Garage Sale Pricing Nightmare

Don't do the colored dots because they fall off or people try to pull them off to reprice themselves. If you have colored markers, just put a dot or slash on the tag of the clothing and make the colors represent prices and put a sign out stating them (people hopefully won't have markers with them. Also, you can try to bag clothes together in hopes to get rid of a slew of them. Regardless, people will try to low-ball and there are some super cheap people out there that don't appreciate the deals they are already getting. Good luck

I just did this with my son's clothes... you will get more money by taking it to a consignment shop or selling on craigslist. My advice would be to take them to a children's consignment shop.

I had a garage sale a couple of weekends ago and am having another one this weekend. I priced all tops at $.50 and all pants at $1 and sets at $1 regardless of size.... and I ended up selling way more then I thought I would.

Personally, I would never dig through a table to find the size I needed. Have you considered laying a clean white sheet on the ground and the sorting the clothes by size on top of the sheet. I also would price no higher than $1 per item or $2 per outfit.

Remember, if you don't sell the items because your prices are too high, you've lost out of money you don't currently have. The electric company does not take onsies...

And, those bins are costing you storage fees. You oculd be using that space for something else.

I always try to "bless" someone else. When I see a family that seems poor and looks interested, I "make them deal."

K.,

I just had a garage sale about a month ago and had a similar dilemma. What I ended up doing is making a sign that said t-shirts $0.50, Shorts $0.50, Dress Shirts $1.00, and Pants $1.00. That seemed to work well and most of it sold for that price. I did have some dress pants (suit stuff) that I sold for $1.50 - but only a few and I don't remember if they sold or not.

I did the same thing for the adult clothes.

Good luck to you on your sale!
Sam

how about using different color stickers?

We just had one and I didn't mark anything. People asked how much and I told them. Seperated by size is most improtant or you will have a mess on your hands! If you want to sell everything, I would stick with .50 on everthing. Towards the end of the sale I was making crazy deals to get rid of the stuff because there was so much. Have lots of plastic shopping bage to give to people. Plan on being out there earlier than you announce, they start coming at 7am no matter what you say!

I love to yard sale garage sale and junk shop everything i buy. When my daughters were finally out of that stage i just made 2 table. 1 had all the newborn clothes cause they are the smallest and easy to sort. Seperate the table and after the person checks out the table offer them a bag, count everything up so that you have an idea in your head what the cost of those clothes are b 4 the person moves on to the next table. At the end of the sale if you still have stuff left that you dont want to take home, make a fill a bag deal for 3 bucks or 4 bucks whichever makes your heart happier, most woman will not stand a neatly fold things in a bag they shove things in so the bag does not fill up as quick as you think

A garage sale for childrens clothes and toys is a great idea. The only problem is that people are looking for bargains and will not pay what you want for them. I just put all of my kids clothes out and just put prices on the more expensive ones. I then just had a $1.00 table and .50 table. It worked out great. That way I only had to price the items I wanted more than a dollar for. You could always hire someone to help you price them if you want to price everything. I used to be a garage sale helper when I lived in Michigan. I would go over to the house. We would have breakfast, tea and lunch usually. If there was anything in the sale I wanted the person would usually give it to me. There was no charge for this service as I usually ended up going home with something to make it worth my time. I made new friends this way, had a day out and lots of fun. I even would go over the day of the sale and help if needed. It was a lot of fun and a great break from the normal routine.
My husband does not want me having garage sales so I take all of my stuff I no longer want to the Lighthouse Mission. They are a great place to donate left over garage sale items also. They help to clothe and feed the homeless. They help families in need. When my nephew was little and my brother couldn't afford glasses for him the LIghthouse Ministries got him his glasses. I know their money goes to a great cause. Hope this helps.

My idea is that you can keep specific sizes on each table ie 0-18 months on $.50 table and everything else on the $1 table. With the exception of specfic items that you feel are worth more (like any name brand/high cost items) and I would label them seperately and maybe have those clothes on hangers. Just a thought! Good luck on your garage sale!!

It's very interesting the different approaches to organizing and selling at a garage sale, as I read the other responses.
The way I have done mine, I truly have found very easy and not-confusing. My children are now 13 and 10, so I have had many sales. I group the clothing items by what it is--for instance, tee-shirts were .50, long sleeves $1, etc. You could do the same with the baby clothes, like onsies would be .50, sleepers $1, etc. Use the two tables, but you can also use those bins you said you were storing them in. Put one item only in there and put a sign on it. When they check out, you'll know how to price it easy by the item. I always had the thicker, winter clothes for higher than thin summer. [Things like socks you can bunch and say like 10 for a $1 and let them pick.] This method, you have no time before hand spent tagging/sticking anything!
Good luck!

