A weekend-long tag sale (estate sale, garage sale, yard sale or whatever you’re having) can seem long and stressful at times. To make things easier, it’s always a good idea to recruit some friends, then you can reciprocate when they have sales. A project such as this requires all hands on and here are some helpful tips you can keep in mind so you’re prepared to have things run as smooth as possible for you and your customers.
1. Have enough hands to help out. You’ll need a few people who are strong if you have heavy items to be lifted into a truck or van. While it’s the shopper’s responsibility to come prepared, any help you can provide certainly won’t go unnoticed.
2. Have some tools around if you’re selling bikes or furniture that would require some minor break-down for them to fit in the customers’ cars. For example, if you’re selling a couple bikes, it’s probably a good idea to keep a wrench or pliers handy to remove a tire so the buyer can fit it in their vehicle. Also, some furniture or even BBQ’s might come a part so it’s best if you know how to prepare it for transit. Other tools might include a magnifying glass, especially if you are selling coins or stamps at your sale. Not everyone remembers to bring this stuff but if you have it handy you might help yourself in the sale.
3. Try to knowledgeable of your items, most of it is common sense, but if you have people who are flipping through old vinyl records, comic books or another collection of sorts, it’s best if you know a bit about what you have as well. You can show you know something about what you’re selling.
4. Keep track of what you sell; You don’t want your customers to come back an hour or two later and say that what you sold them requires another piece for assembly or is missing a part. If you know your inventory, you can disclose it at the time of the transaction so there are no questions or people coming back and saying the item does not work.
5. Make sure your team that is helping you is all on the same page. You should all have a price sheet and check things off as you go along, communicate frequently to update each other. Have one checkout area near where people enter into the sale so you see what they take out. This is especially effective and efficient for big sales or church sales.
6. Make sure you can handle the traffic. If you’re expecting a lot of people, keep your sale area clean and clutter free. You don’t want any injuries from people falling over things or each other.
A little common sense goes a long way, and with that, your sale should run smoother and be more profitable.
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