Yard Sale Tips?

[Firebird]

I was hijacking muttleynfelix's thread but then decided to start my own (partially because I'm kind of sick of conflict and see no possible way we can argue about this ). 

We're having a yard sale tomorrow - it's a community sale so anyone who lives in the neighborhood can sell their crap and they'll have bins around afterward for donations/trash.

Any tips for yard sales in general?  I've never done one before.  I was planning to hit Costco tonight for some brownies/cookies/lemonade, which I figure we can offer free with any purchase to drive traffic in our direction. 

Here's the (mostly) complete inventory of things we're selling.  Nothing is priced yet, we'll do that tonight. 

-Toddler kitchen (including accessories)
-Space heater
-Air purifier
-3 barstool chairs
-Professional women's clothes (mainly suits, some shirts) mostly in sizes 8-10
-Hardcover and paperback books on a variety of subjects, including but not limited to: business, finance, memoirs, fiction, cookbooks
-Blank journals, great condition
-Baby bathtub
-Baby swaddle blankets
-Baby side sleeper
-Baby play yard
-Baby swing
-Baby bouncer
-Baby clothes, great condition, ages newborn through ~18 months
-Graco bucket carseat (including two bases)
-Photo frames
-Board games
-CDs and DVDs
-32 inch flatscreen including remote (works great, we just got a new one)

[billisonboard]

Yard sale? YARD SALE! Who the hell do you think you are having a yard sale?

[Firebird]

I know, I know.  I'm a bad mother!  But we already knew that, didn't we?

[Deleted]

be prepared for people to offer pennies on the dollar and for the women's clothes to not sell.

[zibazinski]

Price higher than you want.

[zibazinski]

Dont presale and don't get fooled by sob stories. Don't let anyone into your house and make sure everything is locked up tight even your garage door into house. If you can't lock it, close garage door. Two people manning sale is best. People also steal.

[Deleted]

Be prepared to get pregnant as soon as you sell all your baby stuff!

[Firebird]

oped, I thought we were buddies.  Why would you want to give me horrifying nightmares??!

[Deleted]

Happened to a few women I know... I just let my stuff most disintegrate in the knee walls, figured it was worth it not to jinx myself

[Firebird]

If you can't lock it, close garage door.

There are no garage doors (shared garages) but the storage units are always locked. 

Two people manning sale is best. People also steal.

Yeah, my mom is going to sell her stuff with ours.  The plan is for two of us to be with the sale at all times while the third watches Babybird / wanders around to the other sales. 

Another question - how much change do we need to start out?  My mom wanted to get $100 in $1s and $5s, that sounds like too much to me.  I think $50 would be more than enough. 

[Firebird]

Sept 5, 2014 10:05:36 GMT -5 oped said:

Happened yo a few women I know... I just let my stuff most disintegrate in the knee walls, figured it was worth it not to jinx myself

And here I was congratulating myself on taking the healthy step of assuming we will not have any more children by getting rid of her things...

[zibazinski]

50 probably is in small bills. Also need some change. You could have another 50 in small bills just in case.

[zibazinski]

Keep better stuff closer to you. Bigger stuff can go farther out. Or stuff you don't care gets stolen.

[justme]

You'll also need an assortment of quarters, dimes, and nickles. (I never really bothered/accepted prices that didn't end in a 0 or 5)

At least where I am there's a fair number of people that go to sales to resale stuff, they usually haggle the worst. Your price something for $1 and ask if you'd take $1 for 6 of the items. 

Here's some more: www.today.com/home/how-make-more-money-garage-sale-1D79976211

I'm intrigued by #7 not pricing things - it's such a pain in the butt to price every little thing. If I do one again I might do this except for big ticket items. 

[Firebird]

Thanks for the link, justme!

[Sam_2.0]

Use the Salvation Army donation checklist as a pricing guide. It's a good place to start

[Bonny]

I'd keep my expectations about getting money for your stuff low. I'd would first do a hard analysis as to whether you get a better financial return by donating vs spending a day selling.

That said, your goal should be to get rid of the stuff by the end of the day so that you don't spend another half-day to day, hauling your stuff back into the garage/house and then hauling it down to Goodwill or some other charity.

Have fun, enjoy meeting the people and whatever you do don't go out and buy too many "new" bargains!

[HoneyBBQ]

You make enough money, I'm imagining you just want this stuff gone more than you actually want the money.

Price crap to sell is my suggestion, especially if it is all getting donated afterwards anyways.

$20 for the play kitchen
playyard and bath 5$
1$ for each blanket, etc.
Kid's clothes should be MAX 1$ each, more like 50c for a onesie, etc.
CDs- 50c, DVDs 1-2$
The carseat probably won't sell. Or maybe it will depending on your area. But everyone says to never buy a used one since you don't know if it's been in an accident (probably a scam by the car seat manufacturers, btu whatever)

[skubikky]

You might also consider grouping some things together and putting a price on that.
At the end of the day you can, maybe for the baby stuff, say $2 to fill a bag?
Something like that.

