Garage sales can be an easy and quick way to make money from items you no longer want or need. Embracing tech can make them even more successful.
People hold garage sales for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to get extra cash when times are tough, get ready for a big move, or say goodbye to things owned by friends or family members who have passed on. In many ways, garage sales are great for the environment — in that they reduce waste and encourage reuse — and a way for many people to own products at a fraction of their brand-new price. While the traditional way of doing garage or yard sales meant laying out stuff in your garage or front yard and letting the neighbors have a look, there are plenty of things you can do to make your garage sale more fun and easy to manage.
By making the garage sale experience more fun, people will be more likely to buy from you and share your sale details with their friends and family. Aside from playing some music, being pleasant, and offering free refreshments, you can also use technology to significantly enhance the garage sale experience. From organizing your items for sale, pricing your items, and managing payments to promoting your sale, here are some tips that you can follow to give your garage sale a modern twist.Create a home inventory
Before you can jump into the garage sale itself, the first and arguably most important thing you can do is conduct a proper home inventory. After all, you don’t want to go through all the effort of planning, organizing, and promoting your garage sale when there are barely any items listed. Previously, this meant going through each room with a box, pen, and paper on hand. However, these days, there are a variety of home inventory apps that you can use to get started.
When doing a home inventory, you can go room by room to document things that you own and want to get rid of, taking care to note things like damage, repeated items, or expiration dates. Once you have this information, you can better decide what items are for keeping, repairing, selling, donating, recycling, or throwing in the trash. Afterward, you can sort them into boxes and start preparing them for their new owners (or the landfill).
If you’re half-hearted about letting go of some items, like clothes, you can use tools like Google Lens to try out new styles before deciding to let them go. On the other hand, if you have a mountain of unwanted devices, you can also explore ways to repurpose or recycle your old tech. Some charities work to recycle tech products properly and use the value created for their good works.How to price your items
Pricing your items can be tricky, especially if they are items that you did not buy yourself or have had in storage for years. While people don’t expect to shell out a lot of money during garage sales, it’s still okay to set a price and expect some haggling. Thankfully, there are now several online tools to track prices, and that help you find out how much your items are worth when they’re new. So, you can work backward to estimate how much it can be worth secondhand in its current condition. On the other hand, you can also check the prices for similar items on eBay or from other online retailers who offer secondhand goods.
When it comes to vintage items, it can be challenging to know their actual value unless you have specialized knowledge in the field. If you plan to sell antique furniture, jewelry, fine art, or luxury goods, you can use appraisal websites like ValueMyStuff, Iegor, or MutualArt. Depending on the appraiser, they might charge a small fee or even do it for free.
When pricing your items, you can take inspiration from your local retailers.
