What if, at the end of the day, you’re left with many of the yard sale items that you started with?…
Don’t get frustrated! Hey, it happens.
First, evaluate WHY you think the items didn’t sell. (This will help you determine what to do with them next.)
Next, make a PLAN for all of your yard sale leftovers.
If most of your yard sale items didn’t sell, then it means you:
- Had a lot of stuff!
- Asked more for it than the typical yardsaler is willing to give.
- Just didn’t have the right shoppers come by your yard sale on this particular day.
Now, you need to ask yourself a few questions…
Do you want to have another yard sale? If so, will it be soon? (so you can keep everything in your garage) Or much later? (requiring you to store things for awhile)
What items do you want to donate? Or give to others?
Which items should you just throw in the trash? (There are some things that you probably shouldn’t have even tried to sell, right?)
What items do you KNOW are worth something? Those things can be donated to charity.
Are you willing to sell items online? The “most valuable” of your garage sale leftovers can be sold online (see below).
What To Do With Yard Sale Leftovers
Wondering what you should do with all of those garage sale items that you worked so hard to gather up… and price… and lug down the stairs… and set up on your driveway… for all the world to see???
You actually have 7 good options:
#1 – Try again.
Save everything that didn’t sell and try again in a few weeks (or months). But this time, mark all of the prices down — WAY down! You might also consider getting together with a couple of neighbors to host one big yard sale. People often have greater success when they have a multi-family yard sale instead of an individual sale.
#2 – Sell your “best” stuff online.
Not only are you practically guaranteed that each and every one of your items will be sold on a site like eBay or Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. But you can also use the valuable lessons that you’ve learned from your own yard sale when deciding which items to sell online… and for how much. (Whichever items most people were attracted to at your yard sale, THOSE are the ones most likely to sell online — and at much higher profit margins online, too!)
Here are some examples of things that sell quickly online, and some apps to help you sell them:
In another article, I’ve also got a few more ideas to help you evaluate what’s not selling and sell those items faster!
#3 – Give it away for free to needy local residents.
Maybe you recently heard of a family in need — in your neighborhood, or at church, or at your child’s school. Pluck out all of the items that you think they could use. I bet they’ll be super grateful to have whatever you couldn’t sell!
#4 – Post a free ad giving away your “free stuff” locally.
You never know what people really want or need — until you ask. Chances are pretty good that you’ll be able to “make the day” of someone in your own neighborhood who can actually use many of the items that didn’t sell in your yard sale. If you mention all of items you’re willing to let go for FREE on Freecycle, or Facebook Marketplace, or Craigslist (in one single ad, not with individual item descriptions), SOMEONE in your area will step up and gladly take those things off your hands — within hours!
As you know, lots of people are in the business of re-selling items — both locally and online. You can post a “free ad” on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for the yard sale leftovers that you’ve placed on your curb. And local resellers will be there within minutes to collect it all — for FREE.
#5 – Pass it on.
Think of places like doctor’s offices, hospitals, and nursing homes for books & magazines. Think of friends and relatives for some of your favorite things that you just don’t have room for anymore. And think of neighbors for those “unique items” that you know someone down the street collects, or a toy that a neighbor kid would love. Pass it on, and make the day of someone you know.
#6 – Donate to local charities.
Places like Goodwill and other local charities typically have “donation centers” in most towns.
Some will even come to your house to pick up the items for FREE! (The Salvation Army does. Here in Nashville, ARC does as well.)
#7 – Sell or trade at a local flea market.
If you’re willing to haggle a bit with other sellers at the local flea market, then you might be able to trade the things you have (items that didn’t sell at your yard sale) for other things you want instead (items that have greater value to you personally).
The problem with yard sales is that they never get enough foot traffic. Well, the flea market has a built-in market and tons of foot traffic! Try a weekend at the flea market. Remember that your best customers are other vendors [and garage sale resellers]. Go around to the other vendors and try to make them deals. Got a giant pile of clothing? Take this giant pile of clothing, and be willing to sell it really cheap. Even better, be ready to trade for other things. If you have a bunch of crap to get rid of, trade it for something small that maybe has value – or at least has value to you. It will take up less space and do you some good in the future, whereas the giant pile of clothing does not. Again, sell to the other vendors if you can. Much easier and faster [than having a yard sale].
~AntelopeElectronic12 on Reddit
The bottom line…
- YOU WIN because you’ve managed to purge your home (and your life) of so much stuff that you no longer want or need.
- Your LOCAL COMMUNITY WINS because you’ve given (or donated) some items to other people in the community who can use them.
- And ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT ITEMS AT YOUR YARD SALE OR ONLINE WIN because they were able to get some great bargains.
Getting rid of all your stuff is definitely a win-win-win for EVERYONE involved!
What I Do With My Yard Sale Leftovers
After each of my yard sales is over, I try to stick with my original intentions as far as the leftovers are concerned:
- The stuff I’m willing to let go for FREE to local residents, I list them right away on “free sites” — like Freecycle and Buy Nothing. (You can search for your own local Buy Nothing group and Freecycle groups on Facebook).
- In my area, after “community-wide sales” and “neighborhood yard sales” a donation truck (or two) will swing by to collect everyone’s leftover yard sale items. I give the large, clunky items to donation pick-up trucks.
- I take all of the clothing items to Goodwill and local thrift stores.
By the end of that week, most of my “free stuff” is usually gone.
As for the rest (all of the things that people tend to “collect” and any items that have “higher values”): I sell everything else on Facebook Marketplace or on eBay! When I use eBay, I use these same tips that I use when pricing yard sale items. When I use Facebook Marketplace, I use these tips for selling items on Facebook.
Yes, selling items online is a bit more time-consuming than having a yard sale — because you have to list each item individually (which means photographing each item and writing a detailed description for each item). But it’s usually more profitable than having a yard sale, too.
It’s actually FUN to watch your items get snatched up by people who REALLY want them.
I usually list a few items at a time each week — simply because there are so many items to photograph and write descriptions for. (It’s time consuming, but worth it. I usually make more money selling the items online than the yard sale itself brought in!)
The FASTEST Way To Get Rid Of Yard Sale Leftovers
To make the process of cleaning up after your yard sale faster & easier AND to get everything out of your house in a hurry, do this…
Immediately after your sale ends (NOT the next morning — because procrastination gives other things in your life time to take precedence and makes it more likely that you will not actually do this), divide all of your leftover yard sale items into 5 piles:
PILE #1 – Items To DONATE
Bag or box these items up and prepare to take them to a local charity, or make arrangements for a charity truck to pick them up.
PILE #2 – Items To SELL Online
The majority of what you don’t sell can be sold online …and usually for a higher price than you would’ve gotten from a yard sale anyway!
PILE #3 – FREE Stuff For Whoever Wants It
I use Freecycle and Facebook groups. But other people prefer to leave these items in box marked “FREE” placed at the end of the driveway. Leave it there until garbage pick-up day, and anything that doesn’t get picked up can be thrown away.
PILE #4 – Items To SAVE For The Next Garage Sale
If you honestly believe that you will have another yard sale in the future AND you have enough space to store the items until then, it makes sense to store “the best” items for your next yard sale.
PILE #5 – Items To KEEP
These are typically items that you only wanted to sell IF you got the right price for it. We all have some of these. Usually they’re items that only you can see the real value in.
In my case, one “pile” was in the guest bedroom (donate), another “pile” was in my office (sell online), one “pile” was in the far corner of our garage (freebies), another “pile” was a large Rubbermaid bin in the attic (sell at next yard sale), and remaining things that I just couldn’t part with went to their respective places inside my house or attic storage.
