18 Tips to Make Your Next Garage Sale a Success

Recently I asked my readers for tips on having a garage sale, and the response was not only overwhelming but also very helpful. I thought it would be a great idea to compile a list of the ideas here to help others that may be looking at having a garage sale (it is the season after all). Check out this list of helpful Garage Sale Tips and feel free to add to them in the comment section.

If you find this information useful and want to share some of it on your own blog or website, feel free, but please give a link back to this page and credit me as a source 🙂

• List Garage Sale at places like Craigslist, your local newspaper, local Facebook Garage Sale Pages (to find these, typically you just search your city name and then Garage sale or buy and sale and groups will come up in the Facebook search). Also there is an app that someone mentioned called Yard Sale Treasure Map.
• For things like clothes that you want to get rid of, make bags or boxes of them to sell as a package deal.
• This one is sad, but watch out for thieves. One tipster said they usually come as couples.
• Have lots and lots and lots of change. A lot of people will have 10s and 20s and may buy cheaper items, so be prepared.
• Cookies! This one is a great idea to make some extra money, make a cookie table and make some extra money with what you bake!
• The Dollar Store and Home Depot both have stickers with prices already printed on them to make it really easy to price your stuff.
• Instead of pricing each item individually, create tables that are priced and group similar priced items together.
• Here was a good one shared by Reader Donna, “Be prepared, if you advertise, people will start showing up the night before. You will need a ton of plastic bags. Make sure you have an apron with a big pocket. Keep your money on you at all times. Unfortunately, not everyone is honest these days. And no, they can’t use your bathroom.”
• Make sure everything is priced, people do not like to ask for the prices on everything.
• Have lots of plastic bags on hand (used grocery bags work great) for people to carry their stuff out.
• Someone said to sell drinks and water that even at 50 cents you profit.
• Reader Stacey said nothing less than a quarter makes things easier (and that makes a lot of sense)
• Be sure and post a sign that says all sales are final.
• No checks! – for obvious reasons!
• Make a FREE pile to get people in – and you know I love FREE!
• Put the eye candy stuff our front (and the free pile) so people will want to park and come look at what you have to offer
• Watch out for price switching, apparently there are people that will try to switch prices to rip you off, don’t let them get away with it!
• Reader Terri shared this one, “Oh, make signs with arrows in bold print. Most people do not know street names when they’re out looking for yard sales and they only have seconds to read your sign. So a sign that says ” Sale 2 blocks >” is worth many times more than ” Large yard sale at 12743 SW Smith Lane”. Also take your signs down. People get really mad if they travel to a sale and it isn’t there.”