Warm weather always brings with it spring cleaning. Spring cleaning brings Yard Sales. While in some areas the great garage sale season doesn’t start until May, where I live as soon as it’s warm its time to start hagglin’.
For those reaching out to those early garage sales and even if you aren’t ready until later in the season I want to share with you some tips I have and some tricks I stole from the web.
1. Always check the sales for your area before you leave. Use the local paper, classifieds, online directories and discount sites like smartcanucks.ca and Kijiji.
2. Make a map. I usually print out a Google map of the area I am intending to cover and write on the locations, times and items that caught my attention in the ad. This way I can plan a route with specific times so I land as close to, or before opening time.
3. Don’t be afraid to Early Bird. Now this has to be within reason; showing up at 6am for an 8am sale is just going to be a waste of your time. Some of the benefits of showing up just before the sale starts are:
• Items won’t be priced so you can throw out your own deal maker
• They may put out a very high demand item and not know the value giving you the chance to score a great deal
• You get to look before the high traffic comes giving you ample time to ponder without worrying about missing something really good
4. Have cash on hand. Keep it in small bills in case you want to use that as your deal closer, like “I only have 5 bucks on me” or “will you take a toonie?”. If you are flashing around 20 dollar bills they are going to expect they can get you at a higher price.
5. Community Sales\Street Sales can be a goldmine. While you will have a few people just taking advantage of the volume of hunters there will be a lot to browse in a small amount of time and you can scratch that itch much faster than making multiple stops all over town.
6. Church Sales\Donation Sales are generally not great for amazing deals but have lots of stock items like dishware, books, odd collectibles and junk. In my experience it’s great to get out there and support a cause but this won’t be the location of your exciting, “share with all your friends” deal.
When I was young I used to go Garage Sale Hunting with my mother and her friend. Her friend always used to say “on garage sale days road signs do not apply”. While I don’t agree with her it always made for a more exciting morning!
Share your tips and tricks too. I am always looking for ideas and deals you landed.
I can’t wait until I have Saturdays off for this!!! Thanks for the tips!!! One thing my hubby and I always do is buy things from kids (hot dogs, pop, cookies, etc.) and even though it’s not a tip, it makes the kids feel good! I remember selling cookies (wasnt that long ago lol..im only 24) and being so excited when people bought some!
That is so funny that you say that “road signs don’t apply” I always went with my papa and I thought that was his thing lol now I drive him around looking for a suitable place to park (so I don’t get a ticket) and he gets mad at me.
Few more tips:
1) Look for multi-family sales
2) Look for moving sales
3) Look for “I’m done having babies” sales
4) Don’t be afraid to ask if they have anything else you might want – I can’t count the number of times I’ve asked “Do you have any more……?” and all of a sudden they go in the house and find 10 more great items.
5) Try to buy two of something (two pairs of jeans etc) and then ask “Can I have both for….., instead of your advertised price?” Lots of times they are more likely to give you a discount if it is two items that are similar
6) Keep in mind how much gas you using to get to these garage sales – no point in spending $10 to save $0.50.
7) Hit the wealthier areas of town – they have more stuff and most of it was bought new
8) Don’t be afraid to make a little conversation with the seller – sometimes that leads to better deals, as well
I LOVE garage sales….so excited the season is upon us (even though right now it is snowing – seriously!)
I LOVED going to GS’s as a kid. My parents were the best at it. Trained me well. Now we go with our kids. My best tip, take drinks and snacks.
Early Birds are not only turned away from my sales, but I won’t sell to ’em later in the day either. If the sign says the sale starts at 9am, that’s when it starts, not at 8am, nor even at 8:30am. :/
In our area, late afternoon Friday and Friday evenings are the busiest YS times!
When we had ours, we made the bulk of our sales Friday rather than Saturday.
Yes, it’s a hassle to set up twice, but it was well worth it.
We had a block sale one year
If you want to get your kids involved have them make COOKIES
2 kids made two huge bins of cookies (peanut butter and choc. chip)
they made them pretty big, wrapped them up in Saran Wrap
sold them for $1 each and sold out within 30 min
most were sold by the people ‘selling’ stuff LOL
Also one parent gave her child a pouch with change
I found that the kids would get more money than the parents for their goods
Also.everyone was freeeezing that morning
there was about 75 of us and each person stated they should have sold COFFEE
so another tip would be: grab yourself an industrial coffee urn and sell coffee……tim horton’s also offers big urns to rent and when we did it they gave the coffee for free (not sure if they still do that, you have to get it through head office:)
Be aware that some municipalities have bylaws about loading and unloading no-go times like between 11pm and 7am. Banging on someone’s door at 6 am falls into that category; besides, the sellers have to face the neighbours after the sales too.
