Garage sale checklist: How to have a successful yard sale (2024)

Written by J.D. Roth

Published: 12 June 2007 – Updated: 16 July 2024

109 comments

Have you ever hosted a yard sale with dismal sales? You made a dollar per hour for your efforts. No fun.

Last weekend, I hosted a garage sale with my brother, my ex-wife, and my girlfriend. It was a raging success. We cleared out tons of stuff, and we netted over $2500 in the process.

I’ve hosted many yard sales over the years (and shopped at dozens more) and have developed some strong opinions about what works best. I’ve heard people complain that garage sales aren’t worth the time. But they can be quite profitable if you do a few simple things.

Happy customers browsing our sale…

With so many tips, we divided them into ten main sections that cover all the aspects of hosting a yard sale.
If the subject was too large, we broke the main section down into sub-sections to highlight specific topics. Click on any of the hyperlinks to go immediately to that section or sub-section.
Yard Sale tips we consider essential are marked with a happy star ⭐. But don’t ignore the other tips! They’re all important to know.

Define Your Goal

The kind of event you hold depends on what you’re trying to accomplish, and it’s usually one of two things:

Get rid of stuff (fast) or …
Make as much money as possible.

What To Sell at a Garage Sale, by Season

Whether you’re trying to get the most money for your things or to sell them as quickly as possible, consider how timing can affect your choice of location, what you sell, how you advertise, and even how often you schedule yard sales.

For example, if you’re moving and you can’t take it with you, a yard sale is the perfect solution. But you may also be up against some tight deadlines that complicate things. How do you make it work in February, or if you only have a weekend, or you won’t have anyone to help you?

On the other hand, if you have a lot of time, you can maximize your result by scheduling a few events that target special or seasonal items. What should you know about merchandising to get the best price?

Depending on your area, you may find that one-day sales are more beneficial. Experiment with which day is best. Maybe a Thursday afternoon/Friday combination is great, or just Fridays.

⭐ You may think it’s best to schedule a yard sale in the summer months, but it’s possible to have a successful yard sale any time of year. In fact, you might even be able to capitalize on the fact that it’s February or November and there aren’t as many yard sales. Think about the pros and cons of each season.

Springtime

Advantages:

In northern climates, a yard sale in spring is an invitation to spend money after being cooped up all winter. There’s an air of optimism that could boost how much you’re able to sell.

Disadvantages:

Weather patterns are often unpredictable, and that could affect turnout. Pay particular attention to location and logistics. Shelter is critical to protect your merchandise and keep customers happy despite conditions.

Advertising:

Be clear about how rainy weather will affect the hours of your sale.

Good Items to Sell:

Sports equipment
Camping gear
Gardening tools
High-quality children’s clothing
Patio furniture

Summertime

Advantages:

The hot, sunny, lazy days of summer make it easier to attract a throng and hopefully increase sales. And since the days are longer, you may only need a single day to sell all your items.

Disadvantages:

Heat and humidity are concerns in summer, so it’s important to provide shade and a place for customers to sit.

Advertising:

It’s even more important to differentiate yourself in advertising. Find your hook free ice water, a kiddie pool, a neighborhood back-to-school sale.

Good Items to Sell:

Back-to-school clothes
Furniture and household goods for dorms/apartments
Outdoor toys bikes, camping gear
Books (especially children’s books)
Electronics

Autumn

Advantages:

Fall still offers pleasant weather, but the most hard-core (read: negotiate-like-crazy) customers are burned out.

Disadvantages:

Depending on your area, wind and weather patterns can be unstable. That doesn’t usually affect turnout, but it’s another reason to protect your merchandise.

Advertising:

Your customers may be looking for, or college students may need, your furniture and household goods to furnish dorms or apartments. Highlight these items in your advertising, as well. Maybe even title your sale as a Back-to-school yard sale!

Good Items to Sell:

Winter items
Exercise gear
Picture frames
Holiday decorations
Collectibles

Wintertime

Advantages:

In the lower latitudes, winter yard sales may continue on just as they do in the fall. Not so in the cold climate of the higher latitudes. Still, motivated buyers find motivated sellers in the winter months too. The winter months may be the best time to find bargain-hunters.

Disadvantages:

In winter, location and logistics are critical. A community or church hall may offer the best environment for a yard sale if they will work with you. Even a storage facility may permit a yard sale on their grounds if you’re a customer.

Advertising:

Give clear directions for parking and how to access any buildings.

Good Items to Sell:

Space heaters
Firewood
Tools
Furniture
Clean linens and blankets

Merchandise

With yard sales, word gets around. So stock your sale with lots of stuff to pull the biggest crowds and generate buzz.

Locate and sell anything you no longer want or need. Aaron LaPedis, author of The Garage Sale Millionaire, suggests taking an inventory of all of your possessions in order to determine what you should sell and what you should keep. “Make sure you go through your house top to bottom — every closet, drawer, nook, and cranny,” says LaPedis. “Nothing is too small or too big to sell.” And make sure you have enough stuff.
⭐ Don’t base what you sell on what you would buy. You never know if someone likes to fix broken things or is looking for materials for an art project. If it’s something you don’t want and it’s safe, put it in your garage sale.
Offer to sell stuff for family and friends. Ask around to see if anyone has big-ticket items to sell. Not only does this help them, it also could potentially draw more customers to your sale.
Look beyond household stuff as your merchandise. Do you have plant starts you could pot and sell? How about leftover building or landscape materials?
Take the time to wipe off the dust and dirt. Clean stuff sells better. Period.

Differentiate!

All garage sales are basically the same. Find a way to set yours apart, whether it’s by theme, price, scale, or amenities.Last weekend, for instance, I billed ours as a “geek garage sale”, and emphasized that I had graphic novels, board games, and computer gear. My Craigslist ad brought folks from far and wide because of this. They bought the geeky stuff, but they also bought kitchen gadgets and yard art and clothing.

Label your sale. Lots of graphic novels, board games, and computer gear? Bill it as a “geek yard sale.” We did this last weekend and my Craigslist ad brought folks from far and wide because of this. They bought the geeky stuff, but they also bought kitchen gadgets and yard art and clothing.
Free delivery! If you have several large items to sell, another way to differentiate yourself is to find a couple of volunteers with trucks who wouldn’t mind delivering items — for free — after the sale.
Partner with your neighbors! Neighborhood garage sales attract tons more customers, so talk to your neighbors and spread the word ahead of time to arrange multiple sales. Find out what your neighbors are selling and offer to refer your customers to them. Or, better yet, hold your garage sale during an established entire-neighborhood garage sale day.
Offer free lemonade, cookies, or even just ice water. Most garage sales are held on hot days so a jug of watery lemonade or refreshing ice water is a nice gift for your customers. Don’t forget that visiting pets get thirsty too.
Engage the customers. Be friendly. Chat up the people who stop by. Be engaging. When parents with young children visit, I always find something to give the kids for free (often it’s whatever they’ve gravitated toward). I also throw in freebies for folks who buy lots of Stuff. This builds goodwill, especially among the other customers who are watching things transpire. I believe we sold more because Kim and Kris and I were friendly and fun.

How To Advertise for a Garage Sale

Getting the word out about your sale is critical to your success. In the old days, advertising meant sticking an ad in the newspaper, which would normally cost around $20. Newspapers may still be useful today, but other (free!) methods exist.

Here’s how to advertise to get more customers today.

Neighborhood Publications:

If you’re hosting a yard sale along with others in your neighborhood, check if they publish the yard sales. This may be free or cost a nominal fee.

Craigslist and Kijiji:

To get the most value from Kijiji and Craigslist ads:

Advertise the date and location of your sale.
Add pictures and descriptions of the nicer items.
⭐ Put up ads for the most valuable things in their respective categories on Craigslist. Some people might not be browsing in the garage sale section but might see your ad for the table set in the furniture section and come to the sale for it and more stuff.
Once it sells, delete that listing immediately as a courtesy.

Make your Sale Shareable. Social Media is your Friend:

⭐ Facebook, Twitter, Instagram use them! The entire week before the sale, post on social media about your merchandise. Include pictures. During the day of the sale, update your status or tweet on what you still have available.

9 Tips for the Best Yard Sale Signs

Your goal is to get as much traffic as possible. If your signs are unclear or difficult to read, people won’t waste their time, especially if there are dozens of yard sales to choose from. Simple is best!

I’m shocked at how ineffective most garage sale signs are. It’s like people don’t care, or as if they don’t spend twenty seconds putting themselves in the shoes of their customers. Keep signs clean and neat. Make sure everything’s legible. Make sure nothing’s ambiguous. Clear signage is worth its weight in gold. Our signs included the address, the date and time of the sale, and an arrow pointing the way. I hung a dozen of them along the major traffic roads in the area, funneling people onto our street.

