How do you price for a garage sale?

[mo2]

My sil is having a garage sale and invited me to join. As we are getting ready to downsize to a smaller home, I figure this is a perfect opportunity for me to get rid of some stuff. I don't shop yard sales (never have) and I don't know what price to put on things. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking I will have clothes (mine from pre-baby), some books, toys, an end table. I'm sure I'll find more things to get rid of once I start going through my house. How do I know how much to mark things at? Is there some kind of rule of thumb I can follow here? I'm seriously clueless. :confused:

[Pamela H in Texas]

Here one can make a lot more money by NOT pricing, just being told. It makes a little more work and thinking on your feet but makes ya more money.

 

Just what I've seen,

[mo2]

Well I probably will not actually be AT the sale, so I think my sil would prefer that they were priced. Thanks for the tip though.

[hsmom]

What ever you think it is worth. If you really want to get rid of it and fast, price low. If you don't care to much either way price what you think it is worth. Give sil the okay to make a deal if need be.

[Gamom3]

I was going to ask the same thing!

our subdivision is going to have a yard sale the end of the month and I have a little bit that I was going to put out.

 

I would love to hear what everyone has to say.

Thanks for posting!

[Canada_Mom]

I try to price things at what *I* would *like* to pay for them.

 

Try to look at your items like you have never seen them before. What would *you* consider to be a *great* deal/find at a garage sale *you* attend?

 

It can be hard at times to look at our belongings objectively and price them accordingly. There's nothing that bothers me more than going to a garage sale and every. last. item. and trinket is WAY over priced b/c the owner applied the sentimental value they attached to the item rather than what it was really worth. If I want to pay such high prices for stuff, I'd go buy it new.

 

It really does depend on the item though & how badly you want to get rid of your stuff. An item like a baby swing could MAYBE be priced at 1/3 the cost of new (at most, and only if you can still buy it in a store) while a backpack (that is in almost new condition) should likely be priced around $1, regardless of the new cost.

 

Clear as mud? HTH a bit anyways.

[nancypants]

It depends on how desperately you want to get rid of them.

 

Name brand children's clothing you can sell for a bit more... and by more I mean like 50c to $1 an item. If they are in superb condition you can charge more than that... but if you desperately want to get rid of them, go cheap. If the clothes are a cheap brand (think Walmart) or are in rough condition sell them for 25c a piece or less... even 10c. It makes it easier if you have them sorted into boxes or laundry baskets and then just put a label on the basket (give your sister a "key" list.) Pricing each item can be somewhat exhausting.

 

Same with shoes, if they are in great condition, price them a bit higher... but really, if the goal is to get rid of them, don't ask much. Maybe $3-$5 a pair.

 

Books, I tend to sell for 25c a piece or maybe 10c if they are in rough condition.

 

Furniture... if it's old and rough, charge between $5-$10 but if it's pretty nice you can probably get $25 or so... it's hard to judge without seeing them so. It really all boils down to how much you don't want to just throw it away, keep it or donate it to the Goodwill. You can start it at your ideal and work down from there because people will make offers.

 

HTH Moved too many times... had too many garage sales! LOL

[E_Edgerton]

To Sell! I think it is best to just price everything low...that way you aren't loading things back up. :)

[klmama]

I assume you really want to get rid of stuff more than get the cash. If money is more important, price higher and then donate what's left and itemize it all carefully so you can deduct on your taxes.

 

I would price things as I wanted to pay for them. $1 or less for all kids' clothing items. $2 or less for all adult clothing. Coats could go as high as $10 if name brands in great shape, $5-8 if not. Shoes $1, boots $2 if in good shape. Now, with all of these, if you buy high quality or designer items, up the price some, but only if they are still in style. No one cares what brand it is if it's out of date. Out of style means low prices! At my last sale, I priced all clothing for $.25 each piece, and I still only sold about 1/4 of it, and that was almost all kids' clothing.

 

Other stuff - about 1/4 of the purchase price if it's in good shape, less if it's not. Higher only if it's new. You get the idea.

