1. Don’t accept bills larger than $20. We were warned by the police in his area that a counterfeiter was going around yard sales and buying small items, then asking for change. He was using larger bills, e.g. $50 and $100′s, and the yard-sale folks were left holding the bag. Alternately (or in addition), buy a counterfeit money marker. We were also told of a fellow that passed off smaller bills as well, but were told this doesn’t happen very often.

2. Keep your change-making money very near you, on you (fanny-pack/pocket) or have someone dedicated solely to being in charge of the money. Dad and I went to one yard sale and the story was heart-breaking. This couple were selling everything they could (LR furniture, etc.) because they’d both recently been laid off, and were just trying not to lose their house. A guy came up, hung around for a few moments, then asked the woman a technical question about the item. Her husband was in the house, so she went in to ask him. The buyer had seen where they’d “hidden” the cache of money (a toolbox in the back of the garage, behind other stuff), and promptly cleaned out the money. The lady came back out, answered the guy’s question, he paid in exact bills for the weed-eater, then left. He took them for over $400. (Please don’t be smug and blame her; blame the thief.)

It actually worked really well, because it almost completely got rid of that nickle-and-dime mentality that people bring with them to garage sales. A *few* people asked “can I get this for fifty cents instead?”, but really only on items that were really worth only fifty cents. Our previous garage sales were always plagued by “I’ll give ya a quarter for it.”

On hanging things: Men’s shirts, which tend to be about the same size and shape, really sell better when folded “store-style” and laid out neatly. The customer can see at a glance whether there are shirts in his preferred colors and styles, rather than take a few minutes standing and leafing through a hundred shirts on hangers. People will do that at stores, and even at Goodwill, but they never seem to want to take the time at my garage sale.

As suggested, we listed that we had multiple TV’s for sale in our ad in the paper (we had a black and white and a couple 19 inch TV’s from our college days). Unfortunately, we didn’t realize this made us a target for a night before burglary attempt. Luckily for us we interrupted the intruder’s visit and they chose to dash out the front door (leaving it wide open) as we came in the back.

Think about the pawn-ability of the big ticket items before you add them to the ad you put out. Or redouble your effort to make it look like you are home the night before.

A lot of people are looking specifically for certian things (college apartment items, baby items, tools), so mention these in the ad. If you are selling baby clothes, rather than having a big box that people have to sort through, have them hung up or laid out on a table according to size. Also divide up boys/girls clothes.

Also alert your neighbors. At the very least they will want to be aware of the extra traffic, at best, they will put out some itmes themselves, pay for part of the newspaper ad, and bring more business by having a “block sale.”

Kids selling lemonade, snacks, etc. is a great idea to keep them occupied and have them earn some money, especially for large neighborhood sales where customers are walking a long way.

When my grandmother went into a nursing home we held a huge garage sale to get rid of much of her stuff. We had a silver server set we didn’t want to go through the trouble of cleaning. The only person who even looked at the item decided not to purchase it because they didn’t know if it could be cleaned.

To those people who hod homes broken into, I’m sorry to hear that, but it doesn’t happen to everyone. I only had garage sale once every 5 years if that. I usually only have a few tables worth of stuff. I have at least two people watching the sale at any given time. See if your friends and neighbors are willing to help keep an eye on things so limit thefts.

Be careful–pirates are alive, well, and more numerous than you think.