Garage Sale season is in full effect, y’all! I love shopping at garage sales, but I just had the worst time ever trying to sell stuff at my own garage sale. I hoarded all my old and unused stuff in hopes that one day I will sell them all and make a ton of money. I read through all the garage sale tips on planning and pricing and followed them to a T. Then, two hours into the actual garage sale I realized that it just wasn’t worth it so I quit!
It doesn’t matter how you price things. Whether you have price tags or have boxes organized by price point, people will only pay what they want to pay. They will haggle their hearts out until they get the item practically free. Within the first few minutes I had several conversations that went like this:
SHOPPER: How much for this? (Holds up item that clearly says $5)
ME: Five dollars. (Smiles sweetly)
SHOPPER: How about fifty cents. (Not a question, but more of a demand.)
ME: I can do two dollars. (Still hopeful)
SHOPPER: How about one dollar.
ME:
Actually, my first sale was to a sweet woman who asked for a brand new bottle of Victoria’s Secret perfume for fifty cents. She rummaged through all the change in her purse and I ended up with 48 cents.
So thirty minutes into my epic garage sale, I made a whopping 48 cents. I could sense that this was not going well and it wasn’t because of the lack of people. It was a neighborhood-wide garage sale so there was a constant stream of potential buyers, but no sales.
I work in retail so I knew I could do this, but maybe I had to rethink my strategy by assessing the basics: Product, Price, and Placement. Maybe I didn’t have a big enough draw? I pulled out my bicycle out as the big-ticket bait and displayed it predominately at the end of my driveway. Was I priced too high? Perhaps, so I changed the pricing of my gently used shoes from $10 to $5 each. As for visual merchandising – I pulled the attractive items out of the bins so people wouldn’t have to rummage through them to find the good stuff. I even turned on Bruno Mars on my phone to set a happy ambiance. Happy people like to spend money, right? Bruno Mars makes me happy at least.
Regardless of my garage sale set up, it was a little depressing to see all my crap out there in boxes so that people could pick through them and eventually reject them. Like Jimmy Fallon once said in his “Thank You Notes:”
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After an hour, my total earnings was one dollar and forty-eight cents. (You see what I did there? I spelled it out because it looks like a lot more than $1.48.) My original plan was to do six hours on Friday and six hours on Saturday. At the rate I was going, my total earnings would be $15.36.
By noon, I made the call to quit my own garage sale. There were so many other things I could have done on my day off than to sit around and wait for my stuff to sell. I could spend time with my kids, have a nice lunch, and then take a beautiful nap…and I did just that!
As for my goldmine of unwanted crap, there was still hope. I ended up selling a big chandelier on a local Facebook group for $40 later that same day. The house and baby stuff were in good condition so donated those items and now I can claim it as a tax deduction. Lastly, I saved my designer purses and shoes so I could sell them on Poshmark:
So I’ll admit that I’m a quitter and that my garage sale was an epic failure. I’m sure there are some people who make a ton of money when it comes to garage sales. But the time it took to plan, set-up, and wait for someone to buy something for waaaaaay less than I hoped for was just not worth it for me. I’ll just stick to the garage sale shopping!
Have you had any luck with selling your stuff at garage sales?
I hear you! I had my first garage sale 6 years ago and made $140. I was happy with it cuz we put it together the night before cuz my neighbor was having one and invited us to have one too to draw more people. Last year my dad moved out of his house and we literally hauled all of his stuff to our house for a garage sale. After advertising and what not, I only made $40. Not worth the hassle. I thought we would have made a lot because it was a ton of decent houseware! I think I had the biggest pile ever for Goodwill pickup the next day!
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I would be happy with $140! I’m was pretty surprised as well since most of my stuff was either brand new or excellent condition. I’ll just stick to donating them or online resale.
I’ve never had a garage sale because I’m lazy. Sheesh. And I’m not into sales. I mean I’m never good at selling something or anything. When I’m the customer or buyer in garage sales or even street markets, I never haggle because I’m not sure if I’m asking for the right price or what. Some people are unbelievable. It seems like they want everything to be free. Hmff.
Those hagglers have no shame. At least try to charm me before you ask for something for free! LOL I love shopping at garage sales, but I’m too scared to haggle.
Omg I am so glad you wrote this-I just cleaned out my closet and was thinking to do a garage sale-now I realized it’s better to donate and get a tax deduction instead-you saved me lol.
Deanna recently posted…Less is more.
If you have nice, brand name stuff or almost new clothes and accessories – you should try selling them on Poshmark! I probably sell one item a week and you do it all through your phone.
I think I will look into that-thanks for the tip!
Deanna recently posted…Less is more.
When my husband and I lived in Texas we made almost $200 and we were so happy, until we had to pay a ticket for not getting the proper paperwork for having a yard sale. Lesson learned. In Illinois we had two garage sales, the first went nicely the second one was shameful. Now, I just take the kids’ clothes to consignment shops. I have also used ThredUp. My closet is not Posh enough…
XOXO
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I would be so upset if I had to pay a ticket for having a yard sale! I need to check out ThredUp! I’ve been doing okay on Poshmark – I sell like one item a week 🙂 For $10. So I make $8, after fees and such. Haha! Hey, it’s a lot better than $1.48!
That’s really good! I like that kind of return too. 😉
XOXO
Mrs. AOK recently posted…That’s What She Said: Do You!
Jimmy Fallon said it best! It always makes me feel a bit weird hosting one and having people not like my stuff.. or when I go to one and I can tell right away it’s not for me but I feel weird just leaving! Ah, it’s tough stuff.
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It’s just stuff, but I feel like I’m invading their personal space when going to garage sales. Especially with estate sales!