Make sure you put all of your stuff, except for huge items like bikes or lawnmowers, on tables. And make some type of a clothes rack or clothes line and put dresses, blouses, pants and coats on hangers. If you lay out clothes and other items on a blanket on the ground, it looks cheap and tacky, and the people who might be willing to pay $5 a pop will not touch stuff on the ground. Plus, it gets very messy immediately and that makes it look even worse and people will trip over it.
Make sure every item is clean and laid out on tables, with other like items.
I prefer to have the items clearly priced (but open to negotiation). I don’t like to haggle, and I won’t buy something if I have to ask the price. I don’t like the idea of the seller trying to haggle with me.
Wear an apron that has two big pockets. One for money coming in and one for change going out. Make sure to sort it often (inside the house away from prying eyes) to keep the bills of the same denomination next to each other in the roll, so it’s easier and quicker for you to make change. Have lots of singles on hand. If you get more than about five 20’s, take them inside and don’t keep them in your apron. You won’t need them.
Make sure you have a jacket or a sweater to wear under your apron. In the morning it might be freezing cold, even if it gets warmer later on. I almost froze on the first day of our last garage sale. Have a hat ready for when the sun comes out.
You are likely to be busy non-stop for hours at a time. Make sure you have some of your own, easy to scarf down, snacks where you can get to them without having to go inside the house. Same with water. Make sure you have someone manning the fort while one of you goes inside to use the bathroom. This part really takes good timing.
If someone tries to haggle you way too low and you don’t feel comfortable parting with the item for such a low price. You can always tell them how much you paid for it (or not) and just say “Nah, I think I’ll just keep it and sell it on e-bay later. $10 is as low as I can go on that.” Don’t feel guilty, just do whatever feels comfortable to you.
Near the end, if you still have a bunch of stuff, decide whether it’s easier to give people a better deal, like letting them have 3 items for their dollar instead of just the one thing they have in their hand, or whether you’d rather pack up the unsold items and haul them to the thrift store.
If people keep picking up some of the items on your $5 dollar (or whatever price) table and then putting it back. Cross out the $5 and put a lower price on that group of items. People seem to enjoy it when they see that you are lowering the price. Just make sure you start out a little higher than you actually need so it looks like you’re giving a nifty price reduction.
Have lots of your own bags on hand. People ususally don’t bring their own, but they appreciate it when you “bag up” their stuff for them, like they’re at a real store. At the end, you can always tell people to stuff a bag for $5 bucks, or whatever price makes you comfortable.
Have an extension cord with a power strip attached to it out where people can use it if they need to plug something in to check to see if it works.
If you have records, get a sturdy box and put them in there and have the titles all going the same direction, so that people can easily thumb through them. It’s a pain in the neck when people simple stack them on a table and keep them out of the sun (people might move them into the sun to look at them).
We found out that books, even brand new hardback best seller books won’t sell, unless you mark them at a dollar. If you aren’t prepared to let them go for that low, low price, then don’t put them in your sale. Either donate them to a library or thrift store, sell them on Amazon, or trade them in at a used book store for credit.
If you are actually setting stuff on tables inside the garage, which is much nicer for you so you don’t either freeze or burn up from the sun, make sure to tape or pin or nail tarps over the rest of the stuff in your garage that is not for sale, so people don’t start poking through your gardening tools and other stuff to try to buy them.
Don’t take any checks unless it is from people that you actually know.
Drive the route from the main rode to your house, design your signs for the exact poles that you will be utilizing. Make big fat arrows for the particular poles and make sure you have a new sign every time you need to turn a corner, but you really only need one sign per straight away street. Write Yard Sale, instead of Garage Sale to save time in lettering your signs. Put only the address, date and time. I used a bunch of pieces of mat board that I acquired somewhere, but cardboard is good too. Don’t use regular paper, because it is too flimsy and will blow and rip. I used duct tape. Put the signs up the night before, and take them down on the same day that the sale is over.
If you are lucky enough to have your tables in the garage, try to lay out all of the items the night before. People will be at your door about a half an hour before your sale officially opens, so the more stuff you have ready, the easier it will be. Those early birds can be relentless.
Make sure you have chairs for yourself and whomever else will be there selling. You can get pretty tired, pacing back and forth.
You might want to park your own cars down the street somewhere, if you need room in the garage, but still leaving plenty of parking in front of your house for buyers.
I can’t stress this enough. Wear comfortable shoes.