Yard Sale Sellers: How Firm Should You Be on Prices?

Yard sale sellers can make some extra cash and clear out a lot of clutter at the same time, if they price their items right and they have a good influx of customers on the day who are willing to buy. But if you are hoping to make some actual money, rather than small change, should you price items high? How firm should you be on prices?

Start by Pricing Items High

The moment you start by pricing items low, you can almost guarantee that someone will come along and make an even lower offer and haggle with you until you either give in or stomp off in a huff at the loss of a potential sale. That is why pricing things a little higher than you expect to get for them can help you shift items.

What Are Your Items Worth?

It is only natural to want to recoup some of the money you paid for good quality, high end furniture, clothes and housewares. But before you start pricing your items, ask yourself how much each and every item is worth.

If everything is in mint condition, with original packaging, boxes and tags attached, you have every right to expect a higher price, but if you are selling used, secondhand items, do not expect to receive top dollar for things. For the high prices you are setting, many yard sale buyers can buy brand new items, so keep that in mind before you decide not to budge on prices.

How Keen Are You to Sell?

If you still have several months to go before you move, you will probably not be in such a hurry to see things go, but if you are moving out within a week, you need to consider moving things fast before the movers come by.

Setting prices too high, or an unwillingness to accept a lower price, can impede your efforts to clear out the garage or shed. That is when you will need to be flexible; otherwise, you may not sell anything at all.

Yard sale sellers need to strike a balance between pricing items at a reasonable price and being willing to budge on certain items, if they hope to be successful. A good rule of thumb is to start out by pricing items a little higher than you expect buyers to pay and to then assess how much your items are worth before pricing them. Higher end items can usually fetch more, but secondhand items should have a flexible price range. Remember that if you are keen to sell, you need to be willing to negotiate with buyers by lowering prices when there is good reason to do so.

More from this contributor:

Tips for Hosting a Successful Yard Sale.

Tips for a Stress-free Yard Sale.

What to Do with Leftover Yard Sale Items.