Rummage Sale Tips

Ok, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE rummage sales and finding good deals, whether it be at a rummage sale, goodwill, or second hand store, good deals always make me feel great about my buy.... today I went to about 10 sales with my kids and let me say, the more sales I go to, the more I learn about having a sale of my own (which I have done several times as well! But how the heck do I find my good deals sitting around selling good deals??)

The first and biggest thing to do is to advertise, advertise, advertise!!! When I had my sales I put them into the 2 local papers (this can get spendy so be careful about this avenue of advertising). I also put it online on craigslist and I made posters and took them around to nearby towns and hung 2 of them up in each town (if you live in a big enough area, you can just hang a bunch around town) make sure to ask the business first, most don't mind, but some will tell you no.

(also check your local area laws because some places make you have a license, my area does not, but some do- or so I have heard)

The next biggest thing is on the day of your sale, put out signs!! We found a sale in the paper we wanted to go to, on a road we had never heard of and it took us FOREVER to find it. There was one sign in front on the house. Most other sales had signs at the end of the road or in several areas pointing the way to the sale. This is a huge help whether you live right off the main road or you live in a remote area- your customers will thank you for taking the time to hang the signs. Don't forget once your sale is over to go take your signs down!!

A huge gripe I had at sales today was clothing. A lot of the prices were unreasonable- to me, and at some sales recently the quality of the clothes+ the price was definately off. If you have clothes from your children that are 10 years old and look it, most people will pass them over and not pay even 50 cents for them. As a buyer at sales, that was a big turn off. It was also a big turn off to have clothes marked 2 and 3 dollars per piece (for children's items) that were not of top quality. If it had been Nike or Addidas or some other big brand (GAP, oshkosh, etc.) and in good condition (no rips, stains, etc) then that would probably be undermarked for the clothing. But as a deal hunter I was looking for kids clothes that was 25cents to 1 dollar. For older children's pants I would have considered paying 2 or 3 dollars as well (maybe this makes me sound cheap, but it is something I have learned going to really good sales- good prices= good sales and happy customers).  Another thing about clothing is to have items marked or a sign hanging up if everything is the same price. The sizes should all be together as well. When I had my sale I put the same size pants in one section, same size short sleeve shirts and same size long sleeve shirts in one section. At one sale today it was very hard to look for adult clothes. They had one table that said Plus Size and then all the clothes were folded, piled up. I would probably have bought something if all of the size L shirts were in one pile, XL shirts in one pile etc. and I was able to find the size and type I was looking for. Instead a lot of things probably got passed over. Another thing I find that helps is to put a label on the table or on each clothing piece (with masking tape) that says the size and price of the piece of clothing. This was customers don't have to mess up the piles with looking inside each piece at the size.

All the toys should be placed together and clearly marked how much they are. As a seller it is easier to take the ticket off the item than to think about how much you priced it at. And as a buyer it is easier to know how much you want for the item right off the bat.

My mom told me that she read an article where one woman said not to price anything because sometimes someone might offer more for the item than you think it is worth. I don't agree with this. As a seller and as a buyer this is very confusing. I like to see how much an item is and if I think it is too high I will not buy it or will try to get the seller to lower the price (more times than not I will just not buy it)

Keep all items that are of real value- electronics, DVD's etc. in clear view of the paying stand. I had a cheaper ($20 new) mp3 player (still brand new in the package) stollen from one garage sale that I had. One minute it was there along with the customer and the next it wasn't.

Make sure that you set up your sale early. Items should be clean and priced before your sale and set stuff up days before in your space so on the morning of you can just open the garage and pull tables or furniture out of the garage. Organizing the items and having lots of table/shelf space is a must. I don't know how many sales I have passed over that might have held awesome finds that looked like a mess from the street so I didn't even bother to get out of my car. It is your job to entice the cusomer to pull over and get out of the car and spend their money on your items.

Make sure if you have music playing in the background it is something that most people might like. You wouldn't want music with lots of cursing when people might come with kids. This is also a turn off.

When your rummage is over, instead of saving items, you can donate them or try selling something of bigger value on craigslist or in the paper.

All in all, have fun. As a buyer or a seller, rummage sales should be fun. While throwing one can be very stressful it is a great way to get rid of things you not longer use or need. Don't be afraid to let things go, doing so will help your house feel better and look nicer. It might also help someone in dire need of your item as well.