Online Garage Sale Tips
Organizing a garage sale is one of the best ways get rid of junk and earn some extra cash. But over the years, it might become annoying to move stuff that doesn’t get sold, be at the mercy of unpredictable weather, and, no matter how much you sell, you always end up having to put too many things back.
Luckily for you, today we have the technology that can help us sell a little more, and get our hands less dirty. Online yard sales have gained a lot of popularity over the years because of how effective and practical they are. As dreamy as all of this sounds, starting out with selling your stuff online is full of traps and if you’re a beginner, you might want to get informed. We have prepared our top online garage sale tips to help you sort your items and present a perfect yard sale to the wide web.
Why you should Move Your Garage Sale On-Line:
No-Sweat Item Display
When you put your items online, you won’t actually need to physically move them to your yard or garage. That means that you won’t need to do the hard work of putting everything back in its place once the sale is over. But the best part of organizing an online garage sale is that it won’t only be seen by your closest neighbors that happen to be walking by. It will be broadcasted to a large number of neighborhoods in your vicinity so that you can sell to people who would have never run into your wonderful display! This means that more people will actually find your items and you’ll be able to get rid of far more stuff.
Bad Weather Resilience
One of the greatest benefits of turning your junk into an online exhibition is the fact that you can be absolutely unconcerned about the weather. You don’t have to worry about people not showing up because of sudden rain, the damage that can be done to your stuff or sit in the blazing heat the entire day only to sweat even more at the end putting it all back. You can simply put everything you want to get rid of online, take a few pictures, select categories, and set up a meeting when someone messages you.
Online Garage Sale Tips
Now that you know the benefits of organizing your yard sale online, you’re probably wondering how to begin. Here are some simple online garage sale tips that can set you up, and help you create the most magnificent garage sale for your neighborhood.
Organize your Items
One of the most important online garage sale tips for beginners is to organize your items into categories. In order to do this, try to be realistic. Not everything you have is something people will want to buy. Sort out your things into something people are most likely to buy, which will probably be some newer clothes or something that won’t fit you, something you’d like to donate, and things that can be recycled and/or thrown away.
Find the Platform
Once you’ve sorted all the items you intend to sell, find an online platform that can host the sale. There are plenty of platforms that can help you do just that, but make sure to avoid hosting your yard sale on social platforms like Facebook, as this isn’t the most secure way to handle your things. Even if you find a town or neighborhood-specific page to host a sale, the social dynamic of the website allows for many cases of abuse that can lead to your things getting into the wrong hands since the rules are more laid-back there and members aren’t back-checked as rigorously as on the platforms intended for those purposes.
You’re probably better off hosting your sale on a platform like VarageSale, short for Virtual Garage Sale. Just make an account, find your town, and put up your items. However, the best place to host your yard sale would be in your virtual neighborhood. Even though VarageSale can be a great platform, it hosts far too many sales for far too many neighborhoods across the U.S. For this reason, the very best place to host your online garage sale would be through your own virtual neighborhood, made and used specifically by people in your town. This makes sure the transactions are easy, flexible, quick and almost guaranteed faster the contact is made.
Write Detailed Item Descriptions
Whichever platform you choose to use, writing great captions and copy for your product is still one of the most important online garage sale tips. Of course, that can be a confusing process for a beginner as well. Especially since holding regular garage sales doesn’t really teach you much about writing item descriptions.
The most important thing is to use the right tags and categories for the items you’re trying to sell. This will make them visible to everyone in your neighborhood looking them up. That way, the junk you want to get rid of will end up in the hands of someone who really needs it, and not just in the hands of someone who called dibs first, like it usually happens on Facebook and other social platforms not enforcing strict enough rules.
Once you’ve chosen your categories, it’s time to write the description. Mention everything about the item you are selling that might be of importance. In your descriptions, make sure to mention item name, model, color, size, measurement, condition etc. What’s relevant will depend on the item you’re selling.
Take Good Pictures
You’ll need to have a picture for each item you put up for sale. This is one of the most important online garage sale tips because of how visually oriented humans actually are. When it comes to choosing what to buy, studies show that looks override practicality in a surprising number of people. Take care the lighting is right, the shots are taken from decent angles, and everything that needs to be seen is in the shot, showing clearly. If you’re selling clothes, find someone to put it on just to show what it looks like on someone, or get a mannequin that you can use to model the clothes you’re selling.
Set Your Boundaries
Bargaining is a very popular kind of banter present in both, on and off-line garage sales. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially you happen to make a sweet deal with your neighbor. But putting your items online is something that should be approached with a greater responsibility than when just laying them out in your garden. Before you meet your buyer, make sure you've clearly stated all your conditions in the messages, and fulfilled all the responsibilities of a seller. This ensures the safety of your items, good reputation on the platform, and many satisfied customers ready to buy something again.
Advertise Online
While Facebook and Craigslist aren’t the greatest platforms for hosting your yard sale, it’s a great place to advertise it once it’s all set up. Find your local groups and link to your online yard sale. That way, even more, people who need stuff will find a way to your fancy display. If you’re using Craigslist as your advertising platform, make sure to post under Garage Sales, as they have a category devoted to just that.
These were our top online garage sale tips which cover all the basics you need to host your yard sale. Going online is a great option for people who don’t want the hassle of moving heavy items around, risking their time and nerves because of unpredictable weather, and those who want to make a more serious buck than during a regular sale. Just make sure to evaluate the items which will do good on an online yard sale, and what would be better off recycled. Figure out which platform you want to use according to your needs and neighborhood, and take a look at some virtual neighborhood platforms that might help you engage with the community more. Invest in the look and feel of your online shop: make your photos clear, and spill all the relevant information in your item descriptions. Set your boundaries so that you don’t get in online garage sale trouble, and pop a link to your display at a few social media websites where people nearby might be looking for something you have to sell.
