Home Garage Sales....

SpursDave

...does anyone do these? Have you had any success?

I have a load of stuff I want to sell. Some has been in the local free-ads and also on-line and Gumtree but not a lot of success recently. I no longer use eBay or similar and don't want to, too much hassle. I have thought of doing a boot fair and will probably do so nearer the end of the holidays or just after. My wife suggested we could do a garage sale from our own garage and save paying the boot-fair fee and the hassle of cramming everything (some larger items!) into the car or paying more to take in the van from work! Just wondered if you guys use them to buy or sell stuff and how well they do in comparison? Any other ideas?

dollydoodah

I have never done one but I have been to a couple - these were mostly by chance that I spotted through little signs placed on main roads. One thing I found was that there were not very many people there so I felt a bit uncomfortable browsing, IYKWIM.

I do wish they would become commonplace though, like in the USA.

pandora205

We did one a few years ago just before moving house. We advertised in the local shops, etc. and local paper too. We found that most of the activity was in the first couple of hours, so if I did one again, I'd say 10-1 or something like that. We also found that one of us needed to be outside all the time, even when it was quiet. If it was busy it took two of us to keep an eye on people and their children (bearing in mind we had lots of kids toys and games).

The things that sold best were electrics equipment (old phones etc.) and odd diy and home improvement stuff, like plugs and tools.

I think it's worth doing but I'd go overboard with the publicity next time as there was a lot of hanging around waiting.

mummym_3

they are worth it if you do flyers or post up posters in shops local to you. otherwise i find the same as dollydoodah hth

durham_girl

Maybe you could ask you neighbours if they wanted to join in? If you had a few people who wanted to do it aswell and everybody told all their friends and family plus with a bit of advertising you could probably get more people turning up

PasturesNew

When I sold my house I had stuff to sell, so I took photographs of it and created a mini website with it all on. I sent out emails to 800 people on a local opt-in list I belonged to (3x in the week leading up to it). I placed an advert on ebay about it, with a link through to my mini website. I created A5 flyers and went round the town putting up notices/signs everywhere I could that I knew people congregated.

I had signs outside indicating where it was.

I placed a display ad in the local newspaper on the week of my sale.

I had everything for sale, the lot.

How many people came .... 2. Next door came, just to be nosey (they said that's why they came). Bought two lamps and left.

So, the next thing was I'd organised for a charity shop to come and take the good stuff that was left. This was planned for the next day. Did they come? Yes, to tell me their shop was full and they couldn't take anything.

It's OK, completion was 2 days away by now and I'd organised another man to arrive the next day - a clearance man - he would take absolutely everything that was left. This would leave me with a clear house. But he never turned up - and I couldn't even get hold of him until 2pm for his excuse (van had broken down, I didn't believe him).

So there I was with a huge house still FULL of everything! And completion was to be in the morning ....

What a nightmare.

SpursDave

What did you do then?

BargainJunky

We have done a few garage sales on my uncles drive (too much stuff to put in the garage) and have normally done quite well - however this year it was rained off!

We put ads in the local newsagent, supermarket boards etc, leaflet houses within walking distance (three/four leaflets per A4 sheet of paper), sandwich board at the top of the road, posters on bus shelters on the morning of the sale.

We usually do quite well and two of the neighbours usually join in. Electrical stuff goes well as they can test it quite easily. Furniture is also a good one. My uncle also sells a lot of bedding plants and planters.

I mainly sell kids stuff (toys, clothes etc) with the a few household items, unwanted gifts etc thrown in and normally take between £100 - £150 which is much better than I would get at a car boot. Its also good to get rid of big items.

People usually turn up well before you have advertised it and always seem to come together. We always have at least four people watching the stuff as it does occasionally walk away on its own :mad:.

We have a great time and have met some really lovely people who even stop my mum in the village to ask when we are doing another sale.

Good luck.

mi55moneypenny

I am planning to do one of these in early Sept. I think it depends on the type of area you live in i.e. are there are lot of people on foot or does everyone travel by car.

I am picking a weekend when there is a local art festival on so lots of extra footfall. And I'm inviting neighbours to do one on same weekend so can publicise series of garage sales taking place in same street. Having said that, after seeing a couple of experiences above I am wondering how successful it will be!!

piratefairy

I'v always wanted to do something like this, as I always seem to have too much stuff to load into the car for a boot sale, so ebnd up leaving some of it behind. But I always wondered about whether you had to do any formal prep. beforehand, or is it ok if it's on your land??