Our signs also had the address and an arrow pointing the way…

Design to inform and intrigue

Use bright colors to attract attention.
Use a thick marker of a contrasting color to make big, bold text.
Adding a border around your text may increase readability. Remember that your customers are cruising by at 35 miles per hour!
Have large arrows pointing in the correct direction. It’s so much easier to follow arrows than to slow down to read an address.
Remember that superlatives rule Awesome! Blowout! Epic!

Where’s your sign?

Post multiple signs around your neighborhood.
Place signs at nearby major intersections and at each turn along the way.
Also, take a practice drive past one of your signs. Do people have time to read it, make a decision, and make the turn, before they’ve driven past it?
After the sale is over, remove all the signs!

Garage Sale Supplies

The right supplies can make your sale run more smoothly. So as you get closer to the big day, gather everything you need.

Borrow tables and shelves to display your merchandise. Having a check-out table can be helpful. It helps people know exactly where to go to ask a question, and placing the table near the exit allows you to welcome people in while watching that they don’t walk off with anything.
⭐Apron or fanny pack for the money.I use a cheap cloth apron/utility belt from the local hardware store. It works beautifully. Some people use fanny pack or a zippered bank deposit pouch.
Markers, scissors, masking tape, price stickers, and poster board. As you change prices throughout the day, you’ll use these items. Also, use these supplies to mark items that are NOT for sale.
Paper/pencil. Use this as a ledger to jot down a description of each item and how much you sold it for or to place stickers on a page for each seller. (This can help make it easier to settle up after the sale if you have a neighborhood event.)
Calculator. Having a calculator will expedite your checkout line and make it easier if you’re not especially gifted at math!
Batteries. Keep an assortment of batteries on hand so that a prospective buyer can test that old Nintendo Gameboy for himself.
Extension cords. If you are selling electrical items, make sure you have an extension cord handy or display these items near a plug so people can test them.
Bags/boxes for customer purchases. Collect free bags/boxes before your sale so your customers can haul away their purchases.
Hangers and a method to hang clothes. Searching through hanging clothes is much easier than pawing through a table covered with clothes.
Plenty of cash. Get two rolls of quarters, a stack of 50 $1 bills, 10 $5 bills, and 5 $10 bills. Do it two days before the sale so that, if you forget, you can still get the change on the day before.

Pricing for a Garage Sale

Know your purpose. “There are two types of garage sales,” an old man told me last weekend. “One is to make money. The other is to get rid of Stuff.” Know which type of sale you’re holding and why. Your purpose will affect how much you negotiate and how much you give away for free.

As mentioned above, be clear on the purpose of your sale. Are you selling things to make money or to get rid of them? This question affects everything you do, from how you price things to how willing you are to negotiate. Surprisingly, you can often make more money (and get rid of more junk) by pricing things low. (If your goal is to get top dollar, you should really be selling on eBay or Craigslist.)

Oh, and lose your sentimental attachment. Unfortunately, no one cares how much you paid for an item or how many memories are attached to it. It’s a sunk-cost. They just want a bargain!

How to Price Yard Sale Items

Know the value of your items. By doing some research on eBay or Craigslist, you might discover that some of your items are worth way more than you thought. However, this does not mean you should actually charge those prices. By attending yard sales yourself, you’ll have a general idea of what an acceptable price is. Also, you’re probably safe by pricing things somewhat below what the area thrift stores charge.

Don’t price your stuff too low. People like to bargain, so allow some wiggle room. Also, you want to make money. You can always have a 50-percent-off sale over the last couple hours.
Price items like a store. If you have a lot of something, “Buy 3, get 1 free” works really well.
Other pricing strategies. Fill this box for $10 or fill this bag for $5. Anything not valuable can go on tables dedicated to that and you will get rid of all sorts of stuff that people might not buy individually but might stuff in a box.

To Price or not to Price

Pricing items is a pain, no question.

Some people find it more profitable not to price anything because customers are turned off if the price is too high.
However, most customers prefer priced items, if only as a starting point for haggling.
Opting for a hybrid approach may require pricing larger items, or grouping like items on a table and then placing a sign on the table for the prices.
You can also place anything worth less than $5 or $10 on a table with a note to make an offer.
Another innovative approach is to mark by colored stickers only and having a master price list or two. As the day goes on, you can easily change the master price lists without changing prices on the individual items.

Be Willing to Bargain, but be Less Flexible at the Start

If you just want to get rid of your stuff, you probably won’t mind haggling over anything.

But if you’re interested to make some money for your efforts, don’t haggle over a low-priced item or two. If your customers buy several things, cut them a deal.

Also don’t cut prices by much the morning of the sale, unless they are buying a ton of stuff. Tell them that you’ll cut prices a couple of hours before the end of the sale, and if they’re willing to take the chance, they can come back later. Or offer to take their phone number, and say “I’m sorry, but I’m not comfortable selling it at that price. Would you like me to call you if it’s still here at the end of the day?”

By the end of the sale, it’s best to practically give things away rather than face the prospect of having to deal with it later.

Staging

Too many garage sales are a haphazard collection of Stuff piled every which way. Don’t be like that. Take lessons from supermarkets and department stores. “Organize things so they’ll catch the shopper’s eye,” Kris says. “And don’t have depressing music playing.” (At the start of the sale, I had some New Age music on the stereo. “It sounds like a funeral,” she told me. She had me put on Elton John’s greatest hits instead, and people loved it. Sales improved!)

If you really want more bang for your buck, borrow from the big retailers’ playbook for how to display your merchandise.

Prepare your window display. How do regular stores get people to stop in? By creating intriguing/beautiful/interesting window displays. You won’t have window displays but use the concept. You can lure more customers by placing highly-desirable items near the road.
Move your customers to the right. For whatever reason, shoppers prefer to move through stores counter-clockwise. To get your customers to do the same, you can set up a table with free lemonade to the right, or display good items (but probably not the most expensive), or colorful, items to the right. You may want to place your most expensive/desirable items in the back of the garage, on the wall. As long as your customers can see these items from the garage door, they will walk past all your other items first.
Display items to their advantage. Too many garage sales are a haphazard collection of stuff piled every which way. Customers want bargains with the feel of a store. Put the highest value items at eye level or clearly marked on a high-value table. Organize things so they’ll catch the shopper’s eye. Hang up clothes, sorted by size, with the sizes clearly labeled.
Slow your customers down. Instead of lining your garage with long tables, consider staggering them in such a way that your customers slow down — without creating bottlenecks, of course.
Make it cohesive. Establish themes. While you can group like items together, also consider grouping items of the same color, or by theme. One theme could be music: Gather old instruments, CDs, and old speakers together.
Shed a little light. Lighting is important in big box stores, and it’s just as important at your yard sale. Make sure all light bulbs are working in the garage. Consider setting up table lamps and white Christmas lights to brighten the atmosphere.
Promote expensive items. Big-ticket items can be tough to sell, but you can do it with a little extra effort. For example, if you have a digital camera to sell, gather all the bits and pieces and place them together on a table along with a printout of the Amazon page for the camera.
Think like a customer. As soon as you’ve opened and fielded the initial flood of shoppers, walk through your sale as if you were there to buy something. How does it feel? Are things clearly marked? Is it easy to move around? Visualize any potential bottleneck areas. Are your books on the ground in boxes or are they placed neatly on shelves and tables? As things sell, move items around to fill in the gaps.
Make it easy for shoppers to test electronic items. If it is a sound or video electrical item, take a retailing idea from the pros and set it up to play. A TV that is playing will sell much better than one that is off. This is also true of sound electronics. Play videos on TV. People will start watching and ask to buy the video.
Create visual interest. While you want all the customers to see into your garage clearly, don’t forget that staggering items at various heights along your garage walls creates visual interest and allows better visualization.
Display impulse purchases. Wherever customers check out, conspicuously place inexpensive, fun items.
Have a box of free stuff. Nothing is more fun than finding something for nothing, so place a large, well-marked “FREE” box close to the curb. Mention the free box on the main Craigslist ad and place an individual Craigslist listing in the Free category.
Complementary items. Have a pile of complimentary items and let buyers pick one item to go with each purchase. It could be any old junk, but people will love getting a freebie.
Set up a lemonade stand. Instead of giving away free lemonade, your child can sell lemonade — and make her own money!
Be the Pinterest of yard sales. Your customers may think something looks cool, but they aren’t really sure how they’ll use it. Consider displaying some of your merchandise on furniture you have for sale. By displaying the item in an interesting way, or even printing out some craft projects you found on Pinterest, you may inspire your customer to take the treasure home.

