How to Host a Garage Sale Like a Pro

Earlier this month we hosted our first solo garage sale. I joined my mother in law’s garage sale a few years ago so I had a feel for the process but hadn’t done one 100% solo until a few weeks ago. I have to say, it’s a bit of a rush! There’s no feeling quite like purging all the excess from your home while making a few bucks. But it’s important you have your ducks in a row before opening that door. Here are my best garage sale pro tips for anyone ready to clean house.

You guys weighed in BIG TIME on Instagram a few weeks ago when I asked for your favorite garage sale pro tips. A bunch of these got incorporated into my sale and I’m really appreciative. Had to give credit where credit is due!

Let’s Talk Money

The most important rule of hosting a garage sale is to wear your money. My mother in law taught me this and it’s the most practical garage sale advice I can give you. I kept mine in my lululemon belt bag so it was easy to see when needed and was on me 100% of the time. Plus, the shape and size made it a perfecting acting billfold!

If you don’t have a little belt bag or fanny pack here are a few inexpensive ones from Amazon. Trust me, it’s a very small investment you’ll be thankful you made once garage sale time rolls around.

Garage Sale Pro Tips: Have Small Bills at Open

You need to have change ready for even that first customer. People will go to the bank ahead of garage sales and most ATMs spit out $20 bills. Frankly, they’re the customer, it’s not their job to bring you exact change. Have around $100 in small bills ready to go at open. Lots of people came with smaller bills too, but it’s really luck of the draw.

Don’t Carry All Your Money with You

I’m a trusting person, but not that trusting. For my own peace of mind, I only kept about $50 on me at a given time. With most of your cash being small bills anyway, that’s physically just a lot to sift through for change. During breaks with no customers I’d “deposit” larger bills a.k.a. bring them inside because I never needed $20 bills (thankfully no one showed up with anything larger). I made sure at any given time I had at least 30 singles and some $5 and $10 bills to break future $20 bills.

Offer Electronic Payment

If you have it, offer it! Don’t limit your sales based on physical cash. I had two women with larger purchases, primarily clothing, spend a cumulative $50+ dollars and had I not offered Venmo I’m not sure I would’ve made those sales.

Just be sure to confirm the payment is received on your end before they leave with their items and you’re good!

Don’t feel like dealing with coins? Try this.

I made a “3 for $1” table and folks could grab up to three items for just $1. That way they feel like they’re getting a better deal and you don’t have to deal with coins. Win-win! On the last day of my garage sale I even marked my $1 table down to “2 for $1” to move things it cleaned almost completely out!

Put a Price on Everything

Several readers gave me this advice. I was planning to do this anyway, but I guess it’s common to not see tags on things sometimes. In my opinion, it makes more sense to price everything out. Not everyone wants to enter a dialogue about pricing for every last item they’re interested in. As a customer, it’s simpler and more comfortable to see the price and make a decision on your own. Plus, as the host, if you have a handful of people at your sale at one time and there’s only one you, so it’s going to get clunky.

Group pricing works too, just be sure the sign is prominent so folks can’t miss it.

To let people know prices are flexible I share that when they arrive. “Hello, welcome! Everything has to go so let me know with any questions.” It’s unspoken that garage sale pricing is negotiable, and trust me, I had plenty of folks haggle with me. Be open to conversation and letting things go at a lower price.

Buy Extra Price Stickers

Buy enough stickers for at least 120% of what you’re selling. As the sale goes on you’ll notice some things aren’t moving and want to re-price them. You may also stumble upon items around the house you missed as the sale goes on and want to add them in; those will require stickers too. I bought a pack of 315 stickers for $1.25 from Dollar Tree.

Those were good for my modest sized garage sale but I did go through nearly every last one, so that was cutting it close. Lots of my items were group priced (more on that below) or I would’ve ran out before I even opened. So when in doubt, get a few of those or buy this pack of 1,000 blank garage sale stickers to ensure you’re set. Or to make it really simple, these stickers already have prices on them.

Garage Sale Pro Tips: Group Price Items

Group price items to keep things simple and avoid individually tagging more items than necessary. For me, I had a LOT of clothing. I made all used clothing one price and anything brand new with tags another price.

