Yard sale. Garage sale. Rummage sale. Tag sale. Whatever you call it, this is one of the most popular (and profitable!) ways to fundraise for your adoption!

Growing up, my mom used to have my dad pull a wooden hay wagon in front of our house so that she could organize our outgrown toys, clothes, and gear for a sale. Sometimes other family members would bring their stuff for an even bigger selection. I was always surprised by how many people would drive more than six miles out of town to our farm to buy previously owned stuff. But since my early experience of a true “yard” sale, that’s what I’ll call it.

When we began our adoption process back in March 2016, I knew that we would do a yard sale fundraiser. They are one of the easiest ways to get strangers involved in your funding efforts, require very little upfront cost, and make a lot of money. Win, win, win!

We made $2,130.75 from our one-day sale. I was thrilled! I’m sharing some of my pointers below, but I don’t consider myself a yard sale expert. So I also reached out to a couple of adoption fundraising groups to get success stories from families who made even more than that.

I have compiled best practices right here in one spot. You can borrow our ideas and make lots of money! Read on for some great adoption fundraiser yard sale tips. (And if you need more fundraiser tips, click here to get my 101 Adoption Fundraising Ideas list!)

1. Recruit help.

Yard sales are A LOT of work. If you think you can just wake up early one morning and throw some of your junk in the driveway and end the day a few thousand dollars richer, you are in for a wakeup call.

I recommend getting commitments from friends and family before you start. Not only will you need people to help sell things that day, but beforehand as well. You need to know who is going to help, what they can do, and when they are available. Lucinda King said that she raised $7,000 in a two-day yard sale and could not have done it without friends.

Friends and family helped me sort, organize, and price things in the week leading up to the sale. They made signs and hung them in high-traffic areas the night before. Someone let us borrow a pickup truck to pick up donations. We had someone bring us lunch. Our neighbors parked their cars off the street so shoppers had easy access. Volunteers helped us clean up.

The list goes on and on, but we simply could not have survived without help. There are some people who might not be able to personally contribute financially but who are thrilled to have a tangible way to participate. Don’t be afraid to ask!

Our items spilled out on the neighbor’s lawn.

2. Ask for donated items.

If we only sold items from my own house, we would have been lucky to clear $100. We didn’t have excess furniture, we were hanging on to most of the kid items for our new child, and adult clothes just don’t make tons of profit.

But I did something genius (if I do say so myself) before the sale. Several of the neighborhoods around us had their organized garage sale day a couple of weeks before we planned ours. So I got on the Nextdoor app and sent out a message saying that I would pick up any leftovers that weren’t sold that day if people were interested.

We were absolutely overwhelmed with the response!

Our garage was full of donations in the weeks before the sale…and we had even more come in after this.

If you aren’t familiar with Nextdoor, it is basically a private social network for neighborhoods. We got a postcard asking us to sign up and based on our address, we can post messages to nearby neighborhoods. If you don’t have this yet, I recommend trying to get it started in your area. You could also use homeowners association message boards, but we don’t have one of those.

While we did have people who gave us what was remaining from their sales, we also had tons of people contact us to get rid of things around their house they no longer needed. We picked up furniture, collectibles, toys, sporting equipment, electronics, and more. Realtors messaged us to get things from houses they sold. It was crazy how much was offered to us!

Pilar Liebl Lopez also asked neighbors to donate items and had 40 families drop off items. They profited $8,000, with most of that coming from other people’s stuff!

I also put up a request on my personal Facebook page and had a church youth group donate all the leftovers from their fundraiser yard sale to us. They showed up with a trailer full of stuff! Plus, we got things from other friends and family.

We had so much stuff, and made sure to have signs saying proceeds went to our adoption.

Laura Miller Duncan said they went a step further and offered boxes to people who wanted to donate. Then they went back and picked up the full boxes, often finding a porch full of stuff at pickup. She said this allowed folks who couldn’t/wouldn’t be able to contribute to participate. They raised $9,000 at their sale!

At some point, we had so much stuff that I couldn’t store it anymore. I had to turn away donations! If I had space, I probably could have made three times what we did.

If I could do it all over again, I might have considered having our yard sale somewhere else. We needed more room to accommodate all the items that people wanted to give us. I have seen people use churches or community centers with large rooms and a place to store items before the sale. A home with a larger yard, garage, or storage shed would have been nice as well. Or even a grassy park or empty parking lot would be great.

While we had some room to spread things out on the lawn and driveway the day of the sale, you must have space to store and organize beforehand. We had a full garage and a full guest room of stuff, and we sold several big items leading up to the actual sale. And we still ran out of space!

Jayme’s donated storefront.

Jayme Brock Butler was given a 9,000-square-foot storefront space to use and they filled it full of donations. They raised around $9,000 at their sale! While not everyone will have access to something like Jayme, you should think about what options you may have before you get started.

