Q. I have a lot of stuff I want to clear out of my house and garage this spring, and I'm thinking of selling some of it. Can you give me some ideas on preparing for a successful yard sale?
A. Yard sales -- also known, depending on your regional location, as garage sales, stoop sales, carport sales, tag sales or rummage sales -- can be a great way to get rid of unwanted household goods and to raise some cash.
"I'd rather have money in my wallet than junk in my closet," said Gary Foreman, editor of The Dollar Stretcher newsletter. "And, if you think about it, it's also a good way to recycle things."
But having a successful sale requires some preparation.
Foreman said a seller needs to have enough goods to attract a lot of potential buyers.
"If you don't have enough on your own, you might be able to encourage some of your neighbors to have a sale the same day," he said. "That way you can draw more people."
Deciding how to advertise the sale depends on local tradition, he said.
"In some places, the best place to advertise a yard sale -- or look for one -- is the weekly advertiser or the daily paper," he said. Foreman suggested sellers make it clear in their ads if they have special items such as antiques or children's books or sets of dishes, to attract people interested in those goods.
As for posters, abandon your crayons and get out your paintbrushes, he advises.
"The biggest mistake people make is that you can't read their signs ... as you're driving by," Foreman said.
Chris Heiska, who maintains the how-to Web site www.yardsalequeen.com, recommends sellers make sure the items for sale are clean and well-displayed, with clothes on hangers and books neatly stacked. Appliances displayed in their original boxes with instruction manuals attached look as if they've been cared for and get a better price, Heiska said.
She also says putting prices on items in advance reduces distractions on the day of the sale.
"Otherwise you'll have people holding things up and asking 'How much is this?' or 'How much is that?' all the time," Heiska said.
Sellers who aren't sure how to price things should check out other sales in their neighborhoods, she said. Paperback books may fetch 25 cents in some areas, $1 in others.
Heiska says that when she has her own sales, she'll bargain on prices, but she's more willing to do so later in the day than early on.
"It also depends on how badly I want to get rid of an item," she said.
The Dollar Stretcher's Foreman, who operates the Web site www.stretcher.com, said that people holding yard or garage sales should think about security, too.
Thieves will sometimes hit yard sales, often descending in a group and distracting the seller while they pocket valuable items, he said.
"That's why it's always a good idea to have more than one person managing a sale -- one to answer questions and the other to manage the checkout," he said.
Foreman also said sellers should be wary of strangers asking to go indoors to plug in an appliance, get a glass of water or make a phone call.
"Don't let people you don't know into your home," he said.
