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| Make more money by following my tips! |
Written by Robyn T. Braley,
Your basement is filled with treasures. Well, you call them treasures. Your family calls them junk.
There are so many things taking up so much space there is no clear path to – well – anywhere!
The die is cast. A date is
chosen and the process of organizing your garage sale begins.
I must admit it. My wife and
I love garage sales. You might even say we are garage sale junkies. Saling has taken us to areas of our city we had
never before visited.
We have been known to get up
early on a sunny Saturday morning and head for a McDonald’s drive-through. Breakfast
sandwiches and large coffees are the perfect fuel for a day of garage sale
adventure.
We end the day sipping lattes in a trendy coffee shop in a kitschy area. As we review the day and the treasures we have unearthed (sometimes literally), a feeling of exhilaration overtakes us similar to what golfers must feel after a successful day on the course!
Russell Bowers, host of CBC Radio's Daybreak Alberta, talks to Robyn about tips for Garage Sale Success. They dig deeper to discuss the social side of garage sales.
Start Early
We've also held numerous garage sales for ourselves and others. This is what we have learned.
The key is to start planning early. It is generally best to avoid gathering sale items, setting up the backyard, making signs, placing them throughout the neighborhood, and trying to price items on the day of your sale. The strategy is guaranteed to bring disappointment and failure.
The key is to start planning early. It is generally best to avoid gathering sale items, setting up the backyard, making signs, placing them throughout the neighborhood, and trying to price items on the day of your sale. The strategy is guaranteed to bring disappointment and failure.
Take time when choosing a
date. The middle or the end of the month is when most people are paid and have
extra cash in their pockets.
Do a quick search for the long-range weather forecast for your area. Check out community activities. If a big event is happening near your house, that means more traffic past your sale. If it's on the other side of town, that could be bad.
Subtly ask
friends, family and general passers-by if they will be in town on the date in
question. Warm them up for the ‘big ask.’
Garage Sale Goals
The first step is to set goals. Goals will guide your pricing and marketing.
•
Is your
goal to get rid of as much junk as possible?
•
Is your
goal to make some money?
•
Is it a little bit of both?
Setting goals implies you
have a plan to meet them. Even a rough sketch scratched on a paper napkin at a
Tim Horton's or Starbucks will do.
Team-Building
Know that serious garage sale vendors have teams. Now that you have a plan and a date, you can start building your team. There are jobs leading up to the sale and jobs the day of the sale that will require a small cadre of volunteers.
Before the sale, you will need
help selecting, moving, staging, and pricing your items. Signs must be made and
placed. Flyers must be pinned on neighborhood bulletin boards.
I have found that small children are ideal for making signs if you have a model for them to follow. Just tell them it is a 'craft' that will be fun to do.
I have found that small children are ideal for making signs if you have a model for them to follow. Just tell them it is a 'craft' that will be fun to do.
Not all people attending your
sale will have good intentions. Sale buddies will keep you safe and help
protect you from any with bad intentions.
When the sale is over, signs
will need to be taken down and left-over items sent to a thrift shop or garbage
disposal. Most important, you will need people to share the celebratory pizza
you will buy to thank everyone for their help.
 |
| Random piles of junk - errr treasures - on the driveway won't do it! |
Its a Sign - DARGS
It doesn’t matter how well you
do the other steps, if you don’t have well-made and well-placed signs, nothing else
matters.
Start by doing DARGS – that's
Driving Around Researching Garage Sales. Start about 6 blocks away and circle back
to your house.
As you drive, note which
signs attract your attention and which ones are a waste of time.
•
Are they
easy to read?
•
Are there
enough signs?
•
Is there a
sign trail that leads you directly to the sale?
•
Is the
sale easy to spot once you arrive in the block?
Are there more visible places
for signs? You will find places to put your signs that you would have never
have thought of even though you have lived in the area for decades.
