Having a Yard Sale

and made $300.00 and normally I don't make 40.00 for a weekend. I made sure everything was priced...I put things out to lure parents in like little tykes stuff, etc . The most important thing I've heard is price everything so people don't have to ask. I know if I go to a yardsale and someones talking and i might decide if I have to ask a price i don't need it, yk? Also sell brownies, muffins, and soft drinks. I make almost $20.00 on these items alone when I sell them. I haven't gotten to yard sale in a while...we have too much stuff and I keep thinking I don't need to be bringing more stuff home but remember being hungry at yardsales that had nothing to eat. I'd much rather buy at a yard sale than a convenience store or fast food place. When it was over I brought nothing back into the house. I freecycled it all and it all went. It was awesome. I've recently adopted the if you don't love it don't have it in your house and got rid of alot of stuff. HTH>

I agree to make sure everything is priced.
Advertise, or hang signs and check on them frequently to make sure they haven't blown over or anything.

Also...do NOT overprice things. I don't care how much YOU gave for it, it's used now...and you don't need it anymore or else you wouldn't be selling it to begin with, KWIM?

When I yardsale I shop for the kids primarily so when driving by I need to see some good kid stuff so have your star items clearly seen so people see a reason to stop. Also I hate absolutely hate there being a pile of clothes on the ground to go through. I am much more willing to go through it if it's hung up or at least on a table in some sort of organized way, like sex and size. Unless you're on a main road make your signs clear with arrows people can see. I often don't turn around and go back if I couldn't see the sign real well cause I figure if they were too lazy to make it seen then they probably don't have the greatest stuff. Don't know why I do that but I've heard others say the same thing. Be available to people. Nothing is more annoying than wanting to pay and having to wait and if I only have one or two things unless it's something I absolutely want to have I sometimes end up dropping it and moving on to the next sale. Price everything. I've been on both sides and can I say I hate them both!! I think it's so much easier just knowing what the price is, of course, that won't stop some people trying to get something for nothing

I don't know if I'm typical or not but those are just some things that I can think of that turn me off.

I would recommend bringing all your bigger stuff out so that's the first thing people see. I would try to make it look like you have as much stuff as possible from the road so that people will stop. Our first sale we had quite a bit of stuff but most of it was in the garage rather than on the driveway so it didn't look like we had that much. A lot of people slowed down to look but then just drove away.

You might also make sure that your signs match each other if you are in an area with a lot of sales. All of our signs are the same design (large and hand painted with purple paint) so when someone sees the first sign at the intersection they will recognize subsequent signs closer to our house since they look the same.

Be prepared for some insulting offers. I'm completely willing to negotiate but sometimes you get someone who gets a thrill from seeing how little they can give you. For those people, I just say no because I'd rather donate the stuff than let somebody like that have it for next to nothing!

Good luck with your sale!

Our sale last year was much like Dinade's. We also sold drinks and snacks. We sold all the drinks because, they were chilled and it was 90+ outside.

One of the keys, besides pricing everything, is be organized. Don't toss unrelated stuff together. We create little departments of the items. We also hang and fold all the clothing and make sure it is clean and not shabby. Shabby items do not get sold, so we don't even put them out. We have put some broken things out and they have sold, but that is rare.

Also, figure out the best place to advertise. We have a paper here called the Pennysaver. It is a classified advertisment paper that gets mailed out every week where people put ads for things they are selling. It is THE number one place to put your yard sale ad. The newspaper is the last place anyone looks. Dh had to give me a "I am sorry I doubted you" apology one year because he insisted on the newspaper vs. my classified paper suggestion. The only people who stopped were those on their way to a Pennysaver advertised sale about four homes away.