Host the ultimate garage sale

If you spent the summer holidays clearing out your home or garage, a garage sale is a great way to get rid of some of those unwanted items while making some extra cash in the process.

Here are our five best tips to host the ultimate garage sale.

Advertise, advertise, advertise

A good garage sale requires planning ahead of time. For people to show up at your garage sale, you need to let them know!

Place printed posters around your neighbourhood, in local shops or cafes, or on community noticeboards. You can even use Canva to create colourful flyers that will stand out! Include all the necessary information such as date, time, location, and don’t forget to add ‘No Early Birds’ so you don’t have people arriving before the start time!

While printed posters are efficient, we spend most of our lives online, so don’t forget to advertise there too. You can post in community groups, on your personal page or on Facebook marketplace, so you can reach a wider audience.

You can include more detail online than with your printed poster; the more descriptive you are about the types of items you’re selling, the more likely people will stop by and take a look!

Sort and display

If you’ve ever worked in retail, this might bring back some memories for you. Grouping like-minded items together and pricing them similarly will make it easier for people to browse.

Although your items might not have value to you anymore, they might have value to other people, so don’t throw anything away (unless it’s actually junk). One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!

Be prepared to haggle

A garage sale isn’t generally a huge moneymaking endeavour, and people will not hesitate to negotiate prices, even if they are very low! You might need to haggle or provide counteroffers, like offering more items for the same price.

Make sure you have a lot of change on hand, as you’ll need both coins and notes (and a calculator if you’re not great at math). You could also pick up a Square Reader Eftpos card reader, so your customers can use Eftpos as well.

Create an atmosphere

Making your garage sale fun and exciting will encourage more people to stop and browse. Put on a playlist of popular, upbeat music to get their attention, and use coloured tablecloths or banners to bring some colour to the space.

Service with a smile

Another flashback for retail workers: smiles get more sales. Be approachable and friendly and strike up a conversation with customers who arrive; you never know what they are looking for until you ask!