How To Make $5,000 A Month Or More With Garage Sales

In this day and age, everyone seemingly knows how to put togetherand hold a garage sale. Yet is this is so, why is it that somepeople are lucky to gross $150 while others consistently make$1,500 or more from their garage sales.
Pick almost any city or town in the country; drive through anymiddle class neighbor hood or residential area on any weekend.You're sure to spot at least a half dozen garage sales. Andwhat's being sold at these garage sales? The accumulated "junk"that a lot of people no longer use or want taking up space in oraround their homes.
Is it hard to hold a profitable garage sale? Not in the least!All it really takes is some time, and an awareness of a fewmerchandising tactics. But be really profitable, you must knowhow, and exercise careful planning.
First, let's look at some background. Everyone accumulates itemsthat other people are searching for, and are willing to buy.These items range from discarded or outgrown items of clothing tofurniture, tools, knick-knacks, books, pictures and toys.
Start by taking an inventory of all the things you have "justtaking up space" around your home. Decide which items you'dbetter off getting rid of, and make a list of these things. Theseare the things you are going to put up for sale. And if you arehonest about what you really want and need, the pile will grow ifyou look over your household a second and third time! rememberthat many garage sale offerings are items of merchandisepurchased on impulse, and later found to be not what the buyerwanted. It is human condition: We discover too late that we don'tlike or have use for the things purchased; We "outgrow" in sizeor taste articles that once fit, or pleased us. You'll find thatmany items offered at garage sales are gifts that have been givento the seller, but not really suited to the recipient. In otherwords, it will be to your benefit, before you stage your firstgarage sale, to take a week or so to browse through all thegarage sales you can find.
The problem is, most people just don't have the time or energy togather up all the items taking up space around their homes andstaging a garage sale to get rid of them. Believe it or not, manypeople really don't know how to stage a garage sale; and a lot ofpeople feel that putting on a garage sale is just to much botherand work.
This is where you enter the picture. Your enterprise will be anongoing garage sale of items donated and collected from thosepeople who lack the initiative to put on garage sales of theirown. In other words, you can become a "liquidator of people'sjunk" via super garage sales that you promote.
We've already suggested that you spend a few weeks visiting thegarage sales, swap meets and flea markets in your area. Yourpurpose will be to see what is being offered for sale; what thepeople in your area are buying, and how the merchandise is beingsold. One of the things to notice is how the merchandise is beingdisplayed. You'll also want to notice how the sellers handlecustomer browsing, and the prices they charge for the merchandiseoffered. You'll find most items tagged with a price sticker, butgenerally the seller is open to either price negotiation or areasonable offer made by the customer.
Begin your enterprise by cleaning out your attic, closets andbasement or garage. Talk with your relatives and friends; tellthem what you're doing, and ask for donations (or at leastconsignments) of unwanted items. It's here that you'll get yourfirst experience in negotiating, and you'll usually getenthusiastic cooperation. You'll find people explaining that theyreally don't have a use for a specific item, don't want to keepon storing it, but for sentimental or other reasons, they havejust hung on to it.
Once you have a little bit of experience, you'll be able toadvertise in the newspaper that you purchase garage items, ortake them on consignment for a percentage of the final saleprice.
It's best that the wife or women of the house handle the garagesale itself--that is, let a women be the one who greets thepotential customers, shows them around, and generally engagesthem in conversation. If it's a women staging the garage sale,then arrangements should be made for a second one to "mind thestore" while she's out digging up more items for display andsale. And if you are running a really big sale, a second or thirdperson can be very useful in selling, and just generally keepingan eye on things.
The advertising angle is really quite simple, and shouldn't costyou very much either. Check area newspapers, and select the onethat carries the most ads for garage sales. You shouldn't concernyourself too much with competition from other ads. People who goto garage sales either go to all of them they can locate, or elseonly to those within a 3-to-5 mile radius of their homes.
