For sale by owner

May 14, 2004|By Alison Neumer, RedEye.

Here's a little motivation to finish up your spring cleaning: fast cash.

Someone else might fork over a few bills for those old clothes, kitchen gadgets and trinkets cluttering your closets and drawers.

But before you log on to eBay, first consider an option almost quaint in the modern world. Yard sales--in the city, often "sidewalk sales" or "garage sales"--are still a good way to get rid of stuff without a lot of organizational headache.

Whereas auction Web sites require pictures and descriptions for each item, plus dealing with remote payment or shipping, yard sales just need a little advertising and some extra hands to help out. Which route makes most sense for a $5 box of books?

Why have a sale?

For Kat Ryan, 32, garage sales are an occasion to clean house of all the stuff she's bought at other sales.

"I'm a big junkie when it comes to garage sales," she said, but "you end up with a lot of unnecessary things."

During what she calls the "yard sale season," from mid-May to October, Ryan is out every weekend at sales, even if it means driving to the suburbs. As a musician, she's on the lookout for instruments, although she'll pick up books, trinkets and furniture too. Once she snagged a $3 Weber grill.

That's why Ryan needs to host her own garage sales. She recently decided to have a spring sale to clear out her apartment but doesn't expect to make much money. "It's not the season yet," she explained.

Moving is the most common reason to host a sale. Why lug along all those surplus belongings?

Lincoln Park resident April Mitchell, 26, planned a sale to get rid of some furniture, computer equipment and "whatever else we discover in the packing," she said. "I just want to make enough to pay for the movers."

Group sales

Neighborhood sales, where multiple families or several blocks organize a group sale, attract more foot traffic and make more money than a sale in a single yard or garage.

In Roscoe Village, residents organize about 10 to 15 big yard sales each summer, according to the ward sanitation office, which furnishes the sale permits. As many as 60 families have coordinated efforts and advertised jointly.

Roscoe Village resident Francine Overcash, 26, convinced 10 friends to lug their furniture, books and clothes over to her back yard for a Saturday tag sale.

The more stuff the better, she says. Overcash and her husband browse sales in the neighborhood too, and "when it says multifamily we usually zero in."

But even if no one comes, she says, it should be fun. The group decided to fire up the grill, haul out a guitar and turn the sale into a little party.

Virtual sale

Auction Web sites and online community boards allow users to sell their stuff without the bother of holding an actual event. Craig's List (www.chica is a popular place to list garage sales--there's a whole board devoted to it--but often transactions are handled by individual appointment before the sale date.

Lincoln Park resident April Mitchell, 26, listed household items on Craig's List, and within a week she received 20 e-mail inquiries. Mitchell, who has used eBay in the past to auction off her things, quickly sold several air conditioners and other items by appointment.

As her moving date drew near, however, she decided to host a sale in her house too.

"I posted some random stuff and people were biting," she said. "So I figured I might as well [have a sale]. I was about to throw half of it away anyway."

Pricey items

Anything goes at yard sales (and, if you're lucky, everything goes too) but do keep expensive items at home. Most yard sale items fetch a small fraction of their original price, so it's probably best not to sell your laptop on the sidewalk.

That's where online auction sites come in.

Katrina Paumier, 32, selected her moving sale items carefully, putting aside some things such as her expensive snorkel and scuba gear.

"I put some stuff on eBay that I knew I wouldn't get enough for at a yard sale," she said, but not everything is worth it. "It's a pain in the butt for the little stuff."

Sale permits

Chicago requires a permit for yard, apartment, garage or basement sales.

How come? The City Council passed the ordinance in 1996 to guard against unlicensed retail operations passing themselves off as yard sales.

Households are limited to two garage sales each year plus one moving sale. The ordinance also prohibits advertising with signs off the property, e.g. the street corner or the sidewalk. Fines range from $50 to $500.

Permits are free and available at any of the city's ward offices or ward sanitation offices. Call 311 for locations.

Tips and strategies

- Join forces: Neighborhood- and building-wide sales attract more shoppers and yield more cash. If that's not an option, pooling items with even one neighbor will bring in more traffic. Browsers aren't interested in sparse-looking sales.

- Skip the holidays: Avoid scheduling the sale on busy holiday weekends when people often leave town and there are too many competing activities.