Bargain Quest

We’re participating in our neighborhood yard sale this Saturday. Despite my best efforts to avoid accumulating things we don’t need, stuff always sneaks in, such as extra furniture from relatives. We also reorganized rooms downstairs and the game of musical chairs left some pieces homeless. Saturday’s offerings will include a coffee table, bike, and some chairs, plus miscellaneous smaller items.

The biggest volume of items is all the personal care freebies/cheapies I’ve amassed since October using CVS EasyCare, Walgreens EasySaver, and combinations of clearances/coupons at CVS, Walgreens, and Kroger.

After sorting out items I can reasonably use in the near future, I’m left with the following:

-1 bag of makeup & hair color
-1 bag of razors and deodorant
-1 bag of OTC medicine & vitamins
-1 bag of toothpaste & toothbrushes
-1 bag of feminine products
-1 bag of body washes & lotion
-1 bag of hair care
-Plus some misc. soap and other items
(Retail value ranges from $3 to around $9.)

My challenge is pricing them to sell at a yard sale. I’ve never tried anything like this before, so I asked for advice from the only person I know of who has experience with it - Crystal at Biblical Womanhood.

Here’s her helpful input (Thanks Crystal!):

It depends upon your area and traffic and whether you just want to sell the stuff or make more money.

I price things to sell and usually price it pretty low and it literally flies off the tables.

I usually do $0.75 for most things - most of them sell extremely well at this price - better than they would at a $1, though doing things at a $1 makes it easier to add up! More expensive things (which usually retail for $4-5), I put $1 on. I also sell most of the deodorants at $1.

If you stick with $0.50-$1 for most everything, you shouldn’t have a bit of a problem selling it. My other advice is to not put everything out at once - especially if you have lots of it. Our garage sale two weeks ago, I had probably at least 100 tubes of toothpaste - I only put out about 15 at a time. Otherwise, someone will come in and try to buy all of them at a reduced price and when they are already reduced at such a good deal, you don’t need to go down. I just keep replenishing the stock as it dwindles and have no problem selling out of most everything.

I hadn’t thought about not putting all my “stock” out at once, but it makes a lot of sense to hold some back and restock as needed. (Although I don’t have 100 tubes of toothpaste!)

Because a majority of my items have a retail value of at least $4+, I may try a flat price of $1 to keep things simple. I’m also toying with the idea of offering a “6 for $5″ discount. Whatever happens, it’ll be a learning experience for next time.

If you have any advice or experience to share on this subject, I’d love to hear it!