One Step You Must Take To Drive Traffic To Your Garage Sale
Location, location, location! That’s the ticket to a successful Garage Sale! We have always combined forces with family and held our garage sale at a primo location just off a major highway. Alas, that location has been sold. What’s a person to do? Our only option was to hold a garage sale at *gasp* OUR HOUSE!
Our house that is tucked away on an off-shoot, off a cul-de-sac, up the hill, with a steep, sloped driveway that in no way, shape, or form would leave merchandise on a table if we dared to pull them out. There is NO CHANCE for a stealthy drive-by at THIS location, and parking is a nightmare.
The bonus is garage sale goers will get a mighty fine workout walking up to this sale!
With fear and trepidation, we pressed forward, doing all the garage sale stuff you’re supposed to do, not knowing if any sane soul would make the treck.
To our pleasant surprise, there were customers galore! Sure, some were sweaty and moving slowly by the time they made it to the garage, BUT they made it! They bought stuff too! After all, the treck back down is much easier!
What convinced these folks to go over the river and through the woods for a garage sale?
Signage!
Simple Garage Sale Signs are the most important step to a successful Garage Sale.
It seems so simple, right? Time after time, I thanked customers for finding us in our out-of-the-way spot, and you know what they said?
‘We figured with signs that good, it was worth checking it out!’
‘Your signs are so clear and easy to follow!’
‘I LOVE your signs!’
Over and over again, customers raved about our signs! It’s not that they were terrific or anything fancy. No balloons or fanfare. Just simple BIG signs on A-Boards!
Garage Sale Sign Supplies
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Poster Board
Pick two attention-grabbing colors! Use ONE color for the background and the other color for the arrows! For our latest sale, we used bright green and hot pink. You can easily find poster board at Rite Aid, Walmart, or even The Dollar Tree.
Sharpie Chisel Tip Permanent Markers
These markers are perfect for getting the job done!
Heavy Duty Staple Gun
You may already have one! If not, you’ll find a staple gun is useful for so many things. Use it to staple your signs onto A-Boards.
Remember not to staple or nail any signs on telephone poles. Those pole climbers will thank you for it!
A-Boards
A-Boards can be a big investment, but they are incredibly effective!
Discover how to how to make a garage sale sign!
Your A-Boards should be 24″ x 36″ to hold a standard poster board size of 22″ x 28″
Place an A-Board at each turn from the main road.
We happened to have six A-Boards and utilized each one, although we could have easily gotten away with four!
Keep Your Garage Sale Signs Simple
Potential customers need the basics, and they need them FAST as they drive by.
You only need three things on your sign:
- What kind of sale: Garage Sale, Moving Sale, Yard Sale
- Time
- ARROWS! You gotta have arrows!
There’s no need to list what’s for sale, an address, or even dates and days.
If you list Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, everyone will know the sale has been picked over by Saturday and won’t bother stopping.
You may want to be all cutesy and write funny things on your signs. While that may be incredibly fun, most people won’t have time to read your clever words, they just want arrows!
Tip: If your sale is close to a main road, you can boast ‘3 Blocks’ (or whatever it is), and you’re certain to compel more people to stop in!
That’s it! Super simple, BIG, clear signs with giant arrows on A-boards. It’s the one step that will drive traffic to your garage sale even IF you live over the river and through the woods, and up a hill with no good parking! I’ve got $758.68 to prove it!
I thought of you the other day – I drove by this awesome old fashioned marketplace we have in our quaint New England. They were drawing attention to a sale they were having that day, and they had a little aframe out by the road – and I remembered this was your advice! What made it stand out even more to me was that it was a child’s art easel. We actually have one ourselves – whiteboard on one side, and a magnetic chalk board on the other. They are made to not tip over easily, but are also light weight. And if you don’t currently own any a-frames, but you are friends with families with small children, you might be able to borrow something like this.
Oh my goodness! What an excellent alternative! You ROCK, Kirsten!
That was fantastic! I’m forever complaining to the hubby about bad garage sign-ery. Just putting up GARAGE SALE signs is useless. It’s hard to tell if they are signs from a long ago sale that no one bothered to retrieve. Love your ideas, Bridget! Thanks for your endless source of helpful ideas! 🙂
TeeHee! ‘Sign-ery’, is that a real word? If not, I like it! I agree too, there are signs everywhere and you just don’t know if they are current. I should add to the article, one last thing you MUST do, take down your signs!