Yard Sale Pricing Guide: How to Ensure Your Items Sell and You Make Money

Millions of Americans are likely to host yard sales this summer. A yard sale is a great way to de-clutter a home and make extra money. Regardless of your reasons for hosting a garage sale, if this is your first time, you may be looking for yards sale pricing tips. How can you ensure your items sell while you still make money? Continue reading on for a yard sale pricing guide.

Note: This guide was compiled based on my own personal experiences as a yard sale host and an avid yard sale shopper. If your main goal is to make money at your yard sale, not de-clutter your home, set your own prices. Luckily, you are in control. It is your yard sale and you can change the prices whenever you want, as you see fit. After two or three hours, if you notice shoppers looking at your merchandise, but not buying anything, take it as a sign that you need to start lowering your prices.

Books: $1 or Less

Books are a tricky yard sale item to price, especially if your main goal is to make money. Although books will sell at a yard sale, they aren't big sellers. You are more likely to have books left over than exercise equipment or home decor. I recommend no more than $1. Hardcover books should be priced at $1 and paperback books should be priced at .50 cents each. To move children's books, I recommend .25 cents each or 4 for $1.

Always take the condition of your books into consideration. You can ask a little bit more for like-new books. Books with writing inside or discolored pages should be deeply discounted. In fact, .10 cents each is a good price.

VHS Tapes: $1 or Less

Many Americans now watch movies by way of DVD; however, many of us still have a collection of VHS tapes. If you wish to sell these at a yard sale, remember they are not as popular as DVDs. I recommend selling old VHS tapes for no more than $1. You may want to consider selling VHS tapes without the sleeves for .25 cents each. If you have a rare or hard-to-find movie that is only available in VHS format and worth more, you may want to consider holding it and looking at other avenues of selling, such as eBay.

DVDs and CDs: Less Than $5

When pricing DVDs and CDs, consider the condition. Don't expect a consumer to pay $5 for a CD that may not play because of too many scratches. Consider the release date too. DVDs released within the past year are likely to sell for $5; however, a DVD released five years ago may only fetch $2 or $3.

Video Games: Less Than $10

Video games are a hard item to price fairly for a yard sale. Some video games can sell for as much as $50. It is only natural that you want to recoup some of the money spent, but remember that yard sale shoppers are looking for the best deals. Unless you specifically mention that you are selling used Wii or PlayStation 3 games, yard sale shoppers are likely unwilling to pay $20 for a used video game, even if it is fairly new. Your best option is to price these video games for $10. It may also be a good idea to leave these items out of your yard sale and take advantage of a retail store, like GameStop, that buys back used video games or accepts trades.

Electronic Devices: Less Than $30

Electronic devices encompass a wide range of products, so it is difficult to give an accurate price range. However, it is important to note that a yard sale might not be the best place to sell a newer video game console or Blu-ray player. You could easily get $100 for a used Wii console or a Blu-ray player. Unless specifically listed in your newspaper listing, they are unlikely to sell for a good price. Rarely does a yard sale shopper carry around $100 or $200 in cash. For newer, high-price items, eBay or Craigslist is your best option.

As for the individual electronic items themselves, standard sized color televisions can sell anywhere from $5 to $20. DVD players can be priced at $15 or less. I recommend considering the brand or extra features. A DVD player with HDMI technology that works with HD TVs can sell for more (around $20 or $30). As for radios, CD players, and alarm clocks, aim for less than $5. As previously stated, VHS technology is not as popular as it once was. For that reason, VCRs should be priced at around $5 or $10. If also selling VHS tapes, place them next to the for sale player.

Children's Toys: Less Than $3

As a yard sale pricing guide for toys, I recommend you consider the name brand of the toys in question, as well as their condition. Do not sell used toys with missing pieces that are a safety risk. If a ball set is missing two or three balls, reduce to account for the price for missing pieces. Leapfrog, Fisher Price, and Playskool toys can and will sell for more than off-brands.

Personally, I recommend selling board games for $1 or less. Make sure your game has all the pieces. As with the above mentioned ball set, reduce the price for a game with missing pieces that can still be played. Electronic handled toys, such as video games, should depend on the brand. A handheld Yahtzee game you bought for $5, should sell for $1. A handheld Leapster game can easily sell for $20 or more, but it may seem out of place. In fact, due to its popularity, you may want to sell this type of handled children's game separately online or on Craigslist. Anything else, such as fashion dolls and action figures, should be priced at $1 or less.

