Sell Your Stuff: Tips for a Successful Yard Sale – Part 1

yard saleYou’ve heard it before, but it’s true – what’s cluttering your home may be just the treasure someone else has been searching for. Having a yard sale is a fantastic way to clean out rooms in your home and make a little extra cash while you’re at it, but it’s not for the faint of heart. It takes some planning to pull off a successful sale and make it worth your time. Here are a few tips that will help you maximize traffic and profits!

Plan Your Date and Location

  • Fridays and Saturdays are the best days of the week for maximum traffic.
  • Avoid holidays and special events, like graduation, but definitely participate in neighborhood sales because they tend to bring more customers to your area.
  • Find out if your city or homeowners’ association has ordinances or rules that govern yard. Same goes for posting signs, especially on telephone poles or in city right-of-ways.
  • Consider parking space. If you don’t have room for extra vehicles, you may want to hold your sale at a different location other than your home.

Choose Your Items

  • Yard sales are perfect for venues to sell items you no longer need or use. Search your house and garage for clothes, furniture, tools, garden equipment, DVDs and CDs, toys, dishes, cookware, books, glassware, CDs, and older heirlooms or collectibles.
  • Test and clean items to make sure they are in good condition and working order.
  • Include owner’s manuals when possible – that will bring up the value of the item.
  • For broken or incomplete items, be sure to mark them as “As Is,” or “Missing Pieces.”

Price Your Items

  • Check prices on Craigslist.org, Amazon.com (for used books), Ebay.com, or do some yard sale shopping yourself to see what items are going for.
  • Be objective on pricing, especially for used items. A good rule of thumb is to mark items 30% of the new or original price you paid. Items that haven’t ever been used may be worth more.
  • Clearly mark each item. Some people don’t like to make offers, and others won’t bother to ask how much you want for something if they don’t see a price.
  • Consider offering deals on small items such as “$.25 each or 5 for $1.”

That’s not all! Read Part 2 and Part 3 of this article!

photo credit: M▲TT.D▲LE via photopin cc


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Comments

  1. […] Your Stuff: Tips for a Successful Yard Sale – Part 3 Posted on May 14, 2012 by Kathy In Part 1 and Part 2, we gave you tips for planning your date and location, choosing your sale items, pricing […]

  2. […] ← Sell Your Stuff: Tips for a Successful Yard Sale – Part 1 Sell Your Stuff: Tips for a Successful Yard Sale – Part 3 → […]

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