THE PERFECT YARD SALE

Do you have extra inverntory? Maybe that great find at a yard sale didn't sell so well? Maybe you have stuff that you won't sell? Have the PERFECT YARD SALE to make some extra money to buy new inventory. Yard sale's can be great when you are low on cash or have extra inventory but if you don't know how to plan the perfect yard sale, LET ME HELP YOU! This guide will help you plan that yard sale, get a supply list , learn how to price to sell, and write the perfect newspaper ad, how to place your items in your yard sale to get the best results with the least amount of work.

I am a mom just like any other mom, I have tons of toys to keep the rooms messy, lots of clothes that fit like a charm, and more that hasn't fit in months. I am also one of those ebay seller's who finds thier goodies in yard sales. I love them, and i find the best deals at yard sales. I had my first yard sale a few years ago after going to thousands. I learned what I liked, what made finding the yard sale easy, and what drove me nuts. I always hated to go to a yard sale and nothing was priced, or everything was wet from sitting out all night uncovered, or was on the ground and you had to 'sift" though it to find anything or better yet, was dirty, slimey ( yes I have seen some interesting things) or smell. I have even had it where people have priced things like they were selling it brand new.

So lets talk about when you should have a yard sale.

 Have you ever read the newspaper add " HUGE 5 FAMILY YARD SALE  LOT OF ITEMS TOO MUCH TO LIST....." and you get there and it is one tarp piled full of cloths and one table with a few what nots on it? 

Before you start looking for stuff,  Stop at your local dollar store and grab some boxes for free. Most of the time they are all too happy to get rid of them. And yes, we have all seen those yard sales where it is one small table, one peice of tarp with a TON of clothes on it, and we have all passed them right on by. So first of all, make sure you have enough for a yard sale. This does not mean, if  you have found 5 boxes of clothes and that is all you need. You need different items from different parts of the house. Like some toys, dishes, clothes, household nick nacks, and so on. There are popular items that people are always looking for, an example is  baby anything, kids clothes, tools, new items, sports items, and in season items. Look at your kitchen, do you have plates from when the kids were little, maybe glasses you have not used in a long time, mis maching dishes that you no longer need, tuberware that you have not used in months, pots and pans that have seen better days ( great for camping maybe), table cloths, curtins. What about the bathroom, toothbrush holder, shower curtin with last years style or those cute ducks that your teenager now hates, samples you got from your stay at a hotel ( great for goodie boxes to soldiers). Did you redo your living room and now have older pictures and wall decor that you no longer can use, maybe a rug or nick nack that is no longer a match. Look around  your house, this is a great time to do some cleaning up, cleaning out, and orginizing of the house.

Anyone want to yard sale with you?

Next after you have found all that STUFF to get rid of, ask around. Get to know your neighbors, see if they want to join you, have one at thier house or better yet a community yard sale ( talk with home owner president first, to see if they have one planed or if you can have one.) If you are going to join someone and do it at one place. Use color coded pricing lables. Keep a notebook of paper handy to keep track of all those great sales. I also suggest that each person put in a $15.00 in cash change to start with, so you have plently of change for those early birds with big bills( and no I dont mean a big mouth..lol). Your cash box should have a pen, a caculator, scratch paper, at least 20 $1, 2 $10 , and 2 $5  you also want to have at least $5 in pocket change if a 2 family yard sale. If it is a 1 family yard sale, divid in half, if more then a 2 family yard sale, add more accoudingly. If you are alone in your yard sale you can also use a fanny pack as a way to keep all your earning with you and be able to walk around.

What supplies do you need for the perfect yard sale?     

Planning for that yard sale, what do you need, when do you need it buy, what should you invest in, and who should help you? When should you contact the newspaper, how many signs do you need, What time should you start, what days should you have the yard sale on? what time?

Let start with what do you need? You need tables, signs, pre-ready cash box ( listed above), a line to hang clothes on and hangers, an outlet to test electronics, tape ( and lots of it), bright colored poster board or cardboard, pricing stickers,  table covers if you want it to look neat, good clear directions, heavy duty stapler and black markers, signs for "big" stuff like a couch or bed. If you don't have a table, make some. Ply wood and saw horses, or chairs. Bins to put "like" items in. 

Your signs can be done a few ways, taped or stapled to wood, you can hot glue or tape them to old garden fence( metal or plastic). I use the old metal garden fence that is rusted, they are a perfect size for the signs, they last longer and can be used again, they stay up and are very stable. Make sure all your signs have " yard sale" and an arrow. You can add what you will have, or the date, just remember if you plan to reuse them, you have to change the paper where as if you dont put the date you wont have to. You want them to be on a bright colored paper or a plain white with dark fat letters.  Here is a good example...

