Tips and Ideas for Yard or Garage Sales

Yard Sale Meme

I have not had a yard sale in a while, but one thing I know for sure, it has become all about the marketing.

Our neighbors had a yard sale last weekend and they went against every known method of generating sales. They had all of a couple of visitors and it was a sad waste of their time. I will list a few tips, but I would love for you to comment below if you have more ideas and tips. Let's help each other have a successful yard/garage sale.

Publish or advertise your yard sale in every known "free" publication. A lot of newspapers offer this for free, but so do many websites on the Internet. Many towns have "yahoo groups" called ___________ Yard Sale (fill in the blank with your town). You can list your yard sale for free, as well as any other items you have for sale. DO NOT list your yard sale on Freecycle or you will be banned. You can list your yard sale on Freecycle after it is over and you want to get rid of what is left (for free).

Craigslist is another place to list your yard sale. You can also list your sale on Garage Sales AKA GSALR.COM and people can print out maps of all the local yard/garage sales.

Multifamily Yard Sales tend to bring in the customers. More people come if they know they can hit up several yard sales in one stop and it's less chance a waste of their gas money.

Make up a lot of signs with colors that attract the eyes. Use large, legible block print. Draw arrows pointing in the direction of your yard sale. If you were in a car on the street driving, could you quickly grasp where to go without squinting your eyes or pulling over? Think about placement (and know if your city has laws they enforce that could cause you grief if you put signs up around town).

You can make free standing signs out of paper trash bags or poster board. Fill trash bags with rocks and stuffing (newspaper, plastic bags, etc), staple close and place on corners of sidewalks in an area that will not trip people. Poster board freestanding signs can be made by stapling three pieces together lengthwise and then using the middle one to fold into a bottom with the two sides coming upward and stapled together again. This forms a triangular sign. Glue rocks or wood to the bottom to weight it down.

May your sale be successful!