Yard Sales and How to Organize Them to Make Money

So are you a yard seller or a yard buyer during the summer months? There are so many yard sales in the summer in Maine that you can absolutely find one on about every street. I have actually found a couple good buys at yard sales, but tend to be one of those who do much better at marketing at yard sales, and not buying...

Yard sales start in late April in Maine and go until Late September, early October. That definitely would give the interested buyer the fix they would need for finding that ever hiding excellent buy. I personally prefer new, so what takes place for me is to buy something brand new, and then have a yard sale every summer to get rid of the older items that I have new of.

One of the first things that people actually need to do is to go through their home, garage, and storage sheds and hopefully find all of the items that they actually do not use. I suggest items that are not clothing if you are in Maine, because they do not seem to sell even at a dime per pair of jeans. That is cheap no matter how you look at it. One time wearing a pair of ten cent jeans is getting your money's worth. The next thing that I do is to create a listing using the computer of every item that I have to offer. That way I can practically have a continuing inventory, and not forget individual items. It also gives me information if I advertise in the newspaper, or on signs.

I then figure out what the price is at the local discount retail giant for the individual items. Here is where the key difference comes in for me. I sell the stuff because I do not want it any longer, while others do it to ultimately earn cash. I do not want to hold onto stuff where some others will not sell it if they honestly believe they are giving it away. Take my Mom as an example of that. I prefer going for a one quarter the price of what it would cost new if it is in good shape and about one tenth the cost if it is older, well used, or under $1.00. I am also fairly willing to privately negotiate to sell more items to one individual. Incentive to take more is good for me. I save on storage space, which I do not have a lot of, hauling it to the recycling center, or to a good will store which is 4 hours away.

From this point, I create reasonable price stickers with a small description and the cost. These will be put on the bottoms, or areas where they can come off easily. I make a second set of labels in case some get lost, and I also color code the stickers by different group of individual items. These items are divided up into categories like bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, knick knacks, furniture, etc. I then make a number of half off and 3 for one sticker so that as I get down in individual items I can offer massive incentives to buy what others have not. These need to go on the things. Each item should be cleaned, and ready to be used if you truly want to make a good dollar on it.

I in addition make distinct signs to put on different streets, and several in both central directions of the street where the yard sale is so that different people can hopefully locate it easily. I in addition have balloons, and an eye catcher item out close to the street to stop people as they drive by. I have a large drive to have people park, which is also a big consideration. I use several tables with vinyl table covers, and have the individual items separated between the selective groups and the children's separate from adults and men from women items. IT ably helps in selling, and people do not usually like having to look through piles of things just laying everywhere.

I generally will put some individual items out, but not all, because I have found that if different people like the values or items, they have a tendency to return, so I specially want to have new items for them to see. I will start the sale on a Wednesday because there are some who will only stop through the week, or go by only when they are working and I want those people as well as the weekend yard sale warriors. I start at 8am until 6 pm until Sunday night. I close the sale until the upcoming Wednesday and go again. The second weekend is when I normally will go for the lower prices, and 3 for one deals.

Generally within 10 days I have sold 90 percent of my items and sold them readily. Anything I have left, I will hold and join in another yard sale later in the year, or offer it to friends to sale and split whatever they can get out of the individual items. I hope that helps you in organizing your yard sale if you plan on being a seller and not a purchaser.

Spring is around the corner, and it will be critical time for Spring cleaning, would it not be a good time to clean out all of the items you no longer use and toss a few extra dollars in the bank? Have fun with it, and it is a notable way to get to know new neighbors and others in town or even travelers who will stop by.