Any tips on doing a Jumble sale for playgroup funds ?

Peakma

My daughters playgroup commitee is going to do a Jumble sale in october.I have been to many but never actualy organized one,it's kind of my idea,so I feel they are looking to me,to know how to do it !( I am useless at being "responsable" for something,even as trivial as a jumble sale!I'm already worrying that we won't even make enough to cover the rent of the hall!-£40.)
The main things on my mind are how long before the event do we need to start collecting? and what to do with the left overs?the clothes are easy,school does a scheme where they weigh in sacks of stuff for cash not long after.
Not sure how long to expect organizing to take,I think we get the hall at 12 (hopefully people will drop stuff off,from then also)to start at 2,proberbly till 4,does that sound long enough?
They are intending to do a cake stall but not tea and coffee( I think people like to get a btrew at the end,but not sure if it's worth the extra effort=cash or how many helpers there will be.
I was thinking 20/30p on door ,kids free.About 30p an item,unless obviously more valuable, then 10p an item in last 1/2 hour.
Any tips appreciated.

Contains_Mild_Peril

Don't advertise a closing time unless you're willing to commit to staying open until then: you could be left twiddling your thumbs for an hour between the first rush of customers and the ones who come in just before the end hoping to get stuff for next to nothing. If you have no plans for non-clothes leftovers (e.g. saving them for the next fundraiser as some organisations do) then the magical words "fill a bag for 50p" 5-10 minutes before closing will take care of that potential problem!
In my area, jumble sale admission is usually 20p for adults, free for kids, though some have free entry for all. They usually advertise a start time but finsih "whenever", and seldom last more than an hour. Don't forget to put admission prices on posters: a few awkward customers (like me!) will get annoyed by any unadvertised admission charge, even if it is only 20p. Prices where I am are usually 10p-50p for clothes (depending on things like quality, condition, whether adults' or kids', and which volunteer serves you!) 10p-30p for books, 5p-50p for toys, 20-30p for videos, 20-50p for CD albums, 10p-30p for CD singles, records and cassettes, 10p-£1 for bric-a-brac, maybe even a bit more for the odd extra-special item (with most prices reduced towards the end, of course) but you'll know better than I do whether these prices are the norm where you are.
I would try to discourage any volunteers who find haggling offensive or take it personally. Politely refusing to haggle is fine, but you don't want the stereotypical grumpy old women who chase the customers away (and they do exist!) Good luck.

sturgeon62

I used to help at both mother and toddlers and playgroup and we abandoned jumble sales in favour of table sales, this way we could run on less helpers and were never left with lots of junk to store or dispose of. We held indoors in winter and outdoors in summer. We ran a small stall ourselves, then sold other tables for £5, we charged entrance and sold refreshments, held raffles etc

black-saturn

Make sure you advertise it everywhere. I used to work in the publicity department of a theatre and for every 7 posters you put up only 1 of them gets read. Then out of every 70 people that reads them only 3 of those actually turn up. Your task is to make sure you target the right people. Also posters printed on orange paper are more successful than any other colour.

BargainJunky

Have never done a jumble sale but we do a garage sale at my uncles once a year. We advertise in the local newsagents and also leaflet as many houses as possible (this year did about 1200 - four slips per A4 page).

You may also get your local 'free' paper to do you some advertising - good cause etc.

Good luck.

PS Some jumble sales by us let 'dealers' in before the everyone else - think they charge them a lot more eg £5.00 but dont know if this is a good idea or not.

greenpixey

I agree with black-saturn - Make sure you advertise it everywhere!
Unless you get the people to your jumble sale it wont matter much what you charge for the items.

If you get lots of items left over by the end of the day, try to donate it to a charity or if someone got attic space save all the best stuff til the next jumble/table sale, or perhaps even do a carboot sale with the left overs.

Contains_Mild_Peril

sturgeon62 wrote:

I used to help at both mother and toddlers and playgroup and we abandoned jumble sales in favour of table sales, this way we could run on less helpers and were never left with lots of junk to store or dispose of. We held indoors in winter and outdoors in summer. We ran a small stall ourselves, then sold other tables for £5, we charged entrance and sold refreshments, held raffles etc

If charging admission to customers for table top sales, always try to make sure it does not coincide with any free entry boot sales etc in the area, or you could find yourself with hardly any customers.

BargainJunky wrote:

PS Some jumble sales by us let 'dealers' in before the everyone else - think they charge them a lot more eg £5.00 but dont know if this is a good idea or not.

:eek: Shh! That's so horrifying to me as a customer, the thought (highly unlikely though it is) that it could catch on is enough to give me nightmares! I'm sure it would only work with a regular sale which had a well-established reputation first anyway. I can't imagine many dealers paying a fiver for first pick at an unknown sale which might be full of "junk" which is of no use to them.