Pricing for Garage Sale

[Wolf mom]

Do you put prices on your items for a garage sale?

Since I'm moving, should I call it a moving sale? as I'll have furniture and lots of household things. Would that convey selling more stuff?

I will have a dollar table, but there's few large items 250 - 500 dollars plus my Kabota for $2000 that I think will scare people off if I price them.

Since I live off the beaten track, aside from an ad in the paper, how do you suggest I lead people to my home?

I've never done this before so any hints will be very welcome.

[JoePa]

If you have enough stuff maybe you should have an auction - hire a guy to do that for you -

[WoolyBear]

If you have facebook, see if there is a local yardsale site for the town nearest you. I joined 2 local ones just to see what's for sale. The people take pictures of their tables and post with the items and the prices.

[fordy]

...............If you don't atleast price the items that have certain value , bidders will automatically UNder price them and you'll be fighting just to break even . , fordy

[TerriLynn]

You can advertise your garage sale on Craigs List for free. You can also advertise some of your larger items on there as well.

I like a good Garage Sale sign when I'm driving somewhere. Big sign with an arrow on the busiest main road near you, including the address. Then a sign at every cross street, with an arrow. Personally I will go quite a bit off the beaten path if its well marked with signs leading me right to the sale.

Something else is I absolutely HATE garage sales with nothing marked. It forces me to ask the price, at which time I feel like the seller assumes I'm interested in it and may quote it a little high. I like to be able to look at it and have it marked, then I am not obligated to say "no thanks". Most of the time if I am at a garage sale and nothing is marked I will seriously low ball the seller....will you take .25 cents for this? Oh that offends you? Then mark your stuff!

[DW]

We do this sale for our local museum and we are amazed what a small ad on Craigs list brings in.

[DSBlack]

As a person that routinely buys things, nothing makes me assume something is overpriced quite like no price being listed, but maybe that's just me.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

look big ticket items liek a kabota for 2k won't put people off as long as 2k is a fair price , small items like a hammer for near retail price will

not uncommon for a moving sale to have some bigger items for a big but still fair price

what puts me off is when people seem to think they are running a department store and want store or nearly store prices

whether you say there are offers or not I will make a pile and make you an offer , yeah i am that guy

I also have no problem just walking away if you don't have anything that interests me

[MO_cows]

Signs, craiglist, local bulletin boards to publicize the sale. On CL you can post photo's of your "premier" items.

Moving sale would imply more things are selling, should help attract customers.

Big ticket items don't scare off buyers who are looking for them. We have found big ticket items are often the first to go.

Everything should be marked. If you have a lot of something all the same price and don't want to mark each piece, make a sign.

Sometimes it's hard not to be offended when someone seriously lowballs you but just counter offer and don't take it personally.

Good luck!

[Forcast]

I have done the auction route 2 times one for moms stuff one for me got to figure in the auctions take out cost, if you are sending stuff out with them by truck you loose alot of money for the men hauling and the auction costs. I did a make an offer yard sale and made $800.00 for the day, but I posted it as Make Offer Sale.

[slipshift]

When I go to yard sales I like to see prices on at least the small items. If I really like something I will make an offer but if it's something that would be "nice to have" I wouldn't bother. It is just like in a store, if there is no price you can be sure price is not a selling point.

Jim

[bugstabber]

I would include moving sale in any advertising. To me, that says you have more than piles of little pink and blue clothes.

[Danaus29]

Prices please. Many times I'll pass on something because I don't want to start a whole conversation over a piece I might or might not really want.

And if you do have a dollar table make sure it is separate from any other items and don't call someone an airhead because they ask the price. Also, make sure your dollar items are dollar items and not quarter items.

Advertise it as a moving sale.

[grannygardner]

When we moved from Ash Fork, we put up fliers in all the grocery stores within 50 miles. Then the day before the sale we put signs with the address and arrows pointing toward our place. We were 25 miles from the nearest town of any size and yet the day of the sale we had people waiting for us to open the gate to get into the driveway. We sold a truck, a van and $4000 worth of tools and furniture.

[Kasota]

I'm getting ready to have a garage sale, too. They have pre-printed price stickers for cheap at WalMart. The stickers run from .25 to 20.00 or so all in the same pack. Sure saved me a lot of work. More expensive items I'll make my own sign, but these should really help make it easier.

I hate sales where there are no price tags. Drives me nuts and most time I'll just walk away unless I see something I really really want.

[willow_girl]

Yes, those preprinted tags are a real time-saver! They have them at Dollar Tree, too.

[clovis]

When you say that you are having a 'moving sale', I immediately think that there really might be some stuff that is worth buying, rather than driving out to your place to see a bunch of baby clothes and some dirty stuffed animals.

[PrettyPaisley]

I'm a fan of the arrow, too. I've only had a couple of yard sales but each time I would put small, neon pink poster board cut into 4X4-5X5 squares with black arrows pointing the way. Neon pink signs at major intersections that coordinate with the arrow signs help to keep people from wondering what the heck the arrows are all about. I've had several folks tell me that the arrows were a huge help with keeping them on track.

[Cindy in NY]

Advertise as a Moving Sale.

Put up neon signs as Paisley said. Make the signs at the big intersections big enough to read the address. Put the date on the big signs. After that just Moving Sale and the big arrow.. Be sure and remove the signs when the sale is over.

Put price stickers on the larger items like furniture, appliances, and tractor. For the tractor, you could also have a paper taped to it with relevant info. Put the instructions etc with the appliances. Make sure everything is clean. Have an extension cord hooked up outside if anyone wants to test something.

Borrow tables if you need to. A lot of us can't stay bent over like we used to and won't bother looking at items on the ground!

Put all of one type of items on the table with a price for each. Like "Hardcovers $.50 Paperbacks $.25". Easier than trying to price each item. You could also have a $1 table and a $2 table for example. Try not to put stickers on paper items like books.

If you have items with a lot of different prices, use a price sticker for each and put them together on one table. I prefer the blank stickers so I can write the price on it.

Put clothes on a table. Fold each piece and group by size. Hang a piece of paper that reads something like "Shirts $.50 Pants $1". Hang larger items like coats and price each piece. You will want to straighten this table when you have time.

Unless the put No Early Birds in your ad, expect folks to show up well before your start time. If you can enclose your sale in a tent or garage, you could set up a lot of it the night before. Set up as close to the road as you can. Given the opportunity, folks will roam around your yard.

Have lots of cash on hand - ones, fives, tens, twenties and quarters. Someone always shows up early and wants to buy a $1 item with a twenty. Use a fanny pack or big pockets for your cash. Keep an eye it. As you get more cash, put it in the house. Not a bad idea to keep the door locked while you are outside esp if you are alone.

Put out items you think no one will want. At least twice now, the first item we have sold was n old toilet seat!

Put out a FREE box right at the road.

We put ups signs that read "All reasonable offers accepted. Unreasonable offers considered". Be ready to dicker.

Some folks may be looking for an item that you don't have out. If you have it and want to sell it, you can either go get it or ask them to come back once the sale is over. Don't leave your sale unattended.

[Molly Mckee]

I would check the price of the Kubota on tractor house.com or somewhere. You can't buy a reasonably intact Kubota that runs around here for any where near $2000.00, any model.