Not MY shopping pand-i-monium......but for the folks who came to my Yard Sale yesterday.
Welcome to SLUGGYMART!
I am sooo tired from all the work from the last 3 days getting prepared & having to get up at 5:20 Sat. morning.
But considering the Yard Sale only went from 8 am-Noon(and I closed up shop 15 min. after noon when the last shopper left), I did great!
After deducting the bank I started the day with, I ended Sat. with $628.50....woohoo!!
I sold quite a bit of eBay merchandise(new in the package stuff) I hadn't been able to sell-most of it was stuff that weighed alot. eBay buyers just don't want to spend what I needed to get for it AND pay the outrageous shipping costs nowadays, so I got ok prices selling it locally with no shipping costs involved. But most of what I had(new in the package toys and collectibles)is NOT what your average yardsal-er comes to a sale to buy.
So Thank the Lord for the Stockpile!! 8-))
I'd say about 3/4 of what I sold was from the Stockpile.
Here's some random thoughts I thought I'd share as it might help someone else who is having or considering having a Garage Sale using Stockpile items. As Yoda might say, "Learn from my successes and failures, you will!" ;-))
*************************
I priced All the Stockpile goodies from .50¢ to $5.00. I had 2 etagere shelving units, a folding table, a patio table, a tea cart, plus a small bookshelf. (The non stockpile stuff when on a folding card table, boxes or stacks of Rubbermaid tubs we used as makeshift tables.) I tried to put all $1 items on the same shelves, all $2 items on the same shelves, etc. Labeling every single item was a near impossible task. I would have needed another WEEK just to sit and sticker every single item I had, but I gave it the valiant effort trying to keep up as things flew out the door. My best bet was some signage and just being accessible and anticipating when I needed to point out which were $1 shelves, $2 shelves, $3 tables, etc.
Most of what I put out to sell was either things I had bought to get something else (things that we weren't going to use), or things I had specifically bought to sell(on eBay or at a flea market/garage sale in the future). I didn't have alot of food to sell...it was mostly HBA/Toiletries.
Though I tried to put alot of items that had no cost to me after coupons & sales(the freebies), I ended up putting some other things out where I didn't make much profit after the cost of what I paid was deducted. This gave me a better mix of items for the 'store'. But even with averaging out the actual profit over the whole lot that sold, I still came out very much in the Black.
While I was too busy to think to take pics of what I was selling BEFORE the sale....that and there were already throngs of people cramming into the garage before the 8am start....I did take some photos of what was left of the Stockpile stock after it was over.
Keep in mind that the tables & shelves pictured were PACKED & FILLED with stuff! Each row of items was 5 deep and boxes were stacked 5 high. Some items like the toothpaste, deodorants, shaving cream, etc. where emptied totally once and "restocked".
This table is half-filled now. The whole thing was covered before.
A nearly empty table.
Had to mix food with toiletries at the end to make it look like there was more.lol
This tea cart is almost empty. I didn't even picture 1 small bookshelf that was totally emptied.
What sold out, the price charged & what it cost me.....
**Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Detergent $3 (.99¢)
**Spray n' Wash $2 (.50¢)
**Salad Dressing $1 (.09¢)
**Huggies Baby Wipes-both $1 & .50¢(small travel size & larger travel size) These were pure profit as it was free to me w/coupons.
**Mini J&J First Aid Kits .50¢ Ditto.
**Mac & Cheese Cups .50¢ (broke even-just wanted them gone lol)
**Kraft Shells Deluxe Dinners $1 (.29¢)
**Tuna Fish .50¢ (.19¢)
**Peanut Butter $1 (.87¢)
**Jelly $1 (.50¢)
**Crystal Light $1 (?) Had bought this for daughter and she decided she doesn't do artificial sweetners anymore
**Axe Body Wash(I had a ton of this. Son loves it but I had way more than he could use.) $2 ($1.15)
Like a store, there wasn't much profit margin in each item(except the Spray n' Wash...I wish I had a boatload of that stuff!LOL).
What sold well.....
**Razors Assorted Prices from $2 to $4 Almost sold out.
**Shaving Cream/Gel $1 Again, almost sold all of what I put out.
**TOOTHPASTE! I had a box with 150 tubes of assorted toothpastes in it. Marked them all $1 a piece(the only higher price was the Colgate Visible White) and I sold about half of them. If I had another day or another few hours, I bet I could have sold them all. The best part was anything I got for them was gravy because they didn't cost me anything!lol The clear favorite....Aqua-Fresh! Next fav-Colgate. The Crest sat most of the day on the shelf. Weird because Crest is always priced higher here. You would think people would buy that if all the prices were the same, but they preferred the smaller tubes of Colgate.
**Toothbrushes. Didn't sell out(1 left of the single packs, lots of double packs left.)but sold well and most if not all what I got was profit.