Draw a rough diagram of the
streets leading back to your house and put an X where each sign should be starting with major intersections. Now
you will know how many signs will be needed. The map will make things easier
when you place your signs early on the morning of your sale.
Sign Formula
Selecting Treasures
One of the hardest parts of having a garage sale is choosing which items you will part with. Be brutal and ask yourself these tough questions.
•
Have I
used it this year?
•
Have I
recently cooked with it?
•
Have I
worn it since 1985?
•
Have I sat
on it? Do I want to?
•
Have I
turned it on? Will it turn on?
•
Have I
read it?
•
Have I
listened to it in the past 10 years?
•
Have I
admired it? Why should I admire it?
And, the big one. Will Uncle
Mel really care if you sell the boomerang he brought from Australia especially
for you 20 years ago? After all, he's been dead for 5 years!
It's not a bad idea to have a
clutter buddy. This is a person who will tell you "NO" when you want
to keep things you know in your heart you should sell.
Organize the Chaos
Find a place to store the
items in the days prior to your sale. A garage or basement floor works best.
Large items can be stored on your lawn covered by an old tarp.
As the amount grows, begin to
think in terms of categories. When marketing, the clusters will tell you which
items to feature in flyers, online ads and other places.
Organizing your items will
make it easier to price them. Being organized will also help setting up your items
on garage sale day.
- Tech gadgets
- Toys
- Tools
- Clothes
- Books
- Automotive gear
- Furniture
- Kitchen items
- Music instruments
- Camping equipment
- Sports gear
Be Responsible
Check all items with an eye
to safety. If in doubt, throw it out.
Examine children's toys for
breakage. Old lamps with frayed cords or small appliances that give off a burny
smell belong in the trash, not in peoples living rooms.
Cribs, car seats and other
child-centric products that are 20 years old may not meet the safety standards of
today. Protect other families like you protect your own!
Spritz it Up
If the first item a customer picks up is dusty, dirty or slimy, their shriek of, “Eeewwww!” will send a cold chill through the rest of the crowd shopping at your sale.
A little elbow grease can
yield big bucks. Don't go overboard on a $2.00 item, but sprucing things up
will add value.
Clean, fresh-smelling
clothing hung on hangers command a higher price than stained and rumpled items
dumped in a pile on a table or in a box.
Stuffed toys are kid magnets.
Parents and grandparents can’t resist buying at least one. Especially if they
are dealing with a whiny kid. Wash the toys and add extra softener to the dryer
for an inviting fragrance.
•
Spritz
vehicle vinyl protector on plastic or vinyl-covered furniture and make it shine
like new
•
Wipe
leather-covered furniture with car seat wipes
•
Wash dusty
dishes, old coffee cups and filmy glassware in the dishwasher
•
Inflate
and clean basketballs, footballs or soccer balls
•
Turn-on
TV’s and other gadgets
To Price or Not to Price
People ask, “Should I price each item, or make up prices the day of the sale while 10 people wait impatiently with arms loaded with treasures while I make up my mind.”
Don’t be lazy. Pricing items
before the sale will make you money. It will also help you think through values and
develop a pricing strategy.
Use round numbers. Pricing
items at $1.00, $5.00, $15.00 or $50.00 rather than $1.45, $10.85 or $50.10
eliminates the need for mountains of change. It will also speed things up at the
checkout table.
Buy easy-to-apply stickers at
a Dollar Store or Office Supply Store. They should be big enough to be easily
found and read by old people who may not have their reading glasses.
For larger items like
furniture or gym equipment, use a larger piece of paper. The bigger the item,
the higher the price requiring a bigger sign. Big and bold does it.
Merchandizing
Beg, borrow, or ... borrow …
as many long and short tables as you can find. When you run out of tables, find
narrow strips of plywood, shelving or wooden planks that can be placed on saw
horses or sturdy boxes to display smaller items.
Tables make it easy to
display your treasures as attractively as possible. As items sell, keep the
tables looking attractive by filling empty spots. This is a great job for kids.
