Tips for a successful garage sale

Plan

Wander around your home and Garage and make a list of all those possessions that do nothing more than take up space. Things like your old PlayStation, the treadmill you were sure you'd use every day.  Go through your closets, the kids closests and drawers and pull out all those clothes that you’ve worn once and are likely to never wear again as they are "so last season".  Next, go through your kitchen, the bookcase, the linen cupboard, the toy room, the study – pull out all those items that you no longer need or use or that the kids have grown out of.

If you think they'd be worth something to someone, you've got nothing to lose by trying to sell them on Garage Sale It.

Pick a date well in advance. 

This will allow you time to prepare and comb through your belongings. It's amazing how much easier it is to part with things once you know that you will get some cash and clear some clutter from selling an unwanted item.

Make it appealing.

If you really want your stuff to sell, you’ve got to make it look nice. Wash and iron the clothes from your wardrobe, clean the dust off items, fill bicycle tyres with air and scrape the mud off those soccer boots!  Make your items look appealing to your buyers.

If something runs on batteries, be sure to test it and let the buyers know if it is in working order.  By going the extra mile can really make a big difference between selling your item or not.

Take good, well-lit pictures of items you’re trying to sell. 

Once you’ve decided to sell your items online, make sure you’re truly selling them. Make sure the items looks clean, and if possible, place it against a backdrop that makes it stand out. If there are any flaws in the item (like a small dent or area where paint is coming off, or a stain or tear in an item), make sure you take a picture of that spot so buyers know exactly what they’re getting. 

You don’t have to be a professional photographer, but taking a high-quality photo can help sell your items much faster. 

Detail, Detail, Detail…. 

Telling potential buyers about the item and why you’re selling it can be helpful. It doesn’t have to be a novel, however, you should provide some detail about the items you’re selling.  Prospective buyers may want to know measurements, whether the item is from a smoke-free and/or pet-free home, and why you’re getting rid of it.

It is also recommended that if you hacve hardly used the item and it is basically like new, you shoudl include that in your description. That unused Christmas gift might be clutter to you, but it could be the perfect piece for someone else.

Name your price.

The key to garage sale pricing and one of the top garage sale tips to remember is to be careful not to attach sentimental value to your things.  In other words – don’t overprice things!

Keep your prices realistic….

Remember, you want it gone from your house, so anything you get for it is better than nothing! 

What might be trash to you could be another person’s treasure…

In our disposable society we trash things instead of trying to fix them.

Next time you’re about to throw something out, think about whether someone else might be able to use it. Can a furniture piece be refinished? Could that broken electronic be used for parts? Might your great Aunt’s painting that’s been collecting dust in the garage be the springboard to an amazing new work of art?

As the saying goes…. one person’s trash is another person’s treasure…..