Moving Sale wrap-up
Overall, it went very well. We sold the things that I most wanted to sell, and Charlie and Elizabeth are on the second Goodwill run with the leftovers, so nothing that we wanted to get rid of is coming back into the house. Yay! We made a good chunk of money, more than I was expecting, so that's good. But here, as a reminder to myself mostly, are the things I want to remember next time I have a garage sale.
1. Hire a babysitter.
It takes two adults to effectively run a garage sale, particularly at the beginning, when you're still trying to set things up, and at rush times, when there are people trying to pay and others trying to ask questions. One of us was trying to keep an eye on Elizabeth the whole time, and it made things difficult several times.
2. Don't try to do two days.
When we were planning it, it felt like we should do two days, since we really wanted stuff to go and we wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to come, and it's a holiday weekend. But the vast majority of shoppers came on Friday, and the ones who might have been big shoppers on Saturday had the leftover stuff to choose from, so they didn't stop or didn't look for nearly as long. We made almost all of our money yesterday.
3. Do not hold anything for anyone without cash in hand.
4. If someone pays and wants to pick something up later, make sure you have exchanged phone numbers, and do not under any circumstances allow for anything other than them picking it up themselves.
Someone I vaguely knew purchased a cabinet and said she'd get it later. She came back and said the truck she'd been counting on wasn't available and could we deliver it. I was alone out there with other people, and didn't realize she wanted us to deliver it today, which meant we wouldn't be able to borrow a truck, and it was awful. I thought I'd gotten her phone number, but she'd gotten distracted with giving us the numbers of random people she knows in Montana and never actually gave me her number, so we had no way to get in touch with her to tell her we couldn't deliver it. It got left on her lawn, unfortunately in two pieces that shouldn't be too difficult to reattach. I'll send a note explaining and apologizing, but it was a lot of stress that we really didn't need.
5. Don't have a sale unless you're selling furniture.
Preferably big furniture that you can make easily visible from the road. That's what most people are looking for, and that's what draws attention.
6. Advertise.
In at least two ways: the paper, and with clearly visible signs on a major road. It works. Make the newspaper ad as clear and accurate as possible, too.
7. If you want to sell a grill or patio furniture, have your sale at the beginning of the summer.
The grill was most definitely our hot ticket item. We "sold" it before the sale even started, though that person ended up backing out. We could have sold it within the first fifteen minutes of the sale, except we thought it was already sold. We did sell it about a half an hour after the sale started, after the first person had backed out.
8. Don't be afraid of the "Make Offer" option.
We got more money than we expected in every case where an offer was made instead of us putting a price on it.
1. Hire a babysitter.
It takes two adults to effectively run a garage sale, particularly at the beginning, when you're still trying to set things up, and at rush times, when there are people trying to pay and others trying to ask questions. One of us was trying to keep an eye on Elizabeth the whole time, and it made things difficult several times.
2. Don't try to do two days.
When we were planning it, it felt like we should do two days, since we really wanted stuff to go and we wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to come, and it's a holiday weekend. But the vast majority of shoppers came on Friday, and the ones who might have been big shoppers on Saturday had the leftover stuff to choose from, so they didn't stop or didn't look for nearly as long. We made almost all of our money yesterday.
3. Do not hold anything for anyone without cash in hand.
4. If someone pays and wants to pick something up later, make sure you have exchanged phone numbers, and do not under any circumstances allow for anything other than them picking it up themselves.
Someone I vaguely knew purchased a cabinet and said she'd get it later. She came back and said the truck she'd been counting on wasn't available and could we deliver it. I was alone out there with other people, and didn't realize she wanted us to deliver it today, which meant we wouldn't be able to borrow a truck, and it was awful. I thought I'd gotten her phone number, but she'd gotten distracted with giving us the numbers of random people she knows in Montana and never actually gave me her number, so we had no way to get in touch with her to tell her we couldn't deliver it. It got left on her lawn, unfortunately in two pieces that shouldn't be too difficult to reattach. I'll send a note explaining and apologizing, but it was a lot of stress that we really didn't need.
5. Don't have a sale unless you're selling furniture.
Preferably big furniture that you can make easily visible from the road. That's what most people are looking for, and that's what draws attention.
6. Advertise.
In at least two ways: the paper, and with clearly visible signs on a major road. It works. Make the newspaper ad as clear and accurate as possible, too.
7. If you want to sell a grill or patio furniture, have your sale at the beginning of the summer.
The grill was most definitely our hot ticket item. We "sold" it before the sale even started, though that person ended up backing out. We could have sold it within the first fifteen minutes of the sale, except we thought it was already sold. We did sell it about a half an hour after the sale started, after the first person had backed out.
8. Don't be afraid of the "Make Offer" option.
We got more money than we expected in every case where an offer was made instead of us putting a price on it.