Avoiding Problems

The Early Birds

Warn in your ads that “early birds pay double.” Otherwise, you’ll be stuck fumbling for change and entertaining these folks rather than getting your items ready. Or if you don’t want early birds to show up, don’t put your entire address in your ad. Then, just before you open, put out the signs and open the garage door. And don’t take money (meaning, no sales) until you are ready.

Future Burglars

Unless you personally know them, don’t allow anyone in your house. If they ask for a bathroom, direct them to the closest public restroom.

Do NOT Use a Cash Box

Carry your money on you at ALL times. You don’t want to present a target for casual thieves. More than that, you don’t want to be duped by professional swindlers who run distraction con games. It happens. It is devastating to see the profits from all your labor and the proceeds from your hard-to-part-with items vanish in an instant. This happened to a woman on our street on the last day of the sale last year. Do NOT use a cash box. I use a cheap cloth apron/utility belt from the local hardware store. It works beautifully. Some people use fanny pack or a zippered bank deposit pouch.

Don’t Bad-Mouth your Items

A decade ago, Kris and I held a garage sale with a group of friends. One guy constantly told customers what was wrong with the items they were purchasing. “Oh, that book is awful. That’s a terrible movie. That skillet doesn’t heat very well. That game is boring. Needless to say, we sent this friend inside to drink beer ASAP. Your goal is to sell the items. Don’t lie — just emphasize the positives. Oh, that book is very popular. That movie won three Oscars. That skillet is great for pancakes. That game is fun for kids.

The Hostess with the Mostest

If having a group yard sale, pick the best location in terms of traffic or accessibility or parking (and don’t forget to clear parking spots on the big day for customers). Offer the host a bonus such as a percent of the sale or a hosting fee.Also, go over ground rules such as the bargaining policy, etc.

(If you have an option to select the home where the sale is hosted, select a home with a shaded drive, if possible.)

Wrapping It Up

Have a plan for what you’ll do with your unsold merchandise.

Some non-profits will pick up unsold stuff, so research this ahead of time.
If you are going to drop anything off at a thrift store, know their drop-off times/days. Also, check to see if there are any limitations on what they accept.
Post on the local freecycle (www.freecycle.org) that, after a certain time, whatever is left is free for the taking — and remember to include your address. If you’re lucky, people will schlepp it away for you!

Even after years of purging, I still have too many books…

We’d only intended for ours to be a two-day sale, but we did so well that we decided to open Sunday too. This time, we re-branded. Because we still had shelves filled with classics, graphic novels, and photography manuals, we billed ourselves as a “book sale”. Surprisingly, this still brought folks in. Traffic was much lighter than previous days, but we still cleared $400.

Garage sale checklist: How to have a successful yard sale (13)

In the end, we sold $2,454.90 worth of Stuff. Kim and Kris and Jeff didn’t do as well as I did — none of them spent a lifetime making foolish financial choices and “collecting” books and records and comics and other toys — but everyone seemed happy with the money they earned. And as for me? After years of battles, I think I’ve finally won the war on Stuff!

A great yard sale begins with a great plan. What are your best yard sale tips?

More about...Side Hustles

J.D. Roth

In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals.

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Garage sale checklist: How to have a successful yard sale (15)

There are 109 comments to "Garage sale checklist: How to have a successful yard sale".

