Hot Yard Sale Tips to Optimize Your Sale

US economy is poor lately and so is many people's personal economy. People need a few extra bucks. Even though a yard sale is a very temporary income, more and more people are selling their stuff.

It would seem like there would be less people buying, but there is even more trying to make money online or antique shops. Also people looking for basics that would be cheaper at a yard sale than at a store. So sales are still strong.

As long as people can find your sale, you can do well.

Think like your customers(driving and looking) so you can avoid money loosing mistakes.

What would you want to see?

"Just give me big readable signs with arrows"

The old way is putting an ad in the paper and then a few signs.

One of the biggest problems that frustrates people with putting in an ad is the "early birds." As soon as that ad is in, hard core dealers will be knocking on your door at all hours and days before the sale.

We know a couple that keep a ladder with them incase they can peek into a window to see that stuff that will be for sale. Some of our other friends go door knocking during the week or just wait for a sale to open starting at 3 in the morning.

Also the early birds will be ripping things out of boxes before you can even get things out. It can become unsafe. My hands have been scratched by these aggressive buyers.

Have your sale when you are ready by putting up great signs!

Another thing about depending on your ad is that it may just get lost among all the others. Put the ad on Craig's list when the sale starts. That way it's fresh and you won't get harassed by early birds.

Recently there has been a rash of fake listing, causing distrust, so It's to your benefit to have a great sign system.

A common place people put signs up around here. The challenge with these signs is the high and fast moving traffic, plus no where to park so you can get close enough to read them.

Now isn't a sign like this better?

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When I was little we had lots of cats. They were indoor-outdoor types.
In the middle of summer we decided to put up a yard sale. Since my father owned a hardware store and loved going to other sales, we had tons of stuff. Well we had just finished loading up our tables in our yard for a sale. There were some old windows in frames that we leaned against a table. The kittens were running all around chasing each other. Then BAMM! One of them ran into on of the windows. It knocked him on his back and dazed him only for a moment then he went back to playing. The glass stayed intact.

Well it's the middle of winter at the time I am making this lens.(November 08) The economy seems pretty bad for many people. So a friend of mine needed help with a moving sale because she had lost her home to foreclosure. It seems sad, but she wanted to move on any way.

The sale went quite well. Not only did we use my Sign system several of her other friends helped. And she added a couple very interesting ideas to it that worked well.

She took her recycle canisters to the corner and taped a huge 10 foot sheet of paper between them. In red she sprayed YARD SALE really big and an arrow. It worked super well.

The craziest thing I ever seen any one do, but also very brilliant was she also had out free soda, water and even BEER. She knew if she gave people something, they would feel that they should buy stuff. It worked great, because the people took more time to look and felt obligated as they finished their drink. Plus she made some new friends.

She had another friend helping her. She had spent a day making sure everything was priced. She also took photos of some of the bigger things and listed them on Craig's list with the address of the yard sale on each listing. When the people from Craig's list would come and see the item, they also got to see the yard sale.

You may think that having a sale in the middle of winter wouldn't work, but there was no competition and still the same amount of people looking. The big bright signs really caught people's attention.

It seems negative, but it's great to learn from mistakes that others have done.

I can go on forever, but here are a pile of experts letting you know what doesn't work. I'm not sure how long this thread will last but if you add to it, then it may keep going. It's the Ebay's Seller Central discussion on Yard sale peeves whats your?

One of the biggest mistakes I see is the sellers throw stuff away before the sale. The old saying is so true, One man's junk is another man's treasure. Why throw stuff out before the sale if it has potential to make you money? Throw it out after the sale, or even better, take it into charity and get a reciept so you can write it off of your taxes.

One day Jim, a regular at local estate and yard sales, asked a lady having a sale if she had any Boeing airplane manuals. He asked because he saw some other Boeing items on the tables. She said, "I threw out hundreds of them," "are they worth anything." Jim nearly passed out. Well after asking a few more questions about them, he figured that the lady had tossed away about $10,000.

It sickens those of us who need that sort of stuff to make a living, and these people just throw it away. We get the same feeling that everyone is having feeling about the AIG bonuses.

The "G sale" I have always wanted to save up and build different sizes of the letter "G" and have a sale.

Then there's the signs with a arrow pointing up to no where. Well I was able to find this sale.