Garage Sales - What to Charge

I think the best way to get rid of clothes at a garage sale is to charge by the bagful. I usually provide grocery bags and charge $5 or $10 a bag depending on what kind of clothes I'm selling (sleepers, bibs and such should probably be about $5... If you've got designer stuff or Osh Kosh, Baby Gap, or Gymboree you could charge more.) If you nickel and dime everything then people will be a lot more choosy and you'll end up with a lot of clothes at the end to donate to Goodwill - plus it means you'll spend a lot more time pricing each item. Good luck!

If you just want to get rid of them, I suggest 50 cents for the onesies, $1 for non-name brand items and $3 for brand name. You might have better luck selling things as a bunch on Craig's List - garage sale folks are usually looking for really cheap stuff. Or, you could donate half to charity and sell half!

Good luck - I hear you on filling the gas tank!!!

I'd recommend nothing more than a dollar for the nicest things. Most people charge 25 - 50 cents depending on the item.
Good luck!

As a general rule you can charge more for the better brands (gap, gymboree, janie and jack, hanna, european brands, good condition robeez, stride rite, etc.)

I would charge .50-$1.50 for each piece, $1-4 for the good ones, no more than $5-10 for coats, costumes, shoes. For toys I'd put the smaller ones in boxes with .25, .50, $1 on the box front, then bigger toys priced separately.

We've been "yard saling" a lot recently and this is what I've seen, plus what I'd price my stuff at. Good luck!

Hi T.,

You might try heading to a couple nearby children/babies resale shops or to Goodwill or another thrift store to get an idea. Or, cruise around to other yard sales the weekend before your sale.

Checking pricing on Craigslist and eBay might help you as well. When we sold my oldest daughter's Gameboy, we checked both sites, as well as called Game Crazy to see what they go for.

Also, head to the library and see if they have a guide to pricing for yard sales. I know such a thing exists because I read about it in one of Mary Hunt's articles, but I can't find the article to share with you. Ask at the reference desk and see if they can tell you where it would be.

Yard sales are a tricky thing. I had several yard sales when we were stationed in El Paso, sold nearly everything, and got some decent money. But when I had sales on Ft Leonard Wood and Ft. Knox, I didn't have very good luck. I have no idea what factors influence sales, but maybe try different times of month. Once at the beginning and once in the middle. Or, try and get together a community sale. I think more people would come to one of those because there's more variety. Of course that means attention diverted from you, but more people to look might mean better sales.

Hope this helps you and your sale is a complete hit! :o)

K. W

I know you're asking about selling them, but I wanted to point out how great a tax right-off is for donations. If you own a home you should be able to itemize your deductions each year. We have saved HUNDREDS off our taxes by donating clothing and other items. Plus, you're doing a great thing by donating them so people in need get a great deal. :-)

You can use "It's Deductable" online (part of TurboTax - whether or not you use Turbo Tax to prepare your annual taxes) for FREE. You easily fill in the items you donated and it fills out you the price allowed to deduct (and the prices are MUCH higher than you could ever sell them for at a garage sale). Then you can print out the form for your taxes. We've always gotten about 1/3 back of the appraised amount back as money off our taxes. I've done this for quite a few years after dealing with a couple pain-in-the-butt yard sales. In fact, there have been one or two years that it meant the difference of a rebate vs. owing money. You have to wait until tax time to reap the monetary rewards, but you feel great right away by donating them to others in need. :-D

You have some great advice and I just wanted to add one thing. Make sure your garage sale is on a Friday. The first one I did we weren't going to do that and my friend said I had to because that's when I'd make the most money and she was right. We sold 2/3 of our stuff on the Friday then some on Saturday and didn't even do it on Sunday. Hope this helps.

Good Luck.

I had a huge estate sale last November and all I can say is sell it cheap. Even if you may think it's worth a lot of money all garage salers including myself will not pay big money for anything. If you think the item is truely worth money set it aside and check ebay and craigslist to get prices. Good luck with the sale.

