Successful Yard Sale Tips

In order to have a successful yard sale, you need to accurately organize what you are selling. Many people go through their local paper to find out about yard sales and then drive slowly past the ones that sound interesting. If what you are selling is not represented well in that first "drive by" then shoppers won't stop.

Rather than holding the sale in your garage or back yard, consider holding it in your front yard or on your driveway. That way the gist of what you are selling can be taken in at first glance.

Most people already go to a yard sale looking for something specific. Either they are hunting for baby clothes or toys, bargains, books, or kitchen wares. You need to arrange things so that they can easily find what they are looking for, and to make sure that they walk out with more than just those few items.

The first thing to do is to think like a store. Stores are set up very scientifically. They pay companies to do studies to figure out how people think when shopping in order to maximize their profits. If you do the same, your yard sale will be very successful.

If you are selling clothing, rather than folding them neatly and placing them on table, find a hanging garment rack. If you cannot borrow one from a neighbor or find one in Wal-Mart (it doesn't have to be fancy) see if a local store will lend or rent one to you. Organize the clothing on hangers by size. Attach tags to them that show their sizes and prices (use your local thrift or vintage store as an example.)

For books, stack them neatly by genre. Put fiction books in one section and non-fiction in the other. If possible, stack them on a bookcase (even if you aren't selling it - just make sure to label it as such.) That will make it easier for people to read the titles and pull them out to read the summary on the back or the first few pages. People will be more likely to pick up something to look at it if they can put it back without making a mess.

Neatly stack items that are boxes, like board games and car models. Make sure that the labels and price tags are easily seen. Since there is no simple way to make them all entirely accessible, make sure to stack them in piles of no more than four or five. This also goes for toys with or without their boxes. It is perfectly okay to put stuffed animals into a large box to be rummaged through.

Easily breakable items, including plates and glassware, figurines and other collectibles, and small appliances should be put towards the back of the sale separated from everything else. Putting them on a table by themselves will make them less likely to accidentally be broken and will make them seem fancier. If possible, arrange them by size, with the largest items in the center and smallest ones around the outside. This works best by arranging the table so that it can be walked around and not just approached by one side.

Remember, in order to have a successful yard sale, you need not only make the items you are selling look desirable, but they need to be clearly displayed so that your shoppers can access them easily. Think like a store. You are not selling things that you do not need anymore or that have been sitting in your basement for years; you are operating a second-hand boutique selling items that other people need and want.