Did you know that you can post your garage sale on McHenry Life…for free even? Our Events Calendar is a great way to promote and find all kinds of events. Over the last year, our event pages have averaged over 2,000 views a week. When you think about “events,” we’re big on things like parades, fireworks displays, festivals, concerts, car shows, and other big public events that might come to mind, but that’s really just the beginning. We also have a category for Sales events, which is an ideal place to post your garage sale.
Don’t have a garage? No worries. You can also post your yard sale, moving sale, barn sale, lawn sale, rummage sale, estate sale, and for you old schoolers, tag sales too.
Why Post Your Garage Sale on McHenry Life?
- Cost: It’s free and it’s easy. While we do have paid options with additional features, even those are considerably cheaper than traditional options.
- Photo: You can upload a photo (multiple photos with the paid options).
- Control: You can update/edit your listing on your own, whenever you need to, as often as you like.
- Targeted: We are focused on garage sales in McHenry County and only accept listings from those within the county. Your listing isn’t competing against and getting lost in Northern Illinois.
- Details: Information is important to garage sale hunters. They want to know what’s in it for them. We think you’ll find that we provide the most detailed listing opportunity around.
- Reach: Your listing is crawlable by search engines and may appear in search results.
- Promotion: We help promote listings across search engines at no cost to you.
Make
McHenry Life
Your Place
for
Garage Sales!
What are Some of the Details You Can Include?
- Address (we provide a map and driving directions too).
- Links to your social media pages and a website…your own if you have one or to another listing site.
- Detailed information (minimum of 700 characters, more for paid listings, up to 3,000).
- Days and times when your sale will be open.
- Phone number, if you want.
- Email address, if you want.
- & more!
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How to Hold a Successful Garage Sale
Garage sales are a way to declutter your home and make some extra money. However, the difference between garage sale success and failure can be huge. If you’re thinking about holding a garage sale, here are some tips to help you make it a success:
- Plan ahead: Start by deciding what items you want to sell. If you have a lot of stuff, it might be helpful to create a list or spreadsheet. Once you know what you’re selling, you can start pricing your items. Be realistic about what you think people will pay, and don’t be afraid to haggle.
- Price simply: You aren’t a big box, so don’t price like it. Stick to even dollar amounts, and anything under a dollar (is it even worth pricing under a dollar anyway?), should at least fall on quarter amounts.
- Label simpler: Unless you want to deal with updating pricing stickers, consider using a color-coding system and stick to easy amounts like $1, $3, $5, $10, $15, $20, etc. Pick the best pricing tier for your items and place them in that tier instead of individually pricing every item at an endless array of prices.
- Don’t go it alone: When it comes to garage sales, there is power in numbers. Talk to your next-door neighbors and see if they want to do a combined sale. Even better, expand it to the whole neighborhood or association.
- Know the rules: Speaking of associations…be sure you know if there are any neighborhood or association rules dealing with garage sales.
- Set a date and time: Fridays and Saturdays are generally the best days for garage sales, but if you have the time and ability, you might also want to consider extending it to Thursday and/or Sunday as well. If you’re planning to hold your sale for multiple days, make sure to advertise the start and end times clearly.
- Promote your sale: Let your neighbors know about your garage sale by putting up signs in your yard and on nearby street corners. You can also post about your sale on social media garage sale groups and on McHenry Life!
- Set up early: The early bird gets the worm, so make sure you’re up and at ’em early on the day of your garage sale. This will give you time to set up your tables and displays, and to price your items.
- Be organized: Your garage sale will be much more successful if your items are organized and easy to find. Make sure to label your tables and bins clearly, and don’t be afraid to group similar items together.
- Be friendly and helpful: Customers are more likely to spend money at your garage sale if you’re friendly and helpful. Be polite and accommodating, and answer any questions that customers have.
- Be prepared to negotiate: It’s likely that some customers will try to haggle with you on the prices of your items. Be prepared to negotiate, but don’t be afraid to walk away from a sale if you’re not happy with the price.
- Be patient: It might take a few hours for your garage sale to really get going. Be patient and don’t give up. If you’re patient and persistent, you’re sure to sell a lot of stuff and make some extra money.
Sign Language
Remember that people are driving by your signs and seeing them from several feet away. Go for solid, big easy-to-read letters in bold colors.
Don’t try to cram too much information on your sign.
Make sure it is reinforced so that it doesn’t fold in or blow in the wind.
Chance of dew or rain? Cover it with clear packing tape or plastic wrap.
Here are some additional tips for holding a successful garage sale:
- Get rid of everything you don’t need: Remember, the whole point of a garage sale is to declutter your home. So before you start pricing your items, take a good look at everything you’re selling and get rid of anything you don’t really need.
- Clean your items: Even if your items are in good condition, they’ll look better if they’re clean. Take a few minutes to dust off your items and wipe them down with a damp cloth.
- Take good photos: We publish large, high-res images, so take your time and make them the best. If you only use one photo, feature a few high-demand items, or make sure it includes clearly identifiable items. This will make your sale more appealing to potential customers.
- Have a backup plan: In case of bad weather, have a backup plan for your garage sale. You could move it indoors, or you could postpone it until a sunnier day. Be sure to update your listing if you change the dates or times, and if you have a rain-or-shine action plan, include those details so people don’t just assume it isn’t going to be held.
By following these tips, you increase your chances of a successful garage sale and decluttering your home at the same time. So get started planning your sale today and then post it on McHenry Life!
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President and Founder of Identity Developments, LLC, the parent company of the McHenry Life website. My hope for McHenry Life is to create a resource and destination for the residents and businesses of McHenry County alike. A place where residents can discover new places to explore, fun events and ways to spend time, and then share those experiences with others. A place where businesses can connect with existing and potential customers, and not simply market their businesses, but share their own unique stories.
