"We're donating everything to the Angel Network (Charities)," Norma Bell said. "Charities are a great way to go. We feel good about it."

There's some irony in that because the Bells are inveterate garage sale shoppers, having picked up some treasures - Oriental baskets and Chinese serving dishes - and some practical items - "a brand new vacuum cleaner" - in their canvassing of carports.

Prices are generally so good, Walt, 68, a retired architect, and Norma, 69, a painter and housewife, can't even bring themselves to bargain.

"We can't do it because the prices are so low, it's an embarrassment," Norma explained.

"If someone is asking prices beyond what we think is right, we don't bother," Walt added.

For Navy wife Peggy Whitaker, of Halsey Terrace, however, a garage sale is a clear signal that all prices are negotiable. "That's the fun part," she said. "The whole thing is bargaining."

When Whitaker, 42, throws a garage sale, for example, if she wants to get $10 for an item, she'll price it at $20, expecting to be talked down. Likewise, someone hosting a garage sale "needs to be able to go down in price," said Whitaker, who just moved to Hawaii three months ago. Sellers can't expect to get premium prices, she said. Thanks to garage sales, Whitaker got blinds for $50 and drapes for her living room for a mere $40.

Just remember, she said: "People are tight when they go to garage sales."

Amy Young of Kaimuki knows that. Young helped organize a recent 20-family sale, generally advising participants "to keep it cheap; anything cheap will sell." It was advertised as a garage sale, although it was held at a church facility, which had the space needed to accommodate the unwanted accumulations of 20 households. Young's pricing guideline was roughly "10 to 20 percent of purchase price."

The sale, held as a fund-raiser for 20 teen-agers planning to attend the Junior Olympics tennis finals in New Orleans next month, "was a success," Young said.

The Star-Bulletin asked these folks, plus other avowed garage sale junkies, for some tips - both on how to successfully sell used goods and on how to score some bargains.

Here's what we came up with:

Pricing: See above. Keyword: Cheap.

But, as Walt Bell said, sellers have "to know themselves whether they're there to make money or to move things along or a little of both."

Sellers should also realize that, in the food chain of recycled goods, garage sales are at the bottom, below second-hand shops or consignment stores. Typically, expect to sell used clothing at garage sales for a fraction of what an item might sell for at either of those places.

Signs: Make them clear to follow and make a lot of them.

"Our kids made big signs and held them on strategic street corners," Amy Young said of her multifamily sale. "They were able to lead customers in. That was crucial."

Blaine Fergerstrom, the Star-Bulletin's on-line editor, can't think of anything more fun than a garage sale. "It's all my wife can do to keep me from pulling over if we pass one on the way to an appointment," he said.

His tip: "Have PLENTY of clearly marked, sequential signs with arrows leading from all major thoroughfares."

Walt Bell agreed. "You really want to make an easy path to find your door easily," he said. "Frequently, a sign starts you off from the freeway, then they abandon you and you usually end up at someone else's garage sale."

Organization: It's important to have prices clearly marked, items easily reachable and to have plenty of change on hand. Those are the basics.

Beyond that, "A nice touch is to make it obvious (with a name tag, perhaps) who is running the sale," Fergerstrom said. That way it's clear who can answer questions, he said.

"The worst thing for us is to find piles of clothes thrown on the ground," Norma Bell said. "I'm not willing to scavenge, like in a box where there's a lot of stuff."

Walt Bell recalls having a joint garage sale years ago with friends in San Francisco. Sales were going OK until an afternoon slump.

Then, a friend who worked in retail sales showed up, "redoes the displays, moves things up and points things out to people," Walt said. "He starts selling and in no time at all, everything is moved out of that garage."

That illustrates the importance of attractively and visibly displaying items, he said.

Timing: This is probably more important to the buyer than seller, since the good stuff tends to go out fast. One report said 60 percent of customers arrive before 10 a.m. and by noon, any item of note is usually gone.

The Bells can attest to that. Although they have found "some nice things later in the day," Walt remembers being "at a sale at 8:30 (a.m.) and almost everything is gone."

"You really have to get out early," Norma said. "We usually set out at quarter to eight and a lot of people are out there already."

Complicating all this is that for some people, scooping up the good stuff at garage sales has become a job in itself. These are the folks who will then try to resell the items at higher prices at flea markets or consignment shops.

These are the folks who will also try to contact the sellers beforehand, or show up on the doorstep before the posted time of the sale.

Location: Generally, you can expect to find better quality items in the more up-scale neighborhoods, but it depends on what you're looking for.

The Bells say they usually stick to the neighborhoods around their home, which happen to be Portlock, Hawaii Kai and Kahala.

But that doesn't "necessarily mean that they're any better," Norma said.

Whitaker, however, said she tries to go to "nice housing areas." After all, she said, "you're going to be who you hang out with."