Garage Sale Guru: Jeff Lenci

By Carolyn Campbell 

Jeff Lenci calls himself a professional junker. While his official title is jewelry store general manager, in his spare time, Lenci shops at garage sales and visits swap meets weekly. "The hunt to find a bargain compares with that of the hunter or fisherman who pursues a trout or deer," says Lenci. He adds, "One man's junk is another man's treasure. A garage sale is a great place to sell items such as old fry pans, toasters, mixers, old clothing and furniture. Once at a garage sale, I bought a cremation box for $4.00 that was actually worth $400.00." 

From years of both hosting and visiting garage sales, Lenci offers the following savvy suggestions for achieving garage sale success. 

What is the definition of a garage sale? 

"A garage sale is an opportunity to both make money and dispose of items that you haven't used in at least two years, and will probably never use again," says Lenci. 

How should I prepare in advance for my garage sale? 

Preparation and proper pricing are crucial, says Lenci. He advises, "Take a long time before the sale to gather all of the items you plan to sell. Save boxes and grocery bags so that your buyers can use them to carry their items home." Through personal experience, he discovered that merchandise sells better if it is arranged on tables rather than lying on the lawn or in the driveway. Clothes are more likely to sell if they are hung on a line. "Keep in mind that some garage sale shoppers are only looking for certain types of goods," says Lenci. "Organize your possessions with similar items together in a specific area–clothing in one area, kitchen items in another, all sporting goods together." 

How should I price items? 

Proper pricing, says Lenci, can make the difference between earning $200 or $2,000 at a garage sale. As a rule of thumb, he says, items should sell for between 20 and 25 percent of their price if purchased new. For example, if an electric fry pan costs $20.00 today, a used electric fry pan should sell for $5.00 at a garage sale. If you don't know the current price of a new item, Lenci suggests, check a mail-order catalog, consult a company website, or "cruise through a store." 

When pricing items, Lenci suggests sellers visit an office supply store and buy a roll of "theft-proof" labels. "Put a price on everything. Even pricing–$1.00, $3.00, 50 cents—is less complicated, so you don't have to deal with pennies, nickels, and dimes." 

He adds that there will likely be many miscellaneous items—such as small glass jars or kitchen items—that are too small to label. He suggests marking these with a colored marker, such as red for $1.00 items or green for those that sell for 50 cents. Place these together in a produce box for display. He suggests labeling all items a day in advance of the sale so that you will be ready to begin selling early the next morning. 

Are there items that shouldn't be sold at a garage sale? 

At one garage sale he visited, Lenci saw a box of six water glasses priced at fifty cents per glass. They were actually Waterford crystal, and worth $75.00 each. "Items that have substantial value, such as Oriental rugs, full sets of china, valuable art work or antiques should not be sold at garage sales," says Lenci. "If you have an item such as an old watch or piece of rhinestone jewelry you think may be valuable, consult with a consignment shop before selling it at a garage sale. Consigners will pay you 70 per cent and take 30 percent of the price they are able to charge. They know what price such items will bring." 

How can I promote my garage sale? 

Lenci distributes fliers to the neighbors on his street a week or more in advance of his garage sale to invite them to join in the future sale. "If you invite your neighbors to join with you, you can advertise your sale as a multi-family garage sale, which has greater appeal to buyers. You can also split the cost of the advertising with other families." 

Lenci adds that Saturday is "the only day" to hold a garage sale. He feels that newspaper advertising is vital. He advises running a classified ad in your main local newspaper or newspapers the day before—and possibly the day of—the sale. “Keep your ad to two lines. List the date, time, and address of the garage sale, and note ‘no early birds.’”

Should I provide directional signs? 

Over half of the people who visit your sale will find it by simply driving around looking for sales. "It's important that you place a large sign on the main thoroughfare," says Lenci. He advises using a piece of fluorescent poster board. "Write only 'Garage Sale' and the address. Add a directional arrow," he says. "Place a similar sign at each intersection or turn. A trail of signs is like providing a trail of bread crumbs for people to follow." 

How should I handle early birds? 

Early birds are buyers who buy the newspaper when it comes out at midnight, Lenci explains. They map a route of which garage sales they plan to visit the next day. At 6:00 or 7:00 a.m., their goal is to shop the sales, sweep up all underpriced merchandise and resell it themselves—often at the Sunday swap meet the next day. According to Lenci, "They may knock on your door the night before the sale and ask to look around. Or they'll stop at your house at 5:00 a.m. with a heartrending excuse, such as their mother's funeral is that day. Tell them that no one is invited to view the sale items until the official opening time." He adds that 8:00 a.m. is a typical time for a garage sale to start. 

How much change should I have on hand? 

Be sure you have enough change on hand to at least make change for $100.00, says Lenci. "A common early bird tactic is to gather a stack of stuff and then hand over a $100.00 bill, knowing that most people don't have that much change. When you say you don't have the change, the reply is often, 'I do happen to have a twenty.' If you give them sixty dollars worth of goods for twenty dollars, you've lost. And when you do have the change, they'll suddenly not want everything they've picked out." 

Don't accept checks from anyone you don't know, Lenci advises. "Many checks from unscrupulous buyers are bogus. And if they are fake, how will you collect on them? The police have bigger crimes to worry about." 

What about people who want to haggle over a price? "Be firm about prices. You are in business to get fair value for what you are selling," says Lenci. He suggests telling buyers who offer lower prices that everything that hasn't been sold by 5:00 p.m. will then be sold at half price. "If they want the item, they will come back for it." he says. Meanwhile, another buyer might pay full price for the item before 5:00 p.m. Most garage sales experience a flurry of morning buyers, and are sparsely populated by 3:00 p.m., says Lenci. He suggests phoning a favorite charity to arrange to donate all items that haven't sold by 5:00 p.m. 

What is the main difference between a garage sale and an estate sale? 

While a garage sale is an opportunity to dispose of those items that you haven't used in at least two years, an estate sale is an obligation is to dispose of a person's entire belongings. If you conduct your own estate sale, Lenci advises, pay an antiques appraiser an hourly rate to price items before the sale. "Particularly at an estate sale, be sure there is a controlled entrance and exit," he says. "Otherwise, one third of what you have to sell will walk away." 

With Lenci’s suggestions and a little preparation, anybody can have a successful garage sale.  There’s no better way to empty out your house and earn a little extra spending money.”