Promoting your garage, yard, or estate sale is pretty crucial to having a successful event. If no one knows your event is happening then your chances of getting enough foot traffic to entice people to buy dwindles. Use this guide for resources and tips on how to promote your sale.
Attracting More Buyers to Your Yard Sale: 6 Essential Best Practices for Successful Promotion
Pre-Planning
May seem obvious but make sure you have your dates and time for your event secured. You can’t promote an “eventual” event. Potential buyers need to be given the specifics so they know where to be and when.
Additionally, make sure you have any permits completed before promoting your event. If not, this could be a cart-before-the-horse situation. If your local municipality does not grant you a permit for your event for the dates and times you want to host it then you need to start from scratch again. Make sure you abide by your local regulations before you start promoting your event.
Engaging Visuals
Bare minimum, you need signs that direct potential buyers to your event. You can *** purchase generic signs*** that get the job done or you can create signs that entice exponential foot traffic to come by.
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Differentiate Your Event
Branding your event may seem like overkill but it is a great way to differentiate your event in a sea of sameness. Most promotions of garage, yard, and estate sales are very bland. They may offer half-way decent descriptors but they are as exciting as reading a textbook. Take some creative license with how you want to encourage potential buyers to come to your event. Use a theme to promote and advertise your unique event.
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Consistent Messaging
Once you have a theme you like, make sure your visuals (signs and advertising) match your theme. Keep it consistent so people online and in-person know they are in the right spot for your event. Your signs should reiterate your theme. Your online postings should include your theme. For example, if your theme is “shopaholic turned minimalist” then your postings should lead with that phrase and your physical signs leading to your event location should duplicate that theme.
Promotion Timing
You should start promoting your event 2 weeks before the actual date. Here is the ideal promotion schedule:
- 2 weeks before:
- Post to a sale website (see below for recommended options)
- Post to Nextdoor (or other community online app)
- Post to social media
- 1 week before:
- Post your traditional method
- Repost to Nextdoor and/or social media
- 1-2 days before:
- Place out your physical signs in high traffic areas (major intersections leading to your event location and cross streets)
If you have to reschedule your sale event you’ll need to make sure you update all platforms where you posted your event.
Recommended Promotion Platforms
Below are recommendations of platforms and places to promote your event.
GSALR.com is a website dedicated to helping people find and advertise garage sales, yard sales, and estate sales. It offers an easy-to-use interface where users can post details about their sales, including location, dates, times, and item descriptions. The site also features a searchable map and list of sales, making it simple for buyers to find nearby events. It is free to list your event and you can upload pictures of your best items.
GarageSaleFinder.com is a comprehensive online platform designed to help people locate and promote garage sales, yard sales, and estate sales. It provides an interactive map and detailed listings, making it easy for users to find sales in their area. Again, it is free to list your sale on this website.
EstateSales.org is a leading site for finding and advertising estate sales, auctions, and other types of sales. The site offers a comprehensive directory of sales across the country, including detailed listings and an interactive map to help users locate events nearby. There is a cost of listing your event on the site and starts at $50 for one event. However, your event gets added to their email list for additional promotion.
EstateSale.com is a popular online platform for advertising and finding estate sales, auctions, and other sale events. The site features a comprehensive directory of sales, providing users with detailed listings and an interactive map to easily locate sales in their area. There is a cost of listing your event on the site and starts at $39 for one event.
Social Platforms
Social platforms can be a good resource for promoting your sale event. An ideal place to list your event is in your Nextdoor community. It is targeting your local audience (more foot traffic!), you can provide real-time updates of your event (rain delay), and respond to inquiries from potential buyers. Plus, posting to Nextdoor is free.Other than Nextdoor, be careful of posting to social media channels where you will need to list your address to complete strangers. While you may be familiar with platforms like Facebook or Tik Tok, you don't want to spread your personal details to the world. Plus, you really want to promote your event to your local community and not Great Aunt Edna who lives four states over. If you are part of a specific online community that is monitored by admins, like a Facebook group for your neighborhood, then it may be safe
Traditional Methods
While posting to online platforms that are geared towards shoppers of garage sales, yard sales, and estate sales is a good first step it shouldn't be the ONLY step. There are still traditional methods of promoting your event in your community where most of your shoppers will come from. Some traditional channels to consider are:- Library
Your local library will likely have a bulletin board of local happenings. You may need to check with the staff about posting a flier to the board. - Community Center
Similar to your library, a local community center may also have an area to post similar events for the public to review. - Rec Center
Again, anywhere your local community gathers and may have an area to post a flier promoting your event is ideal. These places don't usually charge to post a flier so it saves you money. - Coffee Shop
Coffee shops can be great hang out spots for your community and, therefore, is another ideal spot to post a flier to promote. your event.
Be sure to remove any fliers or promotional materials you have posted to these areas after your sale is complete.
