Garage Sale Pricing

One side of this equation is the seller. The person having a garage sale is usually highly motivated to get things moved along so that they can find a flat surface in their house again on which to more junk. I've played this part and I must say that I personally do not like hosting garage sales or yard sales. I much prefer browsing the sales.

As a seller, you've got to remember why you are having your sale in the first place. Chances are someone (often a spouse or you yourself) has recently had a meltdown over how much junk is taking up space in your house. You need to get the stuff out. Garage sales are not the place to charge boutique prices for your old makeup and half full "vintage Avon bottles". If you want to move the stuff, price it to sell. (More on this below.)

The other player in this scenario is the buyer. Many people who go to garage sales are looking to pick up items for their personal use on the cheap. Tools, toys, kids' clothes, can all be had at a fraction of their original cost and usually can be found in decent shape.

More and more though the garage sale buyer is likely to be looking to resell what they buy. With prices going up on things like gas and food, previously unmotivated people are starting to look for ways to make a few extra bucks. The basic rule of selling applies for them...buy low and sell high. They can be a picky bunch though. Often the reseller will be focused just on one specific niche. Those are the folks who walk through and leave within 30 seconds. They know what they want and they really don't want anything else.

If you're looking to make decent money by reselling your stuff, a garage sale really isn't the way to go. Sorry. It just isn't. You can make a some spare cash and it's great for clearing junk, but you're not likely to sell any single item for more than maybe ten dollars or so. I have a whole blog about selling things on eBay that I'd invite you to read at your convenience (hint hint). You can pick up some quick cash by having a garage sale though and you'll have the satisfaction of getting things moved along very quickly.

So, here is what *I* would charge if I were having a garage sale today...

Kids clothes......50 cents to one dollar per piece. If you buy your child "only the best", you're much better off selling it in lots on eBay.

Grown up clothes.....About the same as kids clothes but maybe a bit more depending on the item. Put yourself in the buyer's shoes when pricing.

Toys.....For small items and board games, one dollar or less. For larger items, like wagons, $5 - $7.

Knick knacks....check online by going to eBay
If it isn't something that sells for a LOT, get it moved for a dollar or less.

In fact, for just about anything you might be considering selling, in my humble opinion, you should either mark it for ten dollars or less, or consider putting it on eBay.

How badly do you NOT want to drag the stuff back in the house? Remember that most of what you don't sell, you will probably just haul to the curb or the Salvation Army box anyway.

I've got to be honest. This just makes me nuts! I look in the local Pennysaver and I see a listing for a yard sale or estate sale and they list a BUNCH of stuff that I think looks interesting (as a reseller). So I drive to the address and when I get there, the people have priced everything comparable to the highest prices they found things selling for on eBay!

I've got news for you Skippy, eBay has about 80 million people browsing it who will bid over seven days for a mint condition example of the item you are selling. The Luke Skywalker figure that was chewed by your dog and then buried in the backyard when you were a kid is NOT worth as much as that one you saw on eBay that was still in its original box! Not to mention you're not going to have quite the same amount of traffic looking at your item. You might as well leave it inside if you're going to set prices like that. Why do I care? Because it's a waste of my time and gas money. But that's another story.

Oh...don't get me started.

And another thing (this is quickly turning into a rant...sorry). It's great that you buy your kids top of the line clothes, but you shouldn't try to charge $2 less than what you paid for it a year ago. It just doesn't work that way.

::taking a deep breath::

Ok. So you want to keep the prices LOW if you want to move things. Seriously LOW. So LOW that it almost hurts maybe. But you WON'T have to drag it back inside. If you want to check out how much it's worth on eBay before you put it on your curb, that's probably an outstanding idea. People who resell (like me) actually depend on people NOT checking values or not being willing to list it themselves.

If you'd like to learn more about the RESELLING end of it (or you just enjoyed listening to me rant, sorry), I cordially invite you to drop by my "other" blogs at Garage Sale Treasure and Ways to Make Money Blog.
Good Luck with your sale and thanks for reading!

I just wanted to add this on because I had my best sale by percentage of profit this past week. I recently found an old book from the World War II era while scrounging around in a shed during an estate sale. The total cost was about 75 cents. I thought it was a neat little find, so I listed it on eBay for a starting bid of $9.99. It turns out that it must have been pretty collectible. It sold $635.00. I was pretty excited to see that. Sometimes you have to wait for those big ones to come along, but when they do, it's pretty cool!