You won’t waste your time and energy hosting your next garage sale with these garage sale tips from the Diva of DIY & Garage Sales Guru, Leanne Lee.
There are two main reasons most people choose to have a garage sale:
1) To get rid of items that they are no longer using in their home {aka DECLUTTER}
2) To make money.
Whatever your motive… I promise…if you will adopt the tips in this post…you will maximize your profits!
Diva Tips To Maximize Profits
Clean
You want to clean everything. Whether that means to throw it in the wash or wipe down, CLEAN EVERYTHING. When a customer enters your sale they are looking to see if you have taken care of the items. If you have they will continue shopping. If not, they are likely to stop looking and walk away.
Organize
This is one of the most important garage sale tips that I could give you…you need to organize your sale like a big box store. When you are sorting your items for your garage sale you want to group them as you would see them in a store. This means put all of your kitchenware in one section, women’s clothing separate from men’s clothing, electronics separate from the tools and so forth.
Typically your customers are searching for particular items. The easier they can find them they are likely to purchase more.
Hang it Up
If you can hang up all of your clothing, do it! However, be sure that they are clearly labeled. As mentioned above please don’t have the women’s clothing in with the men’s clothing. Once you hang everything up separate by sizes. If you have the space you can even place bedding on hangers as well as place mats and purses.
Tables
If you can’t hang it, place it on a table. Things on the ground don’t sell nearly as well…You don’t bend down while shopping at Target so why should you at your garage sale?!? If you must place it on the ground, lay a tarp or blanket down first.
Now for your tables if they are stained or don’t match place tablecloths on them. By adding tablecloths you have a cohesive look!
One of my biggest pet peeves is that you arrive at a garage sale and have no clue what the price of anything is. I don’t have the time to sit and negotiate, I’m a busy person. So what I want you to do is price everything. I typically price items at 10-25% of what the price I paid was.
If you are not sure what to price a item look it up on local for sale groups or eBay.
Furniture & Antique Placement
Place furniture & antiques in the front of your sale to attract attention. I HATE to say this, but, if you have small and valueable antiques keep them near “cash register” so that you can keep an eye on them and they won’t get stolen.
FREEBIES
You love a good freebie don’t you?!? Well so do your garage sale customers! Place a FREEBIES box in the back of your garage sale that has a straight line from the street. You want to catch those people who are driving by looking for a particular item to be intrigued to check out what’s in the freebies box!
Signage
Signage is key! Please don’t make people search for your sale because chances are they are not going to drive around town trying to find it. You want to place signs every couple of blocks and make sure all of your signs are the same color. Be sure to also clearly label the address and have distinctive arrows leading the driver to your sale.
Promote
Every week at the grocery you know what’s going to be on sale, right? Well your garage sale should be the same way. Get your garage sale customers excited about your sale. Post pictures on your social media accounts of items that you are getting ready for the sale. Place a list of *hot* items on free online classified sites.
Also, the newspaper is not dead. Place a ad in your local community newspaper alerting your neighbors to your garage sale.
Power
If you have electronics or appliances for sale keep them plugged in. Let the customer know that your merchandise in fact works and is worthy of purchasing. You’ve already cleaned it so there’s no reason NOT to buy it!
Best Day
Friday is typically the best day for garage sales. Saturday morning is second-best. Start slashing prices by noon on Saturday. Mark “prices slashed” on any signs you can get to so people will know to re-visit your sale! You can also update your online ads that you’ll be slashing prices at noon on Saturday. This will hopefully draw a larger crowd.
Extras
This is a great way to get the kids involved and give back to your favorite local charity! Offer extras such as donuts, water, hot dogs, chips, etc. Think about it…they are driving around all morning, their morning coffee is gone and need a snack so they can continue heading to garage sales around town. This will save them time from running to the drive thru!
Preview Sale
Offer a preview sale the night before for…friends, family and neighbors. Set 2 hours aside the night before and be sure to let those you know best to shop the sale the night before. This is a great way to get those friends who are working to be able to get to your sale and they get first dibs!
Throughout your garage sale you want to be sure to keep things tidy. As things sell, consolidate and keep things in order.
If you would like to keep the change on you during your garage sale or just want the apron you saw on Kansas City Live it’s available for purchase here for $22 and includes shipping!
Now that you know the garage sale tips and will be making the most money you ever have I’ve got a Garage Sale Sign Kit just for you! This Garage Sale Sign Kit has everything you need for your sale. All you need to do is download and print.
Purchase your Garage Sale Sign Kit
Now if you are having friends and family join in on the fun of your garage and they’ll be selling items be sure to give each family a different color Avery label. You can also write the price and initials of the seller on the tag if you want ease when it comes to pricing.
I know your Garage Sale is going to turn out to be the best yet if you implement these Garage Sale Tips. I can’t wait to hear all about it, so PLEASE come back and let me know how it went!
Each and everyone of you inspire me and I LOVE to see the work that you’ve created. Feel free to share with me your garage sale and the results on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. And as always, be sure to follow Diva Of DIY on Pinterest and sign up for our FREE Newsletter to receive the latest projects delivered straight to your inbox!