Today’s HOME Spun Wisdom - July 14, 2006 Planning on having a tag sale? Check out these tips from the book Mission: Organization from HGTV.com
RISMEDIA, July 14, 2006—If you plan to have a tag sale (also known as a garage sale), evaluate your potential merchandise and decide whether you can make enough money to compensate for the time it will take you to organize the sale, mark the items, and work for the weekend. If you have enough stuff for a sale, the following tips will help you "sale" your way to success.
• Set a date for your sale, noting where holidays and other community events fall on the calendar. While it probably isn’t wise to hold a sale on a major holiday, it may be a good idea to sell your items when you'll attract a large crowd (for instance, during a citywide festival or community tag sale).
• Present only clean and neat items for sale. Steam wrinkled clothes and wash grimy kitchenware--no one wants to buy a greasy skillet.
• Spread the word. If you have enough inventory to warrant the expense, place an ad in the local newspaper's classified section. Regardless of whether you advertise in the paper, post signs (with clear directions) on telephone poles and bulletin boards around town.
• Make your yard safe for foot traffic. Anyone who trips on a divot or stumbles over an exposed pipe may have the right to seek legal action.
• Spend a few weekends visiting tag sales in your area. See what items tend to sell and which tend to sit. Also look at prices to help you determine what your local market will bear. Avoid the temptation to purchase items at these sales. Remember you are aiming to clear your clutter, not add to it.
• Check with your town government to see whether you need a permit. If a permit is required, evaluate how much it will cost; will the fee consume a large portion of what you intend to make at your sale?
• Come up with a rain contingency plan. If the weather doesn't cooperate, will you hold the sale indoors? Postpone it? Cancel it?
• Place a price sticker on every item, or sort items by price and put them on tables marked "Everything $5," "Everything $10," and so on.
• Stock up on change (coins and small bills) so that you can accept large bills.
• An hour before you end the sale, post a sign proclaiming "everything must go" and lower the prices. At the end of the sale, gather the items that remain and either put them in your car to donate to a charity or toss them in the trash.
An excerpt from the book Mission: Organization on HGTV.com |
