When the weather warms up and the spring cleaning bug bites, clearing the clutter from your attic, basement or garage is a top priority. While you can always donate gently used items to a local charity or thrift store, there may also be some value to your old junk. Hosting a yard sale allows you to make a bit of money from the items that have been lurking in your storage spaces, turning clutter in to cold, hard cash.
Advertise Online
Local classified ad sites are a great place to advertise your upcoming yard sale, as the reach tends to be quite large and posting is almost always free. Antique dealers, collectors and avid yard sale fans tend to lurk on these sites in order to scoop possible deals, so you may end up with more traffic than you know what to do with.
Advertise in Print
The Internet may be ubiquitous and online advertising is generally free, but don't neglect your local newspaper. Print advertising hasn't quite gone the way of the dinosaur, and those ads can reach people who are less tech-savvy. While you will have to pay a small fee to place an ad in the newspaper, the traffic such an ad generates will more than pay for the small up-front investment.
Be Specific
In print ads where space is at a premium, you'll be somewhat restricted when it comes to specificity. Online ads, however, can be as long as you want them to be. Buyers are more likely to come to your yard sale if they know that items they're in the market for will be up for grabs, so be sure that you give your prospective customers a list of things that you're offering. Be careful that you don't take advantage of the unlimited space too much, though. A very long ad will be skimmed and likely dismissed midway through in today's instant gratification-dependent society.
Be Aware of Local Ordinances
If your home is a bit off of the beaten path or nestled deep in a residential neighborhood, signage will be your new best friend when it comes to hosting a yard sale. You'll need to know the local ordinances regarding the posting of signs, though, or you'll be running the risk of a forced take-down and possible citations. Some towns and cities will also require permits for yard sales, or even have restrictions on the number of yard sales you can host within a calendar year. It's important to understand and be well apprised of these laws, or you could end up paying more out of pocket in fines and citations than you make from your yard sale.
Invest in Signage
Once you've established what the local ordinances in your area are regarding signage for yard sales and garage sales, you'll want to take full advantage of what is allowed in your city in order to drive more traffic to your sale. Poster board and other flimsy materials may be cheap, but they can also blow over in a stiff breeze and be rendered illegible. When you design your yard sale signs, be sure that you include enough information to get your prospective customers' attention without going overboard. Ideally, your sign should be easily read by someone driving past. Too much information will force you to print smaller, making it more difficult for drivers to read and causing them to potentially drive right past your sale.
Price Competitively
Even if you're planning to sell your old belongings, you may still have an emotional connection to them that leads you to believe that they're worth far more than their actual value. You'll have to be realistic in regards to pricing, as word of mouth can both help or harm your chances of success. A passel of items in great condition at a fair price will leave your customers spreading the word amongst their friends and acquaintances, while shoddy merchandise at high prices will leave them laughing as they warn others away. Don't get caught up in a trap of believing that your old junk is priceless. On the other side of that same coin, you should have a decent idea of what higher-end items are worth before you start pricing. You don't want to give away an expensive antique that you inherited just because you got it for free. Antique dealers and collectors have been known to troll yard sales for good deals, and they won't hesitate to take an item of high value off of your hands for a song without telling you of its actual value.
Resources:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sell-your-stuff-tips-for-a-successful-ya...
http://www.yardsalequeen.com/yardsale.htm
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