12 Smart Tips for Hosting a Successful Yard Sale

If Country Living contributing editor Christina Lane could give you only one piece of advice, it would be this: Presentation is everything. "Tossing objects in a haphazard heap ensures they'll be viewed as junk," Lane says. "Display them with care, and people will buy more." She should know. In addition to co-owning Archive Home, a vintage boutique in Nyack, New York, the stylist has hosted upwards of 25 yard sales. Click through for Lane's guidance regarding how to pry a profit from your garage's dust-gatherers.

1. Time it right. Saturday's the most lucrative day to hold a yard sale, with Sunday not far behind. Open up between 7am and 9am, and be prepared to go until 3pm or 4pm.

2. Spread the word without investing a cent. A week or two in advance, make friends aware of your event via Facebook, Twitter, and/or an e-mail blast, and then cast a wider net by taking advantage of free online listing services:
gsalr.com, yardhopper.com, and craigslist.com. Posting flyers at popular coffee shops and antiques stores can also prove effective, but check local ordinances before plastering the neighborhood with notices.

3. Position your best stuff near the street. Lane always uses her biggest, most attractive merch as bait. "The curb is like your window display," she explains. "People do 'drive-bys,' and you want to promise more than knickknacks." Bonus: This strategy puts heavy hauls closer to buyers' cars.

4. Give linens a lift. Don't devalue tea towels, pillowcases, and aprons by shoving them willy-nilly into cardboard boxes. Textiles pinned to a clothesline (pictured above) garner extra interest, while lending the setting a festive air.

5. Avoid pricing every little thing. Sort goods in bins, like these metal breadboxes (pictured above), and stick a single "for each" tag on the lot. If you must mark all your gear, opt for color-coding with labels, and then tack up a prominent key that notes each hue's corresponding cost.

6. Teach old items new tricks. Instead of stacking clipboards atop a table, Lane hangs them on a wall as impromptu frames. Her cake stands serve as pedestals for pillar candles. A dish drainer might organize files. "One fresh idea is all it takes to spur a purchase," she says.

7. Liberate jewelry from the usual jumble. The surest way to lose money? Tangled necklaces, mismatched earrings, and bracelets or brooches bearing signs of bargain-bin disarray. In the picture at left, simple wall hooks, a clay bust, a tackle-box tray, and a hat stand show baubles in the best possible light.

8. Enlist a friend or three. Eventually, nature will call. Or a customer will request help loading a wardrobe into his or her truck. "Trust me, you don't want to throw a sale by yourself," says Lane, who recommends roping in at least one very able-bodied assistant.

9. Encourage lingering. It requires minimal effort—and moola—to set out a jug of lemonade, some paper cups, and a "Help yourself" sign. Or to park a chair near a pile of books. "The longer folks stay," the stylist explains, "the more they tend to find."

10. Group similar objects together. A lone bottle is just a bottle, but a whole bunch of them reads like a photo in an Anthropologie catalog. Same goes for a stack of whiteware or a herd of brass animal figurines. As for those bottles, Lane adds, "Pop in a few hydrangeas, and suddenly you've suggested function, too."

11. Stock up on small bills. Lane's recipe for painless transactions: $50 in ones, plus $50 in fives—all stashed in a pocketed waist apron, along with a calculator. Skip coins entirely by rounding prices to even dollar amounts. Another option? Square, a free gadget that allows your smart phone or tablet to process credit card payments for a 2.75 percent charge per swipe.

12. Create a packaging station. Let shoppers wrap their own purchases (and save you the trouble) by outfitting one table with cardboard boxes, newspapers, plastic and paper bags, tape, and twine. Lane advises that you start saving grocery-store sacks at least a month ahead to avoid last-minute scrambling.