It depends if you need money right now for gas or if you can wait until the taxman commeth. Because the reality is - if you make a clear concise itemized list and rate their quality from poor to near new condition and then donate them to Goodwill, you will probably "make" more in deductions when next April comes around. This way you don't have to deal with someone saying, "I'll give you 10 cents when all you were asking for was 50 cents - and the reality is your deduction would have been a $1.15.

I would say $.50 a piece and maybe make deals when they buy several items at once. I know consignment stores seem easier, but most of them don't like to give you much for your stuff. I do think Craigslist is a good way to do it. Ultimately it is your choice, so good luck in whatever you decide to do!

We had one a few weeks ago( community wide) I was charging .25 each piece, but when I went to look at the others, most were charging 1.00 each with all of them the better outfits etc... were from 2.00 to 5.00 each. Hope that helps. Oh yea, It was me and a friends at my house and both of us made a couple hundred.

I agree with TJ as far as pricing. That's the average I've seen for everything she listed. Garage sales do better if you have yours with the neighborhood ones. You get a lot of people and pay a little to advertise in the group. If it's a one day sale and you're doing it by yourself I'd advertise on Craig's list and I would be willing to go lower in price after 1:00pm if you want to get rid of everything. If you price too high you're stuck with too much inventory.

I think that I heard on TV, you should sell things at 1/4 of what the original price was.
One thing about donating and tax right offs, you only get to write of 25 % of what you have sold. Our standard deduction is high, so all the donations, to school, thirft stores etc, make no difference to us, we can't use the. I have sold a consignment stores. No hassle and easy. Garage sells lots of work but you get 100% of the money. Childrens cloths do sell at garage sells.

If you can hold on to them until September, take the clothes (and any other baby gear) to Pass It On. This is a twice-yearly children's consignment sale in Hillsboro. You can get rid of everything at once without having to set up a garage sale (and wait around all day) or post on Craigslist (and wait for someone to show up!) You earn 70% or more of your sales (much more than a re-sale botique) and items are priced higher than a G sale.
For PIO: sleepers $2-3, pants $1-3, onesies $1 or 2/$1.50, outfits $3-7 (depending on size, brand, # of pieces). Go to the website to learn more: www.passitonsales.com (Please excuse the "construction" phase right now)

Call your local children's used clothes store. Find out which ones offer in store credit for your clothes, toys, etc, and which ones will display your items on consignment. I always go to the consignment stores first and the owner picks out what she wants to put in her store and then I sign a 60 or 90 day contract that puts our agreement in writing. (She usually gets 60% and I get 40% of whatever sells) The consignment shops are very selective of what goes into their stores and they get a very good price, so even though I'm only getting 40% of the sale price for my items, it's still more than I would get selling them from my garage. The next store on my agenda is the children's used clothes store that gives in store credit for my items. She is not as picky as the consignment store owner, but she still picks out what she wants and then I get to shop her store for used clothes that my child can or will soon fit into. Sometimes, you can get a gift certificate to give to someone else or donate the gift certificate to a women's shelter. Make sure to ask the store owner if you can do that. If you donate the gift certificate, be sure to make a copy of it, and get a receipt from the charity, so that you can write it off your taxes. After I have taken my things to those 2 types of stores and let the store owners pick through, I then either have a garage sale and charge about a dollar to 50 cents for each piece of clothing or I take inventory of everything that I have and donate it to the goodwill or other charitable organization. Don't forget to get a receipt. If you have any disposable diapers that your youngster is too big for, or any lotions or soaps or laundry detergents that you don't need anymore, your local food bank will be very happy to receive those items. Each food bank is a little different. They will all accept an opened package of diapers and some will even accept half used lotions or liquid soaps as long as they are in squeezable containers (reduces the risk of contaminating the product with dirt or bacteria). They even accept jars and boxes of baby food. (Ha Ha, yes I'm sure you already knew that.) Laundry soap, in either powder or liquid that has already been opened and partially used is sometimes also accepted, depending on the food bank. Anytime you stay at a hotel, take the unused shampoos, lotions, toothpastes, deodorants and soaps. The daily cost of those toiletries are included in your hotel bill and food banks love to receive those items. Sorry to go on about the food banks, but I saw an opportunity to spread the word. I hope that you will make more than enough to fill your gas tank, but if you don't, maybe you'll save enough money in taxes to buy an air filter or something else that will increase your gas mileage. Oh ya, don't forget about ebay! Sincerely, B. T

I think you have gotten some good advice. If there is something very special made...I would put more on it or if it is handmade. L.

