My sister-in-law Elizabeth and I am avid garage
salers. I grew up with a mom who garage
saled (and would take me with her) and due to my desire to hunt down bargains, I too have become a garage
saler. Both Elizabeth and I try to hit the pavement every Saturday morning in the hopes of finding the next great deal and in the process discovered that there are a few techniques to making your garage sale successful (i.e. getting more shoppers and selling all of your stuff). She and I put our heads together to bring you a few of our top tips:
1. Advertising: In Las Vegas the most successful place to advertise your garage sale is Craigslist. There are other websites which are up and coming, like Garage Sales Tracker and Yard Sale Treasure Mapper, but the number one spot is still Craigslist. When making a Craigslist listing, make sure to put your area (NW, Summerlin, 95/Craig) under "specific location" to make it very simple for shoppers to narrow down where you are. In your advertisement, be sure to include the days (Saturdays are ideal), time, location, and a brief description of your items. If you can truthfully employ the trigger words multi-family, community sale, or neighborhood in your ad, these will catch a shoppers' eye, because the more sales/items there are the greater their chances of finding what they are looking for.
When making signage for your yard sale, stick with the same color/font/paper for all of your signs. If I am following orange neon signs to get to your sale, when you switch to white printer paper I will have no idea that these are your signs and I will never make it to your sale. Bright colors are best (neon orange, pink, green) but ultimately a giant arrow and the words "GARAGE SALE" will never steer you wrong. Make sure I can see the arrow clearly and don't worry about all the other words (address, what you're selling, etc.) Just stick to the basics and place them smartly; find corners that have lots of traffic or where you would find yourself naturally making a turn when you drive home.
When your garage sale is over, PLEASE TAKE DOWN YOUR SIGNS! It's common courtesy (and a source of frustration to next weekend's garage salers) as well as a potential fine from the city (up to $100).
2. Display: The more items you can lay things out for clear display (preferably on tables) the better. Hang up as many clothes as you can; it is easier for shoppers to simply flip through hangers rather than a pile on the ground, thus increasing your sales. Display your items in an attractive way. Consider bringing out a bookshelf or nice piece of furniture to display items on. Take your cue from stores and think of how you prefer to see things displayed. If selling baby/children's clothes, it's easiest to have them separated by size, maybe one size per box with nice signage on the box telling the shopper the contents of the box.
Cover up your items which are not going to be for sale, both to deter thievery (yes, it happens) and clarify for your shoppers what is for sale and what's not. Even consider having a "free box" up front, just to clear out all of the other little knick-knacks you have and be an attention grabber for your shoppers.
Have all of your items for sale in the best possible condition. If it is dirty clean it, broken fix it, etc. Just like you don't want someones dirty old stuff no one will want yours. Don't sell things that don't work or be honest about their condition.
3. Pricing: Be realistic in your pricing and also be willing to barter. If the idea is to get rid of the items then be open-minded and realistic when dealing with offers. Garage sales are the home of bargaining so be aware it will happen. The hard truth is this: it doesn't matter to your shopper how much you paid for it (or if it's sentimental, etc.) - they are looking for a deal at garage sale prices. Not Ebay or Craigslist prices, garage sale prices. I typically pay $.25-$1.00 for clothes, no matter what the label or how much the seller paid for it.
Make your pricing clear. Don't make the seller ask on every item "how much is this?" It's frustrating for all involved. Take some time to tag your items with premade pricing stickers from the office store or with masking tape and a Sharpie.
4. Selling: On the issue of time the earlier the better, start around 7:00 A.M. and go till you have had enough, all the traffic has stopped, your stuff is all gone, or your ready to get rid of everything left that hasn’t sold.
It is always a good idea to have plenty of small bills as change and plastic grocery bags for shoppers to put their stuff in.
When the day is over for you and you still have some items left over, make sure to offer them on Freecycle or take them to the local Goodwill. Don't just put it in the trash please; what a waste!
I hope these tips help you have a successful garage sale. Next week we'll be giving you our tips on how to be the best garage sale shopper.
2. From the short edge of the hand towel, measure up 9 inches and cut straight across. (When I use the embroidered towels, this embroidery is what will show on the hood of the towel.)
This is what you will now have:
3. With right sides together, fold the towel in half and pin unfinished edges together.
4. Sew, finishing the edges so they do not fray. Turn right side out and flatten out so as to create a triangle shape. This is now your hood.
5. Find the middle of the bath towel and mark with a pin. With right sides together, pin the hood to the towel, lining up the center of the towel with the seam of the hood (also its center).
6. Mark the bath towel 6 inches from hood's seam on both sides. Pin the ends of the hood at the 6 inch marks. The hood will not lay flat, you will have extra material.
7. Make a pleat with the hood fabric 3 inches from the seam. Pin so the hood now lays flat and you have a pleat. Repeat on both sides, making sure your pleats face the same way.
8. Sew hood to the towel, reinforcing the ends and the pleats.
9. All done! Use during bath time on your cutie-patootie.
