5 Keys To A Succesful Garage Sale

1. Avoid The Big Mistakes Never plan your sales for a holiday weekend. Most shoppers will have other plans. Next, make sure your sale is in line with all local regulations about signs and sales. When making signs, use a thick black marker, white cardboard  and clear, large print and arrows to steer drivers to your sale. You want to make sure that your address and sale hours are written large enough to be read from a moving car.Most shoppers will walk away rather than ask for a price on an item. So take the time to mark all your items with masking tape and price them. If you know something about an item like "works fine" or "only worn once" or "circa 1950" then put that info on your masking tape price tag.Never sell broken  junk and unusable garbage and price stuff  low enough so bargain hunters cannot pass it up. Finally, always have enough change and go to the bank  the day before the sale and get 50 singles and $20 in quarters.

2.  Items That Sell  include decorative items for the home in good condition, framed prints, cookbooks, kitchen appliances that work, needlework and embroidered crocheted items, tools, fishing gear, and house plants and rooted cuttings. Also, decorative , fashion and household items that are in good condition if they date back to 1960 or earlier. But never try to sell antiques or collectibles at a garage sale. Most people won't spend more than $10 to $20 on a single item. Also, clothing does not sell well at garage sales because most shoppers will not share your size or taste in clothing. The only exception is children's clothing if it is priced well. One good marketing ploy is to try to combine a bake sale from your church or charity with your garage sale. That's because most shoppers are hungry from a morning spent driving around.  Plus it wouldn't  be a bad idea  if  you  sold  hot  coffee  with cream and sugar  for 50 cents a cup to go along with the bake sale.  If its a warm or a hot summer day, sell cold bottled water or  generic cold soda from a cooler for 50 cents each. Just try to buy water and  regular and diet soda on sale for 25 cents each.

3. How To Advertise Place classified ad in local newspapers starting at least a few days prior to the sale. Your ad should include the hours and location of the sale with a few categories of merchandise that your sale will feature. Example: Garage  & Bake  Sale. Sat 8am-1pm  123 Main St, Anytown. Glassware, quilts, houseplants, kitchen appliances, knickknacks, tools. Then hang fliers advertising your sale on community bulletin boards like those found at entrance of supermarkets. On the morning of the sale, hang signs along busy roads near your home to attract drive by customers. If you live in or near a big city, you ca also advertise your sale for free on www.CraigsList.Org   Also, make sure you post info about your sale  on  your Facebook and Twitter page. Plus to get a jump on your competition,  have a sign in list so people can  leave their e-mail  address and  area of interest so they can get advance notice of your next sale.

3. The Best Time to have a sale is on a weekend when there are several other sales advertised in your neighborhood. A concentration of sales encourages shoppers to come to your part of town and visit them all.
So invite your neighbors to join in and participate. The majority of sales are made with in  the first 3 hours of the sale on a Saturday morning.  That's because most shoppers think anything worth buying has been bought up.  So make sure you schedule your sale on Saturday between 8am and Noon. Another good tactic is to consider starting your sale on Friday between 5pm and dusk and then continue on Saturday morning. You will have far less competition and you may snag shoppers on their way home from work. And finally, watch the weather reports at  www.Weather.Com or call 1-800-555-TELL and interrupt the recording by saying
"weather" loudly for a 5 day report for your area. Cancel the sale and wait for a better weekend if it looks like rain.

4. Presentation Merchandise sells better if  is placed on tables. Clothes sell better if they are hung on hangers and not folded or piled. Place large items like furniture and  lawn mowers out front so they can be seem from the street by passing motorists. Have a 25 or 50 ft extension cord running into your house so you can plug in electrical appliances to prove that they work.

5. Common Sense Security  Never let a shopper use your bathroom or telephone. You don't want things going missing from your home or you don't want someone to case your house for a future burglary. Politely direct them to the nearest gas station or convenience store.