Nine Tips for Rummage Sale Success
By Sarah Hunt-Frank
|
Do you have too much stuff? Do you want less stuff in your house and more stuff in your wallet? I hear you. So let’s have a rummage sale! But where do you begin? A successful rummage sale relies on getting people to stop and get out of the car. If they don’t get out of the car, they definitely won’t be spending any cash! Follow these tips to increase the success of your rummage sale: 1. Have a lot of stuff. And I mean, A LOT of stuff! If you feel that you don’t have enough stuff to make an impression on passersby, join your sale with another family and choose the house with the most visibility or most traffic. This also frees up one of you to go grab lunch for everyone. Lots of stuff causes people to stop and get out of their cars. 2. Sell some larger items. Put furniture or large kids toys in the front yard, nice and visible from the road. If you have a really interesting item that strikes curiosity, people will get out of their cars simply to see what the heck is that thing! Hint: if someone buys that large, strange piece, ask if they can pick it up later when they are done shopping in the neighborhood. Take the payment and put a sold sign on it. This way you keep the curiosity of passersby but the shopper still gets his item and you get that thing out of your house. 3. Price items reasonably. You may have paid a lot more for an item at the store, but this is a rummage sale, so use rummage sale prices. Approximate 10 percent of the value of an item to get a reasonable rummage price. To save on prep time, price items by table. For example, everything on a table is $1. If your prices are too high, people may browse but no one will buy. 4. Feel free to barter.If someone asks you if you will take a lesser price for an item, you have the right to say, “No, it’s worth more than that.” But is it? Really? Or do you actually want them to carry it away and put the green in your pocket? Hmmmm? 5. Keep the sale condensed. Your sale should look like the items that are there at that particular time are the only items that were ever there. If things are too spread out, it looks picked over – like the good things are already gone – and shoppers will not be inclined to buy. Think of the cluttered gift shops you might have browsed on vacation, items piled upon items. That is what your rummage tables should look like. If, during the sale, you look around and see that things are looking sparse and spread out, take down a table and condense the items onto fewer tables, even if this means overcrowding. A table of stuff that began the sale in your garage may end up next to your front porch by the afternoon! (That means a lot of stuff in between those two places is gone!) 6. Group like-things together. Give the men a box of tools to dig through. Put the books in a box together; put kitchen things with kitchen things. Have a bin of 25 cent (or even free) kids toys to occupy the kiddies so mom and dad can shop! Kids love being able to purchase a trinket too! 7. Have an extension cord ready. You may need to demonstrate the function of any appliances for a customer. People will want to know that it works before they take it home. 8. Be clean. I cannot stress enough that cleanliness is a big contributor to the success of your sale. If it can be washed, wash it! Put it in the dishwasher. Put it in the washing machine. Hose it off. No one will take it if it is dirty, but people will fight over it if it is clean. 9. Schedule a post-sale Goodwill or Salvation Army pickup. Do NOT take unsold stuff back into your house! You were willing to get rid of that stuff once – so you really don’t need it. Let it go. (Remember the clutter? The piles of stuff you had to walk around? Ugh!) Store it in the garage if necessary until a pickup or drop off can be arranged. I think you’re ready for a successful rummage sale. Good luck and happy selling!