 OR     

 An example of a bad one....

   OR  

In the first photo you will see the bold and bright colors of the signs, how easy it can be seen, how it will catch the eye. The 2nd photo shows the big fat black letters on the white background. These 2 are exaples of good signs, the 4th sign is an example of a bad sign. As you can see it is hard to read, you have to be right up on it to see the direction of the arrow, you may drive on by before you notice it, . Have all your signs done by the wed before your yard sale, that way they will be ready to be put out. The day before you will be setting up. Now is the time to count the number of signs you need. You want one at every corner, every enterence to where you live and one at your house.   Here is an example of a flyer you can post, remember to ask family to post too...

Next, advertise it in the newspaper, local online groups, with flyers and family and friends.  Spend the "little extra" on a longer ad. You will stand out more. Remember to get the most for your money, for example, "LOTS of BABY items, FURNITURE, Variety of CDs, and 2 family. Remember to BOLD the important items, also don't forget to add your address and directions or major highway. You can always put. " 1234 nowhere Street 33225, near hwy 78 & 103rd. follow signs" Remember to put the date and time, it may sound silly, but it is a must. Don't forget to put in there " too much to list" or something like that that lets them know you have more. Make sure you call your newspaper to find out when you have to have the ad ready to them. Mine requires that you have it to them by noon on the Tueday before to be printed.

Setting Up Your Yard Sale

Ok, now is the time to make a choice, do you want to get rid of the stuff more then you want to get "face value" for your items. If you don't mind putting these items back in your home, feel free to price them any way you see fit. If you are lookng to get rid of the items price them to move. Make sure you price EVERYTHING. It is very importand, if you get busy and can't keep up, people will not wait around for you to get it together. If you price everything, they know what they are looking to spend and tend to spend more.  If you have a lot of books, price them at 50 cents, put them all in a box and put one sign on the front of the box. If you have a lot of clothes, use a pricing list and colored dots, or one that simply says "shirt 50 cents, jeans $1.00" and so on. Here is an example..

I personaly, when wanting to really get rid of items, price low. I want the stuff gone as soon as possable. If it is something I know I don't want to sell cheap, I will price high. Another thing to think about it, if you have a lot of clothes, offer to have people "fill a bag" for $5.00 or even $3.00, you can also do something like "3 for a $1.00 or 50 cents each" either way you need to have a price listed. Also remember people will bargin with you, ask you for a  lower price. Again, you choose, do you want to drag those boxes back in, or sell sell sell. Don't be offended if someone wants to bargin you down, they have to look out for thier own wallet as well.

As you are setting your items out, CLEAN THEM. I suggest you have a towel and cleaning bottle with you as you price, that way you can wipe it down or out as you price them. This is a yard sale, and cleaner items sell better then dirty items. If you don't want the trouble of cleaning it out, then dont expect to get a great price, maybe only a good price. If you find something that wont come off, try a little finger nail polish remover, it will remove black ink.  Don't try to sell dirty clothes, if they still have food stuck to them, though them in the wash the night before. Also clothes sell better when hung up, or folded on a table. If they are in one pile they don't sell as well. If you have clothes that belong in outfits, put them on hangers together or saftey pin them, they will also sell better with all the pieces. I try to do this over the week before the yard sale, at night while watching TV. This is also a great time to CHECK POCKETS OF COATS PURSES ETC. You never know if you left something in there. 

Setting up....The Night Before

  Wow you are almost there, almost ready to make lots of money. The day before the "big event" set up those tables, set them in a semi circle, long rows, or a square. This way it is easy to more around and people will not knock over things or step on them.  Leave room in between table if it inot in rows, that way people can walk through them. Make sure all your items are above knee level, anything below and people won't see them and if they don't see them, they can't buy them. Set everything in likeness. Toys with toys, clothes with clothes and baby items with baby items. Hang up clothes as best you can. Take a long pole or smaller PVC pipe and put it between 2 ladders. Make sure you put tape or brick on them to keep them from moving. If you plan to use a rope keep in mind how hard it is to move the items around tand keep them in place. Try to make it something easy to more on and slide acorss. Take the time to make those clothes look nice. Put all outfits together and price them, even if they are not the same brand, an outfit will sell better then just a top or just a pair of shorts. If you can place the items in order starting from baby to child to teen to adult. That way poeple don't have to search through it all, they will grow bored too fast. Remember that as you hang those items PRICE PRICE PRICE. People don't like to have to ask you the price all the time. Put your bigger items out front that way as people drive by they you will catch thier eye.

