Do you enjoy the thrill of the hunt for great deals on secondhand items? Garage/Yard/Estate sales are a great place to find hidden, used gems. Whether you are looking for appliances, home décor, furniture, clothing, or kids toys you can find them at the right sale. There are many tips that will help you have a successful drive around town. Where do we start? Research!

• Research before you head out
  • Use Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and Estatesales.net to find sales near you.
    • Look closely at the images to make sure it’s worth your time and the drive. This will help you plan your route later.
  • Check the best days and times to visit. Some sales are so good that people will show up and line up well before the sale even starts. If you have your eye on something special, chances are someone else does too so get there early if you can.
    • Typically, sales start on Thursdays or Fridays and commonly end on Saturday or sometimes even Sundays.
    • They usually start at 9am and can run till 4pm or until they run out of items to sell. If you start at 12pm, you may find slim pickings.
  • How much cash should you bring?
    • This can depend on what you are looking for.
      • Furniture and electronics: take a couple hundred in cash
      • All other items: take at least $20. This amount will go a lot further than you think, but it never hurts to take more if you can. Make sure you bring small bills since sellers can underestimate how many small bills they should have gotten for the sale. 
    • Some estate sales use Venmo or even have card readers but take cash just in case.
  • Bring a measuring tape along with you.
    • This is vital in making sure that sofa you really want fits in your space.
    • Sometimes sellers won’t let you try on clothes so it’s good to know your measurements and then check when you get there.
• While out driving around
  • Make sure to save all the addresses in Google/Apple maps so you can decide where you centrally want to spend your time.
  • If you have saved sales and there is one that you really want to check out, go to that one first so you don’t miss out.
  • Newer neighborhoods are more likely to find common family items especially for kids (toys, furniture, clothing, etc.).
  • Older neighborhoods will likely have older residents so if you are looking for vintage and antique items, these neighborhoods are a gold mine.

• While at the sale
  • It’s best not to go with a specific idea of what you want. Keep your expectations open since you’re not guaranteed to find exactly what you want.
  • If you are there on the first day of the sale, prices aren’t going to be very negotiable because they have an entire weekend to sell the item.
  • The best but also the riskiest day to check out a sale is on the last day. Items are typically priced half off, easily negotiable, or closer to the end of the day may be FREE!! Don’t be afraid to haggle or make an offer on the item.
  • If you are interested in an item but on the fence about it a great resource is using Google Lens on your phone to take a picture of the item. It will pull up all relevant places they exist on the internet. This is great for price checking to see if the seller is price gouging.
  • Don’t just do one walk around the tables. Walk around and look a second time since you may have missed an item upon first glance.
  • Do your due diligence on inspecting and testing the item you are interested in. The last thing you want is to get home and find something majorly wrong with it.
  • Bundle deals- instead of negotiating your item’s prices individually, offer a bundle price. You may end up getting a better deal this way.
  • See the potential in that fixer upper piece. For the right price, you may be able to take it home and give it a new life with a little work.

Going to a sale to look for secondhand goods can be so much fun and having these tips on hand can give some ease to your experience. Now it’s time to get out there and enjoy your weekend hunting for treasures. Don’t forget to throw in some visits to some thrift stores afterwards!

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