Erase the bids please. Go lower than $0.50.
So it turns out that Michael was right about the candle - we couldn't sell it. But we did give it away. I was really hocking that candle to EVERYONE, but no one was interested. Most people responded with "we're NC State fans" or "we're Duke fans", and some people just looked at me like I was crazy. But then, about 10:00, a cute teenage girl came to the sale and picked up the candle. Immediately I was on the scene. I asked her if she wanted the candle (it was the only item we didn't have a price sticker on). She got really shy, put the candle down, and said she didn't want it. At this point I already knew we weren't going to be able to sell it, so I was hoping that we would be able to give it away. I asked her if she would want it if I gave it to her for free. She looked skeptically at me but said that she would. I told her the only price was that I had to take her picture. This took some coaxing, but she finally relented.
*People are no longer out for good items at a deal. We combined our yard sale with another family, and they were selling a couch and a really nice oak table, and no one was interested in these items - mainly because they were more than $5. I guess people now look for these types of items online instead of in someone's yard. Maryne didn't sell them and said she was going to try Craig's List next.
*The majority of our customers were minorities, mainly Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans (hey, I'm trying to be PC here; please don't be offended). They did not want to pay more than $0.10 for anything.
*Surprisingly, most people did not want to negotiate on our sticker prices. They either paid the sticker price or didn't buy anything at all. I tried to encourage negotiation, but quickly learned that the main deterrent was the fact that we had a language barrier with most of our customers. But I was surprised at how many people did buy things at sticker price.
*Our biggest selling item: baby items. That is why we made so much. I sold little outfits that I got at baby showers that I didn't like but didn't know where to return (don't worry, none of the readers of my blog gave me anything that I tried to sell). We had hats, clothes, socks, shoes, and baby blankets. These things sold like hot cakes. I also sold all the gift bags I had kept from my baby showers. Genius, huh?
*Our second biggest selling item: clothes. Everyone I talked to that had thrown a yard sale before said that clothes don't sell. Some people said not to even put them out, but others said to go ahead and try, but not to hope to really sell any. We sold almost all of the clothes that we put out, and we put out a lot of clothes! I think our two secrets to success on this were the fact that we priced our clothes well ($2.50 or below) and that we hung most of our clothes on a clothes rack that Michael borrowed from work.
See the brownies on the table? This and the clothes were both big sellers.*Our biggest seller to shoppers under 18: brownies. I made 28 and sold all but 2! I sold them for $0.50 a pop, and no one balked at the price. We drastically discounted all our prices at 10:30 to get rid of everything by 11:00, but the price of the brownies stayed firm. It was my premium inventory. And every adult who showed up with a kid I'm sure wants to kill me, because they were greeted with "did you know we have brownies for sale?"! Ha!
*We did not have any "hard core" yard sellers show up at 6:00 am like I was expecting. One guy showed up at like 6:45, walked around, and left. I don't think our ad in the paper really drew anyone in. But I put up 10 neon pink signs around the neighborhood with very specific information on them, and those did draw people in. We had multiple people ask "are you the sale with the pink signs?" or "are you the sale with the baby items?". My advice to all considering this venture in the near future is to have good signs!
See our excellent shade? We spread the items out in categories across the yard. This encouraged more browsing and also drew in more people passing because the sale was on the corner and more visible.Michael and I decided to give out some awards for things relating to the sale. So here they are, our Yardies:
Most Annoying Patron: our Asian-American neighbor who lives down the street. She came down to the yard sale 4 different times and tried to buy everything she saw for $0.10. To make matters worse, she doesn't speak any English, so we had to communicate by writing or signing. Maryne was selling a complete silverware set (very nice) in it's original wooden crate. This lady took out 3 spoons from the box and tried to buy them from Maryne for $0.10. She did eventually purchase a few things, but she was such a pest, we just wanted her to LEAVE!!!
Best Patron: This lady who bought like $25 worth of merchandise from both Maryne and us. She was very complimentary of our sale and said it was the most organized and best priced sale she had been to. Thanks lady, but you're not getting a discount on that bedspread you want to buy! Actually, she complimented our sale after she had purchased everything. Now that I think about it, maybe she stole something on the way back to her car...
Cutest Sale: The mailman came up to me with $0.50 in his hand and said he wanted to buy a brownie. He said it very sheepishly, took his brownie, then got back in his truck and drove away. How cute is that?!
Item We Didn't Think Would Sell That Did: Michael's bathing suit. We sold it for $0.50. Michael didn't care that I had washed it, he still thought it was weird that someone bought it.
Item We Thought Would Sell That Didn't: I had this really nice dish set from college that was reasonably priced ($12 for 4 bowls, dinner plates, and dessert plates - still in excellent condition). Someone bought just the bowls.
Stupidest Thing Michael Said: We were selling a little boy's bike we had inherited from someone. It was in great condition but the tires needed to be inflated a little. We had a price sticker on it for $20, but you could tell the couple looking at it did not want to pay that price. Michael comes up to them and says "we'll sell it to you for $10...$15!". I say "idiot!" to him right then and there. Luckily, the couple didn't speak very good English and we ended up selling the bike to them for $15. I told Michael he wasn't allowed to approach our customers anymore.
Stupidest Thing Shelley Said: We were trying to sell this little "baby shower" that came with Shaelyn's baby bathtub. Shaelyn hated it and it's more trouble than it's worth. This lady was looking at it and I was trying to explain it to her. I was holding Shaelyn at the time, and I remember thinking "I bet she's wondering why I'm trying to sell this while I still have a baby. She probably thinks it's broken". So to reassure her, I said "it works great, it's just that my baby didn't like it". Needless to say, she didn't buy it. Idiot!
Most expensive item sold: the little boy's bike for $15.
Least expensive item sold: $0.10 for a glass vase.
Most insulting offer: It wasn't to us, it was to Maryne. She was trying to sell a solid oak dining table in EXCELLENT condition for $100. This guy came up to her and offered her $5 for it. She laughed in his face and said the sticker on it was $100. He said, "ok, $10". She walked away from him.
The lovely ladies of the yard sale (that's Maryne with me and Shaelyn).It's been so hot here lately, but it was pretty cool the morning of our sale, and we had great shade on our entire lawn until about 9:30. We estimated that we had between 100 and 120 people come to shop our sale. All in all, we felt that it was pretty successful and worth the work we put into it (total cost on our part: $20 for the ad in the paper, $5 for signs and price stickers, $11 for the brownie mix). We would do it again, but maybe next time we will have some interpreters on staff!
