Host a garage sale people actually show up to.

1

Plan it two weeks out

The sales that do well aren’t the ones with the most stuff. They’re the ones where a stranger can tell from the street that it’s worth parking. That starts before anything goes on a table.

• Pick a date, then check your city. Some cities and HOAs ask for a permit or cap how many sales you can hold a year, and many have sign rules. Two minutes on your city’s website saves a knock on the door.
• Mornings win. Most serious buyers are out early on Friday and Saturday. Open when you say you’ll open — the first hour is usually your best one.
• Team up. A multi-family or whole-street sale pulls far more traffic than one driveway. Ask the neighbors.
• Sort into three piles: sell, donate, trash. If you wouldn’t pay a dollar for it, it goes in the last two.
• Clean it. Wiped-down beats dusty every time, and “it works, watch” beats “I think it works.”

2

Price it to move

You are not running a store. The goal is an empty driveway, not top dollar. A good rule of thumb is 10–30% of what it costs new, nudged by condition.

• Sticker everything. Unpriced items get skipped, and you’ll answer “how much is this?” forty times.
• Round numbers. Quarters and whole dollars keep change simple.
• Bundle the small stuff. “Any 5 for $2” clears a table faster than 5 separate decisions.
• Leave haggle room on the big items, and decide now what drops to half price in the last hour.

Got one thing worth real money — a bike, a dresser, a tool chest? List it on its own in Trovee’s Marketplace a few days early. It can sell before the sale even starts, and it advertises the sale while it sits there.

3

Take photos that pull people in

People decide whether to drive over from your first photo. Ten minutes here is worth more than an extra table of stuff.

• Daylight, outside or by a window. No flash.
• Lead with your best thing — the mid-century chair, not the box of cables.
• One wide shot of everything laid out, so buyers can see it’s a real sale.
• Then close-ups of the 3–5 items someone would cross town for.
• Clear the background. No license plates, house numbers, family photos or mail in frame.

4

Post it on Trovee — free, in a few minutes

1. Tap Post, then “A sale”. Pick the type: garage, yard, estate or moving.
2. Write a title that says what’s there. “Huge multi-family sale — tools, kids’ bikes, oak furniture” beats “Garage sale.”
3. Set your real hours. Buyers see “happening now” and “closes at 2,” so nobody shows up to a folded table.
4. Add your address. It stays private — see below.
5. Add photos, categories and your featured items, plus payment types and any parking notes.
6. Publish. You’re on the map for everyone nearby looking at that weekend.

5

Signs still matter

The app brings the people who planned their Saturday. Signs catch everyone else driving past.

• Big, thick, few words: “GARAGE SALE”, an arrow, your hours. Nobody reads an address at 35 mph.
• Same color for every sign, so people can follow the trail.
• Nearest busy corner first, then every turn between there and your driveway.
• Take them down when you close. Most cities require it, and your neighbors will notice either way.

7

When the driveway’s empty

• Sold out early? Mark the sale “Sold out” or end it in Trovee, so nobody drives over for nothing.
• List the leftovers. Anything decent that didn’t sell can go in the Marketplace — including as a free item, which people actively filter for.
• Donate the rest the same day. If it goes back in the garage, it lives there another year.
• Hosting again? Repost last time’s sale in a tap. People who followed you see your next sale first.