Olympia, WA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

OMC 5.24.010 defines a garage sale broadly: any event, other than sales activity operated with a regularly licensed commercial or retail operation, that is advertised by any means as a place where the public can buy tangible personal property. Yard sales, patio sales, rummage sales, estate sales and other similar sales are included, as are agricultural sales. A residential premises means a single family dwelling, duplex, triplex, or fourplex. An apartment premises means any combination of living units in excess of four units under a single ownership.

OMC 5.24.020 then sets the limits in the City of Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. A person cannot conduct more than two garage sales per calendar year on a residential premises, and cannot conduct more than one per calendar month on an apartment premises. No sale can exceed four consecutive days. No sale can be held on any premises less than four months after a previous sale on the same premises, so the two annual sales on a residential premises need a four-month gap between them. Those four limits exclude agricultural sales.

Sales cannot start before the hour of 8 a.m. or continue after the hour of 8 p.m. Goods cannot be displayed on a public street, sidewalk, alley or other public place or any portion of one, so everything for sale stays on the private premises. Agricultural sales carry their own sign rule: no offsite signage is allowed for them.

The penalty clause in OMC 5.24.030 applies to every provision of the chapter, which means a fifth consecutive day, a third sale in a calendar year, a sale starting at 7:30 a.m. and a table of goods on the sidewalk are all violations of the same chapter and are treated the same way.