Garage Sale Tips

[CYdTracked]

Trying to purge stuff from our basement storage. Any tips from those who buy or sell at garage sales? Going in with a neighbor next weekend that does a Hwy 141 garage sale that usually does a multi-family sale. How do you price your stuff? Got a lot of infant to 24 month clothes that I just want to get rid of and whatever is left will just donate. Same thing with toys too, got stuff my kids outgrown. Have been sorting piles of clothes and don't want to waste time pricing the nicer stuff so wondering if I just put a sign at each pile that says "make an offer" what is a fair price to ask for stuff that we never used that still has tags on them and stuff that we used but still is in great shape.

Got some toys and bigger things that I can Google and find new prices for and price accordingly too. That kind of stuff has never bothered me as if I can find comparable sales I can price it to sell. This little stuff that we or someone else probably paid retail price for at some point that is now worthless to us and taking up space I wonder what is a reasonable price to ask.

 

[Clonehomer]

Kids clothes - sell them as a bag for a fixed amount. This business of trying to price things out is not worth it. Just say $5 to $10 a grocery sack or whatever price you want.

 

[Cmonwhatarewedoinghereman]

We gave away 1000s of dollars of high quality baby, toddler and young kid clothes, toys, books and other items to our YWCA. The enjoyment you get will surpass any nominal gain from a garage sale selling that stuff at 5 cents on the dollar.

 

[BCClone]

We sold a bunch this way when we knew we were done with kids. We had friends who had kids about 2 years younger, they would take a tub of the age they needed and take what they wanted. The full tubs were X amount, if they took half they would pay 1/2X. It was basically honor system. It saved a lot of time.

People who come to garage sales will almost always negotiate, but mark things to sell.

 

[Agclone91]

Whatever you think it's worth price it at half of that. Garage sale shoppers are notoriously cheap folks looking for a deal. We have a multi family sale every spring and it's amazing the amount of people that will walk away if you're not willing to shave a dollar off the marked price. Had books marked $1 each a couple years ago and didn't sell a single one all morning. Dropped them to 50 cents in the afternoon and they were gone within a half hour.

We go in with the goal of getting rid of everything and just being happy with whatever we come out with on the other side.

 

[CysRage]

Growing up, my mom spent 20+ hours in prep for a garage sale (advertising, pricing everything, going to friends to borrow their tables, setting up, manning the actual sale, tear down, sorting through clothes that didn’t sell, etc) just to make a few hundred bucks. Even had people steal from her at a sale one year. It just isn’t worth it in my opinion.

Now that I have kids, I promised myself I won’t let my wife go through all of that. I’m not sure if you have a “Once Upon a Child” store in your area. That is where we take children’s toys and clothing and they give you cash on the spot. We always do much better than we think we will.

Whatever they don’t take, we donate.

 

[CYdTracked]

Whatever you think it's worth price it at half of that. Garage sale shoppers are notoriously cheap folks looking for a deal. We have a multi family sale every spring and it's amazing the amount of people that will walk away if you're not willing to shave a dollar off the marked price. Had books marked $1 each a couple years ago and didn't sell a single one all morning. Dropped them to 50 cents in the afternoon and they were gone within a half hour.

We go in with the goal of getting rid of everything and just being happy with whatever we come out with on the other side.

Oh I'm not trying to get every dollar I can out of this stuff, just have no clue how to price is since I haven't sold or bought anything from a garage sale in years. Whatever is left probably will get donated next, this is more about purging stuff out of storage. The only thing I know at the moment I will stick a decent price on is a kids desk that sells for nearly $100 new that hoping can maybe get $25-30 out of. Clothes I was assuming I could just place in piles by size and if someone wants to take a bag full for $10 I'm not going to object.

May have to look into the Once Upon a Child store for anything left over too. Never heard of it but there is one nearby I see.

 

[2122]

Here in podunk, if it ain't cheap it don't sell. Don't try to get what it is in theory worth - just try to get something and get someone else a good deal, or donate it. People hate 'make an offer'. Pricing easier if you have a dollar table, a two dollar table, etc. We put out signs in a few key spots, maybe a few Dollar Tree helium balloons from the mail box, a bit of country or classical on the radio, and call the local radio station's 'party line' to announce the sale on the air. No need to go 8-5, 10-3 Fri/Sat ought to work. What doesn't sell is set next to the street and disappears quickly! Good luck

 

[clone52]

We gave away 1000s of dollars of high quality baby, toddler and young kid clothes, toys, books and other items to our YWCA. The enjoyment you get will surpass any nominal gain from a garage sale selling that stuff at 5 cents on the dollar.

You can get a lot of enjoyment out of selling stuff cheap at a garage sale as well. A lot of people enjoy garage sales and like getting good stuff really cheap.

 

[Clonefan32]

My advice on garage sales-- don't do it.

 

[intrepid27]

When my wife starts talking about a garage sales I generally tell her I'll give her $50 and just haul everything to Goodwill to start with.

My experience is unless you are selling some big ticket items like upper end bikes, expensive business clothing, or furniture it is dam tough to get over $100.

 

[Clonehomer]

Also, if it isn’t worth $1, it isn’t worth selling. Put it on a free table and be done.

And make sure to have a card reader and Venmo/Paypal.

 

[Three4Cy]

Kids clothing at garage sales is a crapshoot. If you are selling fall/winter, you might be in business, but good luck if you are trying to sell summer clothes at this point.

As for toys, if you know of someone who runs a daycare, contact them and see if they are interested; it might be a way to get rid of them.