 

Have fun!

[Gamom3]

items other than clothes? Ex. a bread machine, a wooden garden chair that has lattice on the back..it is in great condition purchased last year..we just don't have the room for it...and toys.

I donate all our clothes.

[riada]

I agree with those that said price low! Otherwise you might not sell it and then what, you would most likely have to just give it away. Might as well make a little money so I would suggest pricing low- like 25 cents per article of clothing. And do put clothing in seperate boxes based on sizes, then just label the box. It's easier. Also if you are doing children's clothing and they are a set, safety pin them together and price them a little higher- maybe a dollar a set? And on all non-clothing items I would write a short description on the price tag. In our area there are people that take a dollar tag off something and put it on a ten dollar item just hoping you don't notice.

 

Good luck with your salef!

[Janna]

The way we price is 10-20% of the actual cost. Not 10-20% OFF, but 10-20% of the original price, or 80-90% off - and that's only if we want to make something on it. For instance, a $200 down comforter, new for $200, we would price for $20. Now it just so happens that we have had that for the last 5 garage sales and we FINALLY sold it on Saturday for $10. It was kinda hard to swallow actually because it had never been used, but to think of storing that bulky thing for another few months and trying yet again, well it made it OK, kwim?

 

On things that you just really want to get rid of, price even lower. Get a box and label it 5 cents or 10 cents, then throw in all the items you would sell for that price. Someone mentioned shoes for $1 - I would disagree with that UNLESS the shoes were in very good shape and didn't have scuff marks. Also, children's shoes are pretty much all that will sell. If they clearly look worn, it honestly doesn't matter what you price them - even free - they more than likely aren't going to move for you.

 

The only exceptions to garage pricing "rules" are collectible items. But honestly, if you have collectible items you should sell them on Ebay or something instead.

 

If you have some items that you really think are worth a particular price, but you don't want to Ebay them, price them slightly higher than you would pay so you can negotiate down. Otherwise, you can price it what you want and write "firm" on the tag. Personally, in our area, saying something is "firm" is automatically not going to sell. It depends on your market. What we usually say, esp. on something that we truly don't know what to price at, is "make offer".

 

One thing that is a life saver/time saver are the pre-priced stickers. You can buy them at Wal-Mart. They are already priced, so it leaves out the guess work for you, it has the "make offer" option, and they are brightly colored so people will see the price easily. I can't believe I went so many years without those things - hand writing them all myself. ugh!

 

Another note: the economy, as we all know, is not doing well. Therefore, a LOT of people are garagesaling (how is that spelled?) and not wanting to spend a lot at them. Just something to keep in mind.

 

We had a garage sale in April and did fairly well. We had another one this last weekend with our neighborhood and didn't make hardly anything. I think for one, we didn't have a good selection left from all we sold in April, and we personally think that indiv. sales over neighborhood sales yield more because of the lack of competition.

 

Oh, and lastly, if you want yourself to sell, it's better to clean it first. Honestly, think of this as your own "store". You should clean your stuff and "merchandise" it as best as you can. Make it eye appealing. People will see you have taken good care of your things and will be more willing to buy yours over someone else's that is dirty or worn. You might want to have batteries on hand for children's toys or other electronics so people can see that they work. Take the batteries out when they buy them, or ask for a little more $ if they want the batteries left in. Unless of course the batteries were already in the item and partially used. I'm talking about buying brand new batteries for this purpose.

 

Hope this helps you some!

[TheCoffeeChick]

I don't know how it is in other areas, but at my last garage sale, it didn't matter what the item was marked at, everyone wants to haggle a better "deal". :001_smile: So even if something was priced at $10 that originally sold for $150, shoppers don't want to pay the asking price. I price everything about 50 - 100% more than I acually think I should get. For example, for books I mark them at $1 each. That way when someone comes up and says "Would you take 75 cents?" I smile and say absolutely, knowing that I would have went down to 50 cents :D. This way everyone is happy because you got rid of your stuff and got some money out of it and the shopper feels like they got an awesome deal because they didn't pay the amount on the sticker. I also have a sign my the cash box that says resonable offers are not refused. This way people know they are welcome to offer a lower price.