Make sure you have change for your cash box and a bag full of bags. I always end up at the market sometime the week before and get extra bags. Be a little demanding about cold stuff being in a different bag to get even more. Some of the ealy birds are the ones that just went to the bank so they have only big bills.

Have a plan, what you want to set our first for the next day, what time to be up to set up, where youare setting up stuff, and who is setting out those yard sale signs. The person in chanrge of signs needs to put them out no later then a hour before your yard sale opens. Set everything on tables that is already priced, this will help anyone helping you figure out where you want items placed. Then go back and clean and price the rest as you go. When we do our yard sale we alwyas set out our baby item and toys first. Those are some of the hottest items at the yard sale. When we sold our crib, we put it together the night before so people can see all the peices are there. We next work on all the household items, knick knacks and big ticket items. Rember that when you set out those big items that is telling people to "some come on in, we are open!". When people are driving up to the yard sale we look busy although most of our items are out. Clothes are the last becuase they have to be hung up. That is what we call busy work, you can set it down at any time to help someone and pick up right where you left off.

Pricing...where to begin??

Do you ever think that maybe you are pricing things too high? Are your items still left on those tables after 2 days? There are a few things to keep in mind. First, fridays always sell better then saturdays. Next, living in teh south we have yar round yard sales but that doesn't mean we want to be out having one year round. When i price my items i ask $1.00 for all jeans, all outfits, and nice dress pants. I price all my tops, shirts, shorts, onsies, at 50 cents a piece and all bibs and socks are 10 cents each. I would say 90% of my items are under $5.00. Hey i want them gone and the less i have to pack up the better. If any of my items are stained or in poor condition, we  have a freecycle section so poeple can dig through it and just grab what they want. A few key things to keep in mind is that a yard sale is NOT ebay and you are not going to get ebay prices there. If another seller wants to try those items on ebay let them, you have not had the time or sucess so just get rid of it. Besides a yard sale is ebay fee free and if you wnt the ebay price at your yard sale, you need to list it on ebay.

Those first buyers....make those sales! 

So you finally sit down just ot have to get back up...someone wants to buy your washer. I know, you are onlytoo happy that you want to jump for joy! if the buyer can't take it right then and there, offer to hold it for a week as long as they pay for it. People will come back if they have already paid. Mkare sure you get thier phone number and a date they can come and get thier "new to you" item. Also make a SOLD sign to tape to the item. A key point to remember is that you want to greet people with a hi or hello but DO NOT hover, don't be right there tellilng them about every item. When you used it, why you stopped, when it was made or the personal history of the item. LEAVE them to LOOK! People will think yoyu can't trust htem to not steal from you, so why should they trust you. It will only drive buyers away and that is lost money. Most people at a yard sale have in mind what they are loooking for or will know it when they see it. Those impulse buyers are turned off by sellers that can't leave them alone.

As you look around at your busy yard sale a lady looks at your and offers you a price on an item. Although you may feel it is too low, counter offer her a higher FAIR price. Don't fear that they will say no, like you they want to get the best price for any item. Also keep in mind, do you really want to have to drag that item back into the house? If you are still very unsure, offer to take phone number and call if they you get a better offer. Remember that some people willb e more then happy to do that , others will not. If they really want the item they will give up their phone number.

I use my yard sale as a great way to advertise my ebay store as well as my custom made diaper cakes. I have a few sitting out on the table so people can get a good look at them. As they pay they almost always ask me about them, so when i had them thier items and change, I will hand them my business card as well. It has my store link,email addy and phone number. That way they can call if they need anything like a special theme.

So your yard sale is over, .....UG what to do with the leftovers?

Freecyle it! When we have a yard sale and we have items left over we freecycle it. By that point we dont care about not getting money for it, we just dont want to pack it back up. The last yard sale we had, i posted a come and get it, and those wonderful freecyclers took less then an hour to get it all out of my yard. All i did was put the items in a pile. Another idea is to contact a local charity group and see if you can load up and drop it off there. When you call ahead of time you make sure they can handle what you have and make them aware you are coming.

Don't forget to go and get those great yard sale signs. Picking those up make sure that people dont take a needless drive or that you are littering. Some places you can get fined for leaving those signs out, besides you can use them for next time.

The rest of those items list them on ebay or store them away for  your next yard sale. Thanks for reading this and please vote at the bottom if this helped you. I love the feedback and it is great knowing people read this. thanks again

Kate