National garage sale encourages community spirit

Over recent years we’ve frequently featured ways in which consumers can cash in on their skills or surplus possessions. Now, bringing together entrepreneurial spirits across Australia, we see the second national Garage Sale Trail. Following on from the first event, set up last year in Bondi by Darryl Nichols, this year’s sale has already seen over 1500 sellers sign up across Australia. Listing a sale on the site is free, with the location and description of each registered sale appearing on the Trail’s map and in local newspapers. Participants are encouraged to come up with unique and kooky titles for their sales as part of the sense of fun and community spirit the day hopes to foster, and the Garage Sale Trail website also offers these vendors tips — including advice on how to “keep your sale green”. Members of the public taking part in this year’s event will also be able to use the Trail’s smart phone app, which lists the registered garage sales and can direct buyers towards them with voice-guided navigation. Off the back of last year’s success, the Garage Sale Trail team have also set up a partnership with Keep Australia Beautiful — towards which vendors are asked to contribute 10% of their earnings. As ordinary members of the public increasingly look to make extra money through the reselling of their old wares, adding community spirit and fun into the package is only going to encourage participation. An idea ripe for exporting to your neck of the woods? (Related: Online marketplace helps parents sell used kids’ goods — Marketplace creates ‘trade rings’ for group swaps.)