DO NOT attempt a sale on your own. Make sure you have a minimum of 2 or 3 people to help you. I have seen many people caught off guard and taken advantage of to the degree of shameful because they were by themselves having a sale. There are many people who frequent these sales that will manipulate a weak sale situation to their favor and not yours given the chance.

 If possible keep your sale outside in yard or driveway. Do not use your home shop or garage unless they are empty or you’re not for sale items removed to somewhere else. Have only you’re for sale items out in open sight. The less you show of your own and what you have the better off you will be. Do not let anyone in your home or other buildings for any reason. If you still have items to bring out from somewhere for the sale do not take customers to them to see, make them wait or comeback until you can bring them out to be shown. Be aware of suspicious activities or requests. Be smart, play it safe.

 Advertise well. Use the local free paper that caters to the sale ads. (There is always one that seems to be the favorite in your area for sales ads). Use it! On line sights are great and many free (craigslist a must). Signage is very important. You can never have too many up for a good sale. Do not waste your time on small signs. If you can’t read them driving by they are too small. Bigger is better here! Be considerate, Place them with respect to others and make sure you pick them all up when your sale is done.

 Advertise your sale time but do not be a stickler on that. You are not a dept store and remember there will be many other sales opening at the same time as yours. I recommend a soft opening. Be ready to go an hour early and try to open 30-40 minutes before your scheduled time. By doing so, this will create a more manageable flow of customers than the wait till opening time frenzy herd that will overwhelm the best planned sale for sure! Keeping track and dealing with one, two or three customers is much easier than 30 or 40 at once.

 Know what you have for sale and know your price. Make me an offer does not work! Price as much as you can keeping in mind that they will want to haggle on price. Give yourself some room to do so. You can always go down on a price but you can’t go up!

 No matter what weekend you pick be prepared for all adverse weather conditions, weather will change and you should be prepared to do so too. Rain, wind, snow and heat happens and can ruin a sale quickly.  Sprinkler systems can also be a problem if you set up in the yard the night before. Don’t forget to turn them off. Spring and fall sales may have dew at night which can be just as wet as a soft rain so cover up your outside items.

While most of your customers will be pleasant and fun good people, there will always be a few doe asses, and these idiots will come.

 Let’s start with the early bird doe asses. These idiots are the ones that show up before your sale, days before or on the morning of at the crack of dawn banging on your door trying to lie there way in with no respect for you or your property, IDIOTS! I’m a collector and see you advertised what I collect, I am not going to be in town for your sale,  I’m from out of town and will not be back for your sale, I have to work the day of your sale, Oh I thought your sale started today, I’m sure that’s what the ad said. These are just a few lies they tell. It would be nice if they would just tell you the truth like Hi, I’m a disrespectful greedy bastard that needs to get into your sale first so I can rape it of anything with a value that is far under priced. There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior or disrespect from anyone. DO NOT LET THEM IN, DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT.

 Next is the rude doe ass. These idiots are the ones that will tear through your tables and boxes of stuff opening and throwing stuff everywhere not bothering to put things back where they belong. Or they will cop an attitude when you refuse to sell them an item for the price they want to give you for it. They will throw an item back down on a table while telling you “then just keep it.” Or “I thought this was a garage sale not a dept store” or “if you don’t want to sell it then why is it out here” This is the one I like “I can buy it new at Walmart for that. A GOOD CATTLE PROD WORKS WELL HERE!

 Next is the chiseler doe ass. These idiots are the ones that you could offer a $300 dollar item to for $10 and they would still try and get it for $3. All they want to do is steal your item for nothing. TELL THEM TO TAKE A HIKE!

 Then we have the dishonest sneaky scammer doe ass, these idiots will bring you a box or bucket full of stuff for a lump sum price hoping you will not look on the bottom where they have high priced or not for sale items hiding. (Open containers that can hide items and always check to the bottom) Or they change the price on something hoping you won’t catch it. BEWARE! They will even go into places that are clearly marked stay out, keep out. Or obviously not part of the sale even going behind closed doors or covers. They will be overly friendly talking almost non stop consuming you with their being. BEWARE! They will ask you if you have any tires for sale hopeing you will take them into your garage, they will ask you for canning jars hopeing you will take them to your basement. There is nothing these SCUM SUCKERS wont say or do to get one over on you. BEWARE! KICK’EM TO THE CURB! 

 Then we have the bully badger doe ass. These idiots will bully badger you relentlessly to get you to sell them an item they want for the price they want, even items they see that you do not even have for sale. They will not take NO for an answer. They will work to wear you down and make you fold just to get rid of them. HOLD YOUR GROUND AND HAVE YOUR GARDEN HOSE READY!

 And finally the worst doe ass idiot of the bunch “THE THIEF” and yes you will have them. Keep valuables close to your cashier and in plain sight and rest assured a good baseball bat across the back will bring em to there knees giving you time to call police.

Having a sale is just being prepared and being aware. Its not for everyone and that's why we are here. We can get it done!

 Once again I will caution you about individuals that advertise to do estate sales and or buyouts  that have no intention to do either. They are just hoping to get you to call them and get their foot in the door so they can tell you they can not for some reason or another. Then they will try to buy outright the best items that you have, we call this raping your sale or buyout making it far less attractive for the real companies to do either. Do not be fooled into selling off your choice items before you get a legitimate company or individual in for consultation which is usually a free service. Most of the time those choice items that you have will make the difference between someone wanting to do the job for you or not. Do not be caught off guard and beware of any that try to buy from you before they leave.

 If you have any other questions please feel free to call us...

Many thanks,

ABES Discount Sales