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Does anyone have any advise when it comes to having a garage/yard sale?

Prices clearly marked on EVERYTHING! Lay things out as much as possible (tables, overturned boxes, benches) so things are viewable without digging through a pile. Put like items together.

Our goal is always to move the stuff. I do pricing at about 10 to 20 cents on a dollar. So a 5 dollar new item in great, usable shape would be 50 cents to a dollar at my sale.

As things get picked over, consider combining items in a box or bag for one price. We have very little left to donate at the end of a sale.

When it comes to your signs... KISS!! Use a BIG FAT marker... not a skinny sharpie. Just the facts... when, where, maybe an arrow. Have change ready... paper and coins. Don't put out anything dirty or broken.

Usually get roped into ONE yard sale a summer... kind of a block thing. I get BORED just sitting waiting for potential customers, Have never made any significant amount of money. One year had 3 "high end" items and I priced them at what I knew was a GOOD price... a LARGE dog crate, a sliding door insert to make a pet door, and a 6+ person wooden toboggan. Each item cost between $150-200 when they were purchased and about the same now. I priced them at $50 and never even got a nibble?? When I got totally bored, I packed EVERYTHING that was left into back of my car and hauled them of as a thrift store donation.

Advertise on Craig's list too, it is FREE.
I was too late to put an ad in the local paper, so I only did CL, and we were swamped with shoppers for 2 days.
You can also place 4 photos in your ad, and list items and prices if you like. Really good idea if you have higher end items or lots of misc.

Be sure to have ENOUGH change! Even to break a $100 with the first customer! That has happened to me twice & I had to send DH to get them broken so I could have change for later customers!

If something is in really good shape (not clothes), I price at about half and can always come down! Sometimes you get half & sometimes you get a bit less...but you make a little more that way & make some folks think they got a REAL bargain!

Yep, lots of ones and fives & tens. I would never break a hundred dollar bill for a customer, that is just too rude of a shopper IMO, and I would also be too afraid of counterfeit bills.

The dollars I would paper clip together in five dollar groups, and the fives in groups of 4. This kept things easy to count, and no accidental miss-changes. Bought a roll of quarters and that was the only coin change to deal with if pricing is right. Fanny pack or a money box that someone sits by usually works too.

As soon as I had 60-70 dollars in larger bills, I put them in the house. Keep all your other doors and windows locked too, as home burglaries can occur if you are busy with customers in your garage or porch.

I have had many successful yard/tag sales. I did them to make money. . . in other words I bought things at other yard sales just to sell at mine! (thousands of dollars would be what I made)

therefore my take might be a little different but not in the essentials.

Have only one person take the money (that used to always be me.) I had a cash box with dividers for coins. Bills and checks (yes I did take checks and never ever had one bounce) went underneath the coin drawer.

Everything was not only priced but in
good shape. Linens were ironed, displays were "styled" I would have lots of "merchandize" We didn't have craigslist when I used to do my sales but I would definitely use it if I had another (I'm dying to do so)

I loved to do this so although it is a huge amount of work, it is fun. If you have it in a garage, make sure you visibly separate garage sale items from your own stuff. . . cover everything up that is yours with tarps. Have good lighting in a garage, soft table top lighting as well as brighter lighting.

Cover tables with cloths (can be old sheets etc) hide boxes and containers underneath. Let customers pack their own items but supply newspapers and bags. for heavy items give them help to their cars.

Since we had so many sales we eventually made wooden signs, kind of long boards with one end cut into a pointer. We painted these a dayglo green so they would be very visible. Large letters and not too much text. People just want to know where the house is.

Having been in retail so many years, I still have one of those markers to detect countfiet money. And if you don't have one they generally cost about $5 at an office supply store. If you are going to have many sales it's certainly worth the $5!