When is the best time to have an estate sale? Should it be in the spring, summer, winter, or fall?
What’s the best month?
Day of the week?
What’s the best time of day for a tag sale?
The answers to these important questions vary depending on your region, but here are some helpful pieces of information you should know before you plan your upcoming estate or tag sale.
Choosing a month
If you live in an area that has warm weather year-round, there isn’t one particular month that’s best. If you’re located in a state that gets a full blast of winter and snow, you probably want to aim for warmer temperatures.
The pros recommend April, May, June, and September for those of us who experience all four seasons. Springtime is quite popular because Mother Nature is starting to bloom again and homeowners have cabin fever. If they’ve spent time doing their spring cleaning, they might be interested in replacing some of their previous items with new ones, especially if it’s a bargain.
The next popular time is summer. In fact, did you know that the second Saturday of August is National Garage Sale Day? Third on the list is September. People love being out and about in the summer, but in the fall you’ll experience less competition from other estate or tag sales.
Choosing a day
The best day of the week to have your sale can vary depending on how much traffic you see on your street. If you’re in town and on a popular street, you’re likely to see a lot of people on Fridays, especially during lunchtime and after work. Most of your traffic will come from dealers and retired folks, which can be an advantage depending on your items.
Saturdays are always best because you’ll get traffic from dealers, retirees, and the working population. Traffic will most likely diminish on Sundays, however, since most people want to be home. Those that do show up on Sundays are either looking for discounted items or they’re diehard tag sale shoppers.
Keep this in mind: Unless your estate sale features rare and hard-to-find items, you’ll likely see the most traffic on Fridays and Saturdays.
Choosing a time
Don’t underestimate the dedication of regular estate sale shoppers. They’ll be early and ready to go. If you’re working with a professional estate sale company, they should be prepared to hand out numbers on a first-come-first-served basis. You’ll see the most people between 7:00 and 11:00 am. Unless you see a sudden upswing of people in the afternoon, generally 3:00 pm is a good time to wrap up for the day.
Summary
In the event that you’re liquidating an estate, you can’t control the time of year the sale will take place. If it’s a situation where the items and the home itself need to be sold, simply have the sale as soon as your items are ready. If you can afford to wait until a more opportune time of year, try aiming for April, May, June, or September. If you’re feeling overwhelmed about sorting, pricing, and displaying everything, consider working with a professional estate sale company that will handle all aspects of the sale, including the advertising.