Hey there,
I had a garage sale last year. It was a huge hit. I have twin boys so of course, I had almost two of everything. I had no idea what to charge either. For bigger things I used Craigslist as a source and then just priced my stuff a little cheaper, but still gave myself some wiggle room for the people that want to talk you down on the price. As for clothes, that got a little more involved. The average t-shirt 25cents. Pants 50cents. If it was a whole outfit $1.00. Onsies 50cents. Pajamas 50cents. Some outfits that I had were an entire ensemble then I charged about $1 for each piece included. Name brand stuff I charged a little more. It was a big it at my house, not too many talked me down in price. I also didn't put anything out with stains or rips or tears. If it looked dingy I didn't put it out. I also folded everything nicely on a table(onsies and jammies)the clothes I hung up. I also put things together with there sizes so your customers don't have to rummage around to much and make a mess. All of my signs had "baby stuff" written on them. I think that really helped. I did have other stuff but that is usually a given. Sometimes if people bought a huge about of clothes then you might give them a little bit of a break. Thats what I did and some even bought more. I know mine idea doesn't sound simple but it really does. If you noticed I also made everything a in quarter amount so you don't have to worry about alot of change to deal with. Good Luck

Hi T.! We just did the same thing. Got all the baby clothes out and had them for a quarter for separates and a
dollar for the outfits if they were in good shape. We did pretty well, as I found out that moms would buy a lot as we
got to talking. If you are interested in making a supplemental
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Tanya,

If the clothes are in good quality I'd pay $2-$5 for them. Less if they have small stains but are still good quality. If they're rag-worthy I'd either sell is groups, or like $.50 a piece. The outfits maybe a little more than just the onsies and separates. But, that's just what I'd pay for, dunno if it's the going rate.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

If your things are in very good condition, consider consignment stores. You might have to visit a couple to sell/trade all of it. This is much less time and effort than a garage sale, with no investments such as advertising. Consignment stores usually pay less in cash than trade, but likely no less cash than you would clear after advertising for a garage sale. You could also get more in store credit. "Free" store credit, then getting your next round of clothes from consignment leaves more of your other money for the gas tank :)

I'm 3 years new here from California, and yard saling is done year round. Almost everything at my yard sales, I sold for $1.00 With the exceptions of very large, furniture, or electronics etc. It was a fun idea for the buyers kinda like a dollar store. It was always succesful for me, I never made less than $130! Good Luck!

T.,

My suggestion is to do it the really easy way. Take them all to Other Mother's and get rid of them in one trip! They'll give you a fair price and you won't have to haggle over prices at a garage sale!

The one I use is near Silver Lake in Everett. The owner is extremely honest...she even goes to our church!

See www.othermotherseverett.com for the address, phone number and other good information.

Good Luck!

D. P.

If you hav lot of of patience and kindness, have a garage sale! I used to have them frequently but the people have changed. They nickle and dime everything, take things apart and say things about the quaility of things that you are selling (it seems so they can get it at a lower price). From then on, I decided to donate and take the tax write off. People don't generally buy clothes. Not sure about children's stuff but I wouldn't expect them to go quickly. If they are in good shape go to a resale shop and get credit to buy more clothes. Good luck!

I wanted to add to those suggesting eBay. If you do a search on eBay of "lots" of clothing you can get an idea of what other people are charging. I bought some clothes for my toddler a couple months ago and was very pleased.

I think $1 per item goes pretty well. Its more than you'll get on average for consigning. (and, by the way, consigning is a huge pain, IMO. I took in 4 boxes of things to Children's Warehouse, and Other Mothers and each of them only took a handful of things. (and I had name brand in season stuff!) Not worth my time!)

