Do's & Don'ts of Hosting a Yard Sale

You would think these rules are common sense...you'd be wrong. 

Don't make your yard sale signs pencil written on paper sacks. The address can not be read from the road. The lines are too faint and thin.

See how 

annoying 

this is?

Don't try to sell a computer without setting it up and turning it on.  When I see a computer not on, I just assume it does not work and move on.  I see up and running computers everyday selling for as little as $50 -so, if you don't want to take the trouble to set it up, don't price it higher than $10

Do keep the toys out of reach of children - Children do not generally make the purchase, the adult does. The only thing children do at yard sales is break and scatter toys. I've followed children that were carrying a collectable toy I wanted all around yard sale until, after their parent finally told them that they could not have it, they simply threw it down and broke it. If you are not careful, the toy section of your yard sale will turn in to an impromptu daycare center, and at the end of the day, you will have a pile of broken and incomplete toys. 

Don't sell for absent friends or family. Often friends and family, who hear you are having a yard sale, will dump a few boxes stuff and LEAVE.  Before leaving, they also have the gall to tell you what they want for each item.  Kindly tell them to load it back in the car and take it on home. If they can not bother to stick around and negotiate with customers or allow you to reduce items for quick sale, you're not going to be able to sell it anyway.

Do be careful removing price tags  at check out.  I'd rather you let ME remove the price sticker when I get home.  If you rip the package removing the tag, don't be surprised if I no longer want the item. 

Don't put tape on leather. It will leave a stain. 

Don't write the price directly on the item.  It ruins it's resale value. Yes, many of your customer are buying your stuff just to sell it later. Be glad they come, they are about half your sales and are often the people that take all your remains at the end of the sale. 

Don't use duck tape for price stickers. It can not be removed from paper without tearing. You can get a hundred preprinted, easy to remove price tags at the 99 cent store. 

Don't leave your yard sale uncovered outside overnight. Do you really think I'm going to buy electronic or paper goods that are wet? Would you?

Do have everything priced. Can you imagine going to a busy grocery store and having to take EVERY item up to the register to ask how much it cost. Sellers at yard sales do it all the time.  When I'm at a yard sale with no prices, and the seller is busy helping other customers, I just get in my car and head to the next sale. 

Do think about this!  On any given warm Saturday there are 40-60 yards I can visit in our little city. Most start at 8AM.  Most end a 11AM.  There is NO WAY I can visit 40 yard sales in 3 hours. If your yard sale is - not easy to find, not easy to shop, not priced, and does not  have a fast checkout, there are plenty of other yard sales I can  visit. Yours will not be missed or even remembered. Yard Sales are a BUYERS MARKET. You only have a few seconds to get and hold the buyers attention. 

Do start you yard sale a 7AM ( or earlier )  I go to the 6AM yard sales first. The earlier you open, the more people will come to your yard sale first, AND they will have the most money since they are just getting started with their shopping.

Don't let your children scream "Water for sale" every 30 seconds. While can understand your wish to pass on your work ethics to your offspring, please keep them quiet so the adults can buy stuff from you. 

Don't bottle neck the checkout line.  You can't have EVERYTHING in the garage.  The line to checkout should never block your inventory for sale. Spread things out. Give your buyers room to move. If we all like to shop like driven cattle, we'd be a Wal-mart.

Don't tape shut the boxes of used items. We will need to inspect the contents before we purchase. Oh! And unless you counted every piece,  a used 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle should never be priced over 10 cents.

Do make sure you are not selling irreplaceable or embarrassing photos. Unless you don't mind seeing your family or risqué photos on Flickr.com with comment and critique. Erase or remove any used audio/vide tapes from recorders. Don't sell tapes of recorded TV shows.  Check all books for stashed money or photos.   You certainly don't want to be wondering whatever happened to your Wedding Night VHS tape you haven't seen since the yard sale. 

Do try to have the majority of your inventory up on tables easily to reach. Please, for the sake of our backs don't just drag a box out of the garage and expect us to get down on our knees and rummage through it. At least put boxes on top of other boxes to get them off the ground. Also, it lessens the chance that a child will scatter it.

Do remove all your yard sale signs before the next weekend. Otherwise you you'll  have people walking around in your drive way and yard,  and knocking on your door at 7AM next week - sometimes just for spite. The city might fine you, too! (  for each sign )

And remember,  you're not going to sell everything.  Go ahead and have a plan on what to do if you still have half your driveway full of stuff at 1PM. When I have yard sale, I tell each and every visitor that starting a 10AM, everything is half price, after 1PM, anything left is free or I am auctioning all off the the highest bidder starting at 1 dollar. Of course, at noon, I remove anything I don't mind storing for another 4 months. If you auction off or give away everything at the end of the yard sale, make sure the buyer understands that he must take EVERYTHING - no pick and choose. 

Coming soon. Do's and Don'ts' for the Yard Sale Shopper.