Make garage sale cruisers brake
to a screeching halt, park and come in due to smart merchandising. Place large
furniture, appliances, exercise equipment, bikes, portable basketball hoops or
other items where they are easy to see.
Some men abhor stopping at
garage sales. Help their spouses by placing bait like sports equipment or tools
where men can see them.
Make it easy for people to
flip through your music. Place your CDs, albums or cassette tapes in sturdy
boxes. Cut the top flaps off so buyers can easily see the album titles and covers.
If you have 2-300 units organize them into styles - rock, country, classical,
pop or gospel.
Do the same thing with books.
Arrange them by topics like business, fiction, biography’s, how-to books, inspiration, war
stories, children’s or other topics.
Finally, have an electric cord available for people to try out your blender, lamp or radio.
Have a few different size batteries available for toys or electronic gear.
Advertising
Choose a name and use it consistently. The name will be central to your marketing.
•
Gigantic
Garage Sale
•
Huge Yard
Sale
•
Colossal
Moving Sale
•
Mammoth
Moving Sale
•
Large
Estate Sale
•
Serious
Downsizing Sale
Advertise your sale online
for free. Spread the news of your sale by word of mouth to co-workers,
friends, family – anyone who might be interested.
- Take attractive photos of key items to feature in activities below
- Place your ad on Kijiji and other online free advertising sites
- Pin flyers on bulletin boards in your community (grocery stores, libraries, community centres)
- Send email notice through your personal contact lists
- Text to your groups
- Message through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others
Show Me the Money
Have a specific table called
your checkout table. Use an old fishing tackle box, toolbox, muffin tins or plastic
food storage containers to organize money exchange. A calculator will speed
up volume transactions.
Before the day of your
sale get a variety of bills and coins so that you never run out. Area
businesses do not take kindly to people rushing in with $100.00 bills asking for change in coins and small bills.
Eliminate temptation. As the amount of cash grows,
periodically place larger bills in a safe place like a fanny pack.
Setting the Mood
If you feel people are
judging you, get over it. They probably are. Don’t worry about it.
- Don't be a Debby Downer or Somber Steve
- Be positive and enthusiastic
- Mingle and talk to people
- Comment on cute children and T-Shirts slogans
Don’t go overboard. There is an
adage that the sale is lost when the seller starts talking. You want to be
friendly, but people aren’t interested in your life story unless they ask.
Why do grocery markets and
malls play background music? All together, now! It makes people feel good. When
they feel good, they buy things.
Play middle-of-the-road pop
songs or light jazz to raise the energy level. Megadeth will make some
people feel tense and kill the mood. The bikers with the tattoos and mean dogs
snarling and snapping as they strained at their tethers trying to eat me come to mind.
Security
Be safe. Not everyone visiting your sale will have good intentions. Don’t allow people to wander without supervision. This is where your team comes into play.
Keep your eyes on customers
but don't stare at them or hover inches away. That’s creepy.
If you are having a moving or
estate sale, people will need to go into your house to view furniture and other
items. Assign team members stations where they can see all things and all
people at all times.
Never leave your checkout table
unsupervised. You or a team member must be there at all times.
Have an Exit Strategy
Have a strategy for the sale's end. First, reduce the prices by 70-80% about 2 hrs before the official end. Let new visitors know by placing large signs at the entrance to your sale.
Many charities will pick up
all unsold items and will pick them up at the end of your sale. You can also box
leftovers for delivery to a thrift store donation site.
Your job is not finished until
you have retrieved your signs. Remember the rough map you sketched while doing
DARGS? That will help you or team members to find them. Have the pizza delivered hot and ready accompanied by cold drinks when they return.
The End
Robyn T. Braley is a brand specialist, writer, and speaker. He is a media commentator and co-owns UniMark Creative which designs websites, produces videos, provides media services and graphic design. He speaks about improving personal communications and maximizing the power of personal and company brands.
Contact Robyn
Twitter: @RobynTBraley
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