By April Amadon/amadona@gnnewspaper.com
Fifty cents for an old baseball jersey, 10 cents each for a set of plates.
Just because some of the items sold at garage sales seem cheap doesn’t mean holding a sale isn’t a profitable venture.
On Thursday, the first day of their garage sale, Dion and Julie Pender of Lincoln Avenue Extension took in almost $1,300.
It was the biggest one-day haul ever for the couple, who hold garage sales every year.
This year, the Penders were moving, so they had a lot to get rid of.
“We had some more bigger-ticket things,” Dion said. “We had a couch and a loveseat, a computer desk, we got rid of that.”
As the weather gets warmer and people are doing their annual spring cleaning, garage sale season is just beginning.
The Web site www.about.com advises anyone planning a garage sale to start early, as much as a month in advance, going through closets, setting aside anything sellable and saving grocery bags.
Proper signage is always important. The Penders put up neon yellow signs around surrounding neighborhoods, with big black letters that were visible to drivers.
Rita Lasal, who set up a sale in her Rapids Road garage on Friday, said advertising in the classifieds helps.
There’s no real science to pricing items, other than to keep in mind that buyers like to haggle.
“It’s amazing how much people will try to bump you down on stuff,” Dion said. “If you really want $20 for something, you might want to put $22 on it.”
Thursdays and Fridays are the best days, Julie said. Though they planned for the whole weekend, most of their best stuff was gone by Friday morning.
Lasal said one key is to make sure the sale looks inviting.
“I have good stuff. Clean stuff,” she said. “And I organize it.”
The Penders agreed that everything should be clean.
“Well-organized, well-marked, and up on things, not on the ground,” Julie said. “(Customers) don’t want to look on the ground.”
Customers also respond better when things are out in the open, rather than throwing a bunch of things in a bin and expecting customers to rifle through to find items.
“(Thursday), we had stuffed animals, and put them in big cardboard boxes, and nothing sold,” Julie said.
Once they put the stuffed animals on a blanket, she said, they were sold out by Friday afternoon.
It’s all about making the sale easiest on the customer, Dion said.
“If there is a toy or something that we’re selling that needs some explanation, we’ve got a large 8-by-10 sign explaining what it does,” he said. “People don’t like to be watched or hounded.”
For selling clothes, it’s best to make it as much like shopping in a store as possible.
“When we sold clothes in the past, we’ve had it hanging up, and had it categorized by size,” Dion said. “It just made it easier for the people to go through.”
Lasal said she tries to organize her items in the same way.
“I set it up the same every year. I do the boys clothes, and I start with the smallest and work them up the table,” Laval said. “I try to keep the kids stuff on one side and the household on the other.”
High-ticket items like furniture, and bigger items, should be placed out in the open and not hidden in the garage, Dion said. That way, drivers get a preview of what’s for sale before they park their cars.
The Penders said it also helps to know your customer. Because they say the bulk of their customers are mothers or grandmothers, children’s toys are always a big seller.
Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.