You should run a small classified ad in the newspaper of yourchoice for about three days in advance, and up through the day ofyour sale. Once you're operating on a fulltime,every-day-of-the-week schedule, you'll want to change your adschedule and the style of your advertising. But in gettingstarted, stay with small classified ads simply announcing thefact that you're holding a garage sale emphasizing that you'vegot everything from a to z---something of interest to everyone.such an ad might read:
BIG GARAGE SALE! Hundreds of interesting items. Through Saturday, July 16th. (address)
To get ideas on how to write your ad, check your newspapers for aweek or two. Cut out all the garage sale ads you can find. Pastethem up onto a piece of paper--then with a bit of criticalanalysis, you will be able to determine how to write a good ad ofyour own from identifying the good and bad features of the adsyou've collected. Keep in mind the bigger and better your sale,the bigger and better your "getting started" ads should be.Always remember that in order to increase your profits in anybusiness, you must increase rather than decrease youradvertising. At the bottom line, you'll find that the greatestsingle reason for a garage sale failing to turn a profit is thelack of promotion and advertising used to publicize it.
You should also have an old-fashioned "sandwich board" type signto display in front of your house when your garage sale is openfor business. The purpose of course, is to call attention to thefact that you're holding a garage sale and are open for business.This will pull in your neighbors, if you haven't already informedthem, and attract people driving by. Sandwich boards are alsosometimes set out at key traffic intersections not far from thesite of the garage sale. These will attract attention and pointthe way. However, check your local ordinances to be sure thatthis sort of advertising is permitted.
Another "sign idea" practiced by a few really sharp operators isthe old "Burma Shave" type roadside pointers. Here, you simplymake up a few cute sayings (verse or one-liners,) write them onpieces of cardboard, tack them onto the power poles at about 200yard intervals on the thoroughfare leading to your garage sale,and you're sure to create a lot of traffic for yourself. Peopleamused by, and drawn to people who do something a littledifferent, unusual and creative in promoting a sale of any kind.
To come up with some cute verses, simply visit your publiclibrary and check out a book on limericks. Adapt the ones thatyou feel are most humorous, and start making signs. Again, a wordof caution before you get too deeply involved: Be sure to checkyour local ordinance before you start nailing signs to powerpoles.
By all means, search out and use all the free bulletin boards inyour area. It's better, and usually much more profitable to takethe time to make up an attention grabbing circular you can postthese bulletin boards, than just to use a scribbled 3 by 5 cardannouncement.
Pick up some "transfer lettering;" go through your newspapers andold magazines for interesting illustrations, graphics, andpictures; then with a little bit of imagination and flamboyancy,make up an 8 1/2 by 11 poster announcement of your sale. When youhave it pasted up take it to any quick print shop and have themprint 50 to 100 for you. Your cost for this small print ordershould well be under ten dollars.
If you make this circular/poster up with versatility andlong-time usage in mind, you can use it over and over againsimply by pasting on a new date. In case you feel "left-out" whenwe talk of "pasting-up" things, this simply means pasting a pieceof paper onto the overall page you're putting together.
Say you have made up your circular with a date of Wednesday, May1st, and want to change it to read Thursday, July 16th. Ratherthan do the entire thing over, simply write out a new date withyour transfer letters on a separate sheet of paper, cut this outto fit in the space occupied by the old date, and paste the newdate over the old date. The artwork master is now up to date; theprinter does the rest. Incidentally, this is precisely what ismeant in mail order and other dealership offers where theyfurnish you with the basic advertising/promotional material andadvise you to "pasteover" their name/address with your own.
For paste or glue, drop by just about any stationery store andpick up a tube of "glue stick." This is a small tube of paste,about the size of a tube of lipstick, generally sold for lessthan one dollar per tube. The tube glue tick works better thanregular glue or paste, and is not as messy as rubber cement.
Your signs have to be effective, but you have to remember to keepthem simple. Don't try to cut corner on your signs. Signsannouncing and pointing the way to your garage sale should beplaced at each intersection within a one mile radius of your salelocation. If it takes 50 signs, then make 50 signs. The importantthing is to let people know that you're holding a garage sale.
