Tips and Tricks on How to Have a Successful Garage Sale

Cleaning out one’s house is important to keeping organized and getting rid of clutter. Every year, we accumulate goods that may never be used but for once in a while. Sometimes it is simple the gifts that we receive but don't want that sit on our shelves collecting dust (check out our article on how to keep your garage clean).  A garage sale is the best to remedy a cluttered space.



A garage sale is an opportunity to rid our homes and lives of all the unwanted items that take up highly valuable space. If you ever wanted to transform your garage, mudrooms or basement into a functional space such as an office or workout room, a garage sale is a great way to do so. Plus, you’ll make some extra money. Read on to find out some tips and tricks on how to have the most successful garage sale possible.

Do Away With Items You Normally Would Not

There are some items that we can easily toss into a trashcan or donate to a charitable organization. There are others that we hesitate to separate with for whatever reason. Either the item makes us think of a person or event or we want to hold off on the eventual day and time that it will come in handy. A garage sale is a perfect event to get rid of those items that you’ve been holding on to for too long. Chances are that if the item was in poor condition, you would’ve gotten rid of it long ago. Convince yourself to part with these items that you haven’t used in ages and see if someone else sees value in them too.

Get Your Supplies Together Before

You want to come across as organized so that people don’t think that they can take advantage of your disorganization by paying less. Get some long picnic-style tables set up along with some tablecloths that you can buy at a dollar store. You’ll want a few chairs for you to sit on so that you’re not forced to stand the entire time; it will also give people a chance to sit down if they are waiting on someone else who is taking their time shopping your garage sale. You also will want to get some small stickers on which you can write the price for each item. While you may not think this is important, you don’t want it to be a free for all when people are offering money. Get small circular price tags from a dollar store and put prices on each item.

Think About How Much You Would Take Ahead of Time

This connects to the previous piece of advice. If you do not put prices down on items, be prepared for people to randomly throw price suggestions at you. Chances are, they will offer prices that are a lot cheaper than you would expect to get. They will lowball you, especially people who are experienced garage sale shoppers. You may have a line that forms or a ton of people who are waiting, each with their price that they want to offer. In the chaos, you may get frazzled and start to take prices that you don’t want to accept just to get the line down. Another possibility is that you will lose people if they are waiting around, especially if you are having a collective neighborhood yard sale. Take the time to set aside your items to be sold a few days before and think about how much you’d want to get for each one. You may want to set the lowest possible price for each one that you write on a piece of paper for your own knowledge. This will help you to appear calm and collected while the customers try to haggle with you.

Set Prices a Bit Higher Than You'd Expect to See

Since it’s a garage sale, you want to remember that people will try to haggle. After all, you may not get any more than 20% of the price that you set for an item. Keep this in mind when setting the price for some of your items, and bump up the price according to what you think people will buy it for plus a little. People like to feel like they are getting a deal, so by making it slightly more expensive than you are willing to take, you’re allowing people to feel good about paying less, even when what they are paying is right around what you would have taken.

Advertise Online

One of the hottest trends for garage sales is to advertise them online. There are all sorts of sites nowadays that allow you to post online about where and when your garage sale will take place. In addition to looking for these sites, you will want to post on social media as well. There are Facebook online garage sale and yard sale groups that allow you to post on there about your upcoming garage sale. Advertise your sale a week or two in advance, and then re-post about it several times in the days to come. You can also post on Craigslist and other free community board sites.

Put Up Signs

In addition to advertising your garage sale online, make posters with the time, place and an arrow pointing to the direction towards your house. Post these signs in your neighborhood as well as along telephone poles and major intersections near your home. It never hurts to put some up on bulletin boards in supermarkets and in the nearby strip malls, as well.

Get Your Neighborhood Involved

One way to attract more attention is to get people your neighbors to join in on the effort. A community yard sale or a street yard sale is a great way to get more shoppers to come see what you have to offer. People may be more likely to come out your way if they know that there are several homes selling goods. Ask neighbors to commit ahead of time so that you can include it on all of your advertisements.


If a neighbor says that they only have a few things that they could sell, offer to put some of their stuff on your own tables for a small portion of the sales. People want to see that they are shopping at a garage sale with a ton of potential finds, so the more top-quality items you have, the better.

Advertise a Few Great Finds

Pick out a few of your best items to include in your online advertisements. If your neighbors are willing to join you, ask them if they have any excellent finds, too. This way, you can include those items in your online postings and possibly attract even more buyers. A garage sale is a great way to clean out your house, make some money, and finally rid your life of junk that you don’t need. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Don’t think that just because you don’t want an item, nobody else will either. Follow these tips and you will be sure to have a successful, profitable and fun garage sale.

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