“Yard Sale Treasures”

REALLY! Everyone wants to know how I always have a GREAT yard sale and make lots of money! So, I’ll tell you some of my tips here, and you can read about the others in my popular e-book, “Yard Sale Treasures”.

FOUR TIPS FOR THE BEST YARD SALE EVER!

 NUMBER ONE – ADVERTISING:

I take out an ad for our yard sale in our local newspaper. I know they’re expensive, but don’t hold back on this one! I first told the lady I wanted the boldest, showiest ad they had so she would know that up front.

I told her I wanted a bold headline with all caps, a yellow background, and a border. The title of my ad was: “BEST YARD SALE EVER!!”

Make sure your ad either begins with a number (like your house number), the letter A, or the letter B. Do you know why? It is because yard sale ads are in alphabetical order. You really want your “showy” ad right up near the top.

I listed every single thing I could think of — yes, I really did. My ad was big! It was long! It caught everyone’s attention!

I ran my ad for 2 days, Friday and Saturday, for a Saturday yard sale.

I ended my ad with “YOU’LL BE SORRY IF YOU MISS THIS ONE!!”

Then, I took out a FREE ad on Craigslist. You can put anything you want in this ad.

NUMBER TWO – SIGNAGE:

I purchased fluorescent orange poster paper.

We used the widest Magic Markers we could find in black.

Use as few words as possible on your sign! Mine said: YARD SALE, then a big, bold arrow pointing in the right direction, and then Allen Woods (my subdivision).

If your signage is correct with arrows pointing in the right direction, they do not need to know your street name, or even house number until they pull onto your road.

My husband sat down before the yard sale and listed every major road all around us. He then rode around and figured signs from those intersections, and where the arrows needed to point at every single turn until they arrived at our house. Everyone complimented us on how easy it was to find our house! We had about 12 signs!

NUMBER THREE – PRICING:

I know it is a pain! Believe me I know!!! But price EVERYTHING!

You’ll get more money for each and every thing you sell. Even half used bottles of shampoo, dog supplies, old books, children’s toys, clothes – everything!

Don’t skimp on pricing materials! Buy hang tags at an office supply store! It will be worth it! Buy pricing stickers, too, for other items. Pin prices on with safety pins, if necessary. (Note: see how we made over $1000 at our yard sale.)

Have smaller poster type pieces of paper to tape to tables, in addition to putting prices on each thing.

NUMBER FOUR – NEGOTIATE:

Don’t sit behind a table and let everyone come to you, if you have a crowd.

Walk around, greet your guests, talk to them about the day, if you see them looking at something, discuss it with them.

Be willing to negotiate a price — that is part of the thrill of a yard sale.

If there is something you just WILL NOT negotiate on, put “firm” on the price tag.

Wear something with big pockets to hold your money and, every so often, go inside and empty them, leaving only enough to make change with you.

Have plenty of help, if you are going to have a big one like we did.

We had a minimum of three people walking around all the time.

On several occasions, we had up to 30 people shopping, asking questions, and buying.

Learn more about finding treasures at yard sales!