Signs can be made by cutting and using the sides of cardboardboxes, and writing on them with a heavy felt tip marking pen.Make it easy for your signs to be seen, and for people to readwhat's on them. About all you really need is great big blockletters reading "GARAGE SALE," with the street address, and anarrow pointing in that direction. Don't think for a minute thatpeople are going to stop and read a lot of "stuff" you've writtenon your sign when they are driving by; you just want them to seeyour sign and proceed in the direction necessary to reach thelocation of the sale. They'll be moving by your signs too fasttoo see or read anything else you may have written.
The ads you place, the bulletin board announcements you post, andthe signs you put up will bring many people to your garage salelocation. A lot of people will drive by slowly and just look, butmost will stop to browse around.
But you still have to contend with the huge number of people whodrive without stopping. So, let's talk about the "inside secrets"of drawing people into your sale, and the merchandising gimmicksthat will result in the maximum number of sales for you.
You must call attention to your sale. Don't be shy, bashful orself-conscious about letting everybody for miles around know thatyou're having a garage sale. If you could afford to get theGoodyear Blimp to "hover" over your garage sale, then by allmeans, you should do it !
Some sharp operators do the next best thing. They rent miniatureblimps, send them up above the housetops, and tether them thereon their sale days. Of course, this giant balloon or miniatureblimp has some sort of sign on the side of it, inviting people toyour garage sale.
This is one of the strongest available advertising ideas forpulling traffic to a sale of any kind. For more details writePie-In-The-Sky Company, PO Box 5267, San Mateo, CA 94402, orexplore to see if there is a local outlet for this kind ofadvertising merchandise for rent.
You have to give your sale some flair. Put some posts up acrossthe front of your property and run some twisted crepe paperbetween them---or better than crepe paper, run brightly coloredribbons. Invest in some colorful pennants and fly them fromtemporary flag poles. And don't forget the balloons!
Make your garage sale a fun kind of event, with clusters ofballoons anchored to your display table and racks. Be sure to"float" them well above the heads of your customers as they'rebrowsing through your merchandise displays.
Cover your display tables with colorful cloths. Don't hesitate touse bright colors and busy patterns. Regardless of what you sell,effective display (packaging the event) is still absolutelyessential to your success.
The secret to outstanding garage sale profits is in having thewidest or largest selection of merchandise. And part of theprocess is taking great care in displaying and labeling yourmerchandise.
You cannot simply dump items haphazardly on a table, sit down,and expect to realize great profits. The people doing the mostbusiness and holding the most sales are the ones with interestingdisplays, action and color.
Have as wide a selection of colors as possible in your clothingracks, and mix them for "rainbow" effect. Make sure that yourjewelry items shine and sparkle. Arrange them in and on jewelryboxes, jewelry ladders and other items sold for the purpose ofshowing off jewelry while keeping it neatly organized. Somepeople have even gone so far as hooking up battery operated lazysusans and arranging their jewelry on these. Having the jewelryslowly turn on the lazy susan will not only catch the eye, itwill catch the light, making an attractive display even moreattractive because it sparkles and gleams.
Think about it, and then study the methods of display used by the"rack jobbers" in the stores in your area. These are wire racksthat usually hold card packaged items. Such a rack or kind ofdisplay would lend itself beautifully for anchoring a cluster ofballoons. Keep these things in mind, and build your individualdisplays as part of the whole. Make it pleasing to the eye aswell as well as convenient for your customers to browse throughand select the items that appeal to them or catch their fancy.
At many garage sales, some of the merchandise (particularly theclothing) is dirty. Notice this when you visit other people'sgarage sales, and then take it upon yourself to make sure thatEVERY item--positively everything you show--is clean andsparkling bright. A bar of soap, a bucket of water, and a few oldrags will do wonders for shop tools, garden equipment andbicycles. The same goes for furniture polish on old furniture,and run through the washing machine for all washable clothing.
