Hosting a Garage Sale Before Moving: Maximize Profits
Planning Your Garage Sale: Timing, Permits & Setup
In Montreal, most boroughs allow garage sales without a permit for personal belongings — but check your borough's rules on ville.montreal.qc.ca. Some, like Outremont, require advance notice. The best weekends to sell are late May through mid-June, when the weather is warm and buyers are furnishing new apartments before July 1st moves.
Set up tables in your driveway, front yard, or balcony by 8 a.m. — early birds with cash arrive first and buy the big-ticket items. Arrange goods by category: kitchen on one table, books on another, clothing on a rack. Make it browsable. Have plenty of small bills and coins for change, and accept Interac e-transfer for larger purchases.
Pricing Strategies That Actually Sell
Price everything before the sale — stickers or masking tape with marker work fine. General rules: clothing $2–$10, books $1–$3, kitchen items $1–$5, small electronics $5–$20, furniture $20–$100. Price at roughly 10-20% of retail for used items. If you wouldn't buy it at your own price, lower it.
Bundle slow-sellers: "Fill a bag for $5" for clothes, or "All books $1 each, 5 for $3." In the last two hours, announce a half-price sale on everything remaining. Whatever's left at the end goes straight to Renaissance or the Salvation Army — don't bring it back inside. The whole point is to leave with less stuff, not more money in exchange for keeping it.
Promoting Your Sale for Maximum Traffic
Post your sale on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji under "Garage Sales," and your neighborhood's Buy Nothing or community Facebook group. Include your address, date, hours, and photos of the best items. Montreal-specific groups like "Ventes de garage Montréal" and "Plateau Garage Sales" have thousands of active members hunting for deals.
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On the morning of the sale, place directional signs at nearby intersections — bright poster board with arrows, your address, and "VENTE DE GARAGE / GARAGE SALE" in both languages. Tape them to poles or stake them in the ground. Remove all signs after the sale — leaving them up is a bylaw infraction in most boroughs. A well-promoted sale in a busy area like Villeray, Verdun, or NDG can easily bring in $300–$800 in a single Saturday.
