Yard sale- help me brainstorm how to sell specific items

[SnuggleBuggles]

ETA- I really and truly have explored all of the online options and I do have them posted in some places. i appreciate leads and suggestions but I really am just trying to figure out the logistics of displaying them for an in person sale. It's ok if no one has any ideas. I have been looking online and still haven't turned anything good up there yet but I'll keep looking. Thanks!

I am in charge of selling a ton (over 1500) of sewing patterns. Because they are fragile I am unsure of how to sell them at a yard sale. I don't want people to damage them pawing through them but I have too many to do something like put each in binders/page protectors. I will do the page protector idea for my valuable ones.

Right now the patterns are packed into boxes, organized by number but not really type (I dealt with them as they came in so there's no rhyme or reason to how they are organized). The boxes are too packed to flip through but I suppose I could buy some more boxes. I do have them cataloged online and my listing for the community yard sale contains the link. The link will be live a few days before the sale. We were thinking we could put out a QR code on signs at our sale and direct people to look there vs digging in the boxes. I still think people will want to handle things though and I just don't have a good solution. They are well labeled but I used removable stickers on them so they wouldn't damage the pattern packaging (in case they were collector worthy? I'm not relabeling them!). If people rummage too much the labels will fall off. I can cross reference them in my catalog but that sounds annoying.

I think I'll pack them up at the end of the sale and try to sell them elsewhere so this isn't a one way trip where I don't really care what happens to them.

Odds are no one will come by anyway. Very niche market. The community sale draws a ton of people though so who knows. I've been trying to sell in various places online but slow going. I'd be more than happy to just sell them by the box too/ the whole order.

So, can anyone help me think of a way to sell items I don't really want handled roughly but are too vast in number to invest too much time into protecting? Price point is like $3 each for the majority so they aren't valuable individually but they are as a whole.

[pinkmomagain]

IMO -- if it were me -- since it's so niche, I'd try to sell it another way. As a lot, ideally.

Have you tried Ebay or FB Marketplace?

Recently I sold a vintage Singer sewing machine and I joined a FB group specifically designated for that. I'm amazed at how people collect these. They helped with understand it's value (as well as for a machine I wasn't selling). Sooooo knowledgeable. I looked and it seems that there are some FB sewing patterns groups. Have you tried them?

[SnuggleBuggles]

Done FB Marketplace, local sewing groups and a few other online sources. Not looking to do EBay or Etsy because of the tax complication; I was intending to sell on Etsy but changed my mind when I saw what was involved. Still working on making online connections.
But, I figure I’ll try putting them out at the community sale since I’ll be around anyway so just trying to figure that day out.


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains

[Kestrel]

I would put up an ad on the physical bulletin board at any local fabric store - Joann's or similar.

[Melaine]

I wonder if they might do well on Etsy....especially if they are vintage

[SnuggleBuggles]

I wonder if they might do well on Etsy....especially if they are vintage

Thanks but I spent a long time researching sites like Etsy and they aren't a good fit for our needs. They don't belong to me, they belong to an organization, so the taxes get murky and I don't want to figure that out.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I would put up an ad on the physical bulletin board at any local fabric store - Joann's or similar.

Good idea. I still want to try and sell them day of since we are already participating.

[mom2binsd]

I bet there is some online sewing board, sort of like the BBB but for sewers, try that or at least give some of it a try on ebay. A friend sells hundreds of things on ebay right on, it's her new job and it's pretty straitforward.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I bet there is some online sewing board, sort of like the BBB but for sewers, try that or at least give some of it a try on ebay. A friend sells hundreds of things on ebay right on, it's her new job and it's pretty straitforward.

I wasn;t sure how many sites appreciate new members just showing up simply to sell stuff. I also prefer selling locally because all the non-local people have gotten turned off when they wanted a very large number but shipping was $$.
Again, figuring out the taxes makes ebay and others unappealing. I did set out to sell them that way but changed my mind. I really have researched this all pretty thoroughly- as a typical BBB participant.

[jgenie]

I have a similar issue with our Lego instruction books. I started saving them initially and just never stopped so I have hundreds of instruction booklets in pristine condition. I have them stacked in the large Multipurpose Bin from the Container Store. I’m in charge of filing them in number order but DC know where to find them so they can pull what they need. Please let me know if you come across a solution. We’ve outgrown our current bins and I’m hoping to figure something else out.