Yard Sale Time

Having a yardsale with stuff from first 6 units Fri/Sat. I know there is a lot of debate as to method but I think the most important factor is location/demographics. I have 4 tables of merchandise priced individually, about 400 pieces of clothing on 50 cent tables, 90 pairs of jeans on hanging racks @ 2.00 each and several winter coats @ 3-5 bucks. Already done 55.00 in sales the last 2 days from co-workers that couldn't make it during sale. Split advertising with neighbors who are participating, so cost was low. Will get back Sunday and let everyone know how it went.

How was the sale Miller?

Did you wash and sort the cloths before selling them?  Or just the jeans that you hung up?

Wondering as I have a ton of cloths, with some being pant-suits and such that are dryclean only and wrinkled.

I would NEVER spend the money to dry clean a item to sell. Run an iron over them and let it go at that. Most women I know try to avoid dry clean only items as best as possible when they are new and my wife, for one, would never buy a used item that was dry clean only as it just costs to much to have it cleaned.
As for the regular clothes. I wash mine and put on hangers (if I think I can get $3 or more for it) as soon as it comes out of the dryer to keep the wrinkles down as much as possible.
If it is a dollar or less item, don't wash it, just throw it in a pile.

Ok, day 1 is in the books. Started with rain this morning until 10am so i put all my hanging clothes just outside garage under tarps to make room to sell out of garage. Had sale from 6:30 till 4:00, brought in about 80-90 customers and did $500.00 in sales. Needless to say but I am very pleased. I know some of you have had a tough time with yardsales, but I live in a prime spot, great cul-de-sac neighborhood in a dense middle class population of a city of 125,000. I absolutely sold the hell out of clothing today. Volume is the key to clothing and I target units rented by women that are packed with clothes. When I sort units I toss any clothes that are not in excellant condition, I do not launder them, if they are really dirty they get tossed. All jeans, jackets, sweaters, skirts, dresses are hung and sold for 2.00 each. All other clothes are on tables sorted by womens/girls and mens/boys @ 50 cents. I put all used shoes under each clothes table and price at 1.00 each. Any really nice article in any category I price more with a tag. Brand new items are sold at 40% of retail price on tag. I had 75 pieces of new baby clothes on hangers with tags and sold 30 of them today. I individually priced all other items and only had about 10 people haggle with me for an extra buck or 2 off. My wife worked with me and we engaged every customer that walked up about what was available and at what prices. Some customers told us someone called them and said get to this sale just after they left our place, so that is exciting as I know what inventory at what price gets people out to buy. I advertised in newspaper, Craiglist and street signs. Weather looks good Sat so I hope to get rid of the rest of it. Will let everyone know how it finishes up.

.... did $500.00 in sales. Needless to say but I am very pleased. .

That's a good day Millertime !  I have a friend who has recently been specializing in clothes. He buys all he can at the kind of auction where they sell by the piece....in this case totes, cardboard drums, racks of hanging clothes...that's what he bought recently.

He prices pretty much like you did and seems happy with it.  I limit myself to professional sports jackets (Lakers, etc), leather jackets (motorcycle and sportcoat styles), Levi's jeans (either new or in good shape), Military camo, Jordan and similar sneakers.

Glad you had a good day....rain....doesn't hit California until January usually, but sometimes we get it  Oct-Dec, but would be once every 6 weeks or so and not amount to much.

Glad you had a good day....rain....doesn't hit California until January usually, but sometimes we get it  Oct-Dec, but would be once every 6 weeks or so and not amount to much.

And then you have Seattle!  It doesn't rain about once every 6 weeks or so!

Congrats and good luck!

That is a great day IMO.  I'll love if can make $200 once I have a sell.  Just got to find a saturday that my oldest isn't playing a game or practice as she wants to be there also.

I'm not about to dryclean anything.  I use to work in a drycleaners so know many of the tricks of the trade.  I just hate dryclean only cloths.

For myself I've started to make 3 piles of clothing.  Stuff that has no spots, tears, etc. and looks good other then wrinkles.  Second pile is stuff that "may" come clean.  Third pile is the oil stain, torn, junk cloths.  You can easily guess which pile is the biggest.  But, I have 3 huge large screen TV type boxes to sort.  Finding some kids / baby cloths that I know will sell.  Even found a pair of Jordan sneakers for a tot.  Those should sale.

Ok, that's it for the sale and we made another $290.00 today. The traffic was really good again today with another 75 or so. By the end of the day had sold about 80% of inventory. Will have a small load to go to mission I donate to and it's on to new units. I tried an idea today I've been thinking about. I started telling some of the shoppers that the stuff came from storage units, every one said "oh like the show", and then asked them for an e-mail to send inventory list to. Not one said no, I got several and they began telling me what they were interested in which I noted. I plan to do this from now on and see if an e-mail database that I send regular inventory updates leads to sales. All in all it was a grand slam for us but damn am I whipped. Best of luck to everyone.

congrats on a successful sale!! Starting an email list of possible customers is a good idea!