[andreawick]

sell everything in 50 cent increments, so you only need quarters.

Decide if you're looking to move merchandise or make money?

We always wanted to move merchandise, so stuff is cheap. And instead of just "clothes $1/piece" sell them "$1/pc or 6 for $5, etc"

nobody will want your cds or dvds (but you might get really super lucky) don't expect to sell a lot of them

I would sell the kitchen for $5 or $10.

Good luck - and it all depends on the buyers....you may get a bunch of old people or maybe a few soon-to-be-moms....it all depends...

[justme]

Oh! Make sure there's a power source so they can plug in electronics to make sure they work.

[Firebird]

You make enough money, I'm imagining you just want this stuff gone more than you actually want the money.

Correct.  I don't really care about the money, I just wanted to get stuff gone and took advantage of this opportunity to possibly sell some of it.

Any money we make is earmarked for Babybird's toy/Christmas fund.  I like the idea of "fill a bag for $2" type thing.

[snapdragon]

You might want to group the same price items together everything on this blanket is $5 everything on this table is $3 --- Just put colored stickers so you know what price you wanted (when) things get moved around.

[mollyanna58]

 I was planning to hit Costco tonight for some brownies/cookies/lemonade, which I figure we can offer free with any purchase to drive traffic in our direction

Consider bottled water in addition to or in place of lemonade.

I've been at garage sales in the summer where ice cold water was being sold for $0.25 - $0.50 a bottle.

[muttleynfelix]

Since a lot of these things I am currently selling or bought used, I'll tell you what I paid/sold for/currently listed:

-Baby bathtub   - Listed at $5 with no hits.  No idea if it will sell or not.  I'm going to list it on some other sites this weekend to see what happens

-Baby play yard - Are you talking Pack-n-PLay?  I have basic one listed for $15. I sold another one with a bunch of features for $25 (of course that was to a family friend).  
 
-Baby swing - Mine is priced at $30. It is a plug in model.  It may still be priced too high.  Not sure. 

-Baby bouncer - I paid $10 for a used one.
 
-Baby clothes, great condition, ages newborn through ~18 months  - Group them into lots - like 2-4 outfits all of the same size and similar condition for $2.  You can do what the consignment sales around here do and safety pin the groups together on a hanger.

-Graco bucket carseat (including two bases) - I actually sold mine first out of every I had listed.  $10 for carseat and 1 base, $5 for the additional base. BUT my carseat only had one year left on the expiration date.  I'm sure yours has a couple more years left on it.  I would try $30 for the car seat and one base and $10 for the additional base or something along those lines.  

If I am looking for used baby/kid items - PNPs, swings, etc, I want to pay about 30-50% of retail price for good conditioned items. So I tried to price my stuff accordingly.  I'll pay a little more at a consignment sale, but not at a yard sale/online swap group.  

[Deleted]

My friend who got rid of all her baby stuff after #4, is due with #6 in November. It's supposed to be her second boy, so she just got rid off all her girl stuff... I think she's putting a lot of faith in the ultrasound tech! 

[Firebird]

-Baby play yard - Are you talking Pack-n-PLay? I have basic one listed for $15. I sold another one with a bunch of features for $25 (of course that was to a family friend).

No, it's more like this (can't find the exact pic but kind of like this):

i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/07/44/51/09/0007445109167_500X500.jpg

I don't know what that's called exactly - an activity mat maybe?

-Baby bouncer - I paid $10 for a used one.

This is our model, is it similar to yours?

www.kohls.com/product/prd-265152/Fisher-Price-Rainforest-Jumperoo.jsp?ci_mcc=ci&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=27-354506783-2&CID=shopping15

Thanks for the pricing tips! 

[Firebird]

Sept 5, 2014 15:24:07 GMT -5 oped said:

My friend who got rid of all her baby stuff after #4, is due with #6 in November. It's supposed to be her second boy, so she just got rid off all her girl stuff... I think she's putting a lot of faith in the ultrasound tech! 

Shh... I've left a note that the police should contact you if I have a nervous breakdown in the next few hours... I'll be all right once I have my wine.

I have a lot of faith in birth control! 

[Peace Of Mind]

Yard Sale Tips?

Don't do it!   



But if you insist on doing this -  be prepared to be annoyed.  A lot.  My tip is:  Don't smack people.  They won't buy your stuff if you do.

[Firebird]

My tip is: Don't smack people. They won't buy your stuff if you do.

Clearly you just weren't hitting them hard enough.