Yard Sale Tips & Tricks

Every year here in Butler County Ohio a local city has the infamous “Trenton Yard Sales.” The entire city, block after block, for 4 days, will have a citywide yard sale  and every year my Mom & I make it our tradition to make their junk our treasure.

After walking around the many neighborhoods block after block for an entire day, I started to notice some things I wanted sure to keep in mind for our yard sale in a few weeks. So to get the most buck for your junk keep these tips in mind:

• Marketing: If you sell it, they will come. But first they have to know about it. Let everyone when, where, and what. Advertise on Craigslist, the newspaper, even your social networks (our community has a yard seller Facebook page. It’s been very successful. They sell anything from DVD’s to cars!). Don’t forget to let people know what you have! For example this past weekend I was looking for boys size 5t/6x clothing, and we made sure to hit up any sale that had those particular things listed!
  
• Signs: Unless you live on a main drag, your shoppers may have a hard time finding you without the proper signage. Buy some poster board at your local dollar store – bright colors are recommended – and BIG LETTERS – to point them in the right direction.
• Organize: Organize your ‘junk’ like you would a retail store. Hang nicer items, fold clothing and line up shoes by size, and make sure prices are marked. I would highly recommend avoiding the use of totes for clothing, and keeping higher priced items near you. After you’ve organized your tables and hanging items walk out to the road and see how it looks as a customer might.
• Price It: Price everything. No one likes to ask about the price for every item. Buy price tags, or use masking tape. If your short on time and can’t price every item, use signage to advertise what items might cost, such as “Shorts, pants, shirts $1 each, or 6 for $5.” Make sure that the signs are visible at each table, etc.,
• Prepare to Haggle: This used to be the hardest part for me; Last year I had a brand new pair of Hurley tennis shoes still in the box marked $8, and someone wanted to ‘haggle’ me to $3. I was soo thrown off, I allowed it, but those shoes easily would of went for $30 or more on eBay or Craigslist. Make sure to mark your items a little bit higher then you’d actually take to leave room for the ‘hagglers.’ They walk away feeling like they got a deal, and you pocket those extra few bucks
• Give it Away: This by far is my best advice. Do not, I repeat, do not take that junk back into your house. Trust me on this one. Take it to Goodwill, donate it to your local church, there are plenty of people that will even come and pick up your junk! Just for the love of God, please do not take it back in the house. Unless it’s a higher  value item that you may be able to sell online individually get rid of it! You will come back and thank me for it, trust me!

What are you yard sale tips???