I keep a section of a third garage as future yard sale storage, so that I have a place to put "someone else's treasures," and simply open it up to hold a sale. For some reason, when cleaning the garage, my husband tossed my neatly stacked

DESIGNER YARDSALE -->
10am - 3pm
Early Birds Pay Double
Proceeds benefit FORCE

set of signs that made it possible to set up a sale on a whim, and I just haven't gotten around to re-making them. Stuff is accumulating, in fact I'll be boxing up the old set of everyday dishes this weekend, so perhaps in the fall.

Obviously as a designer I'm all over arranging and merchandising, making sure there are some jaw-droppers and car-stoppers visibly displayed.

I am having a garage sale next Saturday;) I find nice clear signs help to guide people to your home. Also, don't take this serious or personal. So what if you originally paid $130 for that blouse that someone offers you $2 lol... if it so great, why did you bring it outside? I like creating a fun theme as well, wear a hat, play some music and LAUGH:)...unfortunetly the leg lamp will not be available for purchase.

So what are the tips?? :P

Have enough help, correct change, bags for bagging purchasing, patience and a smile
BTW, I only like going to yard sales, much too hard to have one.

I actually got a square (plugs into your iPhone to swipe credit cards) when they came out and used it the last time I had a garage sale, so I was able to take credit cards. It was amazing and I feel like people bought more and spent more because they didn't have to rely on cash.

Hi sfurgia --

-Call it a Designer Yard Sale, if that's the case
-Make it a benefit
-Early Birds pay double
-Put stuff to store just inside the garage door so that all you need to do is open for business
-Have signs ready to post when the time and weather are right
-Stop traffic with your best items prominently placed
-Also love Margo's music, grobby's change and bags, and Emily's square

Last yard sale was staged beautifully, I received many compliments on the stuff and display. Very little sold even though I had rock bottom prices. My tip - don't make it look too nice, it's a garage sale!

I advertise on Craigslist with pics of some of the better stuff. I group items, clearly price everything, and place expensive large items away from me so people can discuss how much less they're gonna offer in what they think is out of earshot. I have retained my "mother's ears" hearing so I can usually hear what they're planning. If things don't sell in 2 days, I donate 'em.

I don't mind receiving little money for my stuff I sell. I just don't want it to use space in my house. I remember people giving more than I asked before they were ashamed to pay so little. Anyway, either the stuff or the money from the yard sale goes directly to charity.

No more yard sales for me! However, advice from past experience is to advertise and keep lots of small bills and change since people want to nickle and dime you to death. I once had a woman hand me a $100 bill for a purchase under $1. I told her to go find a bank and break it down. Also, when negotiating on pricier items, it often helped to say, "Sorry...that's the price...I'm still not even sure I want to part with it." It seemed to work on people psychologically, at least in my experience.

Coordinate with neighbors to have yard sales on the same day. People are more likely to stop when there's multiple sales going on in close vicinity.

Had one two weeks ago with a friend. We kept each other company. The sale was a success $ wise even though a lot of the small stuff didn't sell. Advertising is the key. We did Craigslist, and the local paper and good clear signs with not too much written on it. People don't have time to read all the things you are selling on a sign. Just get them there. GARAGE SALE with an arrow and an address. People said we had good easy to follow signs. I donated the stuff that didn't sell to Lupus and the local thrift shop that supports the hospital.

(1) Place two cars some metres from your house, one on each side of the road. Put neon yellow cardboard signs the back and front windows of the car saying GARAGE SALE.

(2) have lots of change

(3) have a few helpers and keep watch because some people steal stuff
(4) be realistic about prices
(5) lock your house securely
(6) advertise on yard sale websites , In Australia hardly anyone advertises in the paper we look online
(7) a few balloons outside the front of your house help too.
(8) if you say it is a deceased estate, more people come because they think they are getting antiques, antiques always draw a crowd.

books, records jewellery are also popular.

ps let early callers look at your stuff, they are a pain the arse but they may buy stuff. that others won't buy. They will not necessarily come back later. it is better to deal with a few people at a time, than make people wait and have a stampede. In a stampede things are more likely to get stolen or broken

I had two before we moved, a year apart, on the same dates as THE major garage sale in our area. (Everyone was having one that weekend. It's an out-of-state draw, with pickers and trucks and trailers, etc.)

My mantra--If items made it to the garage, they were going to be GONE after the sale. Nothing came back into the house. I wasn't into the money-making aspect. I was in purge mode.

I made a big sign that said "Everything-- 25cents! (unless marked)" and only marked big ticket items, like furniture, etc. Still, I priced to sell, and I took offers. The way I saw it, people were PAYING me to help ME take our stuff AWAY! It was kind of fun, as much as I had dreaded doing it. Even at such cheap prices, I "made" hundreds of dollars and cleared a LOT of stuff out.

I ended up taking the rest of the items to Goodwill (just 1 carful) after the first day, and watched my neighbors deal with their overpriced stuff for days afterwards. :)

I made enough money in the garage sale two weeks ago to redo/tile my powder room. I posted it Design Dilemma...Mirrored Powder Room.

I live in the UK we have car boot sales in nearby fields for large numbers of sellers. Have never seen anyone sell directly from their home but am thinking giving it a whirl, you never know may catch on!!!