For children's clothes, I would sell them at 25 cent/each. If they are full outfits, make them $1. I usually never sell anything over $2 unless it was furniture, electronic equip, tools...you get the idea. If it's toys, depending on the size, would have a grab box you could mark as being 25 cent or less/each.

You can auction them off in lots on eBay. Just separate them by size, take pictures, type up a brief description, package them up, take the boxes to the post office to find out how much shipping would be and then list them for sale. You'll have people across the country bidding against each other for your items.

(This is how I purchased almost all of my kids' clothes when they were babies.)

Hi Tania,

If you have a lot of time to organize a garage sale, go ahead; however, I have found that clothes don't sell at all. I usually donate them to the Blind, who picks them up, and get a tax write off.

Good luck,
C.

This may have already been said (didn't have time to read the responses) but if you want to make some money I would make lots of some of your better items and sell on Craig's list (or ebay if you want to deal with shipping). Garage sales you usually do about $1.00 a piece I've found. You could also try a consignment shop but if you have the time try Craig's first.

I'd charge 50 cents to $1 for the average thing maybe 1.50 for jeans.
I think you'd get a lot more money and save a lot of time by selling them to a children's resale shop instead. Plus, you can use that money to buy clothes for her in the sizes you do need and save money!

I just did my garage sale this weekend. I have more than 200 hangers of cloths. Well, they don't sale well at a garage sale. The toys are better option here. People buy toys, not much cloths. Your best option is to put them in boxes, label them with the age and try to sale them on Craigslist. They sale better there. You can go with something like: "Big box with 10 pj, 5 pants, 9 shirts and etc. girls winter (summer) cloths, from 0-6 months for 10 (15) dollars". The outfits sales well in consignment stores too, but not underwear, pajamas and etc. Just check with the local store what they are taking. After you try all the options just put the rest in a bag and donate them, make sure you get a recipe for tax deductions. If you need more advices, just let me know. I do sale all my son's stuff and donate the rest. I made at least 1500 out of cloths, toys, furniture for the last 2 years but it takes an effort. Well, we invested much more in it. Good luck!

I would put them on Freecycle. Just do a google search for freecycle and your city name. I'm sure you will find someone who wants them, and they will come pick the clothes up from you so it's easy. No, you won't get any money for the clothes, but if you look at the freecycle postings frequently I'm sure you'll find something you want that is of equal or greater value. And it's kind of entertaining to see what's out there that people are giving away. The clothes will stop taking up space and will be used by someone who needs them :-)

I just had a yard sale and sold my daughters old clothes. I sold brand new items for 3 to 4 $ and slightly used items for 1 $. I got rid of everything. Just use your judgement.

I only price stuff that I have a good idea of what I want. I leave a lot of stuff unpriced.
As for clothing I price it at .25 each. Or I have put out bags and charged $1 per bag. But then there are the items that are so nice, like a prom dress. For those I hang in a different area and charge more with a price tag.
My daughters stuff is in another area with her own price sign.
I hope this helps.

Maybe you could check out local thrift stores for how much they charge for the types of items you have. If they are Brand name items you may check out consignment stores to find their price ranges. From there I would reduce it by maybe 5-10% depending on original price. Good Luck!

Hi T.,
When I was pricing clothing and items that my husband and I sold in our yard sale just recently, I just did my best to figure out how much we spent on the item, then considered what the condition was and priced items that weren't in the best of shape at 5-10% of the origional price so $.50, and things that were still basically in the same shape as when I bought them and not too expensive at about 20-30%, so most things were about $1 or $2 each, and if it had some value to me because I just loved the item I asked mabey 50% or took the best offer I could get. Then there were things that I didn't use and took 10% off the origional price. We made about $875 in 3 days, we did also live on a pretty busy street and sold some big and high priced items. I hope my info helps and good luck! I also hope the weather agrees with your selling days too.

Thinking about Ebay- If they are in good shape it's amazing what some people are selling their clothes for.