Garage sale season is right around the corner and it’s the perfect time to declutter and make some extra cash! As you’ve likely noticed if you’re an avid garage-saler yourself, there are two types of “bad” garage sales – the ones you can’t find and the ones that aren’t worth your time. Make sure your moving sale is a success and worth every penny with these ten tips.
1. Call It a Moving Sale
The first thing to do is erase “garage sale” from your vocabulary and call it a “moving sale”. This will instantly captivate the attention of garage-salers looking for the best places to visit bright and early in the morning.
Advertising your moving sale as such lets other people know what they can expect without saying anything at all. Moving sales often have more items for sale and as such, are worth the drive across town for. So, get more people flocking your front yard with a moving sale, as opposed to a garage sale.
2. Create a Captivating Sign
Don’t just create a sign – turn the sign into your moving sale advertisement. This is one of the best ways to market your moving sale. A small “garage sale” sign put out by the road will never do justice.
Instead, create a captivating sign. Grab the kids, markers, and papers, and channel your inner creativity. At the very least, the sign should have large letters with arrows pointing garage-salers in the right direction. In best case scenarios, moving sale signs have a bit of humor added into the mix, reading funny statements such as, “Take a Load off Sale,” or “Take My Stuff Sale!”
3. Get More People Involved
The key to a successful moving sale is to get the highest amount of traffic on your front lawn. As such, a great way to do just that is to encourage other people in the community to also have a garage sale. People are more likely to go to a community full of garage sales as opposed to ones spread out across the city. So, bring everyone together and turn your street into a shopping mall.
4. Reasonable Prices
It can be hard to part from your prized possessions but it’s imperative to remove your emotions from your belongings and list your prices reasonably. One overpriced item can send garage-salers leaving your front lawn without looking at the rest. So, compare the store’s price of the item with the price you’re planning on listing it as. Subtract a couple of dollars depending on the quality and details of the item and make sure the price tag reads, “Great Deal”.
5. Don’t Have Prices at All
Another excellent moving sale tip that will entice more people to buy items from you is to avoid listing prices altogether. Instead, let people make an offer on the items they’re interested in and negotiate until you’re both satisfied.
The key to this tip is to have various signs throughout your moving sale that read, “No Prices. Make an offer!” If people think they have to wait in line or until you’re free just to get a price on items, they’ll put it back and go elsewhere. So, make it incredibly obvious that there are no prices listed for a reason.
6. Accept Package Deals
Another powerful moving sale selling tactic is to advertise that you accept packaged deals. Have a table dedicated to $5 items with a sign that says something like, “Buy any three items and pay $10 instead of $15.” The more people feel like they’re saving, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
7. Clean the Items for More Cash
You can squeeze another couple of dollars out of a clean product. So, grab your cleaning supplies and scrub down the items you’re selling. Removing the dust and dirt will show people you’ve taken care of the items, and they’ll likely be willing to pay more because they look good.
8. Get on Social Media
Forget about advertising in the newspaper. Instead, get on social media and post about your moving sale wherever you can. Create a group for your community and add your neighbors; encourage them to add their friends and families. Soon enough, the whole city will be flocking to your neck of the woods. At the very least, just make sure to update your social media status to inform people of your moving sale, along with some pictures of the items you’re selling.
9. Online Marketing 101
If you really want to get every penny’s worth out of your moving sale, advertise like your front yard is your very own retail shop. There are several popular classified websites, such as Craiglist and Kijiji that people look at to discover things such as garage sales. So, list your details with an enticing title and caption. It’s a free marketing tactic that can make a grand impact.
10. Start Early
People expect garage sales to wrap up around 11 a.m. More importantly, most people expect all the good items to be gone by 10:30 a.m. So, get out there bright and early, and have your moving sale ready by 8 a.m. to ensure a successful day. As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm.
Lastly, hosting a moving sale is like turning your front yard into a retail store. Don’t forget to treat your guests with customer service. People are more enticed to buy from people who are friendly and appreciative. So, channel back to your part-time job in high school, put a smile on, and greet your customers with a warm welcome to get a higher amount of sales.
