and other instructions.
Furniture
Furnishings
Jewelry
Kitchenware
Toys
Unused presents
Pet equipment
It’s also necessary to check your local government laws or rules about what items are acceptable in a garage sale. For example, bedding and beds are not acceptable sellable items in garage sales in some states. Checking the local laws can save you a lot of trouble in the future.
Prepare a Space
Clear out your garage or the intended space where you plan to host your garage sale. Again, check your local laws if they have any specifications on how a garage sale must be plotted out.
If you don’t have a garage, you can have your garage sale on the lawn under a tent instead.
Have a table set up where buyers can head to for their payments.
Make sure that you arrange the items so that they are in open view and that visitors don’t have to go digging around for them.
Money Matters
Price all of your items, from the biggest to the smallest. Don’t split hairs over how much items should cost. Prioritize de-cluttering and getting rid of those things over profit. This should also guide you when haggling.
A day or two before the sale, go to the bank to have bills split into $1, $5 and $10, not to mention smaller change. Make sure that your money box is with you always at the day of the garage sale.
Be systematic when manning the garage sale. Ask a friend or a family member to help customers with choosing items while you can man another part of the area of the sale.
Scheduling the Garage Sale
Start advertising your garage sale a week before the date. Put up posters, flyers and have an advertisement put in the local newspaper. Weekends are usually the best time to host a garage sale, as people will be more at leisure to look around.
Unsold Items
What to do with the unsold items? Here are some options:
Donate to charity, such as the Salvation Army
Donate to relatives or friends
Sell the bigger items through a trading paper
Sell through Ebay
Host another garage sale