Give your garage sale star treatment
OK, last week we talked about spring training for treasure hunters. This week, because I spent the weekend watching the home and garden channel, I thought we could look at how to win at the garage sale game.
If you’re planning a garage sale, or putting together a sale with your neighborhood or friends, you might want to think about it like a real estate deal.
If you’ve got property to sell, the idea is to make it as appealing and attractive to potential buyers as possible. Here’s a marketing primer:
Location, location, location. Think about it: If you’re having a sale, it makes sense to hold it in a place that is easy to find, has plenty of parking and has enough room to show off your stuff.
Curb appeal. Make your garage sale attractive to passers-by. My pet peeve is a blanket spread out on the front yard and covered with junk. Come on, you can do better than that. Drag the picnic table into the front yard, or make your own tables with boards and saw horses. Merchandise the things you want to sell. Hang the clothes, and unpack the boxes so shoppers don’t have to dig through them. Put like things together. Dedicate one table for glassware, another for books and CDs. Put all the children’s toys together, away from the grown-up toys, so kids can have a place to shop that’s out of the way of the adults.
It pays to advertise. List the most desirable items in your advertisement. If you’ve got antiques, list them. Trying to sell the boat, too? Put that in the ad. List the times of the sale, and the things buyers need to know; for instance if you take cash only.
Put out signs with clear, easy to read, directions. If you are in a rural area, or on the outskirts of the city, remember shoppers may not be familiar with the locale. Don’t space your signs too far apart, and use arrows to point the way.
If you’re in a neighborhood, remember to post signs at intersections and cross-streets. And after the sale, take those signs down!
Deal breakers. Remember, you’re selling it because you don’t want or need it. So price it accordingly. If you aren’t sure what to charge, think about what you would pay if you found something at a garage sale. A good rule of thumb is to ask no more than half of the retail price. If the item is in poor condition, has had a lot of use or needs repair, the price should reflect that. Garage sale shoppers expect a bargain. And they’ll leave empty handed if they don’t find one.