Another thing to consider with donations is that not everything you get will be worth selling, and you don’t have to put everything out. Summer Temme said they got a lot of things that weren’t in good condition, so they threw those out. She suggested asking for nice items for donations. At some point, we told people we weren’t taking clothing donation. You can be picky (as long as you are nice about it)!

Jayme’s 9,000-square-foot location. Wow!

3. Sell big-ticket items before the actual sale.

As our donations started rolling in, we recognized that many of our items would get a better price if we sold them individually. I used Facebook marketplace and online yard sale groups to advertise big-ticket items in the weeks before the sale.

Furniture and toys sold well online in the days before the yard sale.

I could look at those sites and see what other people listed similar items for. We posted photos with a description and price, noting that we were selling it at an adoption fundraiser on X day if it wasn’t already sold. We didn’t negotiate much because the purpose was to make more money than we thought we could get at the actual yard sale. I think we had sold about $800 of stuff before the sale even started.

Things that were popular individually included furniture, large baby items, vintage toys, bicycles, and exercise equipment. I also sold sports jerseys, vintage electronics, new baby clothes with tags, designer purses, and other collectible items that were easy to ship on eBay. Laura Miller Duncan had her mother in law list, sell, and ship donated collectibles on eBay for her and made more than $500 on that alone.

4. Price things as you go…or not at all!

There are two schools of thought on how to price items for a fundraiser. Some folks think it is essential to give people an idea of what you expect for an item. Others swear by putting things out and asking for donations. You’ll have to decide which option will work best for you and your audience, but I’ll give you some tips for both ways.

Item Pricing

Jayme’s color-coded balloons with prices.

We sorted our items into categories (kitchen, holiday, toys, home décor, small appliances, music, books, boys’ clothes, women’s shoes, sporting goods, etc.) and put them together on tables, in boxes, on racks, on blankets, or whatever was appropriate. Then we put a sign with them saying each item was a certain price unless otherwise marked. We priced more valuable items individually.

Jill Mailloux said she priced categories as well. People could fill a bag with clothes for $5, or a quarter for books. Elizabeth Rogers Kelly said they sold a ton of clothes at 50 cents per piece or $1.50 for a set. They used safety pins to put matches together. Cass Engleman did clothes at $1 per piece or $2.50 for three, with a half-price sale at the end of the day. She made $3,000 during a three-day sale and $1,800 at another one-day sale.

Susan Fowler didn’t price everything but did price the more valuable items. She said that their items of $50+ were gone first thing by people who frequent yard sales looking for good deals. Since she was willing to negotiate, she thinks she could have priced those popular items even higher for a better return.

If you choose to price things, Tiffany Thibault (made almost $4,000) and Elizabeth Lee Drollette (made $2,000 in the rain) both suggest pricing things as they come in. This is a huge time saver when it comes time to set up for the yard sale.

Laura Miller Duncan (made almost $9,000) said that having the same volunteers sort and price items made sure everyone was on the same page and familiar with the system. Jayme Brock Butler (made around $9,000) put colored stars on items and made a color-coded key with corresponding prices. She used matching balloons to make sure it was visible to shoppers.

Jayme’s pricing system was simple and easy to understand.

Asking for Donations Instead of Pricing

On the other hand, some have great success by making sure people know that all sales are for an adoption fundraiser and having buyers suggest their own prices. Krystle Schelle raised $6,750 this way and said, “People would pay $100 for a book. It was nuts! You can suggest prices but 90% of the people paid more than it was worth.”

Gina Fairchild sold valuable items prior to the sale but didn’t price anything else. She said, “I felt that everything was donated and if someone needed to pay less than a fair price, I was okay to pass along the blessing.” Someone paid $100 for an old cake pan that they still joke about!

Britney Holsonback Coyle (raised $3,000 in conjunction with a silent auction) decided not to price anything. “In our case, people chose to give far more than they would have paid for a sticker price,” she said.

5. Advertise, advertise, advertise.

All this work is for nothing if no one comes to your sale. You must make sure you get the word out and that you have good signage.

We intentionally scheduled our yard sale the first weekend of June. This worked well for us because there were no nearby neighborhood sales to compete with, it was the first non-holiday weekend of the summer, and the weather was nice. For some people, you may want to coincide with a neighborhood sale for more foot traffic, but we would have been lost is the dozens of other sales going on around us. Separating ourselves from the competition meant people spent more time (and money) with us.

Online free listings on Facebook yard sale groups, Nextdoor, and sharing with friends on social media were our biggest advertising. Shelly Amber said she advertised on Craigslist, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and in garage sale groups making sure the address, times, descriptions, and photos were clear.

Our black and white sign for printing and hanging places.

Take photos of your massive amounts of stuff and individual shots of popular items for social media posts. This helps people see that it is worth their time to visit you. I would even add that there are items from 30+ families (or whatever the number is for you). Here we mentioned that this was an adoption fundraiser yard sale with all proceeds going to our adoption. You can put more detailed descriptions online, but outdoor signage must be simple and concise.

