Before Your Moving Sale: Understanding Zoning Rules
If you are beginning to map out your plans and post your garage sale or moving sale times and locations, there are many tips and hacks to make your sale a success. Depending on where you live, there are different rules you have to take into account. In Manassas, VA, you don’t need a permit if you only have one yard sale a calendar year. You also need to keep your moving sale to no more than 3 days in a row. This is usually Saturday and Sunday, as well as either Friday or Monday. I would suggest Monday if it is a three-day holiday weekend like Memorial Day weekend. Your moving or garage sale need to be on stakes, temporary, and not posted on city property or trees. Signs can be posted the evening before your sale starts and must be taken down the last night of your sale. Below is a link to the zoning and permit information for Manassas, VA, but if your sale isn’t in Manassas, you should look up the policy about yard sales where you live.
Promote Your Moving Sale
People need to know you are having a moving sale or they won’t show up. Posting your flyers at local convenient stores is a great idea. You can also post your flyers on area message boards at businesses like coffee shops, restaurants, and even your favorite church. You may even want to put an ad in your favorite local newspaper classifieds for a week or two prior. Posting on your favorite social media outlets is also a great way to let people know you are having a moving sale. Reach out to friends by posting on Facebook to get the ball rolling and to ask for assistance while you’re at it. Map out all the ways you can advertise for free and have a tight budget for any paid advertising efforts. Here are some great places to start posting your moving sale advertisements:
Moving Sale Pricing
[PQleft]Taking a look at eBay.com can give you a glimpse into what similar items have recently been sold for.[/PQleft] If you are not sure what price to mark on an item, take a look online to see prices of similar items to what you are selling. You don’t want to be stuck keeping your sale items because your price is too high, but you also don’t want to give away valuable items either. Researching and marking items with ready to sell prices will make you more money when it’s all said and done. Taking a look at eBay.com can give you a glimpse into what similar items have recently been sold for. All you have to do is go to eBay.com, and scroll down to “Show only” and filter to see “Completed Listings.” This will let you know a fair asking price for your moving sale items. Take note the condition of your items and mark down accordingly. If you can restore the item to its original glory, then great. If you can’t restore your favorite Washington Wizards jersey to like-new condition, just price it to sell and move on.
Here is a catch all checklist that covers key points for a successful moving sale:
- See if any of your friends and family would like to sell their items at your moving sale.
- Display signs and balloons in front of your house or where you are having your sale.
- Clean your yard, driveway, and all other visible areas. A fresh cut lawn works wonders, but make sure you don’t set up and blow grass clippings all over your sale items.
- If it is hot, have a cooler full of bottled water for your shoppers.
- Purchase some inexpensive hangers for clothes you are selling.
- Save grocery bags from your shopping for months leading up to your moving sale.
- Post your signs in the most visible areas possible.
- Include a map to your moving sale location.
- The signs you post should be bright, colorful, and readable. Do a test drive yourself and see if you can easily read your sign while driving by it.
- Gather cashier supplies like a trusty calculator, table, sunglasses and find a tree for shade. A counterfeit spotting marker is a good idea to have handy just to be safe.
- Compile newspaper or tissue paper if you are selling fragile items like glassware and china.
- Don’t forget to change prices as your sale goes on. Just like shopping in stores, sale tags are a good idea.
- Make sure you have change such as quarters, ones, and fives.
- Plan for your shoppers’ parking needs. Orange cones are our favorite for telling drivers where they should be parking.
- Restore your sale items to like-new condition.
- Don’t sell your favorite items, just what you can part with.
- Have a BBQ and sell your customers some quality flame-grilled food at an affordable price. This will make new customers flock to you and will make people linger and spend more money.
- When you go to bed for the evening, you want to put a tarp over your items. Otherwise, you could just bring them inside.
- Have fun and enjoy getting into a salesperson mood for the weekend.
