Important Rules For Tag Sales, Garage Sales, Yard Sales etc.

Depending on your geographical location, these sales are known by different names. Whatever you want to call them, what it boils down to, is people take their junk that they don't want and put it outside their house and try to sell it.
Then, people like me buy their junk.

Some people put a lot of effort into their sales. They plan, they advertise, they put up signs with addresses, times and dates and arrows pointing directions. They actually clean the items they are selling and put prices on them. Some collaborate with their neighbors and have their sales on the same day. These people obviously read the book on how to have a successful tag sale. Some of them didn't read the whole book though. Some skipped the important chapters like, a) Setting fair and realistic prices. b) Always be willing to negotiate. And c) Taking your signs down after your sale.

Let me elaborate. If you are having a tag sale, you must understand that what you are selling is essentially junk. You are selling it because you don't want it anymore. Yes, at one time it was valuable (to you) It may have been a gift, you may have spent good money on it, it might even hold some sentimental value. But, you are not Macy's. You cannot expect to get what you paid for it, or what someone else might have paid for it. People go to tag sales expecting a deal. If you set your prices too high, they will not buy your stuff.

Part of the fun of going to tag sales is Bargaining. If someone offers you less than what you are asking for an item, you should seriously consider their offer, or at least come back with a counter-offer. Otherwise, you may end up not selling it at all, and at the end of the day you will be hauling it back inside your house or to the Salvation Army. Something is better than nothing.

Finally, having a tag sale is a lot of work. At the end of the day, after your last customer has left and your sale is over, your work isn't finished until you get in your car and drive around and take down all those signs that you so carefully put up. There are few things as aggravating as following signs for miles around unfamiliar neighborhoods looking for a tag sale that was held three weeks ago. It is my opinion that if you are too lazy to do this, you should be ticketed for littering.