I like to go to yard sales. I sometimes find very cool stuff that I’d never find in a local store, and for very cheap. I’ve never held a yard sale before, I usually donate my stuff.
I have a whole house full of the usual stuff. Next month, I’m going to move to a different state and my new bunkie already has all of the usual stuff. Most of his stuff is nicer than my stuff. He has FIVE nesting colanders fer crying outloud. My single colander just isn’t up to snuff.
So, I need to get rid of a lot of my stuff. My friends think that while I’m packing, I should put the stuff I don’t want to move into the barn and then have a yard sale. I think I should just pile it into my trunk and then donate it when my trunk gets full.
My intended has never had a yard sale either, so I’m asking for advice here. Is it going to be worth my time to spend a day watching people paw over my belongings? How do I know how much to charge for my stuff? Do people really haggle at them?
Please tell me your positive and negative stories about your yard sales, I really am interested in them. Any and all advice is welcome.
Depends on your stuff and prices in your area. In my experience yard sales are worth the time if you have a lot of fairly nice furniture or a lot of nice childrens clothing, baby equipment, and toys. The best return is if you have all children’s stuff.
Adult clothing and household gadgets and decorating go for so cheap at a garage sale it’s almost not worth the time to fold and tag it. With only small items you could make more money getting a temp job for a weekend. If you love to have garage sales and think it’s a great social event and excuse to hang out with the neighbors then that’s different.
Ours certainly was, but then we had a lot of African baskets, masks and cloth, plus some decent other stuff, including a working 23" LCD TV, some tools, etc. It was supposed to be a 2-day sale, and we had to end it after one day and over $1,000 to the good.
I enjoy hanging out at the sales of others but had one of my own once and I hated it. totally not worth the time & stress and since then I just give everything away. feels good, anyway.
It’s all about dollars per hour and one’s feelings about how much they want to get paid. Personally, if I were to give up several hours each night during the week and a good chunk of Saturday, I’d have to make much more than I’m pretty sure I could make in the typical yard sale.
You sold tools?!?! Holy cow. I never get rid of tools, when I get a better one, I keep the cheap one to lend to friends. That way, I won’t care if said tool doesn’t come back. My friends are pretty good about returning tools, but sometimes they forget and I forget and I don’t care because I have a better one anyhow.
I don’t have any kid stuff. I was thinking it might be cool to have people buy my furniture so I don’t have to bother hauling it off to St Vincents.
From the responses I’ve seen so far…I don’t think a yard sale is in my future.
RandRover, I’m not sure where you got the “several hours a night” from. I’ll have to spend that time sorting and packing no matter what I do with my stuff. This is something I’ve never done before, so if you can elaborate, I’d appreciate it. I’m not being snarky, I’m honestly confused.
How does your Stuff compare to the local thrift stores? If it’s better Stuff, have a sale. If it’s equal Stuff, it’s a toss up. If it’s crappier/older/dirtier Stuff, just donate it or throw it away.
I’m a fan of lazy yard sales. They don’t make as much, but the return on my time investment is greater. So I do tables of Stuff by price, and I don’t worry too much if they get mixed up. I don’t hang most of the clothes (if I have some awesome pieces, I hang and tag 'em, but most of it gets put on a table for people to paw through and it’s a buck a piece.)
Preprinted price stickers (check Office Max) for the Stuff that’s not table-able. Make me an offer. No holds without cash in my hand. I don’t worry about whether I can get more later, because as far as I’m concerned, it’s all going to get $0 later when I drop it off at the donation site. Chilled mead in my cup and some friends to spend the afternoon with, and it’s all good.
At least whatever doesn’t sell is half way to my car’s trunk anyhow. Whatever’s left does not get taken back inside, it goes right to the donation drop off.
If you’ve got niche/specialty items, make sure the right people know. My mom retired after 30 years of teaching and sold off her old classroom supplies, bulletin boards and books. She made over $1500, as well as some sweet new teacher friends to mentor to ease her into her retirement. She put an ad on Craigslist and signs up near the local schools a couple of weeks before the school year started to make sure the newbie teachers knew about her sale.