Garage Sale Clothing — *My clothing pricing sign placed between both clothing display areas*.

Certain higher end pieces like brand new my Fabletics sets, formal dresses, etc. got a tag with a special price, but for the most part this method saves you a lot of time and dozens of stickers.

Block Off Non-Sale Items

Make it clear what’s for sale to avoid unnecessary heartache when you tell them your table saw isn’t up for grabs. I have a 3-stall garage and only opened the 2-car door for most of the sale. All of my sale items were in the big area and I blocked the single stall off strategically with sales tables. You’ll still get the occasional customer asking about something that’s clearly not included, but for the most part you’ll streamline the sale this way.

Plus, Alexis was with me for a large part of the sale on Thursday and Friday and I needed a spot for her to play. On the second day she even helped herself to her water table when I let her out to crawl around, what a stinker!

How to Advertise a Garage Sale

One of the other neighbors ran point on this as they’ve helped organize the neighborhood garage sale before. A few of us also posted to groups were a part of to help. Here are a few places our garage sale was posted to maximize exposure:

Area Garage Sale Facebook Groups
Local City Facebook Groups
Craigslist Garage Sale Groups
Registering your garage sale with your city (not required everywhere, check local rules and regulations, but this is another way to put it on the map for those seeking out garage sales)

Use Signs & Balloons to Grab Customer’s Attention

Whether you’re having a community event or a stand alone garage sale I highly suggest balloons. I had a small bunch of balloons out front and several people told me it helped them identify my house.

You can get them super cheap from Dollar Tree or Party City and they’ll draw attention to your sale. Plus, every kid that came loved them. I’m honestly thinking of getting some extras next time to give to the kiddos. Taking it a step further, keep your balloon weight for next time to save a few bucks!

Garage Sale Pro Tips: Have Signage

For our sale we had garage sale signs just like these at the entrance to our subdivision. If you already have a way to stick them into the ground you can save a few bucks with these sign-only signs. Every situation is different so assess the best signage for your location and setup, but absolutely have something to bring people into the neighborhood from the nearest main road. You can even throw a few balloons on those to grab attention more easily!

The neighbor kids also made me this sign, they’re seriously the cutest! Can never have too much signage!

Be Quick to Haggle

You’re not trying to keep this stuff, so who cares if it goes for $5 or $2? If you’re open to flexible haggling you’re going to close way more sales. Then, after the first day, take a look at your remaining items to see if they can be marked down. Were they priced too high initially?

Likewise, don’t shoot yourself in the foot if you have an absolute gem. The only deal I didn’t take was someone asking to split a brand new chair and table set (listed for $20) and the woman only wanted the chair for $10. I knew the table wouldn’t sell on it’s own and it was only a few hours into the sale. Sure enough the set sold at $20 asking price just a few hours later.

Garage Sale Pro Tips: Have a Checkout Table

If you have the extra space, have a dedicated table for checking customers out. People will walk around with a handful of things so you can also offer to leave them reserved there while they continue to shop. At the start, all I had was Alexis’ picnic table to the left in this photo but it got the job done. As more things sold I moved to a full size table.

Have shopping bags available. This can be single use grocery bags getting a second life or reusable bags you’re looking to offload. At first I thought this seemed silly but I had several women buy armfuls of clothing that 100% needed a bag to get out of there comfortably. I used a bunch of old Athleta and grocery store reusable bags that I didn’t need. It was a great way to reuse them and you can tell the people loved having a nicer bag for their purchases. Plus, this allows them more room to keep buying at yours or other sales!

How successful was our garage sale?

Everyone likes to know how a garage sale went and I have to say, ours went GREAT! I got rid of 90% of what I brought out, and we made over $400. The rest went right into my trunk to Goodwill that evening. It felt amazing to get all of the excess out.

Some neighbors are talking about doing a garage sale later this summer and I may join that one, too. I only had a few days notice for this one and while I put together a LOT I didn’t do a fully thorough job inventorying. I know I can scrounge up a bit more to send out the door with a longer lead time!

Which garage sale pro tips resonated with you the most? Honestly, if you only take away one thing I hope it’s a money management tip. It’s important to keep yourself and your earnings safe.

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