J.D. says12 May 2006 at 13:42
Sorry about the dearth of posts. I’m still working at the garage sale. It’s been busy. Just for fun, here’s a list of everything I’ve sold so far over the past two days:
— start day one —
$7.00 – CDs: Billy Joel, Tears For Fears, Judds
free – the head of a broken axe
$3.00 – VHS: Vertigo (letterbox)
$2.00 – VHS: The Fountainhead
$4.00 – Books: C++ (Strousstrop) and a German play
$1.00 – white ceramic bowl
$0.50 – Tape: Rick Springfield’s Tao
$3.00 – CD: Cyndi Lauper
$3.00 – Sign: Star Fleet Personnel Only
$10.00 – unused computer speakers
$3.00 – VHS: Blade Runner (letterbox)
— noon day one —
$5.00 – Book: Networking Essentials (and workbook)
$2.00 – VHS: Secret of NIMH
$13.00 – CD boombox
$5.00 – faux old-fashioned telephone
$1.00 – garden sprayer
$1.50 – bag of diazanon
— end day one —
DAY ONE = $64.00
— start day two —
$12.50 – old rototiller
$20.00 – three boxes of Star Trek: The Next Generation books and magazines
$3.00 – CD: Ace of Base
$20.00 – cordless telelphone set
$15.00 – 6 CDs: Garth Brooks, LeAnn Rimes, Wynona Judd, Alison Kraus
$17.00 – 6 CDs: Go-Gos and others
$5.00 – CDs: Alison Kraus, Mary-Chapin Carpenter
$5.00 – CDs: Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, Norah Jones
$3.00 – VHS: West Side Story (letterbox)
$5.00 – Godfather VHS and Styx CD
$65.00 – HUGE lot of good geek stuff (programming books, Tintin books, baseball books, CDs of fifties music, old time radio programs, and classical music)
$2.00 – VHS: Solaris (1970s)
$10.00 – VHS: boxed set of Alien trilogy
$2.00 – book: some mystery author
$10.00 – comics: Fantastic Four Essentials vol. 1-3
$9.00 – CDs: Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, one other
$10.00 – portable CD player and Michael Jackson HIStory CD set
— current status —
DAY TWO = $213.50
TOTAL = $277.50
My wife and sister-in-law have also sold stuff, too. There’ll be another rush here in about 45 minutes, and that will last til five. Saturday is generally the busiest day; I hold out high hopes that I’ll be able to purge some of my comic books.
Also — the proceeds from this sale will be sealed in an envelope and hidden in a safe place. I’ve decided that this money is my Nintendo Wii fund. Rembember: part of being frugal is knowing when to let yourself have some fun, too!
Reply
Penny says02 April 2007 at 07:32
I am having a garage sale in like 4 days and i dont know how to price my stuff. how much should i price for…
CD’s (the used, HIM, all american rejects, aerosmith, like 20 more)=
clothes=
crockpot (never opened)=
VCR (nothing wrong with it)=
VHS movies( good condition)=
new book bag ( LOTS of room)=
stuffed animals( clean)=
books ( brand new hardbacks)=
please someone answer my questions!!
Reply
BillinDetroit says05 June 2007 at 11:51
One thing I look for, but seldom see, at garage sales are TOOLS. If you’ve got ’em, put a sign out and I’m SOOO there!
No sign, no stop.
But don’t make me walk through a ton of kids size 3 jammies to find them. It seems like every garage sale on the planet has kids clothes … you don’t need a sign for that. But not many offer decent tools (still useful for their original purpose).
Which is to say that you should offer signage for anything that sets your sale apart … sports equipment, tools, furniture … whatever makes your sale just a little distinctive.
Two rusty screwdrivers don’t count as ‘tools’. One scratched up nightstand of uncertain design doesn’t either. Be serious.
Reply
A Tentative Personal Finance Blog says12 June 2007 at 06:36
good looking garage sale. Was that the before or after picture?
Any suggestions for garage selling when you don’t own a garage? I don’t own one and and relegated to selling things on eBay.
Reply
- Albena Georgieva says01 November 2012 at 11:25
  Why don’t you try Yardmama. It’s really great and you can post all year long, without having a yard or garage for only $34 / yr.
  Reply
The Happy Rock says12 June 2007 at 07:01
I wish all the junk left after yard sales would just disappear. For me, that is by far the worst part. You have all this junk that you have emotionally departed with, but then it is still there!
Reply
- Eric MIchael says11 February 2013 at 18:42
  We have an entire webpage that discusses how to get rid of stuff after your garage sale. You can also make money on the leftovers, if you do it right.
  Reply
Betsy Teutsch says12 June 2007 at 07:12
Three suggestions:
1) everyone loves free stuff. You could put out free lemonade/ice tea, cookies or whatever, to promote a festive feel. And you could have a pile of complementary items and buyers can pick one item to go with each purchase. It could be any old junk, but people will love getting a freebie.
2) have bags and or boxes available for people to haul away their purchases.
3)around here people post on the local freecycle (www.freecycle.org) that after a certain time, say 4 PM, whatever is left is free for the taking, and include their address. If you’re lucky, instead of you needing to figure out what to do with all the unsold stuff which you’ve already designated you don’t want anymore, people will schlepp it away for you!
Reply
Anne says12 June 2007 at 08:45
That sign’s not so great because it doesn’t include the date of the sale. Often I don’t even bother checking out a yard sale if the sign doesn’t have the date on it, because so many people fail to take a sign down after the sale. I don’t want to hunt for a yard sale that turns out to have ended two weeks ago.
Reply
nankie says12 June 2007 at 08:47
I am a longtime fan of the Yard Sale Queen site. The message boards there are very busy..with tons of tips on hosting and going to yardsales, thrift shops and also reselling on ebay.
Reply
KMull says12 June 2007 at 08:55
I would argue that you need to stick firm to your prices. I would be extremely annoyed if someone came up with something tagged $5 and offered me $4.50. Come on. Give me the 50 cents.
Reply
npbeers says12 June 2007 at 09:16
A few things…
I personally find it easier and more profitable to not price each item. I keep a rough idea in my head as to how much I’d like to get it return, but generally I don’t want the hassle of having to deal with the left-overs, so I want everything to sell. If something is priced too high people will often just walk away. Talk to the customers if they are chatty and try to sell the items… ask what they are willing to pay and negotiate on everything. They will feel like they are getting a deal, and you’ll often find people willing to pay more than you would have marked it.
As for signs, include a date/time since many people do not take down their signs at the end of their sales. It can get frustrating following signs for a sale that was last weekend. Also, whatever time you put (I recommend no later than 8am) be setup and an hour before (in this case 7am). The serious shoppers will show up early and are often willing to pay a little more for a harder to find item. Later in the day, especially the last day, people will often be looking for great deals and not often specific items… sell cheap to finish things off… you can bring in more than you’d expect…
Place signs at nearby major intersections and at each turn along the way. The more people you can funnel to you sale the better!
Give away free lemonade… i spent $15 on a few gallons of Chick-Fil-A’s fresh squeezed and it was a hit! People linger longer and are more likely to buy….
At my last sale my wife and I made $600 in one Saturday from 7:30am to 2:30pm…
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J.D. says12 June 2007 at 09:16
I would argue that you need to stick firm to your prices.
Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. Have you been to many yard sales, either as a buyer or seller? Around Portland, anyhow, the haggling is part of the game. I suspect that many people go out to sales just to haggle.
In the case of a $5 item, a person isn’t likely to offer $4.50. They’re going to offer $2 or $3. Again, it depends on what your goal is with the sale. If your intentions are to make money, then you might be less willing to negotiate. But if you’re just trying to get rid of crap, you’ll take any offer at all.
By the way, won’t somebody please take my encyclopedia set. (Actually, I should give it to my cousin. He believes the wikipedia is an abomination.)
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- Julie Jarrett says09 May 2012 at 17:19
  You may have to give them away. A sweet friend of mine, a retired school teacher, tried to donate a set to the local libraries, to schools and even Second Hand Books didn’t want them and they went into the recycle bin. So sad. Maybe in 50 more years they will be a priceless momento of an age when people read and used Encyclopedias for research.
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  - Shanon says12 October 2014 at 20:32
    Local Prisons and County Jails will take any and all books books books!!! Being that reading is about all they are allowed to do!
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DizzyFromSaleing says12 June 2007 at 09:22
Great article — good comments. Check out http://www.yardsalequeen.com website for the low-down on making your sale a success. the author quotes some of her tips too. great web page. ref having a ys w/o a yard or garage — rent a table at a church/school flea market!
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The Reviewer says12 June 2007 at 09:24
See Also
7 Tips for a Profitable Garage Sale High-Paying Sales Jobs: What Are They?5 ways to maximize your garage sale profits Frequently Asked Questions
I think this is a great list, we are doing on in a few weeks and I am going to try to follow this list.
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Gal Josefsberg says12 June 2007 at 09:45
I like this article, but what about some tips for those of us who like to shop at garage sales? Any advice on what to look for and what to avoid?
Gal
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J.D. says12 June 2007 at 10:06
Gal, check out how to find garage sale gold, one of the earliest articles I ever posted. It’s been a long time since I wrote about how to shop at yard sales, though — I’ll have to write something new.
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Lynn says12 June 2007 at 10:52
I garage sale a lot during the summer – these are my suggestions:
1) Avoid bottlenecks – give people room to shop. If you have a table at which you collect $, move it away so that people can still move even if there’s a line to pay.
2)Avoid addresses and dates that clog up your signs. People can’t read these on the fly anyhow. In our town, you will get ticketed if you leave your signs up and they can track you down. Also, most people use the paper or craigslist to list of where they’re going and don’t depend on the signs other than for simple direction.
3)Price your stuff! I hate to go to a garage sale where nothing is priced and they ask, “What do you think it’s worth?” I’m not there to pay what it’s worth, I’m there to get a bargain.
4)Be willing to bargain – if you love it enough to argue over a dollar or two, why are you selling it? It’s a yard sale. Take the 3 bucks!
5)Don’t be too chatty. People don’t want to know the history of every item they touch.
6)Have plenty of change on hand – I can’t believe how many people don’t have change.
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sue says12 June 2007 at 15:29
Glad you referred to the yardsalequeen site. It has everything you’ll ever need to know about having a yard sale and going to yard sales. A terrific resource and lots of fun.
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Scott Simmons says12 June 2007 at 16:09
If only I’d gotten a picture, I’d have the ultimate submission to add to yardsalequeen’s bad sign hall of shame … I’m sure the accuracy was unintentional on the part of the sale promoter who put up the ‘Garbage Sale’ sign.