Agreed on showing up too early – I remember growing up when we would have garage sales, the ones showing up an hour or two before the sale started were usually the little old ladies, sort of hovering around like vultures. Maybe because they were up that early anyway? I just know as a seller you don’t appreciate it ’cause it’s still the weekend and you’d like to sleep in as much as you can! I also remember having everything ready and tagged the night before a sale, so the idea that a deal can be had on something that hasn’t been tagged yet won’t always work – I still think haggling skills are the most useful thing to have for garage sale deals. And the idea of getting a deal if you’re buying more than one thing is good; if you have an armful of stuff, make an offer like “everything for $10?” and it’ll usually work – in the end they are still trying to get rid of as much as they can, and the money is kind of secondary in these cases.
I used to go garage sale-ing with my mom growing up; I haven’t gone for years now…maybe I’ll start looking through the ads again. 🙂 In a way I feel like I’ve traded in garage sales for auctions these days – I’ve gotten some awesome deals in the last year, and even if you don’t come away with anything, it’s usually more entertaining than if I’d stayed home and watched tv.
As a teacher I loved yardsaling for books! Now I am back in school and my nephews are reaping the benefits of my collection over 1000 childrens books!
I never minded Early bird showing up at my yard sales ( within reason as said)…My goal is to get rid of my stuff by the end of sale…I’m not going to turn down an opportunity to unload it…I LOOOVE yard sale season…great place to find kids stuff and board games….I have also found lots of good books as cheapcheap said!!!
I like the idea of Garage Sales, but unfortunately, haven’t hit any gold! I’m not sure if it’s just my ‘burb, but GS seem sporadic, all over the place.
I can’t wrap my head around organising enough to go to a whole slew of them in one day! <– That would be a DREAM to me. 😉
I love going to Garage Sales but absolutely hate having them even though my parents usually do it! Haha
i loved going to them and having them when my kids were little -they helped get rid of some toys and made a bit of money in the end -had one about 5 years ago only made 45.00 bucks -didnt have any little kids stuff
Please don’t be early birds!
Church/club sales can be just great to go to by mid-afternoon – often they put things into boxes, set a price, and sell ‘as is’ – we’ve gotten some great finds that way.
My daughter recently started up a hobby of making earrings and other jewelry, Those sold better than anything we put out in the yard sale, lol.
I got a pair of brand new Gap jeans this morning for $3! Total steal. Made my day.
I too am a Huge garage sell treasure hunter…most tips here are for buyers, here’s ONE for sellers. USE SIGNS with Date, Address, Time and Arrows indicating direction. Good signage is better than an newspaper or Kijji ad. And for Pete’s sake please take them down after the event (personal pet peeve is old signs).
Recommending early birds? Isn’t there a reason the person holding the garage sale sets a specific start time? I agree with others that early birders should not be sold to. I still remember my parents having a garage sale and people picking through the stuff we were trying to put out – even when it was covered with tarps. Find something better to do with your time. Considering the mediocre sums that often come from such sales, I’m in favor of donating to a local shelter or Salvation Army.
I love yard sales! oh i even sometimes joke to people that ‘we are going sailing this weekend’ they don’t get the pun, hehe. Anyway in the winter when you can’t get out there.. or any other time there is a great website to keep the picker in you satisfied. For the record its not mine.. i stumbled upon it one day and got a bit hooked: http://www.yardsalebloodbath.com
When posting garage sales, I’ve heard of people coming the NIGHT BEFORE to see if they could get the deals before anyone else. Be respectful of the times posted.
Be prepared that if you’re going to have a garage sale, you’re going to get people coming and trying to haggle things down to ridiculous amounts. Don’t sell anything that is sentimental or if you’re intent on getting what you’re asking. Of course everyone is out to get a great deal, but be fair on both ends.
How about this…
A yard sale isn’t the same as a store on your front lawn. Please don’t try to get market value for whatever your selling. It’s about getting rid of everything that is clutter, and not having to deal with craigslist or Ebay hassles.
On a more personal note, if you have the coldest, most soul destroying demeanor known to both the living and the dead, get your wife to handle sales.