Tips for Advertising Your Garage Sale

Attract More Buyers to Make More Money

Advertising your garage sale is one of the key elements to making sure it is successful. There are a number of ways you can accomplish this, from traditional advertising methods like putting up signs and placing a newspaper ad, to the more modern resources of community websites. Obviously, the more techniques you use the better, and you will attract maximum buyers by using every available advertising tool. However, this is just a garage sale. Whether you decide to use one or all of these ideas simply depends on how much effort you want to put into it.

Signs
Advertising with signs is almost a necessity, especially if you don't live on a main road where a lot of people would be driving by anyway. Put a sign up in your yard and one or two on the closest main roads or busy intersections. They should be large and clearly say that you're advertising a garage sale, along with the date, times, your address, and an arrow pointing toward your house. This information should be visible and easy for people in passing cars to read without having to strain their eyes and get in a wreck (use thick lettering). Write distances so that buyers will know how much further they have to drive, especially in a rural area. Depending on where you live, it may be very important to make sure you aren't posting the signs illegally. Some communities are strict about placing signs or advertising without permission and might even fine you, but in most places it won't be an issue.

Craigslist and Community Websites
If you live anywhere near a city represented by Craigslist, you should definitely be advertising your garage sale on the website a week and a couple of days before. Also look for other community websites, message boards, and free classified ad websites targeted at your town or geographic area. If you have nice-looking or big ticket items, posting pictures will help potential buyers decide whether to come or not. Also, if you have a personal or family website, you may want to mention your garage sale on there. If you post pictures on your website, you can choose to include a URL to see them on your flyers or signs.