Children's Clothes: Less than $3

The thing about selling children's clothes at yard sales is that parents are looking for the best deals. Thanks to Wal-Mart, it is more than possible to purchase cotton shorts, pants, or shirts for $3 to $5. Keep this in mind, as this is exactly what your parent shoppers are thinking about.

As for clothes, consider brands. Old Navy, Gap, and Gymboree clothes you can price higher, because the parents are still getting a good deal. Anything new with the tags still attached can easily sell for $3. I recommend pricing kids shirts for around .50 cents each, cotton pants for around .50 cents each, jeans around $1 each, and jackets at around $3 each. Remember, like-new clothes or those with the tags attached can be reasonably priced higher and will likely sell.

As for children's clothes that have small stains, consider placing these items in a bin for free or with a .10 cents price tag. Although parents would prefer clean clothes for their kids, some are looking for playtime clothes that will just get dirty anyways.

Adult Clothes: Less than $3

As with children's clothes, the yard sale pricing of adult clothes should depend on brand and condition. For plain t-shirts, I recommended no more than .50 cents. For name brand t-shirts and polo shirts, you can reasonable ask for $1 each. As for jeans, I recommend $2 each. There are some brands, like Levis, that you could get away with a selling price of $3 each. Jackets, coats, and sweaters should be priced around $3 each.

The only instance in which I recommend going higher for adult clothes is with eveningwear or clothes that still have the tags attached. A like-new evening dress could sell for $5 to $10, depending on the popularity of the style. Name brand clothes with tags still attached, could possibly sell for $5, but I wouldn't go much higher.

Home Decor: Less Than $2

On average, I recommend selling home decor items for $1 or less each. However, some items, such as a larger painting or picture frame can fetch $2 or more. If you just redecorated your house, you may have a large group of similar items. For example, you may have pictures, centerpieces, kitchen tools, and so forth all with a rooster theme. Place an individual price on all items, like $1 or less. However, you can also try to sell these items as one large group. Place all items in a box, with their individual price stickers attached. On the outside of the box, make a sign saying all items inside can be purchased for X amount of dollars. Offer a small discount.

Home Appliances: Less Than $15

Before even setting a price for your small home appliances, like toasters and coffee makers, clean these items. Since they were used in your home, they are likely dirty or show slight signs of use. Breakout a soapy washcloth and clean. It sound silly, but you could easily get $5 or more for a clean coffee pot than a dirty one. Why? A clean product makes it look like new.

As for individual items themselves, I recommend setting your price at $5 to $10 for small appliances, such as coffee pots, toasters, and waffle makers. The only exception is you have a more expensive brand. Many of these items can be purchased new at Wal-Mart for $20. Larger home appliances, such as a microwave, can be priced at around $15.

Kitchen Supplies: Less Than $2

Since we just covered small home appliances above, this section mostly focuses on kitchen supplies, such as pots, pans, cups, bowls, plates, and utensils. If pricing these items individually, I recommend no more than $2 each. In fact, individual cups and bowls should be priced at .25 to .50 cents each. The $2 is ideal for pots and pans. Pots and pans are best listed and sold individually; however, you can sell utensils, bowls, cups, and plates in sets. Use the above mentioned yard sale pricing guide of .25 to .50 cents for each item, meaning a set of 4 cups could sell for $1 or $2.

Furniture: Less Than $30

Yard sales with furniture pieces for sale are a new homeowner's dream come true. They get nice furniture for an affordable price. If you have furniture to sell, be sure to list the pieces in your newspaper yard sale listing. Individual chairs can sell for around $5 each. Small recliners and loveseats can sell for $20. Full size couches and kitchen table sets can easily sell for $30; however, they will move faster if priced around $20.

Exercise and Sports Equipment: Varies Greatly

On average, small pieces of sports equipment and exercise equipment should be sold for $1 to $3. These items include exercise balls, stretch bands, soccer balls, baseball gloves, and so forth. Once again, if anything is like-new or with tags, you can reasonably ask for .50 cents to $2 more. As for larger pieces of exercise equipment, there are home gyms, treadmills, and stationary bikes. These items can cost thousands of dollars or more new. If you don't want to sell these items at your yard sale for $30 or less, I recommend making a special note in your yard sale listing, posting these items for sale in a newspaper separately, or listing them on Craigslist.org.

In conclusion, these are prices I have found success with as a yard sale host and prices I have paid for similar items at a yard sale. This guide helps your yard sale items sell, but ensures that you make extra money too!