Do not do the "make an offer" on clothing; you will spend more time haggling with people, or they will just say "no thanks" and move on. I get you don't want to spend the time pricing everything, but you need to give people a place to start; otherwise, that kid's coat you paid $20 and think is worth $5, someone will say, "I'll give you fifty cents for it." It's a garage sale; people don't care that you bought something at whatever store and paid whatever price.

For kid's clothing, I would bundle same-size onesies, pants, etc., in a bag and say, "5 for $1/$2" or whatever price. Just buy the stickers that already have prices printed and this saves a ton of time marking items.

Another thing I did for clothing on the last day toward the end of the sale was to sell plastic bags for $5 and say fill it full. I get rid of a lot of clothing that way, and $5 adds up quickly. Plus, I didn't have to pack and haul it to donate.

 

[Clonefan32]

When my wife starts talking about a garage sales I generally tell her I'll give her $50 and just haul everything to Goodwill to start with.

My experience is unless you are selling some big ticket items like upper end bikes, expensive business clothing, or furniture it is dam tough to get over $100.

Garage sales are the basis of some of the biggest arguments in my marriage. My wife is very much a garage sale person. To me, hauling out a bunch of **** that's not hurting anything stored away, spending days organizing putting prices on everything, dealing with people milling around all your stuff, and then having to figure out what to do with the mountains of stuff that doesn't sell just cannot be worth the few hundred bucks you make. I'm much like you-- if you want it out of the house, great. I'll find somewhere to donate it.

 

[CYdTracked]

Here in podunk, if it ain't cheap it don't sell. Don't try to get what it is in theory worth - just try to get something and get someone else a good deal, or donate it. People hate 'make an offer'. Pricing easier if you have a dollar table, a two dollar table, etc. We put out signs in a few key spots, maybe a few Dollar Tree helium balloons from the mail box, a bit of country or classical on the radio, and call the local radio station's 'party line' to announce the sale on the air. No need to go 8-5, 10-3 Fri/Sat ought to work. What doesn't sell is set next to the street and disappears quickly! Good luck

The nice thing is it's my neighbor's across the street that are hosting the sale and doing all the legwork, I just have to bring my stuff and sit around Friday and Saturday with them while it's open. Should get a lot of foot traffic as this is the 141 garage sale weekend as there is a big multi-family sale every year just down the street that always brings a lot of people into the neighborhood. I think all of us that are putting our stuff together all have the mindset to price it cheap to get rid of as much as possible.

Also, if it isn’t worth $1, it isn’t worth selling. Put it on a free table and be done.

And make sure to have a card reader and Venmo/Paypal.

Good idea about Venmo, may just print out my QR code for an easy scan to pay option. The more stuff I can get rid of the better and I don't care how much I get out of it at this point because it's just been wasting space in the house over the years. Thanks for all the advice everyone, I'm not a fan of garage sales myself but I'm tired of storing stuff my kids grew out of a long time ago. Think I got some good ideas now about pricing, the kids clothing is a hodge podge of sizes and seasons so going in piles by size and price it all the same per item. Someone may get a good deal on something that still has the new tags on them or nicer stuff like coats and dresses but it maybe it entices them to throw in some of the other stuff too. Either way if its still left over it's probably getting donated next. Have found that bigger items if in good shape and priced right will still sell. Last year I took over a bike trailer that we barely used and found it on Amazon for like $125 new so I printed that off and priced it just over half off at $60 and it sold without a problem. Got a few more things kind of like that where I plan to price half off or more and have a little wiggle room to take less if needed. The space in my garage in house are worth it to me to clear for whatever I can get for any of this stuff even if I don't get much for it.

 

[CRcyclone6]

I bought a sweet painting from a garage sale this weekend.

 

[AgronAlum]

My advice on garage sales-- don't do it.

Idk we made a few hundred bucks on the last one we had and got rid of a lot of clothes and clutter. You just have to have things people would actually want to buy not just a bunch of stuff that should be thrown in the trash.

Have Venmo. Say yes to offers. Kids clothes and toys fly if they’re name brand and priced decently.

Edit: also make sure everything is clean. If we go to a garage sale and there are a few dirty things, I assume nothing is clean.

 

[Cyburbbalz]

Trying to purge stuff from our basement storage. Any tips from those who buy or sell at garage sales? Going in with a neighbor next weekend that does a Hwy 141 garage sale that usually does a multi-family sale. How do you price your stuff? Got a lot of infant to 24 month clothes that I just want to get rid of and whatever is left will just donate. Same thing with toys too, got stuff my kids outgrown. Have been sorting piles of clothes and don't want to waste time pricing the nicer stuff so wondering if I just put a sign at each pile that says "make an offer" what is a fair price to ask for stuff that we never used that still has tags on them and stuff that we used but still is in great shape.

Got some toys and bigger things that I can Google and find new prices for and price accordingly too. That kind of stuff has never bothered me as if I can find comparable sales I can price it to sell. This little stuff that we or someone else probably paid retail price for at some point that is now worthless to us and taking up space I wonder what is a reasonable price to ask.

Just moved this weekend. So much **** we have! Just put it all on Facebook for free. It's not worth the hassle except for larger items where you might make decent cash.

 

[Beernuts]

Perhaps you should advertise as it as a "free" garage sale. Then have a donation jar next to the items. That way:

1) you get rid of the stuff you don't want ( main reason for a garage sale )

2) if you do get some money you can either donate to a charity or keep.

However, make sure the donation jar is chained down as I can envision some garage sale people trying to take the jar for "free"

 

[NickTheGreat]

My wife does a sale every year with her friends. Her hourly payback rate is quite low, and much lower when you consider the bagels and coffees in the mornings.

I'd rather take it to Goodwill and do anything else on a summer Saturday morning.