Garage sales are fun and easy when you make money, but they can be a hassle if you don’t know where to start or how to plan your sale. Use this simple guide to learn how to hang clothes at a garage sale, appropriately price your items, and even how to attract more customers to your sale. There is a lot of work and planning that goes into hosting a garage sale and this will help you avoid any mishaps and cut down the time you spend planning.

Utilize Your Garage Door
If you don’t have the funds to invest in a clothing rack, you can use the one available right in your home: the garage door. Garage doors often have a metal line or wire following across the bottom. You can use this wire as a secure line to hang your clothing. This ensures they will have a sturdy place to hang at an eye-level and will be located where customers can see and access them. Garage doors are also very wide, allowing you to hang up a large variety of clothing spanning across its entire width. Don’t just let the garage door go ignored; put it to good use during your sale. Alternatively, if you don’t wish to use the garage door as a clothing rack, you can set out a table and fold articles of clothing into neat squares for a pleasing display.

Separate By Categories

Your customers might grow frustrated if they can’t find items they are looking for or if they spend too much time digging through a mix of items. Boost your sales by separating clothing by categories and hanging them in different areas with labels. You can separate clothing by age group and gender and then type of article of clothing such as pants, tops, and skirts. This will help your customers easily browse your neatly organized sale and discover items they are interested in buying. Plus, organization lets your customers know you put effort into your sale and value their time.

Organize By Color
If you have ever visited a thrift shop, you will remember that they organize their clothing and merchandise by color in rainbow order. Once you have separated clothing by age group, you can organize each category by color so that customers can browse using their favorite colors in mind. Not only this, but it will give your garage sale a uniquely colorful aesthetic appeal that potential customers can spot while they are driving past in their cars. Rainbow colored organization also gives off the idea that you have a large selection of items available for customers to pick and choose from.

Price Items Honestly
One of the hardest aspects of garage sales is pricing items appropriately. Often times, owners will price their items too high, cutting down on sales and profits. No one wants to buy from a garage sale where used items are priced the same as new items found in stores. Check out our garage sale pricing guide to learn some strategies for pricing used items. Try to keep items with the same price organized into clusters so that customers can browse according to their budget. Overall, keep in mind you should price your items in an honest manner. Only give them prices that you would pay for yourself.

Offer Deals
Customers flock to garage sales because they know they can always find a good deal on clothing and used items. Post up signs around your garage sale that encourage customers to buy multiple items in exchange for discounts and deals. Don’t be afraid to allow customers to bargain with you. Being stingy will minimize how many sales you make, minimizing your profits. After all, items you don’t sell won’t be giving you any profits.

Minimize Junk
Customers want to go to garage sales that have a lot of cool items and clothing. They’ll often ditch a garage sale if they notice it’s mostly junk that has no use anymore, even if there are good items sprinkled around the sale. You want to show customers your garage sale doesn’t have any junk so minimize the number of items that can no longer be used. Throw away broken appliances and electronics as well as any shirts with permanent stains or holes.

Don’t Limit Your Advertising
Most garage sale vendors advertise their sale by placing signs around the local neighborhood. This is a great method but it is very limiting. You can draw in a larger amount of customers by advertising in the local newspaper or post an ad on craigslist. Don’t forget to include pictures of the great items you will have for sale.