Yard Sale question/opinions : )

[chloespurple]

Hey Everyone!!!
I need some pricing opinions, PLEASE:D . My neighborhood is having a street wide yard sale next weekend & I have decided to participate. I have a ton of beautiful baby clothes, a other great baby stuff, plus two laundry baskets full of things I can't wear anymore. Then stuff I just want to get rid of;) .

Here is where I need advice.......
(please don't laugh at me for asking, I really don't know, because I really haven't been to a yard sale since I was little:o )
How much should I price the baby clothes? Am I off my rocker wanting $5.00 for really nice baby dresses and $0.25 for onesies.
Is $10 too much to expect for a $50 adults shirt that is brand new?
Is $50.00 too much to expect for a 130.00 co-sleeper?
Should I even try to sell (sorry gentlemen) my breastpump?
Plus any advice on how to display clothes. Do I group by age, style, price??? Lay them on a blanket, try to make a clothesline to hang things on:confused:

And just for fun what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought at a yard sale?

Thanks:D

[UlrikeDG]

What kind of breastpump? Some cannot be used by multiple users, while others can be sterilized inside and out or have special valves to keep the inside sterile.

It seems like garage sale prices have gone WAY up since I was little, and the prices you mentioned don't sound horribly outrageous. As for how to display them, look at what you've got an go from there. If you have a good area to hang things, hang them. If not, don't.

[mominabigtruck]

It really depends on your area. We have a garage sale twice a year and I sell TONS of kids stuff. In general most of my stuff is bought at garage sales from the previous year or off the clearance rack so normally I do $1 for outfits and .50 for seperates and .10 for all the little stuff. More for bigger stuff like coats and shoes. I would pay .25 for onesies if they were really nice and absolutely no stains but I wouldn't pay that much for a dress. Really it all depends on what other people in your area do. You could be right on par with everyone else or you could be overprice and no one will buy anything or you could be cheap and you could sell out on the first day. I always price stuff cheap just because I want to get rid of it and I don't want to haul it all back to my house.

The most expensive thing I've ever bought at a garage sale was a car.:D

[Morganthe]

It all depends on your PRESENTATION! :D

To get the best price on your best clothes:
Hang them on a rack in some type of order (size, for instance), ironed, & looking as new as possible. No digging needed. Space to slide the hangers and inspect each outfit. The more work you put into their display, the more money you will recieve and you won't get the sniffs of derision aimed at you ;)

Then your clothes that are not so expensive, they can be folded on a table in different piles of some type of order.

The ones you don't care about --- under $1, 50 cents, whatever.. Bin or box where someone can happily dig for undiscovered treasure.

Specialty items, such as a breast pump that you're asking top dollar, you might not expect to sell unless you advertise in your ad that you have one. It's not one of those things that browsers generally look for. I'll probably ebay or Craig's list mine when I'm ready to let it go.

But make everything look as nice as possible and you'll make more money, even close to sale price in retail :) Don't forget to windex shoes :)

Most expensive item for cheapest money, my mom & I found at a garage sale -- abt 28 years ago, a solid maple dining table with 2 leaves with matching 6 mates & 2 captains chairs for $50. Granted, that amount money was a good amount back then, but I think they had bought the set for over $1500!!!
They just wanted to get rid of it for whatever reason.

Good luck and HAVE FUN!! :D

[Starlight]

At one garage sale, I bought:

a Little Tikes Playhouse in like new condition for $10.00

a 12 inch bike w/ helmet and extra tube thingys, $5.00

Step 2 kitchen, table/chair set, and a ton of food $10.00

a Little Tikes Workshop w/ all the tools, screws, etc $5.00

a Little Tikes golf caddy thingy w/ balls and clubs $2.00

a T-ball stand w/ bat $1.00

and a large bag of clothes (like kitchen trash bag size), $5.00

My ds1 was set - Christmas, Easter, Birthday, etc for a year for less than $40.00

I totally scored, LOL.

Most expensive single yard sale purchase... umm... a washer and dryer? $100.00 for the pair.

I think Morganthe is right - it's all about presentation. I bought all my baby stuff at yard sales... after I cleaned it all up, I sold it for what I paid for it, or more. Good luck!

[kelly]

We had a huge multi-family garage sale last summer.

We had tons and tons of girl clothing we just wanted to go to a new home. We laid it all out on blankets all over the lawn, sorted by size. When people came, we asked what they were looking for and pointed them in the right direction. I can't remember the exact pricing, but it was $1 per item and 7 items for $5 for something similar. This was mainly older things in so-so condition, plain tees, no-name jeans, simple outfits, etc.

For "fancy" stuff, hot name-brands, never-worn items, winter coats, etc. We hung those and priced them whatever we thought they'd fetch on eBay. I sold a Hanah A. dress for $15 and the buyer was thrilled.

When asked to haggle, we'd bend only slightly and say (nicely) "We're having an eBay listing party is next weekend, so we can't go lower than XX because we know it'll sell on eBay just fine." :) Research eBay or craigslist for starting prices on more expensive items, seriously. It'll help a ton to know that info.

FYI, we have a lot of those metal wire bookshelves, and when laid on their side, they made GREAT kid's clothing racks. ;)

Advertise on craigslist!! I listed the main things, and many ended up being sold within minutes of the garage sale starting. People had us staked out!!

[Chameleon]

Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm just being honest.:)

If you live in a really NICE area then those prices might work. However, having gone to many yard sales, I would never pay $5 for dress. I can go to a store and get a brand new dress at an outlet store for that much.

The onsies I would pay that much for them like PP said if the were clean and had no stains. If you have some that have some stains on them, I'd still sell them but maybe put them in another pile and say like 5 for $.25 or something like that.

Not sure I'd pay $10 either for a shirt at a yard sale. But then again that's me.

I'd hang up the nice clothes and put the others folded nicely on a table. Make sure you have everything labled clearly so people don't have to ask how much things are. That's alway a pet peeve and makes me want to leave.

I forgot the most expensive thing I bought. LOL I don't buy expensive things. Probably a huge garbage bag of baby clothes for $5 I'm cheap!

[JaRylan]

The most expensive thing I've ever bought at a garage sale was a car.:D

Have to ask - year, make, model and price?

[chloespurple]

Thanks for the advice/opinions. I have to say this is actually making me sad going through all of Karli's outgrown things. It is going to be harder to say goodbye to all her old clothes than I thought :crying: my baby is growing up sooooooo fast. I wish I could just keep it all forever & ever, but we have no room:rolleyes: .

I have decided to group everything by age (NB, 3mths, 6mths, etc.). And I am going to list on Craigslist too:)


The most expensive thing I've ever bought at a garage sale was a car.
I want to know what kind of car too:D .

[mominabigtruck]

1977 plymouth volare in mint condition for $800. I had just totaled my new truck and needed something while I waited for the insurance company because I had to sue them to get my money. Have to say though, it was a breeze to install carseats in the backseat.