Yard Sale...flop

We had our first yard sale Saturday. This was my first time to have a yard sale, so I was excited. I set up the yard sale in our condo unit, we have about 26 tenants. I put up fliers by the mailboxes letting tenants know when, where, and what time the yard sale would be, I sent out a group email to everyone, put ads on Craigslist and made signs to put throughout the neighborhood.

The weather forecast was calling for scattered showers; in the South that can mean anything. Friday night we had thunderstorms, hoping it would be gone by morning. When we woke up at 7am it was cloudy, but the ground was dry, yeah! We went to put the signs up in the neighborhood and got back around 7:45am and the "early birds" were already here. The other two tenants were setting up... that is right, only two other tenants participated in our "Condo-Wide" yard sale (Not the turnout I was hoping for).

Although we have never had a yard sale, I would say the turnout was very good. We had a lot of people stop by, but not a whole lot of buyers. The first 2 hours it rained off and on every time people would come, we couldn't believe it. All in all, we made about $50.

Things I learned about yard sales:
1. Price tags don't work well. We had price tags on everything the first hour. People would browse but never buy. TJ suggested we take them off, which I think helped. But brings me to my second lesson...
2. People don't bargain as much I thought they would. Isn't that what yard sales are about; getting a great find at a bargain. When people walked up we told them all prices are negotiable. But people still wouldn't bargain. We go to Scott's Antique Market and bargain, why not bargain at a yard sale. (If you love shop antiques and interesting finds, I highly recommend a weekend at Scott's if you have never been) If people did bargain, it was ridiculously low. Which brings me to my next lesson...
3. You are there to sell your items, so sell them, for whatever cost. TJ kept reminding me of that. The items you put in a yard sale have lived a good life with you and you have no use for them now, so say your good-bye, and let it be a good buy of someone else.
4. Things that seemed to sell well are kitchen items, jewelry, electronics, dvds, & some books; all things we didn't have, but our neighbors did. Things that didn't sell well, decorative items. (If you have a need for some, let me know!)
5. In the end, you really want to get rid of everything. It was 2 o'clock, the end of the yard sale and a mother and daughter walked up. I told them that everything left was a dollar. She bought 3 things. I had about 8 picture frames there and didn't want to pack them up, so I said $2 for all the picture frames, she said ok! So we packed them up for her. As they were walking away there was a silver dish left and I handed to the little girl and told her to enjoy.

I honestly would enjoy giving all the things I don't need anymore away, knowing that the recipient would enjoy it!

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