Garage Sale Safety and Pricing

I would not have my child there. My parents had a garage sale a few months ago, and I helped. There were times where people were asking me and my mom a question at the same time. There were also times when there was a lot of people there, and a lot of cars coming and going. There were moments, when it would have been very hard to keep an eye on my child. He is 3. I think an older child would have been fine, but not a toddler. It makes me nervous, because toddlers don't have the reasoning skills. They are more impulsive. I just don't think that mixes well, with garage sale atmosphere.

Heavily used stuff needs to be pretty cheap. People will ask for the price they want, anyway. I would just say "children's items."

Why wouldn't you put that you have girls clothes? Children's clothes are the big draw. Are you honestly worried about pedophiles targeting a garage sale? Come on, they are sick not stupid. Garage sales are nightmares.

So far as pricing goes look at it and ask yourself what would you pay. I doubt anyone would want a heavily used car seat, after all you can't guarantee it hasn't been in an accident.

I don't know about others but my kids have always been around when we've had garage sales. And it's just been my mom and myself running them. My hubby's been around at times but not always. I just kept an eye on my kids but typically they were running around playing, helping sell their stuff, or in the house watching tv or playing. For your heavily used stroller and carseat - myself I wouldn't pay over $5 each for them. Same for the swing, pac-n-play. Gates - maybe $2-$3 each. If they just need cleaning up but are in good shape, you might be able to double that amount if you cleaned them up.

I would never never never put my address in any kind of an add except a garage sale. I would not put anything on craigslist ever.

I would say that just doing an add in the classified section of the newspaper listing the sizes and gender of clothes you have then something along the lines of all clothes priced less than $1 each. That would bring in people by the car loads.

I would price the stuff to go and not to make money. People want a good deal and will drive all over the county to find the right price.

I think if I were going to have a garage sale I would do it something like this.

Garage sale at ### S. Main. Girls clothing from size 3T up to 5T. All clothes are $1 or less. Girls shoes from size 8T up to 11T. Ladies shorts and tops in size 6P.

This way they know if it's their size they are looking for, if it's prices they can afford, and if it's worth their time to come to it.

I'd also place plenty of signs on each end of the street with lots of directional signs if it's in a housing edition.

I would put "Children's items" in the CL listing and not specify boy/girl at all. As for what to do to be safe... stay outside and supervise at all times. Of course it is safe for your daughter to be there, just keep an eye on her! Make sure to keep you side/back doors locked "just in case".

As for realistic pricing... heavily used? Does that mean old, but in good condition or old and battered? Not much info to go on here, but we looked at a stroller (double jogger) at a yard sale and they wanted $50 for it. It was $175 new and I thought it was overpriced based on the condition. The "rule of thumb" is to find out the "new retails price" and then put a sticker price that is AT LEAST 60% less.

You should not resell the carseat. I'm 99% sure it's not legal. Consignment stores will not resell them due to safety concerns. It's really not worth a lawsuit for the $10 you will get for it! Just toss that or recycle it.

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As others have said, just throw away the car seat or some communities offer recycling for them. The plastic breaks down over time and they become less effective. They are definitely supposed to be tossed out after 5 years and you can find the manufacture date on a sticker on the back.

First off how bad do you want to get rid of your stroller and the rest? If you don't want them to come back in the house but a few bucks on them.

As far as the car seat.....PLEASE do not try and sell it just throw it or recycle the plastic. At 6 yrs a car seat becomes outdated and should be thrown away. Also around here used car seats don't sell because your never sure how well the person took care of it or if it was in even a minor accident. If you do decide to sell the car seat please go to the US Gov recall site to see if has been recalled. Same with the stroller because many have been recalled in the past years because of fingers getting pinched and heads getting stuck between the tray and seat.

I personally wouldn't list it on Craigslist but use lots large signs made of neon tag board (Walmart, Walgreens or Dollar Tree sell it to name a few) with black lettering. Don't make the little bitty one but half sheet size with bold lettering and directional arrows. One year we forgot to put the ad in the paper so we just had signs.....best sale we EVER had.

Good luck!!!