Really.
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Elizabeth says12 June 2007 at 16:42
I just wanted to let everyone know that I post on the message boards at Yard Sale Queen almost every day. The people on the site are full of knowledge and friendly too!
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MVP says12 June 2007 at 20:12
A couple other tips from a lifelong garage-saler:
1) If you want to make money, be aware of the over-bargainer – she’s the person who negitiates down on every item as she picks it up, then hands you a handful of stuff at the end. You potentially end up losing out on multiple dollars. If you see this starting to take shape, you might want to ask him/her to wait until she’s done shopping and you’ll work with her on the overall price.
2) For all that change you’ve got afterward: my bank has a machine that counts all the change for you (unrolled!) and pops out a receipt, which you then take to the nearest teller, who deposits it into your account – no commission taken. Some grocery stores have these machines, but they’ll cost you money.
3) If you know you’ll need every last moment in the morning to get your sale ready, warn in your ads that “early birds pay double”. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck fumbling for change and entertaining these folks, rather than readying your items.
4) Get your kids in on it. They can sell old toys, lemonade, cookies or other goodies. Good way to teach them about money.
5) DEFINITELY have a junk table with all sorts of crap labeled 5 cents. I never thought this would work, but my husband insisted. That’s where ALL the kids headed first, and inevitably, they bought some worthless (to us) trinket to keep them busy.
6) If you have a fun pet, by all means, bring it out. We brought our co*ckatiel’s cage outside, and many customers stopped just to see him, and many left after buying something!
7) Again, admit to yourself that your main goal is really to get rid of your crap. The money is nice, but do you really want to have to load it up and haul it away on Monday? Don’t be offended by people who want to negotiate. If you see someone looking hard at something, and you have a feeling you’ll be left with it at the end of the day, start chatting with them about it and ask if they’d like to negotiate. By the end of the sale, we’ve learned it’s best to practically give things away rather than face the prospect of having to deal with it later.
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Bonnie says13 June 2007 at 08:57
Wow! What perfect timing. We are planning a garage sale for next weekend (due to a rainy forcast for this weekend). We’re putting out some stuff that didn’t sell in last years sale but we’ll definitely be keeping these tips in mind!
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FamilyFinanceBlog says13 June 2007 at 13:42
Make sure that when you’re all done with your sale, you look into donating your items. You can get really good tax breaks from donations. (And if you really don’t feel like having a yard sale, you can actually make more money by donating than by having a garage sale in some circ*mstances … I have an article about it on my blog – sorry for the plug!)
I agree with putting a date on your sign, it helps people know.
For me the best yard sale sign has Yard sale at the top in big enough to read but not huge letters since everyone knows what the sign they are looking at is about. Then you have the date and time in LARGE letters, the address in just smaller letters, and a HUGE arrow pointing the right direction (and enough signs that someone can get there without knowing the address … often you’re going through a neighborhood you don’t know.)
If you have too much info on a sign, or “Garage Sale” takes up 99% of the room, people aren’t going to know how to find you.
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stephanie says17 June 2007 at 06:55
wow! what a timely post! after reading about the benefits of yard sales i was very excited to participate in the neighborhood yard sale yesterday. ours was not nearly as productive.
we lost money. and didn’t get rid of much stuff either. seemed to have a lot of people looking for the .10 item they could re-sell on ebay for $100. i worried about being overpriced, but i was offered .50 (and accepted as it was getting late in the day) for 5 books and 2 kitchen tools (1.45 by my pricing). it cost $5 to participate in the sale (covered advertising, balloons, signage), $8 for stickers to price things, and $12 for lunch. i lost $7 and 2 days.
my neighbors didn’t fair any better. the church rummage sales will have a lot of supplies and the salvation army will be busy this week.
i won’t participate next year – i’ll save my time and money (and take the tax break) and donate the small items. i’ll try ebay and craig’s list for a couple of the bigger items, but i won’t do a yard sale again.
i wonder if it’s location? (i live in a town mostly supported by a large tech company – are we more computer-geeky and likely to use craig’s list and ebay? are we more likely to donate smaller items to charity?)
-s
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Joe Soter says19 June 2007 at 13:07
Garage Sale tip: When the kids were smaller they collected the free toys in their burger meals. When they got older we cleared out the toys by putting ten in a ziplock bag and selling the bag for 50 cents. It’s amazing how many of these trinkets were in the bottom of the kids’ toy box. Our bags brought in $20! Hint: Don’t let the customers’ kids open the bags and mix and match. You’ll sell more.
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blondeblogger says08 July 2007 at 22:14
Good tips!! I’m hosting a contest on my blog right now and the prize is an autographed copy of Garage Sale America by Bruce Littlefield, plus one of his garage sale treasures. Stop on by and enter if you’d like. 🙂
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Michelle says11 July 2007 at 12:03
Does anyone out there ever try to have a “swap meet” as opposed to a yardsale, for say maybe children’s clothing and such. I had the crazy idea that if I can host a swap meet at my church or school or even in my drive way, the kids could play in the backyard while the parents exchange childrens clothes and such. It would be a win win situation all the way around for everyone involved. If I did it at home I don’t have to drag my daughter anywhere, there is no money exchange, just decent clothes, toys, ect. This cuts out time and money waisted at stores and the kids can try the clothes on right there at home or where ever. Doing that maybe once a month or so is even better that way if the clothes don’t fit you can switch up with someone else. Maybe put an add in the church bullitin or local paper. I’d like to hear feedback. 🙂
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natalie says11 August 2007 at 18:09
To feed my Garage Sale fix I built http://www.garagesalenation.com, it maps out all the sales in the country. Last weekend I had over 24,000 sales mapped on it.
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Peter says29 August 2007 at 15:19
Natalie, great resource! One thing I was thinking of doing with some cuddly toys (and that sort of stuff) that doesn’t sell but is in good condition is to start a community toy library in the local play group. Kids can borrow toys and take them home for a week or two and then exchange then for something else. That way you get rid of toys that just won’t sell and the community benefits too!
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Matthew says15 May 2008 at 02:22
To find or post garage sales by map, try http://www.mapgaragesales.com. The advantage to this one is that it’s free to post.
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Leah says02 June 2008 at 13:17
As pointed out, advertising is an obvious necessity. http://www.yardsalequeen.com/yardsalelinks.htm has some good sites. Some of you may have noticed http://www.yardsalead.com coming up in your searches. So far I have to say the site seems more professional than others that I have been to. Like the others it does not cost to post, but it gives search options to fine tune what you are looking for.
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Kathryn says13 June 2008 at 05:42
About your books….
You said you sold 100 dollars worth of books.
How did you price your books?
50 cents? 1 dollar?
Books always throw me. I never know how to price them.
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Jenny Jacobs says19 September 2008 at 22:09
I have found the best website ever for garage sales. It is called GarageSaleCow.com
This really is the best website I have ever used.
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David says06 January 2009 at 14:23
When I threw my garage sale I used a few forms to advertise it and garagesalecow is definetly not the best. Garage Sales tracker is much smoother and user friendly and got more exposure than it’s competitors. I suggest anybdoy wanting to throw a sale that really wants to get the word out to use. Garage Sales Tracker
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adam says18 January 2009 at 13:11
i go to sales all the time here in fl. i thought the other site you talked about was ok but i like that cow. both are good but i will post my sale on http://garagesalecow.com
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Pamela Bernier says13 March 2009 at 09:20
I consider myself the biggest yard sale junkie in the world! I furnished my entire home is finds from the sales. My full time job aside from yard sailing is working in the production room of a TV station here in Santa Monica. I (We) love garagesalecow.com and find it very useful. After learning the several hundred additions planned for the new release this summer our producers became very excited. They will be on our morning show in a few weeks with the cow.
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Jeri Sue says16 July 2009 at 10:52
Well I am having a garage sale this Saturday. I typed up sheets for the items that were new or very gently used.
Also when having a harage sale were you will have electronics and DVD’s Or CD’s, set up a table next to your ‘pay table’. This way you are free of con’s trying to steal anything with great value. Also I have a warning for all of you. When I had a garage a couple of years ago, there were two clean cut men. One lured me over to another table to ‘ask a question’ while the other one stole ALL the DVD’s. But left the cases of course. So if someone ‘aska a question’ make sure they are up at the pay table. Because I garentee they will not fight you to leave yuor table.
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R. Wayne Diehl says17 August 2009 at 16:33
I’ve had lots of good experiences with yard sales over the years. I’ve noticed that a “carnival” attitude has helped. This time I had downloaded circus music, had “used car lot flag strings” and I played the “barker” who made it a side show. As time goes on, I see what isn’t moving and so I barter with people who are buying something. I either give them something for free for buying the item, or, I discount the price if they take something else at half price. Less to put back of the shelves after the sale is over. I also go upscale on signage. I go to the local print shop and have LARGE signs made up that are generic, but have space to hang regular paper sized signs on the posters. The smaller signs have times, dates, directional arrows. When done, throw away the small paper signs, but protect the poster sized signs with clear plastic shelving paper with adheasive backing. Use them again or rent them to your neighbors when they have a sale.