What about pinning a colored label or tag of some sort on the items. For example, anything that is $0.50 would have a red tag; anything that costs $1.00 would have a green tag, and so forth.

Just an idea!

R.

If you plan on putting them in a bin... just label the bin $.50 (or whatever) on one of those big colored dots. No need to write 50¢ on each dot on the item itself... just use the same COLOR dot sticker on each item. Choose (and use) a different colored dot for a different price point. Then you'll know that blue dot items are 50¢, red dot items are 25¢, yellow dot items are 75¢, etc.

good luck. I like the idea of grouping things together in ziploc baggies too... Particularly for items like socks, bibs, burp cloths, rattles, etc.

Good luck with your sale, K.!
I was reading the posts here and wanted to give my 2c. Go to the dollar store and buy a bag of brown paper lunch bags. Fill the bag with as many items as you can, push the clothes down, pack it tight. See how much you can fit in a bag and then set the price for a bag. Keep in mind what you're selling - used baby clothes. There will probably be 10 other sales the same day and most will have baby clothes. Make it worthwhile to buy yours. That way you won't have to remember anything more than one price per bag. (I had a sign that said $5 a bag - it has to be closed and it can't be split! - Of course that was a long time ago)
Again - Good luck!

Ebay and Craigslist are the way to go. I have sold items there for either the same price, close to the same price, or even more than what I paid. Good luck doing that in a garage sale! I don't want to deal with sitting all day in the sun watching people come and go from my lawn, I'd rather advertise and provide photos till I find THE person that really wants the item and is willing to pay whatever I find reasonable rather than bargaining all the way down to quarters. If you're afraid of the people on Craigslist, and some women are, since you'll have to meet the person face to face, then I suggest Ebay, but they have seller fees so you may want to price "up" a bit if you have an ideal amount you'd want to put in your pocket after Ebay's portion is removed from the balance. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Maybe you could make it a 3 for $5 table or something and put different color plastic bags or mark Publix bags with a sharpie pen for pricing at each table so when they bring the stuffed bag to check-out you'll know what came off what table.

Don't price stuff ... have an idea of what you want and tell each person interested as they come. My mom always helped with mine because I just can't handle that. We simply put all the clothes together and said they ranged from $ to $. If i had a nice dress that was more I would hang it up and let that be its own price. You will have people come who will say ... how much for the whole table? (usually to send back home for families in need) my mom was never weak! She would still count how many pieces were there and price it out .... then they say forget it. She would count the clothes table and box of shoes multiple times! I found the consignment is the way to go. I always was a garage sale girl thinking I'd get more (but the hassle alone isn't worth it)... but in the end its an even deal. I go to the Red Balloon off Forrest Hill blvd. You get 60% of what they sell it for and its only on sale for 3 months. After the 1st 2 months it gets marked down half price. At the end of the 3rd month whatever didn't sell they donate to a charity .. woman's shelter for example. They write a check you can pick up after a certain date if its over $10.00. I have actually left mine there to just keep collecting until the end of the year ... I drop one or two things off on my account every so often .... I plan on picking it up in Dec and using it as x-mas shopping money. Anyway ..... I hope you sell tons of stuff and wish you luck on pricing!!

K., I'm sorry to say that in a yard/garage sale, people will want to pay next to nothing for whatever you have to sell. This is what I have done and you can pick and choose from these ideas that may work best for you. For the VERY nice items, consign them, if you have a consignment shop nearby. Most consignment shops will sell your item(s) at a higher price than you could ever hope for in a yard sale, and you get 50 % of that sale price. I have made very good money with consigning my childrens things...and my own things as well. I have also done very well selling baby clothes on Ebay. It's free to sign up on Ebay but you will have to contend with fees but they are minimal fees. I'd be happy to share more details about selling on Ebay if you contact me. As for selling clothes in a yard sale, I have grouped my items by season AND size and put them into bags and sold the clothes by the bag. For example, summer clothes, size 3/6 months in one bag...winter clothes, size 3/6 months in another bag. You can expect to "try" to get $5 per bag, depending on the size of the bag. I ususally had enough to put into a Winn Dixie sized grocery plastic bag and sold the whole bag for $5. Larger bags can go for $10 or more....but that is if you have like a 15 gallon sized bag. Even then, you may feel like you are giving your stuff away but that is what you can expect in a yard sale. People want stuff for next to nothing and when you are trying to make money, you won't make as much in a yard sale. Everyone is feeling the crunch that our economy is in, so you are not alone. I've consigned, Ebay-ed, and yard saled to make a little extra cash. Yard sales are great when you want to get rid of things fast but you must price them to sell, meaning you will have to sell cheap. What you think is a fair price, it will always be challenged, so in a yard sale, always price a little higher so you have some room for compromise. Good luck.

