You bet!...sm
Posted By: Veteran tag saler on 2007-06-21
In Reply to: Garage Sale Advice. - Tips?
Always had good luck with newspaper ad AND well-placed signs, many of them, with good directions! People use the newspaper ads to plan out a "route" to use for the day. You'll get much less attendance with just a sign on the corner and at your nearest big intersection....Use bright neon-colored poster board with dark lettering clearly readable from a distance. ..Fridays and Saturdays are the most attended days, at least here in NY. Too many folks sleep late and/or go to church on Sundays to make that day beneficial at all. And remember that this is the last week of school in many areas. Your attendance may be kind of sparse no matter what you do.....Block your yard or driveway with boards, saw horses, a row of bikes, whatever, AND keep stuff covered until you're ready to "open" to keep the darned early birds away. I once had a dealer show up at 6:30a for my 9 a.m. sale - just walking thru the yard lifting all the covers off of everything to see if she should BOTHER to come back later! Get lost, lady...Get a roll of quarters and a bunch of small bills for all those folks that want you to break their 20s and 50s fresh from the bank. So nice of them.... Definitely price the items or group them all together if they're the same price, on a table, on a sheet spread in the grass, etc. ...watch the angle of the sun where you'll set up, if you can. Any wood furniture will blister if in direct sun for a few hours, and so will you! Hats on and/or umbrellas over your chair if it won't be in the shade will be essential. ...keep your money on you in a belly bag or in some kind of tackle box or other container where it won't be out of your vision. As your "wad" grows, put the bulk of it away in the house as you go along. Better still to hold the sale with at least one other person so one of you can man the "cash register" at all times. Likewise, keep your more valuable stuff - good costume jewlery, Depression glass, good collectibles in your vision at all times, too....Keep a phone with you outside and a pad of paper/pen should phone numbers be exchanged for items to be picked up later, mark stuff as SOLD, etc...the cookies, lemonade, ice tea thing is great for keeping customers around and for keeping kidlets busy!...DON'T have stuff just jammed into boxes. Get it all out in the open. NO boxes of old linens, old musty books, tons of McD's toys mixed together - nada! Spread 'em all out, on sheets or tablecloths even if you have no tables (saw horses and plywood make great extra tables, as do picnic benches). ..group books together. Same with toys, tools, clothes, etc. Gotta make your items obvious if you want to sell them. ...Hang up clothes if you can, especially jackets, dresses, bedspreads. String some rope in the trees or off a porch or in-between ladders or pieces of furniture and hang 'em high! ...A biggy - make sure you have a pile of various plastic or paper shopping bags or brown lunch bags for small items and piles of newpaper for wrapping valuables so people can bag their stuff....Keep the storage boxes handy, too, for those larger items that sell.....Once you're totally done, don't even bring the stuff back in the house again. Box em or bag em as you're breaking down your sale area for Goodwill, toss what's obvious trash, and stick your bags and boxes right in your car so you'll move it all out right away. Keep an open mind, be prepared to dicker, have fun, and hopefully you'll earn some pennies in the process. :)
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