Advertising a Garage Sale

Last week, I told you all about planning a garage sale, from gathering everything to getting it ready to hit the tables on the big sale day.  Today I’m going to share a little about advertising.

To be honest, I don’t have that much to say because I haven’t held the sale yet, so who knows if my advertising will work.  Here are some various advertising routes to use to get people to your sale.

• Craigslist – Post an ad on Craigslist with the date, time, location, directions, and a list of things you will be selling.  Don’t be afraid to be detailed and even list prices for some things if you think it will draw more people in.  Because our sale is going to be so large, I decided a long list of the different types of items we will be selling would draw people in.  Our ad looks like this (the location has been removed):

When: June 19-20
Time: 9am – 5pm Saturday the 19th  &  9am – 2pm Sunday the 20th
What: Multi-family garage sale
Where: ——-

Directions: —— Signs will be posted.

Items Being Sold (and more):
-Children’s books
-Teenage books
-Adult books
-Stuffed animals, beanie babies, dolls
-Other miscellaneous toys
-Puzzles
-Misc. jewelry, makeup kit (unused)
-Men’s/Women’s/Maternity/Juniors clothing (mostly current within the last couple years)
-Shoes
-Purses, backpacks, other bags
-CDs
-Walkman CD Players
-Headphones
-MP3 Player (barely used)
-Misc. electronics
-Home Decor for both children and adults (art, bedding, decorative pillows, lamps, storage containers, shelving systems, etc.)
-Kitchen accessories, dishes, glasses
-And more!

We hope to see you there!

Because Craigslist ads are free, feel free to say as much or as little as you want.  Keep in mind that your search will come up more often if you list detailed items like I did because not everyone will be searching for garage sales.  They may search for a particular item that you have listed and show up at the sale to see if it is still available.  Also, provide your email anonymously just in case there was a detail you missed that people might need to contact you about.  And be sure to post the ad a week before and then every couple of days so it doesn’t get buried under other people’s posts.

• Newspaper – Not everyone looks at advertisements online, so make sure to run a small ad in your local newspaper.  We are running ours the day before the sale and the first day of the sale.  You could run it a week before if you’d like or just the day of.  It’s up to you, but the more access people have to your ad, the more likely you will have people showing up.  I’d say if you are having a gigantic sale, the more days you can run the ad the better and it will help justify the payment for the ad.  If you are having a small sale, consider only advertising it the day before since you may not get that much money to justify paying for the ad.
• Other Online Listings – There are many listings made just for advertising garage sales.  Keep in mind that not all of them are free.  I personally wouldn’t bother advertising on any you have to pay for since garage sales aren’t places where people make a ton of money.  Check out some free ones: Yard Sale Search, Garage Sale Hunter, Yard Sale Portal, Yard Hopper, Garage Sale Source, and Garage Sale Daily.  There are plenty more that are only a Google search away.
• Local Store Ads – If you’d like, you can print out simple signs and post them on bulletin boards in your neighborhood.  We didn’t go that far, but it certainly is a way to gain more attention.
• Word of Mouth – Tell all your friends and family about the sale.  Tell your coworkers.  Tell strangers as you wait in line at the grocery store!  Seriously, as much as you can get the word out, the better.  People might think you are crazy, but I know I would be tempted to go if someone started to tell me about how great their sale was going to be.  Just don’t get too crazy and scare people away.
• Road Signs – This is probably the most important.  If you don’t do anything else, make sure you at least post signs leading to the sale from main roads the night before or the morning of the sale.  You can make your own signs, but make sure they are large enough and flashy enough for people to spot easily and read from a distance, but not so flashy that people are distracted by them.  We bought smaller garage sale signs from Target with a spot to add the address and then one larger one (about 2 feet by 3 feet) one from Walmart to display on a major highway to catch lots of attention.  Make sure the signs can stand up to the elements (rain, wind, snow, etc.) because these are the most important way to get people to your sale.  Remember, even people who were already planning on going to the sale will rely on the signs and will not come if they find the directions to confusing, but the signs will also bring in lots of people just passing by who decided to make a quick pit stop.

Happy advertising!  Good luck!  If you have any questions or other suggestions, shout them out in the comment section.