A New Way to Have a Yard Sale

So, I recently discovered a new way to have a yard sale, without knocking myself out trying to get little price stickers on every piece, getting up really early in the morning for one or more mornings to actually be at the sale, and feeling dead at the end of it.  On facebook, if you do a search, you will probably find some groups such as what we have here in my town of Bay Minette.  We have a couple:  Bay Minette Buy, Sale & Trade, and Bay Minette Online Yard Sale.  They are closed groups, which simply means that you have to ask to join in, and the administrator sometimes monitors what is actually posted, just to keep it clean and with appropriate posts.  There are other local pages for services, events, etc.  So, these are just for buying, selling and trading things.  It's SO much easier to do a few items at a time, and you can generally:

• Reach more people than would EVER show up at your house for a yard sale. Our two local pages have over 2000 individuals as "members"...
• Get more for your items that are in clean and perfect condition than you would be able to ask at the traditional yard sale...
• NOT have to get up early and then pack up all that did not sale...

I simply take pics of each item as time allows during my day.  I then take a couple of minutes to post them on the sites and then watch my posts for updates and messages.

I usually indicate in each post that I can meet at "the Bay Minette Wal-mart parking lot near the main entrance", or wherever works out to be convenient for both parties once we start our conversation about said item(s).  Since the whole idea is to de-clutter my house and make a little cash to be able to buy more clutter, but not actually spend anything, I always make my meeting trips coincide with a trip that was already planned.

I have made new friends this way!  Is that not incredible?  

And, if you are a dealer, or blogger with an online shop like me, this is a good venue for "picking" as well!  You will see antiques and vintage things listed from time to time.

Here is an example of what I posted this morning...

The description was something like, "original acrylic painting (by me) of girly fish on canvas, framed in off white wood frame.  Size is........, Price is $30"  "Table cloth size is ......., perfect condition, used once at baby shower for cake table, Price is $10."

Now, I'll just wait and see what happens.  

It's become such a thing in our area that it isn't unusual to pull up and see someone else waiting for their "buyer" in the same parking area!  Yesterday, one of my buyers mentioned that there was another car that looked like they were waiting for someone.  It turned out that they passed children from one car to the other...I hope they didn't yard sale the kids!

Don't Yard Sale the Kids!!!

What do I do with things that don't sell?  I mark them down.  If that doesn't prompt a sale, then I just donate it to our local non-profit thrift store and they give us a receipt to use for a tax deduction.  It's all about doing whatever thrifty things I can to help out.  My hubby works hard so that I don't have to, and this is one of my little ways to help with the family budget...

Check your facebook for a local similar page, and if there is not one, maybe it's something you might want to start!  Let me know what you think...

Judy