Summer Yard Sale Tips

1. Quantity or quality? If the primary goal is to clean out a space, just get as many tarps as you need to lay out your for-sale items and see what happens. You never know who's going to buy what, so the goal is to see how much stuff you can get rid of. If there are a couple of big-ticket items, I'd try to sell those online first. You can generally get a better price when it's a specific listing that will meet a specific need. Once the electronics and quality furniture get mixed in with the inexpensive stuff during the yard sale, you start to lose your bargaining power. Apart from those items, just try to get as much merchandise presented as possible.

2. Seasonal needs. You're still in the right window for selling summer accessories like water skis and pool toys. If you have those things, don't use them very often, and want to get a clean start, put them out for sale and expect to see them go in a hurry. Now might not be the best time to sell your winter coat—that stuff will sell better in September or October. Typically, the people who buy at a yard sale are looking to meet their in-the-moment needs, so the more you can cater to that the better.

3. Have fun. It's a lot of work to get everything staged and sold at your garage sale. The whole thing will be a lot more fun if you let your neighbors know, fire up the grill, maybe set the wading pool out for the kids, and make a weekend event out of it. If your neighbors have some stuff to sell they can join in on the fun. The more people involved, the more people will hear about the sale, the more people will show up and buy your stuff. You can post flyers on every telephone pole in town, but word of mouth and foot traffic will be the main drivers for your sale. The smell of hot dogs cooking alone will bring in a handful of possible buyers who can't resist the aroma of burning charcoal.