Garage Sale Pricing

When you have a garage sale, do you price every item or just let people come up to you to inquire about the price? Why do you feel this method works better?

I price every item simply because some people won't come up and ask. This leads to lost sales.

I am a fan of pricing by the table. $5 items, $10 items, $1 items, 50 cent items and so on. It would be ridiculous to have a sticker on every item you'd sell for a dollar or under. As a person who runs an everyday yard sale, I like to be a bit flexible. Someone who has spent hundreds of dollars over the course of time will get a better price than a fresh face.

I generally price every item unless it is one of many similar, like DVD's or clothing. Those items are all priced the same indicated by a sign like "All blue jeans $2.00 a pair"

For those of you who do price your merchandise, do you mark the price higher so you have room to negotiate?

do you mark the price higher so you have room to negotiate?

Isn't that like, business sales 101?

it's been years since I've had a garage sale, but the last one I had was very successful. We didn't price anything. Instead, we put "Make an offer" signs around our tables and other stuff as well as put that phrase on our garage sale advertising and signs. Sometimes people offered to pay over what we wanted for the piece, sometimes they didn't. It opens the door for negotiation.

Isn't that like, business sales 101?

I'm just sayin'...if you price things fairly, a lot of people won't even try to talk you down.

I think the number of people who will negotiate no matter what the price is growing. It doesn't matter what price you have on there, people will try to get it for cheaper! That's why I wouldn't price anything and just put "Make an offer" signs up. If you're going to negotiate, at least let them throw out the first price.