These 6 Blunders Are Ruining Your Garage Sale!

Street posts littered with flashy signs, and heavy traffic early Saturday mornings only means one thing; garage sale season is in full swing. The great thing about hosting a garage sale is that you can make a huge profit from people coming to your house and taking away items you no longer want or use. I love hosting garage sales, and although they are a lot of work, I have made enough money from one weekend garage sale to make a mortgage payment!

Believe it or not, how you conduct your garage sale does significantly affect the amount of profit you will make. So if you want to have a really productive garage sale, avoid these 6 common mistakes.

Blunder #1: Overpricing Your Items

I understand you want to make a profit. You paid so much for that handbag you no longer use, you want to get your money back. The problem is, no one cares what you paid for that handbag. People frequent garage sales to get good deals. If you consistently overprice your items, they won’t trust you, and will be less likely to buy from you.

It is perfectly ok to slightly overprice your item expecting people to negotiate. The problem is when you significantly overprice your item, people are too intimidated to negotiate. People will leave your garage sale without buying anything if they feel your stuff is overpriced.

One “rule of thumb” for pricing is to expect to get less than 50% for brand new items, and less than 25% for gently used items. For example, I paid $20 for a brand new pack of bedsheets that was never removed from the packaging. I can only expect to get $10 or less for this package. Similarly, I have some costume jewelry I bought for $10, but wore a few times. Even if it is in great condition, I can only realistically expect to get $2 or $3 for it.

Note: the “rule of thumb” doesn’t apply to all items, some items hold their value better such as antiques or specialty items.

Blunder #2: Not Pricing Your Items

I recently stopped by a garage sale and started looking at some items. When I looked for a price tag, I couldn’t find one. It slowly occurred to me that nothing was priced. I wasn’t familiar enough with these particular items to know what a good price would be. Even though the garage sale had some really nice stuff, I left within 5 minutes, due to frustration.

If someone takes the time and effort to go out of their way to find your garage sale, please take the time and effort to price your items. Although it’s easier to just throw your items on the table and let the buyer figure out the price, most people will be annoyed. If you really don’t care what you get for your items and just want them gone, price them low.

Like I said earlier, you have to expect people to negotiate pricing on an item, but not having a baseline price is confusing. If you don’t price your items, I guarantee you will lose potential customers!

Blunder # 3: Dirty or Disorganized Items

Nothing is more disgusting than having to wash your hands after rummaging through a garage sale. By wash, I mean slather your hands with the little bottle of hand sanitizer you keep in your car. If you are already taking the time to organize your stuff, please clean your items.

Cleaning your items will increase sales, guaranteed. Personally I will not buy items that I am afraid to touch. I know this seems obvious. I am really not trying to insult anyone, since I know you are smart! But, you would be surprised how many garage sales I attend that have filthy, dirty, items!

Similarly, people don’t want to rummage through piles of disorganized items. I’ve attended garage sales that have all their items piled sloppily in bins. I do not want to take the time to “find” something to buy from you! Lay out your items on a table, or a blanket so they can be easily seen and accessed.

Blunder # 4: Poor Signage

The other day I was driving along and randomly saw a “yard sale” sign. I turned on the street, drove a little ways, and suddenly I was lost. While I was meandering through tiny little neighborhoods, looking intently for signs, I began to get frustrated. I decided to turn around and give up. As I drove past the garage sale sign, I didn’t notice any additional information on the sign. Where is this sale? Wonderland?

Clear signage is extremely important. People are taking the time to find your sale, to buy the stuff you no longer want. Make it easy for them! Have signs clearly pointing where they should drive. Place new signs at every corner they need to turn (coming from multiple directions). It is also recommended that you put your address on the sign, so people can GPS your address if they get lost. Attractive, easy to follow signs are the best way to get people to your garage sale!

Blunder # 5: Having Very Few Items

If I drive by a garage sale, and only see a couple of items, I will drive away. People are attracted to bigger garage sales with many items. You should have at least 4 tables full of items before having a garage sale. I guess, if you just want to wing it and sell what you can sell, go ahead. But, if you want a successful garage sale you need more items!

There are 3 easy solutions to solve this problem

1. Get together friends, family, or neighbors to have a larger, “multi family” garage sale

2. Sell your valuable, or larger items on Craigslist or in Facebook local selling groups. Donate the rest of your items for a tax write off.

3. Organize and price your items. Store them in boxes or rubber totes for next year. Then, throughout the year, box up everything you don’t use frequently. By the next year, you should have enough items for a garage sale!

Blunder # 6: Not Staying “Classy”

Last year, there was this guy that purchased multiple items from my sale. We negotiated, and I felt like I gave him a good deal. He paid me, and as he was walking to his car, he grabbed something and shouted “Since I bought so much junk from you, I feel like I deserve this too.” 20 people were now staring at me, and I started having a difficult time breathing (I hate conflict). I took a deep breath, and told him to “go ahead”. The item wasn’t worth much, and I really just wanted him to leave. After that, an older man came up to me and said “Believe it or not, if you are kind, generous, and conduct yourself well, people will remember and come back to your garage sale next year.” We talked for a few minutes, and I felt happy that my behavior was validated.

Arguing over a few dollars is never worth it. You do not have to agree with all negotiations (don’t sell an nice HD 50″ TV for $1 or anything), but pick your battles wisely. Treat everyone kindly, and be friendly. You have no idea what people are struggling with, maybe you could brighten their day by giving them a “good deal”. I always give people that buy a lot of stuff from me a can of soda, or a bottle of water. It’s the small things that really make a difference.

It just take a little bit of effort to drastically increase the success of your garage sale

The nice thing about hosting a garage sale is that the stuff sells itself. You often don’t have to “pitch” an idea or pressure people to purchase things. You just sit back, and allow others to buy your stuff if they want it. It’s amazing how far a little bit attention to detail can really increase your chances at having a successful garage sale.

What are your garage sale pet peeves?