Wednesday, November 14, 2007

How to have a successful yard sale

How to have a great yard sale

Having a yard sale or garage sale is a great way clean out unwanted items from your home and make extra money at the same time.

Call your local city government offices to check for ordinances affecting yard sales. Some cities will put a limit on the number of yard sales you can have each year by requiring a permit. This permit is usually free, just a way of tracking yard sale activity. Others may not allow signs to be placed on city property, street signs, power poles, etc.

Check the weather several days in advance of your yard sale. If rain is expected you may want to wait for another Saturday. If you are planning a sale in your garage or carport a mild rain should not be a major factor.

Also at this time, place your ad in the local newspaper. Does your newspaper have a website to list classifieds. A lot of yardsalers check the internet on a Friday night to list the yard sales and map them out. Try Craigslist if it is available for your area.

Do not wait until the last minute to prepare for your yard sale. A yard sale makes for a busy, but rewarding day. Start a few days before the yard sale pulling items and pricing them. Pricing is very important. It makes a yard sale easier for everyone involved. If not you will spend the entire morning quoting the same prices over and over. Customers also like the convenience of not having to ask. Your local dollar store sells small pre-printed pricing stickers or you can use a piece of masking tape. If you have a large number of similar items make a sign just for those, CD’s - $2, Pants - $1, Shirts - $.50.

Go through every room in you house. Clean them out. Ask yourself, “Am I ever going to use this” or “Will I ever wear this”? Get your kids involved. Let them keep the money they make from their sales. A yard sale is a great time for kids to set up a lemonade stand.

A bright and colorful sign with large letters is the best. Fluorescent signs attract a lot of attention. Write your information with large letters, at least 3” tall. The sign should be legible from 30 feet or ten long steps. The address is the main part of your sign. Most people know it is for a yard sale they only need to know where. Arrows are great; just make sure they point the correct way. Signs are very important. If I cannot read a sign as I am driving by, I think these people must not really want me at their yardsale.

Start your signs at a major roadway and work your way back to your house. If there is not a good place to hang your sign, check with a local sign company for inexpensive step stake signs. If you make your own signs to stick in the ground, make sure they have plenty of support to hold them up for visibility. A full piece of poster board stapled to a stake in the center will curl up or fall apart and no one will know where you are.

The day before the yard sale visit your bank to have money for making change. We get $50 of ones, $50 in fives and a roll of quarters. It is best to be prepared, as one of your first customers will probably try to buy a $1 item and hand you a $20 bill. Keep your money on you at all times and never leave it in a cash box.

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