Is this you?
You are out and about on a Saturday morning casually hunting garage sales and you see a sign for a garage sale on the main road. The address was too small to read, but you caught the words ‘garage sale’ and an arrow. A split second decision follows and you turn into the street the sign pointed to. And then drive around for a quarter of an hour trying to find a sign that tells you where the bargains are to be had, and find nothing!
Frustrating? You would be surprised how many people create small and infrequent signs to bring the customers to their garage sale!
When you hold a garage sale you want to make the experience as easy as possible for your customers. You want their business! This includes finding your garage sale easily in the first place!
Superb garage sale signage is easy... but it does take a little more time than taking a permanent marker to a piece of light cardboard last minute.
If you live on a main road, opposite a park or similar, consider placing a BIG sign up outside your house for a week or two beforehand. It is a ‘teaser’ that tells people a HUGE garage sale will be at your place, lots of bargains to be had, with the date. The sign in the photo was hung for a fortnight prior to this garage sale in Bondi, Sydney, on the house. The house sat opposite a well-used park and encouraged many visitors to the day. As the sign is on your personal property, you will not be breaking any council laws.
A few days before your garage sale, letterbox drop your neighborhood letting them know where it will be held, date and time, and a few items that you will be selling. This will help get all the local people along!
Finally, on the day of your garage sale, you need to put out all the major signage. Think weatherproof signage. Water proof if you can! Signs need to be sturdy cardboard, metal, plastic or similar, or attached to a sturdy backing (like a crate/box/stake). Be aware of laws about attaching it to electrical poles. Your sign needs to be large enough to be read easily by drive-by traffic and needs to include the words ‘garage sale’, the date it is being held and an arrow pointing the way!Make sure the lettering is LARGE and readable. It's helpful to have all your signs look similar (same colored lettering or same colored cardboard used - that way when people are following your signs, they'll know they are following YOUR signs!
Start at the main road and then work backwards, signing each turn to make it as easy as possible for the driver. 4 - 6 signs is a good number, but if there are many turns, make more! At your actual house, balloons help indicate which house. An effective garage sale sign we saw recently was a car parked in front of the house, just to one side (so as not to obstruct view) with a big ‘garage sale here’ sign across the entire back and front windscreens. No mistaking which house it was! Ensure your house number is highly visible too. For a comprehensive list of garage sales and laws relating to signage, visit the ‘garage sale laws’ section of the site.
Finally at the end of the day, you need to ensure that you take down all signs to avoid council fines and to keep your hard earned cash!
A wesbite that adds some value to the topic of garage sale signage can be accessed by clicking here. They even suggest having a garage sale sign 'mascot'! A cute and pracical idea to really hallmark your garage sale! |
