Garage sale success hinges on planning and pricing, say deal hunters

Candy Ingram was hooked on garage sales from the first time her parents dragged her along to one.

"I was 20 or 21, with my mom, and I put my hand in a box of jewelry and pulled out a gold ring, so all that got me going," said the Winnipeg woman, who now goes to garage sales weekly and has hosted several.

In the decades since she struck gold, she's learned it takes much more than a box of jewelry to make a garage sale a hit.

Success hinges on planning and pricing — processes she thinks should begin almost as soon as the urge to declutter or earn some extra cash through a garage sale strikes.

"Make yourself three piles: give away, keep, and then, of course, your garbage pile," Ingram said. Whatever doesn't fit in any of those can be ideal for a garage sale — with some caveats.

Legal responsibilty

Health Canada says anyone hosting a garage sale is legally responsible to ensure products sold, whether new or used, meet safety standards.

That means no selling baby walkers, which were banned in April 2004, cribs made before 1986 or protective sports equipment, like helmets, more than five years old or without a CSA International safety sticker.

Baby gates, car seats, strollers, playpens, toys, kids' clothes with drawstrings and jewelry also come with Health Canada requirements for anyone selling them or even giving them away.

If an item can be sold, the seller should check to see whether it is working, has all of its parts or has any damage, said Jeremy Gruman, one of the organizers of the Great Grandview Garage Sale in Vancouver. Sometimes you can sell items missing a piece or in need of repair, but it should be disclosed to the buyer.

Assessing what you want to sell should begin long before your sale, so you know the state of what you have to offer, but also so you can start "the emotional work of detaching yourself from these things," Gruman said.

"The sooner you start thinking about the stuff you want to get rid of, the better," Gruman said.

"I'm a total pack rat and I often realize I don't need this ... and I can put this on the front lawn next weekend and hopefully sell it for $5 and then not have this clutter in my home and in my life."

Once you've got your haul together, check what laws your municipality has around garage sales. Some cities have a limit on the number you can host annually or require you to get a permit.

If you're able to proceed, pick a date that isn't a long weekend or holiday, Ingram said. Saturdays and Sundays in spring or fall work best, though Fridays are gaining in popularity, she said.

When a date is selected, you can start advertising. Share details about your sale on Facebook or other online spaces and make signs you can put up in your neighbourhood.

"Have the address big and clear," said Patricia Sawicki, another Winnipeg-area garage sale hopper.

"Somebody's not going to get out of their car to go read your sign and write down your address, but if they can see it from their car clearly while they're driving, they're more likely to go."

Think about your pricing, too. For some people, that means checking out what items are going for on online marketplaces or at thrift stores.

Don't expect to be able to sell items for as much as a retailer would new.

"I have seen a lot of garage sales fail," Sawicki said. "If something was $40 at Walmart, they had it for $30. That's not the point of garage saling."

Once an item leaves a store, it drops in value by 30 per cent, Ingram said. Knock another 30 to 50 per cent off to arrive at a garage sale price, she suggested. If the item is showing signs of wear or is dented or missing a part, reduce it even further.

No matter what you price things at, expect people to scoff and haggle.

"People are picky and most of us want something for nothing," she said.

That attitude can lead some people who visited the sale in the morning to circle back at the end of the day, hoping to pick something up dirt cheap because you don't want to haul it inside again.

While the potential buyer's logic is sound, Ingram said sellers then have to decide how desperate they are to have an item off their hands for far less cash than they expected to get.

If you want to get a fair price, Ingram said, "you do have to learn to bite your tongue."