How To Have A Successful Yard Sale: Fridays At 5:00

Have you been putting it off? If so this may help – I am sharing just a few little tips below on how to have a successful yard sale.

Today was the first day of our two day neighborhood yard sale and boy was it a successful day! Yard sales do take some planning and a little bit of work, but with a little preparation you can stand to make some quick cash! Today I am sharing 5 big tips all about how to have a successful yard sale.

I have been shopping at yard sales for about 14 years. I can remember when my oldest daughter was two and stopping by a yard sale in our neighborhood and scooping up some really cool toys for her for only $4.00. I thought I had won the lottery! I couldn’t believe that I had found a few pretty expensive toys all for the price of a Starbucks coffee. Fast forward a few years to when I started my antique booth and I realized that there were some pretty good deals out there for not only my family but also for my business.

I have been hosting yard sales for about 10 years. I realized immediately that a yard sale was a great way to quickly liquidate a lot of things around the house and to make a little ‘quick cash.’

Here are a few tips that I think will help you have a successful yard sale the next time you feel inspired to have one!

Choose A Good Date

You may not have thought about this – but choosing the date for your yard sale is important. Friday and Saturday mornings are usually the best times to have a sale. Make sure you do not choose a date that does not fall on a holiday and be sure to check with your town to make sure there isn’t an event that would compete with your yard sale. For example, we have a car show here in my area every year and it is a very popular event. We would not want to host a yard sale on that weekend! Take the weather into consideration as well: both hot and cold! Also, make sure that you pick a date for your sale that allows you enough time to prepare. Finally, you may want to coordinate with other close friends and neighbors and have a yard sale together!

TIP: You may want to shoot for the first weekend of the month because many people get their paychecks and will have more cash to spend at the beginning of the month.

Advertising

You cannot sell your items if people do not know you are having a sale. You have to advertise for your yard sale in order to make some money. For this sale that we did today we had yard signs (I made about 8) and then I advertised online. I shared on a few local yard sale Facebook groups and on my own Facebook page. I also shared about it in stories. You could also put an add in the paper.

Setting It All Up

I use a combo of tables and tarps and racks. I also set up tents to put my ‘important/fragile’ items like books and jewelry. I have old folding racks that I use to display clothing that is for sale and I also use tarps for things like kids toys and pillows. The display pieces are important to making your items look appealing to the potential buyers!

Pricing Is Key

I can not stand walking up to a YARD SALE and seeing items priced as if they are suppose to be in an antique mall, or even a REAL mall! I respect the homeowners choice to price their items that way – but I usually will not spend a long time at a sale if the prices are astronomical. I feel there is an art to pricing for a yard sale. I like to find a that sweet spot for each item – the price that I feel is fair to me but that really makes the shopper feel good! I find that when I can sell things for between $0.50 and a few bucks then people really will buy in bulk – so to speak. And, the whole reason for a yard sale is to get rid if things! When I am having a sale, I do not ever spend time pricing items. The ROI for the time that it would take me to do that is not worth it. I will usually have a $0.50 table, $1.00 table, $2.00 table, and so on. I also just call out prices as well. Also, mid-morning on the last day of the sale, I am usually REALLY CHEAP so not having items priced with tags makes it so easy to make that shift. Lastly, throughout the yard sale I am open to taking offers on items and am even open to bundling items together for a better price!

Have Change On Hand

You want to make sure that you go into a yard sale with single dollar bills and lose change so that you can make change easily – especially for those first few customers! You do NOT want to lose those early morning sales.

Final Quick Tips:

• Make sure you stage your stuff a little bit
• Have an attractive item at the front of your sale to lure in anyone driving by
• Ask your family members to help
• Have a plan for your unsold items at the end of the sale

Wrap Up

Like I said above, with just a little planning and preparation YOU too can have a great yard sale. I hope these tips help to inspire you to pull out all of the things you no longer need and to just HAVE THAT YARD SALE that you may have been putting off!