**$2 Shampoos. Except for some Massive bottles of Tressemme($3) & the small Suave 'Poos($1), I marked all the other 'Poos at $2 each. Sold almost all of those. All I have left is 1 bottle of Tressemme and some small Suave 'Poos.
**Febreeze Noticeables $4 This one puzzled me....but then again, I am not into the smelly house air stuff. I am glad others like this though.lol
**Cereal $1.50 ($1 or less) Almost a sell out.
**Froot Roll-ups & Gushers $1 These were from a Catalina Deal back in Feb. at the local store. After the OYNO Cats they cost me .25¢. If I would have stayed open another couple hours or another day, I'd have sold out of it. I just had massive quantities to sell.lol #2 son decided AFTER I bought them all that he didn't like this stuff anymore. Argh.
**Cat Treats .50¢ None sold at .75¢, so I dropped the price and 1 got rid of a full shopping bag full(still have 1 bagful left). All profit as these were free to me.
**A-1 Marinade $1
**Deodorants $1 Didn't sell out but sold a ton. A few I prices at $2(Dove, Degree finer scents or whatever it's called) and didn't sell a single one of those. But everyone was buying multiples of the $1 stuff. Most of the deos were free to me.
**Bandaids $2 This one surprised me. While I was setting up, I figured I would have to drop the price on these. But I never did and nearly sold out! The price was good and most of them cost me .50¢ so a good profitable item.
**Tylenol Arthritis $2 A great price for the customer but I still made $1.21 profit on each one.
What I couldn't GIVE AWAY!.....
**Glad Sense & Spray $3 The Noticeables sold well for $4. Not a single S&S sold at $1 less. Go figure.lolol
**Oust $2 I should have lowered this to $1.50 or even $1. It was all free so even $1 would have been pure profit. The Lysol DID sell. Oh well....
**Ecotrin $1 They bought the Tylenol for double the price but the Ecotrin didn't move.
**Bayer Crystals $1 Ditto.
**Men's Body Wash & Shampoo(Gillette & Pert) $2 All that Gillette B Wash & 'Poo I have....this failure brought a tear to my eye....lol And the Men's Pert? Not a single bottle. huh...
**Wacky Mac .75¢ I thought I'd sell a few since they are $1.79 here and we don't get good Qs for it regionally nor does it go on good sale. I wasn't going to reduce to .50¢ as I'd rather give it to the food bank than give it away at a yard sale.
**BBQ Sauce .50¢ I DID sell a few actually. I just think that with all the sales on it, everyone already had enough. Maybe if I have a garage sale in the dead of winter, I'd have a better shot at selling this.lolol
**Bayer Meters. I put a couple I have left out just on the off chance someone wandered in who needed a replacement meter. No such luck.lol
I'd recommend you keep your change ON you! Don't use a cash box. With the economy the way it is and so many more desperate people out there, having a box of money sitting there might prove too tempting for some people. If you use a cash box, velcro it to your hand. lol
I kept small bills in one pocket with some quarters. If someone paid me with a large bill, it went into the other pocket. When that one filled up or the wad of small bills got too large, I sent for hubby to come make a "Brinks Pick-Up".lol He kept that cash on him in the house until the sale was done. Don't leave your wad of money sitting out in your house....it just takes 1 minute of not being careful and some stranger in your garage could slip into your house and help themselves to your profits. It's a sad statement about the world we live in sometimes, but better safe than sorry.
While I enjoy going to Garage Sales, I am not very good at holding them. I am great at organizing and when I want I can be a very good saleswoman. I need a hand with the physical moving part(the heavy stuff)but where I fail bigtime is with the hagglers. I am a sucker.
Bigtime.
Sucker.
I don't push back on hagglers and I usually just cave-in and give them the stuff for cheap.
I was proud of myself yesterday because I did say No a few times on lowball offers. I have this need for everyone to like me so it's hard for me not to just "give the store away".
I struggle with being a hard-ass.
Unless you are a telemarketer.....then I am your worst nightmare.**snort**
So that's how it went.
The sad part(well if you ask my hubby)is that for everything I sold, you can't even tell from the size of the stockpile that is left!lolol
Barely.
Made.
A Dent.
Under orders from management(the hubby), if I bring another tube of toothpaste into this house-even if it's FREE!-I am to be shot at sunrise.
No trial.
No jury.
It's the firing squad for me automatically.
One woman asked if I had a store, or sold at a flea market. Another wanted to know where I got all this stuff(refering to the stockpile). I told her I used coupons, ALOT of coupons!lol
Some guy asked me when my NEXT SALE was going to be.
I almost blurted out, "Are you KIDDING ME?!?!" I held that in and said maybe next year.
I don't plan on making this a regular thing.
It's work.
I just want to float around the pool in July.
Sluggy
