John and Cheryl Hogan lost camping and fishing gear worth hundreds of dollars, taken while they were distracted during the busy first hour from 7am.

Mr Hogan accepted they had erred in starting the sale before they were fully set up, influenced by buyers already being there waiting, and also did not have enough helpers.

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“When we first opened, it would have been close to 15 to 20 people hit us, just the two of us, that’s where we went wrong and people could see this and took advantage, definitely,” he said.

“By 8 o’clock, that’s when I started to notice these things missing.

“I was devastated, a lot of it was fishing gear that I’d used and it was good stuff.”

Mr Hogan wanted to alert other garage sale holders to the potential traps.

“Don’t open up until you are 100 per cent set up and you have family or friends there, I’m not saying as security, but just to help and to keep eyes out,” he said.

“I just felt very disappointed, we put a lot of work into it. Just to do what they did, I think, was pretty ordinary.”