Popular in America and the United Kingdom, garage sales are an easy way of selling unwanted items and making some extra cash. If you need to de-clutter, or are simply after some extra money for a holiday or a treat, then selling your items from the comfort of your home could be the ideal way to do it! At leading concrete garage company Dencroft, we have complied some tips for a successful garage sale, no matter where you are in the world.
- Enlist the family to help.
Kids love helping out with projects like a garage sale. They can help sort items out and help any customers with change. Enlisting your family to help for the morning means that not only are you more likely to have more to sell, it will be fun activity for you and your loved ones. A successful day of selling old and unwanted items is a great way to bring a family together as a team as the money made can then be divided between individuals or pooled together for a family treat.
- Have I used it in the last year?
This is the question to ask when deciding what you want to sell. Whether it is clothes, books, DVDs, CDs, equipment, anything that you have not used for over a year should be considered as it is unlikely that you will use it again. Another way some people decide what to sell in their garage is by the percentage rule, for example deciding to sell 10% or 20% of all books and DVDs. The bottom line is, if you never use something, you probably don’t really need it. The point of a garage sale is to de-clutter so be prepared to let things go.
- Advertise your sale.
Advertising your sale on gumtree, craigslist, a local newspaper or through flyers will let people know about your garage sale. You are much more likely to sell your items if you advertise than if you are simply relying on prospective customers to walk past by chance, particularly if you live on a quiet street or a cul-de-sac.
- Create a great layout
Instead of just throwing your items onto a couple of makeshift tables, you should consider dividing everything into categories (again, you can use the kids for this, just tell them it’s a game). If you have a lot of books to sell, consider putting them into a bookcase to enable easy browsing. Clothes – particularly well made or vintage ones with cool hoodies – will look much better on a clothing rack than in a box. If you have a lot of ornaments, create a themed table, set the items up so that they complement each other. If you need inspiration, pop along to an antiques shop or a boutique to see how they place their items.
- Entice people with extras
To continue the boutique shop theme, put some background music on similar to the ones from Cloud Cover Music and have refreshments available. People are much more likely to stop if your garage sale looks inviting. You could get a family member to provide drinks, or even open a lemonade stand to lure people in.
In addition, if you want to sell some of your pre-loved luxury items, there are sites like https://csd.shop/start-selling/ that can help you find buyers so you can sell your items as soon as possible.
By following these tips you and your family should have a great garage sale. Hopefully you have had a fun day, sold most of your items, and anything left over can be sent to a charity shop.