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Shelby says15 September 2009 at 15:52
I was thinking of having a garage sale and saling everything for $1 ea. Do you think this will work. I don’t want to negotiate, in my opinion $1 for each item is a steal. In need of feedback
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Dan says13 May 2010 at 09:16
someone asked about getting rid of the stuff after… My plans were to not bring anything back in the house, and what I did last time worked great. about 12:00 Saturday I put an add on freecycle (you do have to sign up to post). it said something like. Garage sale leftovers, must call me xxx.xxx.xxxx must bring truck or van to take all. will be ready around 2:30.
I had several people reply to the email (I guess they can’t read). The first guy said he’d have to borrow a truck, but wanted it. I told the other 3 that called I’d keep their # and they were next if that guy didn’t show.
After we had his dad’s van loaded (I had a bunch of stuff left), I asked him if he did yard sales? He said he had been laid off at the car plant, and was doing whatever he could to support his family. So it worked out good for both of us.
craigslist free section would work just as well.
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Jim says26 August 2010 at 19:22
I’ve found Yard Sale Search.com to be the most comprehensive source of listings – and it has the best data. The thing that irks me about craigslist and all the sites that just replicate those listings (gsalr, garagesalestracker, etc.) are the bad data. Bad dates, bad addresses, it just seems like a free for all.
I’ll end my rant. 😉
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Snag A Bargain says23 January 2011 at 11:50
This is awesome. I am planning to do my first yard sale this spring and these tips will be very helpful. I am still trying to figure out how to do it. I have a long, single car driveway so I think I will need to do it at the end of the driveway near the road.
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SB(One Cent At A Time) says15 June 2011 at 16:49
I recently posted on my blog, how you can make use of garage sale to impart valuable lessons on your kids. A garage sale offer so much to them in terms of teachings about money matters. If interested do read my post here
http://onecentatatime.com/let-children-learn-money-from-garage-sale/
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duhonmommie says22 July 2011 at 22:11
My husband was just offered a job today, out of state. It will require that we live in an extended stay hotel for about a month. We would like to have a moving sale, selling large furniture, etc. before we move to cut down on moving/storage costs. We have to be in the new location by Sept. 1. Any suggestions for getting this done quickly and for selling furniture well? My biggest question is how to price the items? I’d like to sell some of my clothes too, but from what I’ve read, that may be a bad idea. Is there a better way to sell women’s and men’s clothing?
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Lisa says26 March 2012 at 12:23
I am planning a garage sale to have in a couple months. We do not have a paved driveway, just rocks. We also have a parking area in the back of the house, which is also rocks. You get to it by an entrance off of the road and ours is the first back area on the entrance. Would it be better to hold the sale back there or in front? Either way, people would either have to park by the curb or in the businesses on either side..which are both very short distance from each area. Thank you for any input.
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See Also
How to Stage a Garage Sale
SSS says18 July 2012 at 13:34
Good tips! I know this is an older post but I wanted to comment to the people having Garage Sales: Please stop using Ebay to price stuff! Just because someone sold a My Little Pony on Ebay for 40.00 once doesn’t mean it is worth that at your YARD SALE. Come on people.
I do buy at garage sales to sell on Ebay, and you know what? That is good business. If you want Ebay prices then pay and take the time to create an Ebay store, but don’t get mad about “pickers” and overprice all your stuff.
My advice quit trying to sell your used crap based on what price Ebay pulled up on your iphone. It’s greedy.
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Chris says29 August 2012 at 16:25
As the source for this article – I gotta definitely agree with #47 No one likes seeing printouts of what similar things sold for on ebay.
#45 – I would pick the area where it would be seen by people driving by. If your yardsale is hidden in the backyard – that could turn some people off or they may not bother to stop.
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Katy Perry says07 October 2012 at 06:09
I had a garage sell and I only made 5 dollars!!! Because we had 2 neighbors having a yard sell as well!
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Luisa says09 January 2013 at 15:20
Interesting. I’m curious to see the success rate of sales at a garage/yard sale due to yard signs. 🙂
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MilitaryOnlineSales.com says11 January 2013 at 03:45
If PCS’ing or selling close to a military base or on base you can always try MilitaryOlineSales.com
It’s free to list and unlike bookoo you wont have to break your bank account to post a picture classified!
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Calgary Garage Builder says21 March 2013 at 04:11
Thanks for providing useful tips. Though post is older, I really like your tips.
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Paul Farmer says20 June 2013 at 19:03
If you are having a sale then this is a must see! We used it and it was fantastic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2-1DEAzslo
or search Garage Sale Checkout on the app store.
~Paul
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SwampWoman says15 August 2013 at 06:27
I, too, have Too Much Stuff. I do NOT want people wandering around my personal space, though. Maybe a flea market would be the right place for me.
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FI Journey says15 August 2013 at 07:06
That’s unbelievable, we usually make around $100 between 3 families when we host a yard sale. Thanks for sharing all these tips!
FI Pilgrim
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Erica says15 August 2013 at 07:27
Both my brother and I have had yard sale success. Here are a few of our combined tactics:
-play upbeat music.
-offer freebies with purchases (my brother had a *lot* of glassware he was looking to get rid of, so he gave away pint glasses; I’ve given away paperbacks).
-if it’s a hot day, keep a small cooler of water bottles on ice and give out to customers and neighbors.
-*always* price furniture. “Make an offer” signs scare more people away than lure them, I’ve learned.
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MonicaOnMoney says15 August 2013 at 07:31
I’ve never held a garage sale but these are great ideas to keep in mind. Another idea is to make your garage sale known with lots of signs.
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Laura at Rather Square says15 August 2013 at 07:53
This is illuminating advice. I haven’t held a garage sale, but now that we’ve purchased our first house, that might be something we do down the road. Definitely helpful as we SHOP at garage sales for the new house. It’s amazing the gems you can find out there if you just look.
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JeanneLu says15 August 2013 at 07:58
We’ve had 2 or 3 garage sales and they seemed to bring out some really strange people. Some are intent on scamming you – in one way or another. The ‘lowest price’ scam, the ‘wait until they turn their head or go inside for coffee’ then rip off the stuff and run, etc. The ‘can I use your bathroom’ (and take a peek at what’s inside) etc. Kinda makes you lose your faith in people. That’s why I agree with the prior post regarding gather the stuff, donate and take the max deduction on your taxes.
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- celyg says16 August 2013 at 11:08
  Yes, it’s not a bad idea to post a “Sorry, no public bathrooms!” sign somewhere. People who look 100% law-abiding ask to use the bathroom, then clean out your medicine cabinet. Sad but true.
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abby says15 August 2013 at 08:09
awesome! the most i ever made is like 300 dollars.
and i’d just like to say that i think it is so cool that you and kim and kris can all hang out. i was totally skeptical of you and kris still being friends after the divorce and you have totally proved me wrong. i know i’m just a fictional internet character and my opinion really doesn’t matter but i think it is cool and badass and you seem super happy. i was wrong and i apologize if i made a snarky comment on it in the “Place of Your Own” post.
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- Anne says15 August 2013 at 13:16
  You’re a fictional character?
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  - abby says16 August 2013 at 04:58
    haha….stupid auto correct, thanks. although now i can’t remember what i was trying to say.
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SAHMama says15 August 2013 at 08:16
Even on neighborhood garage sale day and with heavy advertising and signs, we only earned $40 from the garage sale we held six years ago. Since that debacle, we just donate to whatever charity (Goodwill or Kidney Foundation or Cat Welfare) will pick up or is on our errand route. We get the tax advantage and don’t have piles of stuff sitting waiting for yard sale day and don’t have weirdos hanging around our property.
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Marie says15 August 2013 at 08:21
I was at your sale! I saw that gentleman going through your boxes of books. He looked very intent on seeing every book you had to offer.
Good going on the sales.
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Drew says15 August 2013 at 08:26
Could be the nerd in me, but I immediately zeroed in on El Grande in the picture of the bookshelves. If that didn’t sell, I’ll buy it *and* pay the shipping! (Sorry for turning this into my own little Craigslist :-P)
As for the article, great tips! Never would’ve thought of the cash apron idea. When you mentioned that you did “better” than the others, sale-wise, how did you keep the incoming funds separate by person?
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- Greg says15 August 2013 at 09:09
  No kidding! El Grande, El Caballero, Power Grid, Agricola, etc. Surely those weren’t for sale!? If I had come across those at garage sale prices, I would have freaked out.
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Rose says15 August 2013 at 08:50
Dear JD – I can shed some light on why furniture doesn’t sell. People are often worried about the possibility of bedbugs. One egg hiding in a crevice can mean months of hell. We got bedbugs from our jerk of a neighbor leaning infested furnishings against our house, in the alley between our houses, before he discarded them. I know people who have gotten bedbugs from eggs hiding in a book spine, movers’ vans, cardboard boxes, a student residence, and the luxury box seats at a famous Manhattan theatre. My local Goodwill says there’s been a big drop in used furniture sales since several reports of various bedbug infestations hit the news. It took us 6 months to finally completely rid ourselves of the little monsters. We had to be careful about what we used, because we have pets. On the advice of the exterminator at the college where I work, we tried a few things, from diatomaceous earth to pet-safe sprays. We spent upwards of $500 – and finally, the one thing that worked was plain old steam. I’ll never buy used furniture now, especially in my neighborhood.
