Yard sale help - Tips, Tricks, and Getting Started Information

Planning | Advertising | Sale Items | Day Of Sale | Afterwards

Planning Your Sale

If you're reading this, chances are you are thinking of having a sale. There are a number of things that you need to take into consideration before you just say you're open for business. A truly successful sale eliminates your items that you have available and puts some money in your pocket.

Step 1. Decide what kind of sale to have.
There are many different kinds of sales and you should decide what kind of sale to have. Even though they are all pretty similar, the selection of different types of sales will have a slightly different overall effect. If you have a theme, event, or function, then you are already on your way to making your decision.

Here is a list of some different types of sales and their uses or objectives:
Yard and Garage Sales - These are typically the same and can also be known as Rummage sales, tag sales, attic sales, and moving sales. Depending on what area of the country you're from, sales are usually called one of these. Most of the time, they take place on your driveway, in your garage, on the lawn, in the house, or a combination of several.
Multi-family Sales - Are created when more than one Home combines their items at one location for a sale. They are generally preferrable to shoppers as the shoppers interpret these as there will be more items available for sale.
Bazaars and Church Sales - Normally, members of these organizations or other persons donate items to an organization for their benefit to resell. The proceeds then become funds for the organization. Typically, there are a large selection of items at these types of sales.
Charity Sales - Usually charity sales donate all their proceeds to a specific charity, person, or organization.
Community or Neighborhood Sales - These sales are usually a group effort for an entire community, subdivision, street or neighborhood. Many homes in the same area have sales at the same time. They sometimes create maps of all homes or addresses participating. Usually, there is one main address that is the organizer or hub of the event.
Estate Sales - Generally these sales liquidate entire Homes of furniture, clothing, appliances, and even vehicles. Many times they are professionally conducted and advertised.
Fundraiser Sales - The main purpose for these sales is to generate cash for events. Usually they are to send children to camps or competitions and are affiliated with school, sports, or non-profit organizations.
Miles of Sales - These sales encompass residents or businesses on a certain street or highway, (ie Hwy 127, US 50, and US 11). They are individual sales, coordinated as group on set dates to generate more advertising and produce more shoppers to all sales. These sales have been growing in popularity in certain areas.
Moving Sales - Pretty self explanitory. Persons relocating, downsizing, combining Homes generally want to reduce the amount of items they have to transport. You can usually expect to find lower prices at moving sales and sometimes even large items that are free just to get them out of the house.
Rummage Sales - These can be organized by a group like a church or an individual as in a yard or garage sale.
Trunk Sale - Held in a large area or parking lot, individuals bring items in the trunk or boot of their car and display them on folding tables for sale.

Step 2. Set the date and time.
This is one of the most important issues when planning a sale. You want to make sure you plan for your guests first and foremost. Plan a time when the weather is likely to be comfortable. Having a sale in extremely hot or cold temperatures will dimish the chances of moving your items.

Additionally, look at your calendar. Don't plan sales for Holidays as many times people are out of town or have family functions and Barbeques on the weekends. Your traffic will be reduced on these dates.

Check the Farmer's Almanac for historically inclement weather or plan to have your sale indoors or under a cover. Shoppers don't like to go out in bad weather. Analyzing our advertisements shows that southern areas, Florida, Texas, and California can generally support sales at any time of the year. Northern states are typically restriced by weather conditions to June to mid September. Additionally, some states surge with sales starting in May.

The duration of your sale is important as well. Most shoppers come out on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. You will find that EARLY BIRDS will arrive before your posted start time unless you discourage it in your ad. The early birds are sometimes professionals intent on reselling your merchandise for profit. Start your sale as early as is comfortable for you. Keep in mind that other sales will be going on in your area and you want to maximize the dollars spent at your sale, rather than some one else' and that means opening early. Sale ending times are important as well. You will probably find that your sales and guests will slow after noon time and usually by 2:00pm they have slowed to a crawl. It is best to post an earlier ending time to get most of the shopping traffic through your sale before the 1:00pm heat of the day time frame. Friday afternoon and evening would probably be the only exception where you would want to stay open later to maximize the working crowd getting a shot at the best selection of items in your sale.

Step 3. Staying out of trouble.
The worst thing you can do is spend all the time necessary to plan and have a sale only to be shot down by the powers that be. Whether they be your local HOA or Government agency. Some areas require permits, some restrict signage, still others may require you to pay tax. Whatever the restrictions, you want to know you are staying within the legal requirements of what you are allowed to do. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of trouble.

Step 4. Location, Location, Location!
As they say in Real Estate, location is everything, and so it is with your sale. You want ample parking, high traffic flow, and good visibility. People will park anywhere they can to get to your merchandise. If you are having a multi-family sale, choose a house that is in a more populated area or closer to town than a rural setting. While a location on a main thoroughfare sounds great for business, you need to be mindfull of the potential for a traffic accident. A corner lot is preferrable to an interior lot, as there is more street space and the ability to get off a main or busy street.

Step 5. Use your neighbors wisely.
Look at the neighboring lots and homes. Take advantage of this additional marketing and parking opportunity by asking if they want to participate in your sale. This will acheive a number of things. 1. You then can become a multi-family sale and advertise this to appeal to a larger number of shoppers. 2. If you can get more neighbors on your street to have sales on the same day, you add an even bigger advantage to getting a larger market share of the earliest customers. Shoppers will tend to pick community sales and multi family sales over the ordinary single yard sale and plan to start their shopping at those sales. Some communities have annual sale events, so check with your neighbors to see if those dates work for your situation.

Step 6. Gather your products for sale.
This is one step that takes some time. You can't just throw things into a box and stick it in your driveway if you want a successful sale. Items need to be organized, clean, and merchandised to sell well. That said, spend some time when you are cleaning or organizing and separating things that you know you want to sell into a special area. This can take you a month to go through things. If you do it right, it will save you a lot of time right before your sale.

Make sure your items are clean and shining. Those items will sell better than items covered with dust or have a musty odor. Wash any fabric items, run dishes or hard items through the dishwasher, and dust of any other items that may not be able to be cleaned with water or cleaners. If you wouldn't buy it, chances are no one else will either. Those are best left to either throw away better yet, give away in your FREE STUFF container. You may not buy it, but someone may have a use for it and if they can get it for free, they may just buy something else that they don't really need just because they are getting something for free. Any chance you can do something good for someone else is going to make you feel good and that is (to some folks) as good or better than a little cash.

Planning | Advertising | Sale Items | Day Of Sale | Afterwards

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