The weather is starting to warm up, you’ve started your spring cleaning, and you realize that you have more unwanted items than you thought. Instead of throwing them away, why not try to make some money?
Having a garage sale is a great way to kick off spring. However, if you don’t come in with a plan, it could be a massive flop. Here’s just a few tips for having a successful garage sale!
Make Sure Everything Is Clean
Naturally, some of the items you’re selling might have some dust or dirt collected on them from sitting in a basement or an attic over the years. Do your best to clean them before putting them on a table for sale. That’s not to say that you need to thoroughly scrub everything, but at least make sure they’re presentable. If you wouldn’t buy it in its present condition, why would someone else?
Pricing Items Clearly
If you’re planning on selling an item, make sure the price is clearly marked on it. Be prepared to negotiate the price, but if it isn’t clearly marked, chances are no one will be willing to pick it up and ask. It might be easiest to group items together into bins and put a price tag on the bin to save yourself some time.
If you’re unsure about what the price of the item should be, look it up! There are plenty of stories about incredibly valuable items being sold far too low at garage sales–don’t turn into one of them. A good general rule of thumb, however, is to price it at about 25% of what you paid for it.
Choose The Right Time
We’ve seen too many garage sales fail because of the timing of it. If you can make it work on a Sunday, most people have time off and are looking for something to do during the day. Wait until the last threat of a freeze passes and plan it on a warm day, and plan a backup day in case weather prevents you from having something outside. Generally speaking, the best times of year for a garage sale are the beginning of spring and the end of summer.
Check For Permits
While it may seem ridiculous, there are many municipalities in New Jersey that require you to obtain a permit before holding a garage sale, or have rules on what type of garage sales require permits. In other cases, they limit you to a certain amount of garage sales per year.
Simply Googling your town name + garage sale permit should be enough to find out if your town requires a permit and show you the resources you need to obtain one if necessary.
Advertise Well!
If no one knows about your garage sale, the only traffic you’ll get is foot traffic that happens to be walking by. If you don’t live in a particularly busy area, that could be a problem.
Spend some time and money making legible, bright signs to place around the neighborhood and in places with heavy traffic in the weeks leading up to the garage sale. Include the address and the date, along with the rain date.
Additionally, there are plenty of community Facebook groups that talk about happenings in town, and taking advantage of those will reach a much wider audience. Try posting once a week in the month leading up to the sale.
If you need help with your spring cleaning and organizing your garage sale, don’t hesitate to give Chores a call!