Joe Rocco
I am a rummage sale snob. I’ve been combing through people’s junk as long as I can remember, looking for treasures and bargains. However, I won’t stop and shop just anywhere. I’m pretty picky. Here are a few rules that I’ve come up with over the years to make (or find) a rummage sale worth stopping for.
Good first impressions
Joe Rocco
A rummage sale starts at least a few days before the garage door opens. Spread the word online and share via social media. Include pictures and highlight your best stuff. Looking for rummage sales? There are a few apps — Yard Sale Treasure Map for instance — that can help, too.
Good signage is important. The more signs, the better. Make them clear. Don’t oversell your sale and, shoppers, beware of lofty promises (“This is the sale you’ve been waiting for!”) — they don’t usually deliver. And, please, don’t call something an estate sale unless it’s really a large-scale selling off of a person or family’s estate. Remember to take down your signs the minute your sale is over. That’s just polite.
Speaking of manners, buyers, be respectful. No one likes early birds. A rummage sale is a lot of work, and most sellers are setting up until the very moment the sale starts. You’ll get a much friendlier welcome (and better deals) if you wait to shop until the rummage sale’s actually started.
Eye candy
Joe Rocco
Sales should look good from the road. Many shoppers, especially rummage sale snobs like me, employ the “drive-by.” If the sale looks like a dud, they’ll move on to the next. So, make sure good stuff — “eye candy”—can be seen from the street. If the weather’s okay, the sale should be as close to the sidewalk as possible.
Rummage sale prices
Rummage sales require rummage sale prices. It seems obvious, but I’ve been to many sales — I call them “desperation sales” — where people are asking way too much for their junk. (You want five dollars for a cracked salad spinner? Um, what?)
Stuff should be cheap. Really, really cheap. If you have something special and you’re looking to get an antique-store price for it, put it on eBay. If it’s sitting on a tarp on your front lawn, it should be an impossible-to-pass-up bargain.
Joe Rocco
Clearly marked prices are essential. Buyers don’t like wondering whether the tea cup in their hand is 50 cents or five dollars and they might decide it’s not worth asking about.
Keep prices simple. Nothing should be marked less than a quarter (that just makes for a messy change drawer), and everything should be in nice easy numbers that make bill calculation, for the buyer and seller, a piece of cake.
Room to move
Prices at a rummage sale should never be firm. Anticipate negotiations. There needn’t be vicious haggling, but a friendly back and forth is part of the fun. As the weekend progresses, discounts should get deeper.
Grouping a bunch of items selected by the buyer for a single price, or “bundling,” is a way for the seller to get rid of a bunch of stuff at once and for the buyer to get a great deal. I’m also a big fan of the round-down: when the total comes to $5.50, just make it $5 — it’s easier on everyone.
The true value of rummage sales
Joe Rocco
Rummage sales are a great way to snag a bargain or to make a few bucks on stuff you aren’t using. But the very best thing about a rummage sale isn’t tallied up at the end of the day. A rummage sale is about building community.
With the chitchat about the weather, the leisurely browsing and the sharing of the stories behind the items being bought and sold, rummage sales make great spaces in which to get to know your neighbors.
So make sure to stop in at all your neighbors’ sales this summer. Even if they break all of my rules.
