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Auction Strategists Newsletter
Brought to you by Jenni Hunt
www.jennihunt.com
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In this newsletter:
1. Ending Saturday – Summery Toy Guide PRESALE
2. Garage Sale For Inventory Plan – Mapping Your Route
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Hello ~
Before we get into the how to map your route for the Garage Sale For Inventory series, I wanted to remind you that the PRESALE for the Summer Toy Guide ends THIS Saturday at the end of the day.
Here are the quick details:
The Summer Toy Guide is a 3 month package that includes…
– 3 months subscription to MyToyGuide (www.mytoyguide.com)
– Summer Toy Guide ebook
– Garage Sale Planning Series Report
– 3 Months Access To Toy Reference Guide
If you are looking to broaden your niche a bit, toys are a great way to grow!
The Summer Toy Guide package is valued at over $70 and will be available on May 15th for $27.
HOWEVER…
I am offering a PRESALE to MY READERS ONLY through Saturday May 8th that saves you 10 bucks!
PRESALE LINK: http://tinyurl.com/2010stg
Here is What you get:
1. Summer Toy Guide downloadable Report
– new toys vs used toys
– knowing what sells
– finding those items… where to look
– strategies for listing
– taking it a step further… strategies for selling and getting
more visitors
2. 3 Months Subscription to MyToyGuide – weekly report
3. PRESALE BONUS:
Although the Summer Toy Guide isn’t available until the 15th of May, start receiving the weekly report EARLY – get the first list of 25 toys that are currently selling well on eBay THIS week!
This presale is only offered to my readers for $17 through Saturday the 8th.
PRESALE Link: http://tinyurl.com/2010stg
Enjoy!
Jenni
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Garage Sale For Inventory Plan – MAPPING YOUR AREA
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We are digging into the first part of the Garage Sale For Inventory Plan series with a discussion on mapping out your area.
Now, first things first…
You need to know WHAT you are looking for before hitting yard sales. If you don’t have a solid idea of what to are hunting for, you will be wasting your time (and gas!).
The purpose of the Garage Sale For Inventory Plan series is to help you learn HOW to use garage sales for inventory building… it’s a shopping strategy – I’m assuming you already know what it is you are looking for. If you don’t know what you are shopping for at yard sales… there are plenty of resources out there to help you. The best, however… in my opinion, is eBay.
Yep. eBay will tell you everything you need to know about WHAT is selling… however, it will take some time to sift through their listings to get the information you need.
If your market happens to be children’s items (toys, kids clothes, baby gear, etc.), I can help you know what is selling. Here are a few resources I offer:
www.HuntedTreasure.com – a site for those selling children’s items
www.MyToyGuide – a site for those selling used toys
Don’t forget about the presale for the Summer Toy Guide… the deal ends at the end of the day THIS Saturday (the 8th).
PRESALE LINK: http://tinyurl.com/2010stg
Alright – back to Garage Sales…
Once you know what you are on the hunt for, the first step is to map your area.
If you have lived in your neighborhood for long, you’ll be ahead with this step – but, don’t think that means you get to skip it!
Everyone has limited time and planning out your g-sale day will help you use it wisely. Planning will also save you gas. You might be driving all over town from one sale to another, but, you won’t be going around in circles.
The night before I hit garage sales (usually Thursday night), I spend a little time on my computer. I always go to Craigslist to see what g-sales are advertised. If you are looking for something specific, the beauty of using the internet to find sales is that you can search for that specific item (ie., ‘pottery barn’, gap, antiques, ‘fisher price’, etc.) and find sales that are carrying that item. Personally, I like to browse all the listings because sometimes searching for specific items makes me miss out on a treasure.
There are a couple of things that I always keep in mind when I’m searching through g-sale listings…
1. Pay attention to the area that the g-sale is being held in.
Different neighborhoods will provide you with different types of inventory. Know your market and you’ll be able to pinpoint the neighborhoods you should pay close attention to on Friday and Saturday mornings.
I’m usually shopping for children’s items and always look at the more affluent neighborhoods for these items. Newer neighborhoods that cater to young families are a great kind of neighborhood to scout.
Close to my house, we have a city that is for the 55 and over crowd. They always have sales going on – and I have found that it is a great place to find vintage toys as well as antique items.
If you are new to your neighborhood, you can use the internet to find which neighborhoods would be more affluent. Zillow can be a good resource – just enter in your address and browse around on the map at house values.
2. Take notes as you browse g-sale listings
I always have notepad open while I’m browsing through craigslist for g-sales. This allows me to copy and paste information regarding the sale for some quick notes. This last year, I have discovered that Google Maps can be used to map out your route! You can enter in the addresses of the different sales and it will add placemarks on the map. This gives you directions as well as maps out the best way to drive the route.
Craigslist isn’t the only site for finding g-sales. I also hit our local newspaper online for ads. I have also found other g-sale sites online; however, in my opinion, they are only as good as the number of sales listed. Most people will list their garage sale with a major site or newspaper to get the most traffic. I have found that many of the smaller g-sale sites just aren’t worth my time.
3. Prioritizing the sales
After I have gone through the ads, I usually have about 20 g-sales that I’m interested in hitting. I reorganize them in my notepad list I made. Usually out of the 20 or so that I have found, there are 5 that I absolutely don’t want to miss. I put those on the top of the page and prioritize down.
4. Mapping your route
Once the sales are prioritized, I compare my list to the Google Map to see if any sales are in a small radius of each other. Usually what I find is that I’ll have 3-4 in one area… and if most of these are a higher priority, then I’ll hit that area first.
Finally, I’ll make sure I have noted the times the sale opens. Most open between 8 and 9am.
When you have everything together, print your notes and get some sleep so you are ready to go early the next day 😉
COMING NEXT in the series… Your Budget
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Copyright 2010 Jenni Hunt, www.jennihunt.com
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