How to Hold a Proper Moving Sale
By Eric Hammer - 2011
Rather than trying to hire movers or run a moving sale,
I think I'd much rather just set fire to the whole business and
then walk away, starting fresh in my new home. - Anonymous
frustrated mover.
We've all had to move sometime in our lifetimes; very few
of us spend our entire lives living in the same house we grew
up in and some of us have become experts on moving and moving
sales. If you find yourself getting ready to make "the big
move" or even just "a move" then you may well
want to consider holding a moving sale for whichever belongings
you don't want or need in your new home. Here's how to do it
right:
Inside or Outside
The first question when planning a moving sale is exactly
how you plan to run the sale. If you mostly have small odds and
ends to get rid of and nothing big, then consider holding a yard
sale where you set up your goods outdoors on a nice day (it helps
to do this in the spring or summer).
On the other hand, if you're moving out of a four bedroom
house and into a studio or one bedroom home (for retirement for
example), then you need a different model. At that point, you're
doing something more akin to an estate sale without there being
an estate. If this is the case, consider moving everything out
that you want to keep and then allowing people to walk through
your home picking out things they'd like to buy, with you simply
sitting guard at the door to make sure people pay for whatever
they want to purchase.
Pricing
A good rule of thumb when pricing products for a moving sale
is that you want to offer whatever you have for sale at a minimum
of 50% off the going retail price. Be prepared to bargain as
well, but know what your red lines are in advance. Realize as
well that just because you think something is really valuable
doesn't mean others will think so as well. Your grandmother's
china may hold sentimental value for you making the set worth
thousands of dollars in your eyes, but the stranger who sees
that it's a cheap made in China set isn't going to care.
Deciding What to Sell
Speaking of your grandmother's china, you also need to make
the decision about what you'll sell in your moving sale. So for
example you probably will want to keep the family china, even
if it's cheap junk because it has sentimental value. However,
in other cases, you may not care one way or the other.
Here's a good rule of thumb to decide what gets sold and what
gets moved: Ask yourself, do I have use for this in my new home?
Will it cost me less to simply buy a new one in my new home than
to sell it here (for example, your Ikea coffee table is probably
not going to worth taking along if it costs almost as much to
move it as it costs to buy a new one)? Finally, consider your
moving costs. If you're moving a particularly large and bulky
item, you may be better off selling it rather than moving it.
Advertising
There was a time when advertising your moving sale meant hanging
flyers all over the neighborhood and on the community bulletin
board. These days however, it's also possible to advertise your
moving sale in a variety of other ways - you can for example
put up ads on Craigslist, Facebook and Twitter to invite people
in the neighborhood to drop by. Be sure to email close friends
as well and ask them to tell their friends.
When to Hold Your Sale
Generally, you should plan to hold your moving sale on either
a Saturday or Sunday (if there are large numbers of Orthodox
Jews in your area, it's especially useful to do it on a Sunday
because they won't come on Saturdays. By the same token, if your
area is very religious and most people are church goers, it's
best to hold the sale on Saturday since most people won't show
up on Sunday). Be sure to avoid holiday weekends though as few
people will be around to make a purchase from you to begin with.
Consider Hiring a Professional
If you have a whole house that you want to clear out (again
because of retirement or even because someone passed away), consider
hiring a professional to do your moving sale. If the likely sales
will total in the thousands of dollars, there are thousands of
people who will run your sale for you, including setting up a
cashier, pricing your things for you, advertising and cleaning
up after the sale is over. They can even arrange to donate things
which don't get sold to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. They'll
typically take a cut of anywhere from 10-30% of the sales total,
but for that money, you simply walk away with a check and no
hassles.
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