Garage Sale Mobile Tips

Garage sales are a brilliant place to pick up cheap items – you know that. What one person thinks is junk, you think is excellent. However, if you’re not careful you can end up with junk that really is junk. These tips should help you not get caught out:

• Check each item you’re buying very thoroughly. If it’s electrical, ask to see it working before you hand over your money. 
• Beware of the practice by some unscrupulous sellers of putting the price tag over the top of some flaw. And make sure that if you buy, say, a saucepan with a lid that the lid actually fits.
• Don’t just look at the box that an item comes in. Open up the box and have a look at what you’re actually getting – you can find old items in new packaging sometimes.
• If you buy a CD, check that a CD is inside the case – and that it is the right CD for the case. Also take the CD out and have a good look at the back to make sure that it isn’t scratched and covered with thumbprints, making it unplayable.
• Be suspicious about lotions, potions and pills. Often, these are past their use-by date and can be something of a health hazard (or ineffective). Perfumes are OK. But avoid pills like the plague. If you really must buy that half-used tub of moisturizer, open it up and have a look inside to make sure that the mixture hasn’t separated.
• Be careful with edible items. You should be safe enough with what’s sold at a lemonade stand (or similar) but take care with baked goods. They’re probably OK, but ask questions regarding peanuts, etc. You can usually tell by the look of them if baking is fresh. But avoid anything with mayonnaise or meat in it that’s been sitting in the sun.
• For edible items in packets, check the use-by date and have a glance inside the packet to see if whatever-it-is looks OK.
• When buying clothing, check that all seams are intact and that the zips and buttons do up. If an item has some minor repair needed (a fallen down hem, a missing button), it should be OK to buy if you are handy with a needle. Otherwise, don’t bother, unless you plan on using the item for something else (e.g. picking it to pieces to use the material for making something else, or cutting it up for use as an appliqué).
• In a similar vein, unfold all sheets and towels to make sure they haven’t got holes, and to make sure of the size. And it’s only polite to fold them back up again if you’ve unfolded a single sheet when you’re after a double.
• Be very careful with baby items. Many things are OK, such as potties, clothing, high chairs and soft toys. But take care with cribs – have they got big high posts on the sides or bars too far apart   These can be a safety hazard – clothing can get caught on the high posts and strangle a child, while slats and bars should be no more than 2 3/8 inches apart. However, if the crib is wooden and has the high posts sticking up at the sides, this can be easily fixed with a saw.

Signs are all-important for any garage sale. Apart from classified ads in newspapers and online noticeboards, signs are the main way that people get the news out about their garage sale.

• Make plenty of signs. You will need one to put outside your front gate, but you should also make one or two to place further down the road. This will catch the eyes of motorists, who will get enough time to stop. If you live on a quiet street, make some signs to go on lamp-posts in a main street nearby so you expose your publicity to a higher-traffic area.
• Your sign should be of reasonable quality. A scribble on a torn-off bit of brown corrugated cardboard isn’t quite enough. If you have to make your own signs, use a decent piece of cardboard – they’re not that expensive – and take some care with the lettering. You can get signs printed. Occasionally, you can find deals where if you list your garage sale via a certain channel, you’ll get a sign (usually just saying “garage sale” as part of the deal. White, pastel coloured or fluorescent cardboard makes a tidy, eyecatching look.
• Make sure that your sign is readable from a distance! 
• Your sign should list the date, time and address of the sale. Signs can also include a brief description (in a few bullet points) of items that will be sold (e.g. clothing, furniture, sports gear).
• Have some signs for your actual sale, e.g “Clothing $2 a bag” “All pot plants $4 each” “Blue sticker items $1”. 
• If your garage sale is in aid of a charity, include the name of the charity on the sale. This can induce more philanthropic people to come to the sale.