How to have a yard sale: the complete checklist

One to two weeks before

• Pick a date. Saturday mornings get the most shoppers; long-weekend Saturdays and the first warm weekends of spring are the busiest of the year.
• Check your town's rules. Some places limit how many sales you can hold a year or where signs can go.
• Go room by room with three boxes: sell, donate, toss. Be honest about what nobody will buy.
• Ask the neighbours. Two or three homes on one street draw far more people than one — a street sale is the single biggest boost you can give a sale.

Price everything before the day

Priced items sell; unpriced items get skipped by shoppers who don't want to ask. Use stickers or masking tape, or group things on tables with one price ("everything on this table $1").

A rule of thumb: 10–30% of what it cost new, depending on condition. See our pricing guide for item-by-item numbers.

Advertise where shoppers actually look

• Put it on the map. Shoppers plan their Saturday route the night before, so post by Thursday night — that also gets you into Friday morning's email.
• List your best items by name — "crib", "drill press", "vinyl records". People search for specific things.
• Share it in your town's buy-and-sell and garage-sale groups on Facebook.
• Signs at the nearest main roads with big, thick arrows and the date. Take them down after.

The night before

• Get small change: a roll of loonies and toonies and plenty of $5 bills.
• Set up tables in the garage or carport so you can open fast if it rains.
• Charge your phone and test an extension cord for anyone who wants to check an appliance works.
• Decide whether early birds are welcome, and say so in your listing.

On sale day

• Put big, eye-catching items by the road: furniture, bikes, tools. They stop cars.
• Keep money on you (a cash apron), never in a box on the table.
• Expect haggling. Decide your bottom price on big items before anyone asks.
• After lunch, drop prices or start a "fill a bag for $5" deal.

After the sale

Whatever didn't sell can go on Last Call — a board of leftovers with photos and prices until Friday, so the nice dresser still finds a home. The rest goes to a charity shop, and take your signs down.