Garage Sale Pricing Is An Art

When you’re planning a garage sale spend some time deciding how to price your items.  Garage sale pricing is an art form . . . one that takes some planing and a realistic evaluation of your inventory.  

When pricing keep these rules in mind:

• If your merchandise is priced too high, it won’t sell.
• If it is priced too low, the money you make won’t be worth the time you spent setting your garage sale up and selling for two or three days.

Here are some guidelines that I’ve developed, based on my experience and tips I picked up from traditional retailers:

• It’s hard to say what a used item is really worth. Whatever you decide on, leave room so that you can come down 25% to 50% and still make a profit.
• Try to think of the type of buyer that would be interested in individual peices and how much they’d be willing to pay.
• Be creative with pricing. . . Go WILD.   I’ve used the  “buy one, get one free” promotion to move smaller items or common things like  clothing or plastic containers.  
• Announce ’blue light special’ on certain items that might not be moving. 
• Mark things down as the sale progresses.
• Go for the unusual. Tell your next customer that they’re the 25th shopper and entitled to a 25% discount.  You’ll find that others will chime up and ask for the discount.  Tell them that it will apply if they buy 5 or more items.
• Start an email sheet to inform your customers of your next WILD sale.  

Price it higher if:

• It is the first day of your sale
• You are willing to keep it
• It has real collectible value or is vintage or antiques
• Know the value of the item at auctions like eBay

Discount your pricing if:

• It’s the last day of your sale
• You are relocating and holding a moving sale
• The item isn’t selling or is an item that doesn’t sell well at yard sales