Arts and Antiques with Dr. Lori: 21st century yard sales
Most people think of yard sales as simple. Move stuff from inside your house to the front lawn, tack up a few homemade signs around the neighborhood and wait for the crowds to arrive, buy and take it all away.
The thought is, in the course of a few hours, your house will be clean, your lawn will be cleared and your pockets will be lined with cash. Or so you hoped.
Reality, I hate to tell you, looks quite different. In order to have a lucrative and stress-free yard sale these days, you have to know about technology, understand social media, connect with potential buyers worldwide and use it all to your advantage.
Preparation is key. Don’t expect those who never help you with chores to pitch in now. Don’t hope for helpers. Hire helpers. That’s right. Hire the brains and the brawn that you need for such an undertaking. You’ll need muscle to move the unwanted stuff, and you’ll need mind power to work the smartphones and other devices for advertising, inventory control, social media and sales.
Yard sales are big business today. They help fund the creator culture with many videographers coming to yard sales just to get content for their YouTube channels. Some are buyers and some are not. Yard sales are part of the soon to be nearly $75 billion, projected by 2025, thrifting and reselling industry, too.
So be ready. Decide who you want to host and who you don’t want on your lawn at your yard sale. Some yard sale hosts are requesting that their kids are not on video, others are asking for video credit to help promote future yard sales, etc. And, don’t forget to check your insurance policy just in case ana ccident happens on your property.
When it comes to your stuff, consider what is a family heirloom, cherished and sentimental keepsake, or good old fashioned – who knows how, where, or when I got this thing — kind of stuff that is doing nothing more than cluttering up the house. Get ready to make piles. And these piles have to go somewhere eventually, so get tubs or boxes with handles, and start sorting your stuff. Sort room by room or cabinet by cabinet or drawer by drawer.
Sorting doesn’t have to be perfect because people like the treasure hunt, too. I am not a firm believer in the “if it brings you joy” concept when it comes to de-cluttering and organizing stuff. I live on the “if it brings you money” side of the de-cluttering street. If you can resell it, trade it or otherwise capitalize on the object that you are willing to sell, then part with it. That doesn’t mean I don’t like to collect...because I do. I show you how to cash in with my reselling tips.
So, as you prepare for your yard sale consider the internet as a tool for making your yard sale a success. There are many websites that announce yard sales and since the yard sale is all about locale and physically moving items out of your home to others who buy them, make sure you know where toa dvertise your sale. Facebook marketplace ads that announce yard sales with local pick up is a good option, as are a whole host of other websites that are geared to yard sale advertising. Advertise and list the unwanted items on eBay.com and mark the listings with local pick up. Services such as Kaiyo and others are interested in furniture that can be sold in a yard sale type manner.
Dr. Lori Verderame, Ph.D. antiques appraiser, author and award-winning TV personality, appears on "The Curse of Oak Island" on the History Channel. She gives appraisal value information. Contact her at www.DrLoriV.com,www.Youtube.com/DrLoriV or call (888) 431-1010.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Dr. Lori: 21st century yard sales