 

About 1/2 way through the sale, I mark everything 1/2 off ... because really, I don't want to haul the unwanted stuff to the thrift store or dump myself :001_smile:. Then near the end of the sale, anyone who shows any interest in something I say what I would take for it. I've even given things away at the end just so I didn't have to deal with it later. :tongue_smilie:Becasue really, isn't the goal of a garage sale to get rid of your clutter?

[Baseballmom]

The way we price is 10-20% of the actual cost. Not 10-20% OFF, but 10-20% of the original price, or 80-90% off - and that's only if we want to make something on it. For instance, a $200 down comforter, new for $200, we would price for $20. Now it just so happens that we have had that for the last 5 garage sales and we FINALLY sold it on Saturday for $10. It was kinda hard to swallow actually because it had never been used, but to think of storing that bulky thing for another few months and trying yet again, well it made it OK, kwim?

 

On things that you just really want to get rid of, price even lower. Get a box and label it 5 cents or 10 cents, then throw in all the items you would sell for that price. Someone mentioned shoes for $1 - I would disagree with that UNLESS the shoes were in very good shape and didn't have scuff marks. Also, children's shoes are pretty much all that will sell. If they clearly look worn, it honestly doesn't matter what you price them - even free - they more than likely aren't going to move for you.

 

The only exceptions to garage pricing "rules" are collectible items. But honestly, if you have collectible items you should sell them on Ebay or something instead.

 

If you have some items that you really think are worth a particular price, but you don't want to Ebay them, price them slightly higher than you would pay so you can negotiate down. Otherwise, you can price it what you want and write "firm" on the tag. Personally, in our area, saying something is "firm" is automatically not going to sell. It depends on your market. What we usually say, esp. on something that we truly don't know what to price at, is "make offer".

 

One thing that is a life saver/time saver are the pre-priced stickers. You can buy them at Wal-Mart. They are already priced, so it leaves out the guess work for you, it has the "make offer" option, and they are brightly colored so people will see the price easily. I can't believe I went so many years without those things - hand writing them all myself. ugh!

 

Another note: the economy, as we all know, is not doing well. Therefore, a LOT of people are garagesaling (how is that spelled?) and not wanting to spend a lot at them. Just something to keep in mind.

 

We had a garage sale in April and did fairly well. We had another one this last weekend with our neighborhood and didn't make hardly anything. I think for one, we didn't have a good selection left from all we sold in April, and we personally think that indiv. sales over neighborhood sales yield more because of the lack of competition.

 

Oh, and lastly, if you want yourself to sell, it's better to clean it first. Honestly, think of this as your own "store". You should clean your stuff and "merchandise" it as best as you can. Make it eye appealing. People will see you have taken good care of your things and will be more willing to buy yours over someone else's that is dirty or worn. You might want to have batteries on hand for children's toys or other electronics so people can see that they work. Take the batteries out when they buy them, or ask for a little more $ if they want the batteries left in. Unless of course the batteries were already in the item and partially used. I'm talking about buying brand new batteries for this purpose.

 

Hope this helps you some!

:iagree:

The rule of thumb here is 10% of purchase price.

Dorothy

[K-FL]

items other than clothes? Ex. a bread machine, a wooden garden chair that has lattice on the back..it is in great condition purchased last year..we just don't have the room for it...and toys.

I donate all our clothes.

 

I've bought bread machines for $5 & I'd go cheap on the toys since there are always tons at the thrift stores. I'm a long-time yardsaler, I concur with the others to get rid of the stuff! It's a major pain to lug it all somewhere (your sister's) & then inventory it to lug it somewhere else! I've even worked sales for a preschool that in the last hour, EVERYTHING was .10. Barely used car seats, great clothes, EVERYTHING!

 

Best of luck!!