Our community is having a yard sale and I want to put some stuff out. Not sure how to price it all since I haven't been to a yard sale since I was real little or had one myself.
It starts on Saturday at 8am and runs to 2pm. I want to get them tagged by tomorrow night.
I have some clothes that, *ahem*, I am too old to be trying to wear, some kitchen stuff, and some clothes that DS received but I dare not put on him. (Picture puffy paint and fuzzy teddy bears...ugh.) Who knows, maybe someone with bad taste has a few cents to spare?
Just need advice from anyone who can offer it!

By Kay on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 03:17 pm:

I know there are several websites out there with pricing guidelines, but I had a friend of mine give me a listing of 'starting' prices for various categories - these were acceptable for our region (we're central Texas).

Now, I didn't put out clothing - that I gave to our shelters. (I also didn't have anywhere to hang them, and didn't want to deal with messy piles). She suggested clothing beginning at .50.

We priced small appliances beginning at 1.00. I also had an electrical outlet available for them to test items.

My Rubbermaid containers I priced at .75 each or 5/3.00

I have other suggested prices for different items if you need them.

By Rayanne on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 03:19 pm:

I usually price my clothes anywhere between 50cents to a dollar depending on what it is and what condition it is in.

Kids clothes usually sell really well. Just use your own judgement on them. You can always lower the price so start high, but not too high.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 03:41 pm:

Heidi- Have you ever considered donating your items instead to the local Rescue Mission? You can write it off your taxes (get the form)and really benefit people who are in need as well. Often they will come and pick up anything that you want to donate, so you don't even have to mess with that part of it. We always donate....don't want the hassle of a garage sale!!!! Just something to consider.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 04:10 pm:

I actually do freecycle quite often and most of this stuff wouldn't be appropriate for a rescue mission. Having a yard sale where the community advertises isn't much of a hassle. Plus, we need the money.
My mother was homeless for 3 years and, not to sound obnoxious, but I take care of her now...so, *she* is my donation...her food, mortgage, etc. Mental illnesses are my specialty!

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 05:23 pm:

Sorry Heidi - I didn't know.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 06:42 pm:

no problem at all! you had a GREAT idea!

By Annie2 on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 07:01 pm:

Be set up before the start time of the sale. In our area, flea market vendors scoop up the good stuff FAST and FIRST thing in the am. Keep good stuff priced high in the first two hours of the sale. Be firm in your prices in the first hour.

Have the bigger items and large toys, etc up at the front. Some people "window shop" from their car windows and you really want them to see something worth stopping for.

Good luck and have fun!

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 07:09 pm:

Ditto Annie2. Flea market vendors do the same thing in our area. And she is right about firm pricing early in the sale. If you sale is slow, and certainly nearer to *end* time of your sale, you can lower prices.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 07:45 pm:

Thanks so much! Also...are there any stickers I can buy so i can price them?

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 11:08 pm:

Just thought of this...around here you can say your sale starts at 8am and people are at your door at 7 so be prepared!

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, May 12, 2005 - 08:02 am:

That is true of my area also - and they are like vultures - they expect you to open early simply because they are there!!! And when you DO finally open, you feel like you are being attacked because they are like a herd of animals at feeding time!

A tip: Make sure you have PLENTY of change - $1 & $5 bills, and a LOT of coin change on hand. We used to use a cashbox my neighbor had and usually 4 of us had the garage sale together. One of us was solely responsible for recording each sale and manning the cashbox and handling the money. We switched up every hour, but we made sure one person was doing nothing but that, to avoid mixups.

As for stickers - we used to buy those colored *dot* stickers - you know, the circular ones that are about 3/4" to 1" in diameter. Each of us had a color, so that made it easy to record individual sales. What we did was, before the sale, we made columnns on pages in a notebook, headed up with the colored stickers. That way, all we had to do was write the amount in the column that applied.

Others may have better suggestions, but this worked well for us.

By Kaye on Thursday, May 12, 2005 - 08:19 am:

When we have had sales with other people we pulled those tags right off and put them in the notebook.

I too am having a small sale this weekend. I think the key is to expect that people will always ask if you will take less and for you to decide how you want to handle that. Try not to be alone and hold your sah the whole time.

If you want to be super nice you can prebuy canned drinks and sell them, it does keep people shopping longer.

By Jann on Thursday, May 12, 2005 - 08:30 am:

We don't advertise and don't put our signs out till we are ready. Those vultures come too early and it's too chaotic if you don't. Same with the stickers/notebook. Money in a fanny pack works well if you can't sit behind a table.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, May 12, 2005 - 08:43 am:

We did what Kaye suggested with the stickers, but some of them wouldn't come off of the items.