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- Lyn says15 August 2014 at 08:16
  To be able to get stuff like furniture and what not at yard sales and thrift stores and not have to worry about bed bugs, vacuum thoroughly, spray and wrap in plastic. Leave it for a couple of weeks. We once babysat a couple of girls and got bed bugs from their diaper bag. We vacuumed daily, put all furniture outside in plastic and continued to vacuum everything daily, it took a couple weeks, but we got rid of them. Mattresses and couches are the worst for them.
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Sam says15 August 2013 at 09:11
We do a community garage sale, everyone donates stuff and all the money goes to the association for fun events.
We do use a cash box, but one person is in charge of it and that is their only job to man the cash box. Every so often, we reduce the cash in the box and lock up the cash in a secure location.
We group everything together by category. Clothes all go together, furniture goes together, books, CDs, kitchen stuff, etc. We generally price by the category (with a few exceptions). So all hard back books are $1 or 5 for $3 or something like that. We make big signs and we tape them to boxes or table. As day goes on, prices go down and we only have to replace the big sign.
We also try to have a couple of volunteers with trucks who will deliver furniture, we limit it to within the City (which isn’t that large).
We actually find that people do buy CDs and Videos, they resell them on E-bay. I donated a big box of CDs that my Mom gave me that had come from my grandparents/her parents. But regarding the E-bay buyers, they come early and they want a deal. I think he offered $20 for the whole box which was hundred of CDs (I said no, but come back). We actually sold quite a few and then he did come back and he paid the $20 for what was left.
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mike says15 August 2013 at 09:41
All Good Ideas, but also
*The amount of money also depends partially on the volume of stuff you are selling. Clearly he had a ton of stuff. The more junk you have and the quality of that junk will help dictate the total amount earned. I watched my in-law spend tens of thousands on stuff every year and garage sale his excess every year or so making $600, who really cares, the sunk costs are way too high, stop buying
*Garage sales if done right take a lot of time with little reward for time. I did one once, just once. After which I donated the leftovers and got a bigger reduction on my taxes then in money. Now I just weed out what little I have to get rid of every year and donate it consistently.
*You are better off identifying anything of real value, selling it on ebay, amazon, craigslist to get better, sometimes way better values. Even if you do it slowly over a couple years, instead of storing for a decade or more (J.D.) your search will generate people specifically looking for those items. Many people going to garage sales are looking for stuff to resell. I don’t know if the ebay consignment stores are still out there but another alternative or give it to your kid to do, telling they get to keep half the money after you give them general guidelines.
*I started reading this blog shortly after it started. I alway view J.D. has a consumer trapped in the shell of a reformed frugalist. He never really stopped consuming he just changed what he consumed and how he used his money. Of course he also wrote some great articles. But in retrospect it wasn’t really about getting rich slowly it was about using your money in a way that fits your lifestyle better. He essentially didn’t get rich slowly as an offer for the blog was made in 3 years but hey thats also the American Dream so you can’t knock him for it and he put a lot of work in. Truly the money we save is typically being saved for some important long term goal. I really don’t think he fits the mold of the blog anymore because I know he isn’t particularly saving to get rich but just to fuel future spending which isn’t necessarily a bad thing nor are the mutually exclusive always.. Also its the reason he is back here because he needs more money to spend. Truthfully I value his input and his posts as they are better written than most his peers on the site but after watching his journey and his actions, it comes off feeling disingenous.
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- Jane says15 August 2013 at 10:58
  I don’t have much of an opinion of your view of J.D., but your comments helped me crystallize my own thoughts about the personal finance blog industry.
  Even if they don’t start that way, I think most personal finance blogs turn into lifestyle or value blogs. The discussion invariably comes around to the “right” and “wrong” ways to spend your money. Because a blogger enjoys hiking or traveling, spending money on those things is privileged over other hobbies. It’s the nature of the beast.
  Even more annoying, posts can then revolve around the “right” and “wrong” ways to spend your time. I find this aspect of personal finance blogs to be the most egregious. You’re squandering your time if you watch television or play online games; yet it is perfectly acceptable to wile away an evening reading a book.
  Mr. Money Mustache’s most recent post “The Surprising Effect of Small Efforts over Time” is a good example of this. Television – bad. Blog reading – good. Riding an ATV – bad. Biking – good. Contracting out home improvements – bad. DIY work – good. All of these value judgments reflect the author’s own personal preferences. And of course, (duh!) it’s his blog, but at the same time, these subjective ideas are mixed in with objective lessons about personal finance. It can be hard for an impressionable reader to distinguish which is which.
  I also find the Western value of productivity creeps in pretty much everywhere and colors all discussions of money. All of the sudden there is the pressure to always be productive, regardless of whether that productivity directly translates into a larger bank account.
  Reply
  - Jacq says15 August 2013 at 11:32
    Love the comment Jane! Back when I used to have a PF blog, I would call this “the values police”. And it’s often couched in “we must single-handedly save the planet!” talk to put an altruistic spin on it. Perhaps not watching tv somehow causes lesser greenhouse gases? Technically, not eating at home and at restaurants is likely more efficient and causes a lower greenhouse effect… But I digress.
    I suspect that most of these people are a little more moderate IRL but to someone like me who was raised with extremely thrifty but well-to-do parents, making low/mid 6 figures with an 80%+ savings rate some years, I had to finally disengage from reading that type of blog because I was depriving myself of things that really did make me and my family happy in order to feel virtuous. It gets into your brain like an infesting bug gets into garage sale furniture and is very hard to shut off.
    The only PF blogs I read nowadays are Financial Uproar, Retired Syd, Canadian Dream – Free at 45 and my favourite is Joshua Kennon. They’re all quite values-agnostic. Kennon and Syd are the best examples that I’ve found that follow Dave Ramsey’s phrase “live like nobody else so that you can live like nobody else”. And of course, they have their own value system but it’s not in your face. Punching you.
    The non-agnostic blogging generally follows the Tim Ferriss m.o. and it works on most people. Especially for conversion / indoctrination. Although I’m sure most popular bloggers are unaware that they are using those kinds of techniques (yikes, I sound like a tin foil head and really am not – just have done a lot of study around cults and their methods).
    http://michaelhyatt.com/8-blog-tips-from-tim-ferriss.html
    Although I will say that after MMM wrote his bike post I thought “hmmm, it’s been a long time since I’ve just driven nowhere and stopped at random places and parks along the way with the dog.” I clocked almost 400 km that day and had a blast! I need to read that blog more often…
    Reply
    - Jane says15 August 2013 at 12:08
      Jacq – thanks for a list of new blogs to check out! Of course no writer can be completely value-less, but I like your concept of “values-agnosticism.” It’s not that we don’t ever make value judgements, but it is important to regularly give voice to our own subjectivism.
      I definitely think that J.D.’s attitude of “doing what works for you” saved him from becoming a demagogue like Tim Ferriss.
      Like you, I don’t imagine it is always consciously done, and if you confronted any of these PF gurus and called them a demagogue, they’d find the accusation absurd. They might not be one in real life, but they play one on the web :).
      Reply
    - mike says15 August 2013 at 14:16
      Nice feedback folks.
      Of course what is most bothersome is how this ties to general media, politics, etc., not just in P.F. I tend to focus on as many sources as possible, but its hard not to be cynical as everyone seems to have an agenda, primarily the lining of their own pocket, building their brand/base or increasing their clicks. I like when I get the rare piece that weighs both sides as equally as possible realizing bias is almost always present.
      I really enjoy the Big Picture daily email which leans mostly left, but provides the authors daily reading list (long train ride) which is on a variety of issues, not just P.F. (he manages portfolios and gives advice) Even though I don’t always agree with him, his article feed is pretty decent which normally focuses on finances, reforms, govn’t shenanigans, the full spectrum really and a lot of times he provides one article with one view point of a situation with another article right next to it that takes the counterpoint.
      Reply
    - Jacq says15 August 2013 at 18:15
      Due to the nature of the medium, most bloggers are fairly young and many looking for an income stream – PF ones that is. That leads to a more black and white view of life IMO.
      I’m glad I got turned on to FI before blogs even existed so what I read was primarily books on the topic which tend to be more balanced and less hyperbolic. I’d also recommend the early-retirement.org forum even if you’re not interested in ER. There’s such a well balanced group of people there who are a bit older, more moderate, encourage people to find jobs that they like but also to pursue FI if not ER. Any question you’ve ever had about PF has been discussed there and with a variety of viewpoints – not just “this is what worked for one person.” Just a great mix of the whole spectrum without any of this “my spending is lower than your spending so I win” nonsense.
      It’s a little bit “life is perfect in ER” of course because of the self-selecting / winnowing nature of the group, but since I am ER now and really quite enjoy it (didn’t in my first couple of stabs at it and would still go back to work if I found employment I really wanted to take a stab at), it works for me.
      Reply
  - Jaime says15 August 2013 at 16:54
    I think why PF blogs eventually turn into lifestyle blogs is because PF is a limited topic…it’s all the same:
    Save your money, spend less, invest, start a pension or a retirement plan, buy your first home and pay it off, try to start a business or multiple streams of income, etc.
    So I’ve noticed that after awhile they turn into lifestyle blogs. Some PF bloggers lose complete interest after they’ve been blogging for a year or two, say their goodbyes and quit.
    I rarely read PF blogs these days.
    Reply
- Anne says15 August 2013 at 15:49
  Mike,
