Pricing items for a garage sale
The golden rule for garage sales is not to be over-optimistic and unrealistic. People visit garage sales to get bargain prices, so you can’t expect them to cough up the same amount as they would in a shop.
When you’re pricing items, keep the age of the item in mind. Things that are brand new and still have the original tags and wrappers can be sold for about 80% of the as-new price. Items that are old and battered should be sold for nowhere near the original price – more like 10% of the as-new price if not less.
For clothing, a method that often works is “fill a bag for $2”. Have the clothes for sale in a box with a collection of plastic shopping bags (identical ones, of course) nearby. Really special clothes (e.g. leather jackets) should be kept separate and priced separately.
Work in numbers that are easy to give change for – don’t mess around with the $X.99 that stores always do. Think of coin denominations as a guideline.
Offer deals like “Books 50c each, or 6 for $4”. This is especially good if you are holding the garage sale to turn unwanted clutter into cash. The idea is to get rid of the things.
Be prepared to haggle. But don’t drop below 50% of the price you have set unless you really want to get rid of the item as soon as possible.
If a lot of items are similar prices, use coloured stickers to indicate the price, and display the coding on a sign somewhere. For example, all blue-sticker items are $1, all red-sticker items are $2, all yellow-sticker items are 50c, and so on. Or else have a sign saying “plates and bowls 50c each” or “pot plants $2 each”.
Did you know that Garage Sale Mobile offers an iPhone and Android Application for finding garage sales on your phone?