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Rob's Rockin' Ribs
Our Four Suitcases
Life Should be an Adventure!
How to Create an Online Garage Sale
Here is how I got people to come out in the middle of a Canadian winter to buy and haul away all our belongings at no cost to us, plus net a tidy profit!
We were living less than thirty minutes away from Sudbury, Ontario and had not planned on moving for a while when I got the opportunity to take a job with a company in Calgary. The money was too tempting. I took the offer and started looking at the cost of moving.
Moving companies wanted anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000 to move the contents of our apartment to another province. The pod companies were not much better as far as the combined cost and renting a U-Haul was not something we could work out logistically.
Everything would have to be sold as we decided to fly out to Calgary. Only one problem, it was the middle of the winter and we lived in an apartment almost thirty minutes away from a city.
Craigslist was not widely used in northern Ontario, at the time, but Kijiji was a good resource for selling your belongings. I wanted a better way to manage the sale of my items. I created my first Online Garage Sale and it was a HUGE SUCCESS!!.
If you are moving across the country and are flying then you can take one suitcase and one carry-on before the cost to you starts to increase. The items that you are taking with you should include your most treasured possessions, some seasonally appropriate clothing and your electronics. If you are having a hard time parting with an item then I suggest giving it to a friend or family member to store for you. You may want to sell the item later or have it shipped to you once you are settled.
I spent one morning doing a trial packing of our belongings. I had Rob and the kids go through all of their belongings with the criteria that they could only bring what they could fit in one suitcase and a carry-on each. It was not easy because kids hate to give up any prized items and seem to forget that they have to wear clothes.
I set the limits on toys to one small stuffed bear, one favorite book and their electronics. Everything else had to be clothes, winter accessories, a sleeping bag and their pillows.
Rob was done in a matter of minutes, but was not pleased that his cd collection was not fitting into an overnight case. He was adamant that the cd's had to make the trip and came up with a solution of ditching the cases and keeping the cd's just in their sleeves. I suggested downloading them but the dinosaur was not up for making the change. He managed to get his favorite 200 cd's into his case.
Beth wanted to bring every item that she had ever crafted but she settled on taking pictures of her prized artwork. Sarah was a lot easier to deal with when it came to negotiations as she was willing to get all new items.
Everything that remained had to go. We still had to make sure we had beds to sleep on, necessary toiletries and towels and stuff to cook with until we moved. I pulled out the camping gear and we used the camping utensils, cutlery and cookware until the day of the move.
Once the logistics of what is staying and what is coming with us was worked out I was ready to look at the inventory of items to sell. We had just recently purchased a brand new living room couch, table, 55" television and stand that was actually a 60" bar/table. I had put together an amazing amount of items bought at garage sales, auctions and thrift stores to create a kitchen to make any cook envious.
The girl's room was sweet with these amazing antique Ethan Allen beds, a vanity that I had refurbished and a brand new carpet. Our room was filled with antique furniture and a small television. The closets were stuffed full of linens, outdoor gear, seasonal items and books. It was time to sort through all of it.
I went room to room with a clipboard cataloging and measured each item. I took pictures of any item that would not fit on the dining room table, making sure that the item was clean, dust free and polished. Then I pushed the dining room table up against the wall, covered it with a white table cloth and pinned a white flat sheet up behind the table and taped the ends under the table. I had created a spot to photograph each item for sale.
I enlisted the help of the kids to bring every single kitchen item to be photographed. We had fun with the task. Sarah would bring out an item, I would arrange the item and snap a picture and Beth would return the item to the kitchen. We worked through the whole apartment, this way, until we had pictures of every single item we owned. It took us a weekend to go through everything.
Monday, Rob was back at work, the kids were back in school and I was on my own to figure out how to sell it all. I had some experience selling items on Kijiji but winter is not the best time to sell items usually, especially after Christmas. I knew my prices had to be more than reasonable, the items had to look good and I had to create a sense of urgency for the buyer to get the item right away and I had to get the message out about the sale to lots of people, quickly.
I had less than two weeks to sell as much as I could before leaving the rest of the work to Rob for the weekends because I was flying out on my own ahead of the gang to find a new apartment and get settled in my new job.
Here is what I did...and it helped me sell almost everything in less than one week!
I started a new Facebook account (not group) called Tracy S. Treasures and I set up albums by price for my complete inventory. The categories were $1, $5, $10, $50+, Books. CD's and Free! I made album covers using a picture of an orange garage door with the title of each category added to the picture, thank you lunapic.com.
I downloaded pictures of each item with very detailed description giving dimensions.
I held back pictures of the smaller television, the brand new living room suite and some antique kitchenware and some collectibles. These items were used as my "hooks". I did not want to sell them right away.
I posted the rules of the sale on the front page of the Facebook account. The rules were simple. The first person to type "sold" to the picture had 24 hours to contact my number, arrange pick up the item, cash only or the item would go back up for sale. I made sure that I had the proper change.
I created an ad for an Indoor Garage Sale with a link back to the Facebook page on Kijiji and I added four pictures of items that I was pretty sure would go quick and two pictures of my "hook" items that I was holding back. I put up ads about the sale at the local grocery store, the laundromat, the library and a few convenience stores and in our building.
I moved the living room furniture around to make room to set up two tables. I added cd's, books, seasonal items and lots of kitchenware, glassware and decor items to the tables and I put price stickers on the items. Now, when buyers came to pick up their items they would be enticed to look around, in person, at everything that was for sale.
I doubled each sale just by putting items out with price tags.
The messages on each picture of an item for sale were coming in fast and furious with the phone ringing off the hook and people were coming even in a snowstorm to grab my very reasonably priced items.
I updated the Kijiji ad, frequently, with items that had not sold. It was a great thing that the apartment building had grocery buggies downstairs but I made sure that I had boxes and sturdy bags for anything that was being picked up.
The items practically flew out the door!
In one week, I had sold everything. It was actually tough for all of us to get through the time we had left in the apartment because it was almost bare. The people that purchased the kids's beds and the living room set were great about picking up the items on Rob's last week in the apartment.
On the day before Rob left he gave the last of the food, our bed, a bedroom chair and the small television away for a free ride to the airport.
The sale had been a complete success!
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Thank You