The dos and don’ts of garage sales

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Take a look around you; all that clutter in your home or garage could be cash in your pocket!

News1130 is looking for deals for you as garage sale season gets underway, and we have some great tips for both buyers and sellers.

For sellers:

“The goal, first and foremost, should be ‘get this stuff outta here!’ followed by letting you walk away with a little cash,” says Gregg Stebben with Men’s Health Magazine.

“It’s a great time to think about cleaning the garage and, really, the best way to do that is to walk out there a Saturday ahead and start pulling stuff out and drag literally everything onto the driveway. Once you start going, you’ll get past the point where it’s too late to stop and you’ll have actually go through with it,” he laughs.

Once everything is out, you can actually clean the garage and then begin sorting. Ruthlessly sorting.

“Have separate piles with keepers, trash, and toxic stuff to be disposed of appropriately. Hopefully, you will then have a mountain of stuff set aside for the garage sale. Then you really do get some mental health advantages because you’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff and you’ll get some extra cash in your pocket,” says Stebben.

But when selling, you should approach the garage sale as a purge rather than a way to make a bundle of cash.

“Then you’ll loosen up in your negotiations. You’ll bundle things together [and] you’ll be more motivated to get rid of stuff than trying to scrape out another couple of bucks and ending up with no deal,” explains Stebben.

He also suggests putting thought into how you arrange your merchandise to create “curb appeal” and marking down a few big items to attract interest and get passers-by out of their cars.

For buyers:

When you are out trolling for deals and treasures, Health Canada has warnings about certain types of products to avoid, especially if they are intended for children.

Stay away from costume jewellery; they can contain lead and cadmium, which are soft, inexpensive metals which can be toxic, even at low levels of exposure.

Cribs, cradles, bassinets and car seats are also dicey garage sale buys. They are often outdated or have been recalled, potentially posing safety hazards for infants and small children.

Both buyers and sellers can check Health Canada’s Consumer Product Recall database for the most recent recall information.

If you do have a prohibited product, like an old baby walker, Health Canada advises you to destroy it so it can’t be used again and to dispose of it properly.