Host to Host a Community Yard Sale
By Clare Miers
Getting the entire neighborhood together for a yard sale increases chances of off-loading many old household items, clothing, and knickknacks.
Ava Seavey, author of Ava’s Guide to Garage Sale Gold, says a well-organized community sale can attract many more buyers as opposed to a solo sale. Be sure to check your homeowner’s association policy for rules and to see if permits are needed.
After setting a date and time, Seavey suggests sending emails to family and friends with photos of hot-ticket items, as well as creating buzz on social media sites, community newsletters, and Websites like craigslist.com.
“Advertising in local papers and great signage are imperative,” Seavey says. “The marketing of the sale is what makes a potential good turnout a great turnout.”
Making the sale a ‘big hit’
Ready to liquidate? Here are a few tidbits for making the community sale unique and profitable:
- Avoid sales on holidays, big sporting event dates, or near the end of the month — people tend to spend more freely after paydays on the 1st and 15th of the month.
- Contribute to the profits by having raffles that benefit the community.
- If you don’t have a lot of lawn or garage space for your sale, Seavey suggests contacting your city offices to ask about using common town spaces that have heavy traffic. This may attract more spur-of-the-moment shoppers.
- Label everything well. It frustrates shoppers to ask for prices and puts the customer on the spot.
- Play music at your event to make the sale enjoyable.
Map the route
If your sale is spread throughout an entire neighborhood, be sure each sale location has a map on poster board or a flyer to show where all the other homes involved in the sale are located. List the highlights of each sale too. For example, locate lemonade stands, where hardware tools are plentiful, or which sales have the best vintage clothing selection.