If it’s a lot of clothes, don’t bother. If you expect to get market value, don’t bother. But list it on meetup, or craisglist, and get out there early, and it will be like getting people to pack and move your unwanted stuff, and paying you to do it. Make it a day to sit outside and read a book, get a neighbor to go in with you, be willing to haggle. It’s amazing how much those $1s add up to, even better if you have some higher ticket items you want to part with. Takes less time than online listings - especially if you have a lot of stuff, and want to just get rid of it in a day.
Really depends upon your personality. If you like meeting people and having a chat go ahead.
Personally, I loathe them, I’m not much of a people person to start with, and I get testy with people wanting to haggle over 50 cents. (Yes that happens).
Few other things to look out for,
Make sure you’re not attached to whatever you’re selling,
Be prepared for people haggling over tiny amounts of money, (or the related, how about you just throw in ‘x’ for that price as well)
Don’t hold things without getting paid for them. Particularly any ‘big ticket’ items you may have. nine times out of ten they won’t come back for them.
I recommend price tags for everything (or the tables suggestion above would work too).
This is awesome advice…except for the mead part. I’ve only had it once and will never drink it again. I didn’t know how strong it was until it was too late. The hangover lasted a couple of days.
Of course all of my stuff is pristine and like new so should sell for almost new prices!
Honestly, most of my furniture is good quality wood that I bought from yard sales and restored. My rolltop desk is moving with me, my dropleaf table won’t.
Now that I’ve been reminded about the nitch stuff, maybe I won’t sell it at a yard sale. I was planning on selling my clawfooted bathtub with the house, its a flowerbed, but someone might want it for more than that.
DrunkySmerf, you are right about the emotional attachment I have with a lot of my stuff. It might be better for me to just haul it all to St Vincents, then to have someone tell me that my lovingly restored chairs are only worth a dollar each.
The advice I have gotten from this thread has convinced me that I should have my friends set up the yard sale. This way, they will KNOW that I don’t need more stuff when I get married and will tell people that I’m serious when I say that the only gift I want is the gift of their time.
split the difference, haul it to a local auction house. You’ll loose comission, but might make some money on it. Small items are usually boxed and sold as a ‘lot’ (e.g. all the kitty nick-nacks in a box) and they often sell for only a couple dollars if there aren’t any bidding wars.
I never make much at garage sales but I tend to give things away if I feel it is a good cause. I proably am getting conned but I don’t worry about it. My roommate who had previously been a homeowner cleaned out his storage at a garage sale and made several thousand dollars over a weekend. I guess it just depends what you are selling. Most of his stuff was used Harley parts and accerories.
Yes, yard sales are great entertainment! Do it!
Put the high ticket items on Craigs list. Small stuff like jewelry tends to vanish. You need to watch over that stuff.
When my wife was reviewing toys we had a sale every year around November for the unsolicited stuff she got, much of it never unwrapped. That was well worth it.
At this point we donate the few clothes we have, sell any spare books to Half Price, use Freecycle for big stuff, and I put my thrift shop puzzles out for free. We live across the street from an elementary school, so we are in the perfect place for a toy sale.
As others have already stated, it depends on what you have to sell. If you’re talking four colanders, I would say donate them. However, if you have a house full of things you want to get rid of, yard sales can be very profitable.
We’ve had two in the past four years. One for my son that wanted to raise money to get his motorcycle fixed. The family donated stuff we didn’t want and he made over $800 bucks on a Saturday morning from 8am until 12pm.
A couple of years later, my (soon to be ex) husband wanted to buy some music equipment and I went through our things yet again. He took in about a thousand dollars. (We had an old washer/dryer to get rid of on that one).
I sold my entire CD collection, many DVDs including entire sessions and series of some shows recommended by other dopers, video games, purses, linens, some older ipods, disney things we’ve gathered over the years, etc.
If you have the time and have things of value, it is worth it. I personally advocate for one weekend morning because most of the yard sale people start early and you only get a few stranglers in after twelve.
Totally not worth the time and effort for me. I get depressed seeing all the junk somebody related to me by marriage has managed to accumulate. If I take it all to the dump, the pain is over in a fraction of the time it takes to hold a yard sale.
As far as donating what’s left, the place I donate to will come pick up stuff, especially if you have a lot. So that’s worth calling and checking about when it’s all said and done and you have stuff left over.
Oh, and congrats on everything! Clearing out and starting new usually feels pretty damn good.
As soon as your ad is printed in the paper, you will get dealers trying to get an early look at your stuff. Be prepared for phone calls and people knocking on your door.
