It's springtime again and soon yard and garage sales will be springing up across the land. Some of the best prices on items can only be found at yard sales, and many people devote their weekends to searching and rummaging through other people's stuff on lawns and in garages. Here are some quick tips to make your yard sale experience more rewarding and profitable.
Search The Net
Check Craig's List and any local neighborhood newsletters as well as the newspaper The Internet is a wonderful resource to find out when yard sales are happening around your neighborhood. One of the best websites is craigslist; in its "for sale" directory is the "garage sale" link you'll want to check often in your city. Of course it's also worthwhile to read over any local neighborhood newsletters for yard sale notices, as well as the larger newspapers.
Find Out About The Annual Yard Sales
Find out when the annual neighborhood yard sales are happening, especially in the better areas of your town or city. Many neighborhoods will choose one day or weekend during the summer to have a large yard sale made up of many residents in the area. These are some of the best yard sales to visit, since you save a great deal of travelling time not having to walk far from one sale to another. Find out the more prosperous areas of your city and when they have their annual yard sale. In one city I lived in, one of the richest areas of towns would have a yearly neighborhood yard sale and I bought some great items there at even better prices. Rich people get tired of stuff fast, it seems.
Bring Necessities
If making a day of going to yard sales, remember to bring: extra bags, a hat & sunscreen, wear comfortable shoes & clothing, bring water & snacks. If you don't have a car, set aside some taxi money if you buy something large and heavy that needs to be hauled home. If you have a car, bring rope and/or bungee cords in case you need to tie a large purchase down. Also in your car bring some cardboard boxes to put small items in so they won't roll around, and some newspaper in which to wrap glassware or anything otherwise fragile.
Bring Some Small Change and Bills
It's a bit embarrassing when you haggle an item down to a dollar or two and then you pull out a twenty to pay for it.
Show Up on Time
Don't show up early. Many yard sale enthusiasts think they'll get the jump on the best items at a yard sale if they show up before the stated opening time. Don't do this! More often than not the person running the yard sale will still be setting up for the day, and will be annoyed with you for arriving early. It's hard haggling for a good price with someone who is upset with you.
That being said, to get the best items, arrive at the yard sale at the time stated on the notice or advertisement. Even if people are still setting up for the sale, they won't be upset and will let you look through the goods as they put them out.
Get It Now
If you want to buy an item but still want to look around, don't come back to the item later, grab it now. This may sound like a very obvious tip, but I've missed out on good stuff by thinking they'd still be out for sale while I looked through other yard sale goods. If you see something that you're even considering, grab it! Look through other items and if at the end of your browsing you have a few items you'd like to buy, haggle with the person running the yard sale for a bulk price for the lot.
If you're interested in something large that you can't carry, it's best to make a purchasing decision right then and there. Asking someone to "hold" an item for you at a yard sale and then changing your mind is bad form.
Known When To Bargain
Sometimes the price on individual items is so good you don't need to haggle. Respectful haggling will save you a lot of money, but yard sales as we all know can often be wildly different in their prices. At some yard sales the owner overprices items in expectation of haggling. On the other hand, at other yard sales the prices are so low it can be insulting to ask for a lower price. Look over a few items to get an idea of a yard sales pricing. If you legitimately think the prices are too high, haggle. And even if the prices are already very low, it never hurts to haggle on a bulk price for a bunch of stuff you're buying. For example, when I'm buying a few books for a quarter or less at a yard sale I rarely haggle, since the price is already so good. But if I'm buying a lot of those books, I won't haggle the quarter price but I will ask for a "wholesale" price on a box of books.
