How To Host A Weekend Yard Sale

Hi Everyone,
This past weekend was a very busy one for me. For months I have been picking through closets, checking under beds, sifting through cabinets and pulling things out of storage for a huge PURGE fest. I cannot believe how many things we’ve aquired over the years and being an avid yard saler myself does not help any!

So after months of collecting, pricing and stashing I had a big yard sale Saturday. The weather was just perfect with the sun shining and no rain in the forecast. The morning was quite lovely with temps in the low 70’s but by 12:00 noon the mercury was on the rise and I had had enough.

Overall, I had a great turnout. I actually could not believe all of the people swarming around my front yard. In the late morning I had a brief reprieve from the car loads of customers and was able to take a few photos to share….

yard sale

As you can see I had a wide variety of goodies for sale. Some vintage items, home decor, baby clothes, furniture…..yard sale

I built this quilt rack a few years back and it has been sitting in storage for quite awhile. It did not sell unfortunately so I may just have to give it a makeover and sell it in the shop!quilt rack

If you remember my post from last week about my diningroom chair makeover? Well these are the chairs that were hiding under the slip covers in the “before” shot. Now that I’ve replaced them with my makeover chairs its time to say Goodbye. They are really very nice but I have no use for them.kitchen chairs

This unique piece is a desk top that has no legs interestingly enough. The lid lifts to reveal a storage area. I had this in my son’s room. I screwed the back directly into the wall and added some spindles to the front for legs. I think I paid $5 for it when I got it. Time to let it go.desk top

Anyone in the market for a guitar????guitar

How about a hardly used Bunny Cage? No bunny? It could be used for small kiddies that are misbehavin’! LOLrabbit cageOverall, the day turned out pretty successful. I was able to unload quite abit of no longer needed “junk” I had lying around and I made some extra cash to boot. (More $$$ to buy more JUNK at other Yard Sales! LOL) I have hosted quite a few yard sales over the years and there are a few things I have learned to make them successful. Here are a few tips on how to host a weekend yard sale………

1. Make sure everything is clean and in working order. If you want to get “top dollar” for items they should look their best.

2. Make sure everything is CLEARLY priced or you could lose a sale. As a yard sale shopper myself, I get really annoyed when an item I am interested in is not priced and the person running the yard sale is busy with other customers. I usually put the item down and walk away.

3. Price your items reasonably and be willing to negotiate. This is a Yard Sale after all. Your customers will be looking for bargains and you are trying to get RID of stuff. Your prices should be lower than the prices in your local thrift shop but with a little wiggle room for those hagglers. If you have a problem with this you may want to try selling on Ebay or perhaps your local consignment shop.  There are of course some people who just want something for nothing. We had a really nice color TV marked $10. A woman was interested in it and wanted to know if we would go lower. I politely said “No, the price is firm on that.” I mean, where are you gonna get a color TV in great working order for $10? My local thift shop sells them for $50! Use your judgement when wheeling and dealing.

4. Give your Yard Sale Curb appeal! Many people do “drive bys” when hitting all the area yard sales. Arrange things so the “good stuff” is visible from the road so potential customers will be enticed to stop and get out.  Group like items together. You can also kick it up a notch by draping your table in tablecloths and putting small items in baskets. Serve some free coffee. Play some easy listening music or soft rock. If you are blasting Metallica on the radio it may drive people away. You want them to stick around and shop.

4. Expect Early Birds. These people really irk me. No matter how early you set up there will be early birds. I was out at 6:45 in the morning, just dragging my tables out of the garage and there were cars coming. I put on a smile and nicely asked them to please come back in an hour so they could actually see what I had. Some people can get quite nervy and try to HELP you set up so they can snoop. You may end up with broken items so I don’t recommend letting them help.

5. Be pleasant and make friendly chit chat with your customers. This will put them at ease and make their shopping experience more enjoyable. They may just buy MORE too!

6. Get the Word OUT! Put an ad in the local paper but your SIGNAGE is what will draw the most people in. I have seen time and time again, people putting out these teeny tiny Yard Sale signs written with thin magic marker on flimsy paper.  Nobody can see it much less READ it, especially if they are whizzing by at 45 miles per hour. Put large brightly colored signs out on the main road (and plenty of them) with BIG Bold Letters and arrows pointing them in the right direction. I created this sign with inexpensive plywood and I painted it HOT PINK and the letters are bold and black. They are reusable since I did not date them. They worked like a charm!

Well, thanks for stopping by today and I hope my Yard Sale Tips will help you with making your own Yard Sale a success in the future!

TTFN!

~Lisa

 

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4 Responses

  1. abeachcottage

    Great stuff you have. Glad you had so much fun and it was a success. Thanks for stopping by BC Good Life Wednesdays and joining the party.

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