Yard Sales are great fun!
The age old American tradition of purging of unwanted items that are someone else's treasures is alive and well!
Despite the 90 degree weather with 80% humidity with no shade, we managed to make out with more than just a sun burn. More important than walking away with $171, we managed to declutter our lives and have a great time doing so. It feels good.
There are a few pointers that we would like to make, in case you are considering a yard sale:
1) Pricing is key. James & I have different ways of looking at this topic. On the whole, James would price things lower than I would see as reasonable, and my pricing was higher than James saw as reasonable. I believe that there has to be a balance, and both the buyer and the seller have to feel that they got a good deal.
2) Make an offer. As the day went on we took off the price tags and worked by negotiation, and found this to be quite good on the whole. The key is to get them to offer a price first. Or, you can leave price tags on and make them feel like they are getting a bargain. Either way, if they think they got a good deal they will be happier. Plus, you can bundle things that they seem interested in, just to move stuff.
3) Size it up. You've got to work the crowd and read what they might be interested in. For instance, we had several different sizes of clothing, and it was helpful to look at the person and recommend certain pieces based on their size and style. This was very helpful.
4) Join with friends. One of the best parts of our yard sale was that both a friend and friends of a friend brought their wares to add to the bounty. This is helpful, as people check it out when there is more stuff. Plus, they are more likely to find something they like and stay to check out more stuff. Beyond the sales aspect, it was helpful to have more people working the crowd and made it appear to be a happening place. Not only that, but it was plain and simple, a lot more fun!
5) FREE. F-R-E-E. FREE. Nothing sells like free. It's a great way to start a conversation or move stuff that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
6) Bonus of bartering. Plus, we were lucky to bargain with the pizza man around the block who bought a bunch of stuff and threw in a couple of pizzas and sodas to boot!
Stumble It!
10 comments:
Where you successful at selling that box of Trojans in the lower left corner of your clutter photo?? Who buys condoms at a garage sale?
LMAO!
Abigail,
We tried selling them for 50 cents.
Unfortunately we didn't get any takers, so we ended up giving them away.
Even that was difficuly, we finally gave them to a to this dude named WC. I think he was a criminal or a drug addict or something.
Best,
James
Still LMOA!
this is the friend (see left side of photo). not that i'm trying to blog about it, but i walked away with $227.03 in the money belt! hope my friends chime in with their register receipts too so we can get a total cash count.
it was worth the full day of dehydration. and i agree fully with #6. pizza man, you rock!
my #1 pointer though would be: location, location, location. that's the real estate guru in me. but it's true, if you can't get the traffic to come by you aren't going to make the sale, free or not. but for those slow moments, great friends, coronas in the cooler and a pizza man is the right mix for a day of fun! here's to hoping my next set of friends to get married decide to do so during humane climate conditions when they go forth with their yard sale...by then i'm sure to have more clothes to purge. it is going to be tax free week in dc starting saturday...i feel that some of the $227.03 may make it's way back into the market...
How much is that kitty in the picture?
Was it a full box of Trojans for $0.50? That's a pretty good deal. ;)
(saw a typo)
when you took off the tags, did that increase the interest in whatever it was?
I had not thought of offering some things for free that seem not to be selling. I will have to use that strategy for the next yard sale I do. It seems like Craigslist.org has replaced the yard sale here in Southern California. It's free and you don't have to set up shop in the yard.
you two are idiots. ever hear of ID theft? you've posted you whole boring life on the internet
I guess if our life is so dull and boring than we don't have any worry of you stealing our identity. :-)
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