Having a garage sale is like throwing a party. There are lots of moving parts involved and you need to prepare adequately for them. If you are looking to free up space inside your garage, or just want to make some extra cash, a garage sale might be the best idea. Follow these tips to ensure it goes smoothly.
If you think you can pull this off alone, think again. A garage sale is a great way to get the whole family involved. If you have kids, neighbours or friends, ask for help a few weeks ahead to ensure you give plenty of warning. They can help do things like organizing things for sale, putting up ads, or collecting sales on the day.
Take inventory of everything in your garage and note what you want to sell. Make sure to spread the word well in advance, great ways are Craigslist and posters on telephone poles around your neighbourhood. If it might rain on that day, and you cannot go through with the sale, make sure to post an alternate date on all your advertisements.
You want people to take you and your goods seriously, so make it look good. Don’t be a slob and throw everything onto the table, organize things. Group similar items, have price tags on items, and clean everything as best as you can. You will sell more if your sale looks professional.
On the day of the sale, make sure to be vigilant when it comes to crowds. There will always be opportunists that might try to grab an item or steal some cash. Instead of having a cash box, use a money belt and always have a few people watching the items.
This is a garage sale, not a supermarket. If you set prices and won’t budge, you won’t sell many items. You have to realize that the nature of garage sales means that people will expect to haggle and negotiate on price. Be flexible and you should sell a lot more.
Everything might not go smoothly, it may rain, people might not show up or you might not sell as much as you thought. If at the end of the day, you don’t want to put everything back into the garage you were trying to clean, get a storage unit and wait until the next sale.