Learned From Our First Craigslist Yard Sales Disaster Lessons Learned From Our First Craigslist Yard Sales Disaster

FIRST CRAIGSLIST YARD SALES DISASTER

There are many reasons to have craigslist yard sales, from organizing to getting rid of your clutter. Plus it’s a great way to make friends with your neighbors when they stop by to see what bargains they can find. The more your prepared the smoother things will go – lessons learned from our first yard sale disaster!

SOME THINGS WE WILL DO BETTER OUR NEXT YARD SALE

Get the word out – Putting a sign out at the last-minute just is not enough. We should have advertised in our local paper for people specifically looking for Sales. Also, we waited until the last minute to put on craigslist. Not to mention more signs in our neighborhood and flyers around town at the hot spots like gas stations, restaurants & convenience stores!

Buy instead of making a Yard Sale Kit.

Have Enough Small Bills & Change – We had enough change that seems to pile up, but did not think about having enough small bill for our customers. I would suggest minimum $75-$100 cash bank. We did do one thing right and had only one person handle the money and used a money belt pouch. That way all sales went through one person (who made a record), and we did not have to worry about keeping track of a money-box while helping other guests!

#1 Operational Checks – All items need power and we could have made things easier for all of us. Next time we are going to have all powered items on one table if possible, near a power source or extension cord within reach. Just to save a little time and hassle looking for the juice.

#2 Advertise Sooner – Get the word out at least a week before with newspapers, signs, and sites like Craigslist, Backpage, local flyers.

#3 Display & Tags – Another thing we will do better next time, would be to think more like we do when we go to the store. Have similar items organized and grouped together like a household, camping, yard equipment & tools etc Plus have sale items clearly price marked – and be ready to bargain to make the deal.

#4 Bargaining Rules – This sounds kind of trivial, but if you have more than one person making the sales, everyone needs to know how low they can come down from the original tag price. Which boils down to how much do you need the money now! In our experience having one person handle the money/record keeping and another do all the bargaining worked out well.

Craigslist Yard Sales

Just a few things to add – do not be afraid to talk with your guests about what they are looking for – so you can get a feel for what people want in a Yard Sale. My girls even sold a few items they did not have on display, things they did nit want anymore. Next time the girls have decided to have music and refreshments – maybe even open that Lemonade Stand they have been talking about.

Do you have any ideas or experiences with Craigslist Yard Sales? Go Steemit Fans!