Having a successful garage sale is hard work! But, if done correctly, you can make some serious cash.
- Set a date far enough in advance to have enough time to get everything out of
your house/attic/basement and be able to organize and price everything before the actual sale.
- Price "To Sell:" You don't want to be stuck with everything and have to pack it all up & donate it for free after having gone through the work of having a sale!
- Make easy-to-read posters & advertise in the local paper & on-line.
- Negotiate! People are going to barter, so have fun, and when they ask if they can have the $25 lamp for $10, come back with, "How 'bout $15?"
- Organize your Sale: Have enough display space (tables/bins & somewhere to hang "better" clothes on hangars). If you have lots to sell, organize by category: Clothing Type (men's/women's/children's), Glassware, Sports, Tools, Linens, Toys, Appliances, Etc.
Try to display your most desirable items outside or to the front of the garage to attract interest, & place clothing towards the back.
- Have lots of change, newspapers for wrapping breakables, & bags. Have some batteries on-hand to show people things actually work. Never leave your Cash Box unattended!
- If your sale is for more than one day, consider marking things down the second day.
- Have fun & enjoy spending all the moolah you earned from your successful sale!

Put the price on everything beforehand! I had a garage sale with a few friends, we put all of our stuff together so we could sell it more easily, and the main problem we had was that people asked someone about the price of someone else's stuff and we didn't know what to say so it was kind of confusing haha when stuff wouldn't sell we would pack everything in a pick up and we went to little town plazas or markets near us so we could sell the leftovers (we priced everything down a little every hour and most of the stuff was sold at 7 pm.

We also had a lot of signs (neon paper ones with GARAGE SALE written big on them and an arrow, the address was written in small letters on the bottom, we took them with us when we went to the towns and put them in the windshields of the pickup).

Clothes (used and new) were our biggest sellers, specially because we had bundles of 50 cents and 1 dollar which big signs on them. People also came asking for the electronics a lot.

Finally, not much of a sale advise but when we went out to sell in the little towns we forgot to bring food and we were cranky as hell haha don't forget to eat and drink lots of water!

I used to spend hours pricing things for a garage sale, then I started pricing by table, etc. My husband asked me one day why I spent so much time on it. The next one we held we didn't price anything! Most people like to haggle anyway and don't want to pay the price on the item. All inquiries of price were directed to him. He would also do bundle prices. For those early birds he quoted them higher prices. When most of the more expensive items were sold, we had boxes available. The buyers were told "everything you can fit in a box" for $2. We got rid of everything!

I'd say I have a sale about every 2-3 years now. I used to have one every year, but with the kid grown and my other friends kid's too, there's less to sell now. I still tend to go in with friends who live out of town, so there's more. We also have taken to pricing either by the table or by type..."All jeans $1/pr" or "All t-shirts 25 cents each". Bargaining is fine...AFTER noon! I've had people try to get me to come down on a big ticket item within minutes of opening the garage door. That makes me nuts! I tell them to come back after 12 and then we'll talk if it's still there...or to give me their number and I'll call them if it doesn't sell at the marked price. We also put out a big "No early birds" sign. We've had people knock on the door at 6 a.m. when the sale clearly says it starts at 8. Usually I've been up until late marking things and organizing. They do not make me happy when they wake me up! We've also sold sodas on hot days or coffee when it's cold. By noon we start telling people that they can have any clothes they can fit in a bag for $1. We don't want to pack it back up to take to Goodwill. One of the strangest thing I ever noticed was that if you have a box of "free" items...no one will take them. We had a ton of old flatware, McDonald's toys and such, marked free one year and no one took any. The second day, we marked the box 1 cent each and sold every single piece!

OK- I just had my garage sale this weekend. Many people thanked us for the great sign placement so I know that is important. Make it easy to read, bright neon sign arrowing the path to your door. I also watched peoples body language. If they picked something up, then hesitated and went to put it back down, I dropped the price a buck and then they would take it. We sold Kerig K-cup coffee and donuts, played music and did a lot ot talking;)
It was fun, but as I always say... " this is my last garage sale".....only time will tell;)

What are people buying that they have a yard sale every year?

Yard sales is like feeding time at the Bronx zoo... Just put everything out and people will be all over the place bargaining and bargaining so jack all the prices 50% more of what you want to get and lower 25% when they bargain to have a successful yard sale.. Some people expect return policy LOL, so be sure to tell them all sales are final.

Good luck

mrduggles - Mostly clothes for kids. They outgrow them so darn fast! And when I say, "I had a garage sale" it really means, I had a garage and some friends in apartments or who lived in rural areas, who would bring their stuff to my house and I'd toss stuff in with thiers. But mostly clothes, toys, books, and you don't get tired of stuff all at once. Year 1, you may not put that seldom-used blender in the sale. Year 2 you decide you haven't used it since the last sale so in it goes. Year 3 you finally get around to cleaning out that closet you've been using for storage. Year 4 you lose (or gain) weight and in go the ladies clothes. Now add two freinds with their stuff and it's pretty easy to have a sale every year.

I did a yard sale once in my life and never again. Too much work for too little money. Our biggest seller was the 100 ft lengths of old construction rope my husband bundled. Now, I make regular runs to the local thrift shop and donate my stuff to a worthy cause.