If you have ever spent the night before a garage sale peeling stickers and writing prices on every spatula, this tip could save you hours. @shelbycelebrates says she makes at least $1,000 every time she has a garage sale, and the golden rule of her system is never to price items individually.
This is part two of her series. In part one, she covered who should be having garage sales to begin with. In this part she explains how she prices, and she promises part three on advertising. Here is her full explanation.
@shelbycelebrates
Why Individual Price Tags Are a Time Killer
She says there is no bigger time killer than pricing items one by one. That is precious time you could spend advertising your sale. If a sale does not have shoppers, the best prices in the world will not matter. So she recommends one of two strategies for pricing quickly. The second takes almost no time, but she warns it is controversial and not for everyone.
Method One: Color Coded Stickers
The first method, which she says works for 95 percent of people wanting to have a garage sale, is sticker pricing where every color corresponds to a dollar amount. A red dot could mean one dollar, a green dot two dollars and so on. You post a key where everyone can see it, and pricing becomes quick.
She stands by one rule of thumb: for most garage sales, 80 percent or more of your items should be priced under $5. If that is a problem for you, she says, you may want to revisit part one, where she discussed what she calls the profit and effort matrix. If you are looking for higher profit than garage sale prices offer, she says, a garage sale may not be the right avenue for you.
Because you are selling lots of small household items, some things need to be priced under $1. For those, she suggests sandwich baggies and Ziploc bags. You can bag small, similar items together and put one sticker on the bag.
When you have a lot of one type of item, she would not bother sticking each one. Her mom sold more than 100 pieces of lead crystal at a recent sale, and they simply marked them with a piece of tape at one dollar per piece. They also had a giant tub of Beanie Babies and marked the whole bin at two toys for a dollar. With this method, she says, it is fine to price a few items individually, but that should be reserved for a few select, high value pieces.
Method Two: Flat Pricing
The second method is one she loves and says she has used several times to make $2,000 or more in one weekend. Flat pricing means every item has the same price, and the price drops each day. Day one, every item is $4. Day two, everything is $3. Day three, everything is $2. You can choose whatever prices you like, she says, but the goal is to create a buying frenzy with lots of items that are obviously worth much more than $4.
She admits that many people hate this method because it is hard to know you are leaving profit on the table. But she calls it a fantastic way to drive traffic to your sale. She adds that you would be surprised how many items you would price below $4 with method one will sell for $4 on day one.
The beauty of flat pricing, she says, is that you can shut down haggling by telling the person to come back the next day if they want a lower price. And you will not spend a single minute on pricing.
Advertising Is the Third Pillar
Whatever pricing method you pick, she notes, it is essential to the third pillar of a successful sale, which is advertising. If your plan is to make one Facebook Marketplace listing called “garage sale,” she says you are leaving a lot on the table. She promises to cover all of her advertising tactics in part three.
Putting Her Pricing Ideas to Work
Here is how you might apply her approach to your own sale, whether you choose stickers, flat pricing or a mix.
Decide on your method early
Choose between color coded stickers and flat pricing before you start sorting. Knowing your method makes the sorting faster, because you can place items into groups as you go.
Group like items
Books, kitchen gadgets, glassware, toys and holiday decor can each be lumped together. A bin of items at one price is easy for buyers to understand.
Make your key big and clear
If you use colored stickers, write the color and price on a large sign near the entrance, and a smaller one at each table. Shoppers should never have to ask what a color means.
Save individual tags for the best pieces
Furniture, tools, small appliances and collectibles might deserve their own price. Look up what similar items sell for before you decide.
Have a plan for the last day
If you use a descending price, the last day is for clearing out everything. Anything left afterward can be donated, so you do not have to carry it back inside.
Be ready for hagglers
A friendly script helps. Thank the buyer, explain the pricing system and invite them to come back if they want to wait for a lower price. Keeping things light prevents arguments.
Is a Garage Sale Right for You?
Her note about who should have a garage sale is worth keeping in mind. A garage sale works best when you have a lot of smaller household items to move, a few hours to spend and the goal of clearing space as much as making money. If you have a few valuable pieces, an online listing may bring a better return. If you have only a handful of things, a donation drop may be the simplest answer.
The Takeaway
Her golden rule saves the one thing a sale really depends on: time. By using colored stickers, bagged groups or one flat price, you get more time to advertise and fewer hours spent peeling labels. Try one of her methods at your next sale, and you may find that a thousand dollars is closer than you think.
