Item: 18 Good Reasons Why Priced Items Boost Garage Sale Profit
Author: Kriti Kirk Trent

18 Good reasons why you should price everything at your Garage Sale

To Price, or Not to Price Garage Sale Goods

Whether or not to tag your garage sale wares with a price can be a surprisingly difficult decision.

Maybe you're leaning toward not pricing anything at your upcoming garage sale because you're running short on time. Or maybe you plan to put a price sticker on every individual item because that's what your Mom does at her garage sales.

Either way, a lot of garage salers strongly disagree with your choice.

It's an age-old debate nearly as polarizing as the Trump campaign.

In one camp, you have pro-pricers — garage salers who believe that forcing shoppers to ask for a price is an imposition that often loses sales.

In the other camp are garage salers who say pricing items is an unnecessary, tedious task that ultimately leaves money on the table.

In which camp do I reside? Well, in the right one, of course! I have 18 undeniable reasons to share with you that prove why.

18 Reasons Why You Should Price Everything at Your Garage Sale:

1. Studies show that shoppers subconsciously believe goods with price tags are more valuable than those without — especially when prices are marked with a hang tag. After all, If you don't value it, why should they?

via GIPHY

2. If your garage sale goes as well as you hope, you'll be too busy to answer every, "What will you take for this?"

via GIPHY

3. When people have to wait their turn to find out the price of an item they lose interest in it.

4. If you tag everything with a price beforehand, people can shop on their own during your garage sale while you check out paying customers. That way, no one's left waiting. (Unless, of course, those 500 Facebook friends who indicated "interest" in your Garage Sale event actually show.)

via GIPHY

5. Friends and family members helping with your garage sale won't remember how much you want for every single thing you have for sale. No matter how well you prep them, or how easy your color-coded pricing system is to follow — even if you give them a price list — mistakes will be made on items without price stickers.

6. Considering everything you have to remember, You might forget how much you want for an item that isn't priced. And if you hesitate to give a price when someone asks, the shopper will assume you're sizing her up for her ability to pay. (Leah French)

7. Pricing goods before your garage sale allows you time to come up with fair prices that are good deals for both you and your customers...and you won't be put on the spot during your sale.

8. Most garage sale shoppers don't want to ask for a price. Some are shy. Some find it annoying. Cassie Johnston, a self-described introvert who blogs at Wholefully.com, says that she will leave a garage sale if things aren't priced because "the thought of asking for a price or haggling for every single item I wanted would just be too stressful."

via GIPHY

9. A lot of garage salers are busy hit-and-run shoppers with a lot of stops to make. They don't have time to track down prices and will simply move on to the next sale on their list if your items aren't tagged.

10. Even shoppers who enjoy negotiating at garage sales grow tired of asking for prices after awhile.

via GIPHY

11. People feel awkward putting something back after you give them a price that's more than they want to spend and they don't stick around.

via GIPHY

12. Budget-minded garage sale shoppers are not about to make a pile of things they want to buy, without knowing what it will cost them first.

13. You'll actually get more offers with the prices marked than without. Most people are reluctant to make an offer on something if they don't know how much you want for it. Some are afraid of looking foolish if they offer too much and others are afraid of offending you if they offer too little.

"Nothing is worse than 'make me an offer.' I don't even know where to begin without an asking price."

- Katy Wold Stanley, The Non Consumer Advocate

via GIPHY

14. Leaving prices unmarked opens you up to more than your fair share of ridiculous lowball offers.

15. Pricing garage sale items puts haggling in your favor since it's up to the buyer to talk you down from your asking price. If you don't specify a price and a buyer offers less than you're willing to accept, it's your job to convince them to pay more.

via GIPHY

16. When each individual item has a price tag, no one can say, “I got it from the 50-cent table” when really they got it from the $1 table — or something similar.

17. You can use your price stickers to quickly and easily keep track of sales. Whenever someone makes a purchase, just peel the price sticker off of the item and stick it in a notebook, then add them up when the sale is over. It's much better than trying to write down every purchase. (There's also a garage sale cash register app that's good for this.)

18. 79% of garage sale shoppers say they prefer items to be priced. That alone should be reason, enough.