Have you sold your stuff for your snowball?

[sabrelvssammy]

if you live in a neighborhood or on a street with alot of houses try to get the whole block involved in a 'street-wide' yard sale.... i started one in my new neighborhood last year (i was the new neighbor) and i picked a date, made a flyer and then went around and told all the neighbors about it...they were delighted...about half of my street participated (about 8 families) and other families told me they would have if it had been another date... you can't please everyone so if just a few jump on board for the date you picked all the merrier...

in fact, i just got done handing out my flyers today for our 'May' sale...and i already have the street a-buzz.....i have found the earlier in the year you have the sales the better the turn-outs because everyone is house-bound and ready to hit some good sales...towards the end of summer you get people burned-out... the only problem with spring is the weather...so be prepared to have an alternate rain-date or just take a chance and tough it out....but don't try to have a sale in bad weather...they won't come...and you can't properly display your items anyway unless they are under cover...and you want to drag you 'stuff' as far out as possible so people notice it and stop....

try to get a few families to go in with you at your sale...don't try to do it alone..especially with kids in tow....having the 'salers' there driving you nuts will be more than you can handle as it is... take turns working the sale, watching each others kids, checking out your neighbors sales...haha.... and make sure you give people PLENTY of notice as to when you want to have the sale (months) so they can start cleaning out their closets, garages, basements, etc.... we all know that can take forever....

good luck and i know you will do well coz every year it seems like it gets better and better as more people abandon the retail stores and go 'thrift'...

[jas]

Have a yard sale for sure! I usually have at least one a year. Most of the stuff I origianlly baught at a yard sale to begin with. Then when I am done with it I sell it.

Don't be too high priced with your items, some people price things way to high you could almost buy them new in the store.

Good luck!

[Cricketlegs]

I should add about e-bay if you make more than $500.00 you can only pull out $500.00 a month. This is through pay pal.

Also, by law you have to pay taxes on ebay income and if you are in a state like Texas you have to have a sales tax licence and collect and pay sales tax.

i would go the yard sell way myself.

[kite2281]

Thanks so much for all the tips!

We're putting your good advice to work, and will have a large yard sale in April or May. Two other families are joining us. It will be at our house, since we have a large driveway to set up our tables, and lots of room for people to park in the grass (we live out of town a bit). We've found six picnic-sized tables to borrow, plus lots of folding chairs and a garment rack. I have a cashbox that locks. We're also planning to sell cans of cold soda (one family has some big feed tubs to put ice in), plus packaged snacks. Adding the other families should give us enough people to manage the sale, I hope.

I think I'm most worried about the early birds. Everyone will price their own stuff ahead of time, so no one will be rummaging through unpriced items. And we'll post a big sign that says when the sale starts. I don't mind setting up very early in the morning, but it's still going to take a while to put everything out on the tables. How do you gently get the early birds to let you set up unmolested, without losing them as customers?

[missmanny]

I sold a lot of things to get my snow ball moving will list some below but also am still selling things to get through BS3 and probably beyond.

I have been astounded at the things that people will buy, when I listed some of my things on Ebay I thought if anyone paid me a $1 for these items I would be surprised but low and behold some of them sold for far more then I could have ever expected.

Here are some axamples.

Play station 2 with 7 games (we never used this really and so decided to sell it, thought I might be lucky to get $50 for it but i sold for $220 (I only paid $175 for the actual playstation but I guess the games cost more then that)

Unwatned Christmas presents such as Crabtree and evelyn gift packs, estee lauder lip gloss kit, country road night gown that was a bit too small for me - these all sold for over $20 each, I would never use them (may have regifted them but decided to sell instead)

DVD box sets, 90210, scrubs, x files, dead wood, the third watch all given as gifts, watched and then sold on ebay as second hand (we knew we wouldn't watch them again) these sold for a massive ammount, we made over $350 dollars from these.

I had old jewellery in the cupboard given to me as gifts from previous boyfriends, I don't wear them any more 1/2 because my taste has changed and half out of respect fro DSO - I sold them and made about $500.

I have also sold clothes (evening gowns and designer wear) they sold for good money as well - I'm a dfifferent size now (dropped some weight) so I was enevr going to use them again.

There is money to be made, I sold a lot of stuff that only made one or 2 dollars but they all added up.

Give it a go - you really have nothing to lose.