Signage directing people to your sale must be easy to read. Joy Williams Press said they taped bright poster board onto old lawn signs with giant, clear words “HUGE TAG SALE.” They only put the address and arrows, starting at major intersections and then at every turn until the destination. She recommends using the same color so they know it is your sale.

Nick Tanner called his city to ask about sign restrictions. “We made a sign that was probably six feet long and three feet tall and put it on a busy street by our house,” he said. “Someone gave us $100 because they saw our sign and wanted to support us.”

There are a few signs that have been passed around by multiple families that you may be able to borrow. I recommend asking in adoption fundraiser Facebook groups to see if there is one near you.

Jayme’s sign requesting donations.

6. Don’t forget the extras!

A few extra details can really push your sale to the next level. First, you want to make sure that everyone there knows they are helping fund your adoption. Make sure that signs at the sale state this. If you feel comfortable, you may include a photo of your child. We got to share our story with lots of people who weren’t familiar with international adoption. Several people just handed us cash donations without buying anything!

Brittany Sensenig had a similar experience. She said, “Have a donation jar with a picture of your little one if possible. We got a bunch of straight donations. The picture certainly helped with that.”

In addition, we printed out quarter-sheets of paper with a little more info and a link to our fundraising page for anyone who may want to learn more or contribute online. Nick Tanner said they passed out business cards for the same purpose.

Your items should be easy for people to browse through. We borrowed tons of tables and our neighbors helped us make more with sawhorses and plywood. This way we could set out items instead of making people dig through boxes. By hanging a clothesline between two trees and getting multiple clothing racks, we hung almost all of our clothes. We lined the sidewalk with pairs of shoes. The more people can see, the more they buy!

We hung a clothesline between trees to hang more clothing.

As previously mentioned, you are going to need volunteers to work the yard sale. We had people in shifts because we ran the sale much of the day. Everyone who had one wore one of our t-shirts so that we were easily identified. Our volunteers set up boxes for people so they didn’t have to carry everything around. They helped load cars and make shopping as easy as possible.

Samantha Siebold said one of her tips was not to forget to get lots of change and small bills beforehand.   I gave multiple people nail belts to keep money in and designated a couple of people to be the negotiators. My husband and I were then freed up to talk to people about what we were doing and answer questions.

One of the best things we did was get a Square reader so that we could take credit card payments. You sign up for an account online and they send you a free reader. Download the app to your smartphone, add your payment info, plug in the reader, and you are ready to go! We had several people use this option, and we advertised it on our signage.

They normally have a small processing fee for transactions, but we used someone else’s referral link to get our first $1,000 of transactions free. We took in less than that in credit card sales, so we got 100% of what people paid through Square. If you want to sign up, you can use my Square referral link to get your first $1,000 in sales free! Be sure to give yourself at least 10 business days to get the reader in the mail (though mine came quicker than that).

Deidre VandenBroeck (made around $1,000 in bad weather) also had a Square. She said, “People love the idea! It freed up their cash, plus allowed them to make more of a donation on an item they purchased.”

Besides all the donated items you are selling, it is also a good idea to sell food. Sandra Klimesh Breetz sold drinks and snacks. We had my four-year-old son selling donuts, drinks, chips, and candy. He used cuteness to earn tons of customers! Some people have bake sales, and others sell grilled hot dogs. Don’t overextend yourself, but if any of those work for you, it may mean additional profit!

If possible, line up someone to take your leftover items at the end of the day. There may be someone else doing a yard sale (we donated a bunch to a baseball team fundraiser), or someone who offers to buy the remainder from you in hopes of getting something good. We took the remaining items to Goodwill. You may consider taking photos and listing out items you donate and talk to a tax professional about whether any of them are eligible for a deduction.

Jayme’s adoption fundraiser signage.

My grandmother was an expert at yard sale shopping. She would get up early with the classifieds and map out the plan to hit all the best ones. I loved going with her because I would end up with a new board game, Barbie car, or some other treasure. But I’ll have to say that being able to raise a bunch of money in a day to bring my daughter home was an even greater thrill than those treats of my childhood!

I really hope that these tips help make your adoption fundraiser yard sale a HUGE success. In my informal poll of 11 been-there-done-that garage sale experts for this story, they made an average of $5,153 from their sales!

Let me know if anything we’ve missed in the comments below. And I’d love to hear how your sale goes!

The following items that may be helpful when you are planning your sale.

• Blank signs with metal stakes
• King Size Sharpie markers for signs
• Rolling garment rack
• Clothes line wire
• Clothes hangers
• 6-foot folding tables
• Colored stickers
• Waist apron/nail belt for collecting cash
• Money tray
• Poster board for signs (can cut in half)
• Packing tape for signs

To read more about how we funded our adoption, check out Eight Ways We Raised $35,123.51 for Our Adoption Without Debt. For more ideas on how to fund an adoption, get my free list of 101 Adoption Fundraising Ideas and visit my Adoption Grants and Fundraising page. You can also read about our adoption journey here.

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You can earn an extra $1 for each t-shirt sold by using my Bonfire link for adoption fundraiser shirt sales.