Having A Successful Yard Sale

As a connoisseur of yard sales, garage sales, estate sales, or whatever you want to call it sales, I am often frustrated with the way other folks run their sales.   My wife can run the sale and it won’t raise thirty bucks.   My average is $100 to $400, depending on what I have to sell.  Here are some keys to hosting a successful sale:

1.  Your number one goal is getting rid of everything possible. Don’t get hung up on getting top dollar for each item, but focus on volume. Many people who come are selling on ebay or at the flea market.  They can’t buy high retail and sell at retail.  My wife always comes out and yells at me about selling too cheaply.  But at the end of the day, she is amazed at the wad in my pocket.  Yard sale success is not based on how much you get for each item, but how little you have left over at the end.

2.  You have to have enough items to hold people’s attention. If you have 20 items, don’t waste your time.  Just gather it and give it to the charity thrift shop.  Go through every closet and storage area and ask yourself , “When was the last time I used this?”  Better yet, “When was the last time I saw this?”  Clutter is a source of stress.  Turn it into cash and go have a good time.

3.  Good signage is crucial. I never advertise in the newspaper, but I do have good signage.    Your signs should be in large readable letters.  Remember, people will be reading this from a car seat at quite a distance.  Not only that, they will be reading it while they are moving.  Try to get at least one sign on a busy street.  If there are turns to make, mark them clearly.   Most importantly, put your largest, nicest sign in your front yard.

4.  Pricing is everything. I’ve already alluded to this, but the reason most sales end with half their stuff not sold, is price.   Don’t wait until the final hours of the sale to drop prices.   I drop my prices continuously from the very start.  One of my most successful sales was when I had a couple of clothes tables with everything on those tables at 10 cents each.   People got on their cell phones and called all their friends and they came from everywhere.  In retailing, they call that a loss leader.   Stores will actually sell for below wholesale cost to gather a crowd to buy all the other stuff.

5.  Focus on your customers. It is frustrating to go to a sale and someone is engaged in an intense conversation with someone else either in person or on their cell phone.   I like to haggle, ask about the history of some items, ask for a group discount.  I always like to ask if the have any of the items I specialize in, and many times they go back in the house and bring it out.  Selling is not an exchange of merchandise.  Selling is an exchange of emotions, a transfer of feelings.

6.  An often forgotten old-fashioned value:  The customer is always right.

7.  Have some free items. It creates good will.   It loosens people up.  Many times the one I gave free items to will turn around and load up with the other items.

8.  My secret weapon….. When a customer enters my yard sale, I greet them in a friendly manner, saying, “Feel free to make me offers – I’ll probably say yes.”

9.  A few more pointers: Help people get items to their vehicle.   I enlist my kids (the big ones).   Also, I usually start a large sale on a Friday, but I don’t put out all my stuff.  I tell everybody who comes on Friday, “I have more stuff that I haven’t gone through.  Feel free to come back tomorrow and see all my other things.”   Many do.  On day two or sooner, take all your $1 to $5 items and put them on some tables and mark those tables: EVERYTHING ON THIS TABLE IS 25 CENTS.    A cardinal rule of yard sales is:  Don’t fall in love with anything…. it’s all junk.   JUST GET RID OF THE JUNK !