I sold mine as a lot and got rid of them within the first hour. I wanted $300 and settled on $250 for approximately 400 items, some in very, very good condition. Many immigrants come looking for clothes to send back home for their families and home towns. List it as a "lot" of clothes and the approximate number of items. I guarantee you will move it and have people their fighting over it.

i would say to put signs on the totes that they are in and then bunch them together. if you have a few people helpign you out then post them to take payment from in front of the boxes so that no one gets mixed up. if you don't want to bother with selling them. their is a United Methodist Children's home who take donations. they foster out young children and i gave a ton of toys and clothes to them. They are located in Enterprise, FL. but i'm sure that there is one near you if you don't live close to this one.

I was just in a store....pretty sure it was office depot....and they had for sale little colored dots that said "garage sale stickers". Apparently you would stick a red dot to the 50 cent items, an orange dot to the dollar items, etc....didn't think i would ever need that info but see, now i can pass it along to you!!

We had a garage sale last spring to get rid of baby items. I ended up not having much luck. I haven't been able to read all your responses so don't know if anyone suggested these ideas...my neighbor priced items and when people were there she mentioned "making a deal" and she seemed to get people who made her offers that were lower than her prices but still reasonable. At the end we ended up donating our items to Goodwill and getting a receipt. This won't give you cash right now, but can help with taxes at the end of the year. Also, ADVERTISE like crazy! Post on Craig's List, the flyer and use a neighborhood sign like a week early - if you have one. People do look for neighborhood sales. One last thing - be prepared for "Early Birds" - I thought getting up at 5:30 to be ready for 7 was early enough - it wasn't. We had a bunch of early birds and I wasn't quite ready so may have lost out on potential buyers. Good luck to you!

Get colored dot stickers. Red is 50 cents, yellow is a dollar, etc. That way you don't have to write on each sticker, but they will be marked individually.

Hi K.! I know it is quite overwhelming with all the clothes....I was in exactly the same situation as you.
My daughter is now 5 1/2 and I had saved all of her clothing for a second child that has not come.

Anyway, people love children's clothes, toys, and accessories at garage sales. I would say that your clothing is worth at least a $1 an item, if not $2. If I were you, I would make a sign that says all clothes, $2 an item. People will bargain with you if they don't want to pay that and then you can make the decision when they approach you to pay....OR you can price it all at $1 an item, which is MORE than reasonable.

For us, we had a tremendous amount of clothing at our garage sale, so I took all the clothes that did not sell, and brought them to a consignment shop for them to sell for me.

BEST of LUCK!

You might want to consider holding on to the clothes until the next Just Between Friends sale happens. Just Between Friends is a twice a year children's consignment sale that local coordinators put together. Here's their website http://www.jbfsale.com/home/.

I know you said you didn't want to tag things, but this way, you would get more $$$ for your items.

If you want an idea for tagging things for the garage sale, why not get colored dot stickers - use one color for the $1 table and another color for the $.50 table.

Hope this helps...

E.

I think marking anything 50 cents is a waste of your time. $1 is enough of a bargain for shoppers! Make a sign for the clothes that's everything is $1 each and 7 items is $5

For anything else besides clothes, use the colored dot system. The dots are pretty cheap and you can get them at Target or any office supply store. Make a sign that says "red dot items are $1, blue dot are $2...." etc. Easy peezy. Then you only have to deal with handing out dollar bills for change. Total waste of your time and energy to sell anything for less than a dollar because people will pull up and give you a 5 dollar bill to buy something that's a quarter or 50 cents!

I don't recommend having people have to ask you for prices. I never buy anything at garage sales with no prices because it's annoying to keep asking how much everything is and I don't want to have to tell people no thank you to their face so I'd rather know the price and decide if I want it than have to ask.

You can try selling your items to Once Upon A Child on 50 across from Party City.
Here is their website:
http://onceuponachildorlandofl.com/

###-###-####

I seperated the type of clothing and put them in seperate bins. Onesies in one. PJ's in another. Outfits that were in good condition were put on plastic hangars or taped together and individually priced on masking tape and stuck to the front with the size written on it.
If I had a bunch of long sleeve shirts in the same size, I would lump them together with masking tape and write the size and one price and sell it as a lump deal.
So much easier to total up the sales when you can look at the item and know how much you origionally priced it. Definitely worth the extra few minutes to stick a piece of tape to the front with a price on it. And people really seem to buy the lumped deals more than sorting through single pieces.
I also put all socks in a ziplock and sold as a lot. All baby hats in a ziplock. Bibs, etc.
If you have matching outfits, tape them together so someone doesn't buy just the shirt and you're left with pants that don't match anything.
When they're grouped by the type of clothing in bins, people WILL sort through it so free up your table space.