It is advisable to determine a price for each item before you setit out for display. Then mark that price on a price tag, andattach a price tag to each item. Your prices should also alwaysbe rounded off to more or less even numbers such as : 25c,50c,$1, $1.50, $2 and so on. In other words, don't ask for 35c, 95c,or $1.98, or any of that sort of pricing. Almost needless to say,you should always mark everything up by 100% or more. In otherwords, if you have acquired a particular item for $1, set a priceof $2 or more on it. It's also a good idea to mark up your askingprice from the bottom-line price you're willing to accept.Basically, the price marked on the price tag at most garage salesis taken as the starting price from which the buyer and sellernegotiate. Most garage sale promoters price their cheaper itemsat the bottom line price they will accept, and don't deviate fromthose prices as shown on the price tag. Then on the moreexpensive items--- $2 and over--they mark up their asking pricesby 20 to 40 percent and use that margin for negotiating with thecustomer.
If you're a little bit shy relative to personal selling, here area few "inside" secrets that will give you an edge: Always radiatean attitude of friendliness, regardless of the circumstances oryour first impression of the potential buyer. Always smile andsay hello in a voice loud enough to be heard. Speak to everyonestopping or dropping by your sale location. Be helpful, but allowthe people to browse on their own until they specifically ask youfor help. When you're "keeping an eye on your merchandise" be asunobtrusive as possible; no one likes to feel he is being watchedtoo closely. Whenever a customer appears to have made a selectionand asks you what you'll take for it, or what kind of a dealyou'll take for it, be ready to enter into "friendlynegotiations."
Before you open, of course, you will have done your homework andknow the value of each item of merchandise you have for sale.Don't ever take a customer's "claimed" value of an item. By thesame token, don't listen to a seller, when you're buying itemsfor your sale, when he claims that he's offering you an antiqueor priceless treasure. Sometimes (rarely enough) you'll be ableto pick up fantastic treasures for virtually nothing; so byknowing your merchandise, you'll not let "the flag that BetsyRoss made" slip through your fingers for a song. Be sure to haveall possibly really valuable items appraised by authenticdealers. These people are listed in the yellow pages of yourtelephone directory.
Some of the "extras" that contribute to the success of a garagesale include: Plenty of change, because without proper change,you'll lose a great many sales. A tape measure, because you'llfind people often want to know the exact dimensions of something(especially furniture) in order to fit it into a certain spacethey have in mind. Long extension cord and electrical outlet,because your customers will want to "plug in" and try out themixers, vacuum cleaners, hand tools, or other electricalappliances.
Back for a moment to drawing in those "cruisers" who aren't quitesure they want to park their cars and come browse: Look for somekind of interesting or unusual item to call attention to yoursale---something you can set up or park in front of your homeduring your sale. Some of the displays we've seen along theselines include a horse-drawn surrey; a restored Model T; an oldfarm plow. Anything of an unusual or interesting nature will dothe trick for you. One couple we know put up a display using amanikin dressed in an old time farm bonnet, long dress and apron.This display depicted a farm women of old, washing clothes with ascrub board and two steel wash tubs. It's not hard to believe,this display really drew the crowds and crowds ALWAYS mean sales!
Go wherever your imagination takes you; you have to be differentand distinctive. You'll get lost in the hundreds of garage salesgoing on all around you if your sale looks like the next halfdozen.
If you'll take the time to employ a bit of imagination, and setyour sales up with the kind of flair we've been talking about,you will not only draw the crowds; you'll be the one reaping themost profits.
As you think of beginning this garage sale business, rememberthis: It's almost a compulsion with some women to go shopping--tosearch for interesting, and sometimes rare and valuable items.This fact alone will keep you as busy as you ever want to be,staging and promoting garage sales. The market is so vast, andthe appetite so varied, that anything from a brass bedstead to aused dairy someone's long-forgotten grandmother will sell, andsell fast, at garage sales. Put it all together, use a littleimagination, and you'll succeed in a very interesting,challenging endeavor!