  I think your comments were very insightful and accurate concerning this blog, J.D.’s character, and personal finance blogs in general.
  I have always thought a great deal of the popularity of this particular blog had to do with the openness and “niceness” of J.D. himself.
  I think we’re all happy that his life is at least moving in a direction that makes him happy.
  Reply
- abby says16 August 2013 at 10:28
  If you go on JD’s blog more than money you see that he’s posting at GRS for free. If i read that correctly
  Reply
John S @ Frugal Rules says15 August 2013 at 10:34
These are some great tips J.D.! We’ve never had a garage sale as fear that it would be a big time commitment and simply sell stuff on Craigslist throughout the year. We have some good friends who just did their own garage sale, and while they did good, it was no $2500!
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The Warrior says15 August 2013 at 10:56
One further signage suggestion:
-Use bright poster boards with the huge sharpie for lettering (not skinny, little sharpie)
-Attach balloons with helium to your signs. They bring attention to passers-by and show that the sign is not old.
Hope those help
The Warrior
NetWorthWarrior.com
Reply
SavvyFinancialLatina says15 August 2013 at 11:02
Great tips! I love garage sales. You can find some awesome deals when you shop at garage sales.
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Marla says15 August 2013 at 11:14
Wait, wait – you can get charitable deductions when donating to good will? Just for furniture, or for everything? My eyes are opened.
Reply
- El Nerdo says15 August 2013 at 11:46
  You can get tax deductions, but deductions only matter if your donations exceed the standard deduction (about $6,000 for an individual/ $12,000 for a married couple filing jointly). And then you only realize the applicable tax rate multiplied by the amount over the standard deduction, not the full amount of the deduction, of course. And then you have to itemize and provide documentation (a pain). Me, I’d much rather have cold hard cash. 🙂
  Reply
Emily says15 August 2013 at 12:42
On the rare occasions I have enough put together to furnish a garage sale I typically do a ‘get rid of stuff’ sale, instead of the money making kind. To me it’s part of being a good steward of the items I choose to own, which is part of an overall mindset that helps me spend less. I’ll never make $2500 at a garage sale, because I’ll never have spent the $20,000+ on stuff that I’d want get rid of.
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Jaime says15 August 2013 at 16:59
JD, congratulations on your garage sale.
It sounds to me like you’ve won the war on stuff. Good for you.
I’m surprised that you, Kim, and Kris are able to hang out without any bad feelings. That’s very rare and it’s funny that you’re new gf’s name also starts with a K.
I think it’s awesome you’re able to all be friendly together. I hope you cherish that. Most people after a divorce end up hating each others guts.
As for your furniture not selling, I think it’s because most people don’t want to worry about how they’re going to take it home.
Do you think that might be it?
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Gwen says15 August 2013 at 19:53
Another option is donating furniture and items to Habitat for Humanity. We had a huge number of weird-sized cupboard doors in our basem*nt, donated them to HfH and got a $400 tax receipt. If you have building materials, old toilets, unused 2x4s, cupboard – send them a photo and they’ll tell you if you can bring it in.
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TR says16 August 2013 at 22:19
JD, did you sell the Calvin & Hobbes complete editions? If so, I’ll buy those off of you.
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artofbeingcheap.com says17 August 2013 at 20:08
I think having a garage sale is a bad idea. It’s way too much work, and you don’t get much money out of it. The stuff that is worth something you should sell on craigslist. Everything else give to charity and take the tax deduction. You will save many hours of time and make more money.
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Airi says18 August 2013 at 17:07
Nice tips, thanks
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Debi says19 August 2013 at 09:02
I’ve found that having less frequent but larger sales brings in more customers. Many people won’t stop if they drive by and don’t see lots of stuff for sale. I’ve had great luck selling both upholstered and wood furniture, especially to college bound students.
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jeanee says22 March 2014 at 22:29
Use bright colored signs and/or balloons, to draw the attention of people driving passed your signs.It gets even more attention then plain white signs do.
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MK says05 May 2014 at 13:33
This was a great blog post! Your garage sale looked like a lot of fun. I agree with everything except the furniture. Here (Orlando) It’s always the first stuff to go! you have to be out at 7:00am to get the good furniture. I was on a mission to find a patio set- went at 8:00am to a community garage sale (when it started) and trucks were already full of furniture and of course, my patio set. People also look to get furniture for cheap so they can upcycle it (hellooo Pinterest) or resell it at their shops.
But, as a garage sale shopper these are my biggest pet peeves that will turn me OFF to a garage sale
1) Bad signs. Don’t post a poster and write “sale” in a pen. It’s hard to see from a car, hard to navigate where it is and most of the time, I won’t waste my time. Make it BOLD with a clear arrow!
2) No prices. I hate when things don’t have prices! Esp when it’s busy you’re waiting trying to get a word in edge-wise over everyone else trying to figure out prices.
3) Dirty items. Sure it maybe works to my advantage (for dickering) but I’m sure sellers would sell a lot more (for more money) if they took a couple minutes to dust off those old shelves, picture frames, knick nacks, wash the crrud off the ol’ pack-n-play, ect.
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Sahil Dogra says24 July 2014 at 02:31
That’s really amazing work and the tips & tricks you have shared are really effective in engaging customers to the yard. These types of methods not just only remove your extra stuff but also help in making money as you have described.
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Terrie says03 January 2015 at 22:14
I don’t have garage sales to “get rid of stuff”. I have them to make some money. However, I’ve had problems with customers who come by wanting, or even demanding, I give them things very cheap or even free. And they will always argue “but you need to get rid of your stuff, don’t you?” Its very important for customers to understand that many sellers NEED the money they earn from garage sales. It is not a charity event that is being hosted.
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eslaigh says17 March 2015 at 12:57
Yes! I made 7584.08 at my yard sale
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- Elle says07 April 2016 at 18:37
  I have a question. How did you make the 7,000 dollars at jusrt a garage sale? What items did you sell?
  Reply
Rob says01 May 2015 at 18:02
post on Craig’s list and put it at the curb with free in big letters.
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Rob says01 May 2015 at 18:21
If it is electrical, display it near a plug in. If it is a sound or video electrical item, take a retailing idea from the pros and set it up to play. TV that is playing will sell much better than one that is off. Also true of sound electrics. Play videos on TV. People will start watching and ask to buy the video. Throw a movie into the deal as a sweetener. Start the day with a sale, Even if it is super cheap. That first buyer may be your best customer and refer others to your sale. The first sale also gets you into a selling mode.
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Jade says22 May 2015 at 11:53
Have a bbq sausage sizzle at the same time you have your yard sale. Sell each sausage for $1 – $2 each. Hungary shoppers can add to your profits.
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Marina says31 May 2015 at 20:38
Thanks so much for your tips! We pulled in $1459.25 in a weekend.
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HN says15 June 2015 at 11:04
My tip: if you have a lot of something in particular, “Buy 3, get 1 free” works really well. I’ve used this for clothing and books in the past, and it really helps that stuff go faster.
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Jayden says29 June 2015 at 19:47
I am a extreme yard sales. I went yard saling Saturday and found tons of gems. A tip I have is to not follow the Highway follow the back roads there are lots of yardsales. Also stop at parking lot yardsales where there are many tables set up. It’s really worth it. I am a Hockey Memorabilia Collector. One tip is if its a kid wearing a sports hat (or adult) show him the sports stuff you have for sale ( because he might not notice it). Examples are Jerseys, Hats, Plush, Books, Cards, signed pucks or frames, etc
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- Mary says17 March 2016 at 14:20
  Hey Jayden,
  I may have a piece that would interest you if you’re into Hockey collectibles. I’ll have to find it in the attic to check, but we have a hockey stick signed by the Chicago Blackhawks (I think nearly the whole team) from the Bobby Hull era. It was either the year they won or the year after, I think.
  Let me know if that’s something you might be interested in and I’ll go find the stick and get you pictures, etc. My uncle won it way back when, and now it’s just sitting around even though it’s a pretty cool piece!
  Mary
  Reply
Fay says02 July 2015 at 05:51
the ONLY way you can “make” $2500 is to sell over $10,000 worth of stuff. There is NO way on earth that anyone will pay more than 25 cents on the dollar at ANY garage sale on average. This article is total BS to imply that you can make real money off any garage sale! If you add up all the time you waste in preparation and selling you don’t make that much.
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- Vanessa says29 March 2016 at 12:59
  Thats not true! My husband and I partnered with his mom and sister and held a HUGE garage sale and between the 3 of us we pulled in $3750! We had one a few weeks ago and made $900!
  Reply
Steve says27 November 2015 at 15:31
This was very helpful. I made 9,672.93 this week. Thank you J.D Roth!
Reply

Garage sale checklist: How to have a successful yard sale (2024)

Define Your Goal

What To Sell at a Garage Sale, by Season

Springtime

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Advertising:

Good Items to Sell:

Summertime

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Advertising:

Good Items to Sell:

Autumn

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Advertising:

Good Items to Sell:

Wintertime

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Advertising:

Good Items to Sell:

Merchandise

Differentiate!

How To Advertise for a Garage Sale

Neighborhood Publications:

Craigslist and Kijiji:

Make your Sale Shareable. Social Media is your Friend:

9 Tips for the Best Yard Sale Signs

Design to inform and intrigue

Where’s your sign?

Garage Sale Supplies

Pricing for a Garage Sale

How to Price Yard Sale Items

To Price or not to Price

Be Willing to Bargain, but be Less Flexible at the Start

Staging

Avoiding Problems

The Early Birds

Future Burglars

Do NOT Use a Cash Box

Don’t Bad-Mouth your Items

The Hostess with the Mostest

Wrapping It Up

Become A Money Boss AndJoin 15,000 Others

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