Excerpts from Selling the Gorilla and Other Techniques for Fantastic Garage Sales.

On pricing strategy...

"An effective way to price, and a real time saver, is to use color coded dots. These dots come in a variety of sizes and colors, and are available at office supply stores. For example, red dots may denote items that sell between $2.00 and $2.99. Green dot items will be priced between $3.00 and $3.99. Set up a schedule of your pricing on card boards using color sample dots in the legend and next to each dot, print the dollar value of the range. This simplifies pricing for both the purchaser and the seller and if you want to make changes on the fly, all you have to do is cover an existing priced item with a dot of a different color."

On displaying your merchandise...

"While buyers are browsing, often pick up a piece of jewellery from the display and put it down in a different position. This action will attract lookers. Many will focus in on the piece that you just put down."

On the importance of babysitting...

"If you have small children, arrange to have them looked after by a friend or a neighbor. I have seen sales where half the time was spent looking after whiny, little kids and the other half was ruined because people left on account that they were not being attended to. This baby sitting fee will be a small price to pay if you are taking this sale seriously."

On fragile items...

"A good strategy is to wrap each item yourself, then hand each wrapped item to the purchaser, letting them insert the items into a box or bag. This will remove from anyone's mind who is responsible for breakage if an item is broken once the purchaser gets home."

On dealing with cash...

"When receiving cash for a purchase, affirm out loud the amount of money for the purchase and the size of the denomination tendered, so that when you give change, there will be no dispute over the size of bill tendered. Practice saying something like, "That's $2.00 out of $10.00," or "$6.50 from $20."

On the day of the sale...

"Don't try to handle a garage sale alone. You will be overwhelmed by the crowds, very busy answering questions and taking other persons' money, especially if you follow through with my tips. During the early hours of the sale, there should be at least 3 people or more ready to serve and take cash."