How to Stage A Yard Sale: 10 Dos and Don’ts

This is a guest post by Renee Prisble Una.

Notes on a day spent in suburbia.

• Do put representative items near the curb to advertise the type of things you are selling. For example: put that crazy ’60s style lamp near the curb to let everyone know you’ve got crazy vintage stuff in your sale. This helps with shopping from the curb. Whenever my husband and I see just kids stuff, we never even get out of the car.

• Do put up only clear, easy to read signs on busy streets. Fancy fonts look great on your computer but are impossible to read doing 30mph.

• Do coordinate with your community to hold all your garage sales on one weekend.

• Do you really expect someone to buy that? Don’t include obvious trash or dirty and neglected items in your sale — it makes all your items look like shit. I am instantly repulsed and lump all your goods together as gross and not worth buying.

• Don’t talk badly about your husband while obviously hocking his prized tools.  This just makes everyone uncomfortable.

• Do limit yourself to two beers an hour. Also, don’t suggest that your mirror would go well on my ceiling.  It makes everyone uncomfortable.

• Please price everything. Don’t display something you really don’t want to sell and then ask me to make an offer. This can only lead to your embarrassment when I lowball what you love.

• Don’t try to sell me anything. I have eyes, I can see what you’ve got.

• Do be an older person with a great sense of humor. Why are all the old people so nice and funny and my peers so boring?

• Do price your items to sell, I mean who are we fooling, its a yard sale.

Renee Prisble Una is a local artist who makes sculpture and installations and teaches at Loyola University and Wright College.