Rummage Sale Tips

I got to thinking that some of you may be interested in hearing some of our tried and true tips for pulling of a great multi-family rummage sale each year. So, here you go – boy, I should probably be charging you for this, right? Ha ha.

1. Consider combining all of your funds into one pot of money. That way you don’t have to worry about keep track of who’s item sells for what amount. This saves us a ton of time preparing for the rummage and the day off the actual sale.
2. We set up a table for each style of clothing – men, women, teen boy, teen girl. Anything on the table is sold at one set price. Any clothes that we feel are worth more are hung up and priced individually. We have never run into a situation where this is confusing for people. In fact, I think we actually sell more clothes than we would if we did it the other way.
3. We do individually price all miscellaneous stuff, except for books, movies and shoes. Those groups of items are all sold at the same price.
4. Placement of the stuff is very important. We always put our most exciting stuff out front to help lure the crowd in. Now, I understand that this is all subjective to our opinions on what is good stuff, but it seems to work. For some reason, our boxes of books seem to be a big draw. Along with the neatly organized clothing on racks. Last, I recommend putting like miscellaneous stuff on each table. Holiday all together, kitchen stuff all together, etc. Makes it easier.
5. Have a radio playing in the background and make sure you give your customers plenty of uninterrupted time to look. I think people get anxious if they feel that you are watching or listening to their every move as they dig through your stuff. The background music helps with this. Plus, there is usually 2 or more of us working at a time, so we tend to be spending our time visiting.
6. Don’t bother paying for an ad. If your local paper allows for free online advertising – take advantage of that. Plus, try using Craig’s list. We did this last year & were surprised to learn that most people found us this way. Sure great to save the $12 bucks on the ad!
7. Let your neighbors know when your sale is going to be. They don’t even need to advertise as your signs and ads will draw people right there. People tend to stop more when they see multiple sales going on one street.
8. Last, be creative with your signs. Last year, we spent some time and money in making some pretty fantastical signs. We kept the information generic enough that they could be used each year. This year, we are even going to try to put some colorful fringe on the bottom to help get attention. Use a lot of signs pointing people directly to your sale. You will be amazed by the amount of traffic this generates.
9. Last – ok, I know I said the other one was last, but I remembered another tip – have fun. Yes, rummages are work, but there is no reason why they can’t be fun. Even when it rains :)!