A page from Kate's journal....

How to Have a Garage Sale...or how NOT to
Is a garage sale, a yard sale, a tag sale always the best choice?

by Kate Holmes

Thinking about having a garage, yard or tag sale? It may be a better idea to consider a consignment or buy-outright shop to pass on your better underloved possessions. Here’s how to tell if you’d make more going the professional route:

* Have you got the time? It’s not just the two days of getting up at the crack of dawn. It’s the time beforehand shopping for supplies, making and posting signs, placing ads, running to the bank for change, pricing and that last night before, arranging your sale. And afterwards: cleaning up your yard, driving around trying to remember where you tacked up all those signs, and picking up pizza because you’re too tired to make dinner.

* Have you got the money to invest up front? Price tags, poster board, markers, hangers, and so on add up. Ads cost money and so does extra take-out while you’re busy working. A babysitter? Will you come out ahead or not?

* Do you have enough items? “Unless you have enough items so that you can reasonably expect to make a couple of hundred dollars, it might be wise to take the better items to a consignment shop and give the rest to charity for the tax deduction,” says Gary Foreman, Certified Financial Planner.

* Is it worth more than you could get for it at a yard sale? Even the most fashionable and best-quality clothing and accessories have to be priced under $5 or $6 to sell in the few hours you have.

* Are you willing to risk it? The glass lamp that topples over in the wind, the designer handbag which disappears, the lace dress ripped and snagged: if your teeth ache at the thought of it, leave the selling to others. Consider, too, if your homeowner's liability will cover all situations.

* Are you confident in your pricing? You only have a limited time period, and a limited type of shopper, to move that item. The more valuable an item is, the less likely that you will get what it's worth.

* How are your haggling skills? Will you take less for this? That’s too much, I’ll give you $4. If you don’t feel comfortable with this, letting someone else price and sell your goods is less stressful.

* Is your timing good? Make sure it's not a holiday weekend or that a major event won't draw people away. The best days to hold a yard sale are on a Friday and Saturday. Can you devote those two days to a sale? What if the weather's bad?

* Do you live in the right place? Will people be able to find your house? How do the neighbors feel about it? Do you need a permit? Can you keep your home secure while you're in the driveway?

* Is there a shop convenient to you that deals in that type of item? Check our Sponsors here at HowToConsign.com and your local listings as well. Visit and ask about letting them sell items for you.

* How do you feel about splitting the selling price? Many folks don't take into account that a professional resale shop can find a top-dollar buyer and that their marketing and sales skills are likely to give you more money in pocket. And many’s the closet-cleaner who makes her garage-sale income goal in an hour or less by taking her items to a buy-outright shop, and who regains that Lost Weekend of trying to sell goods one at a time to strangers.

* Garage sales, Craig’s List and classified ads are great...for wacky, weird, low-price or low-demand goods. But you’re only cheating yourself and your family, if you sell valuable goods in your driveway.

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