This past spring I participated in a children’s consignment sale for the first time.
The sale that I participated in requires registration in advance, and I had no clue when I registered that I would be going through the worst sickness of my entire life during the time I was organizing, tagging, and pricing my items. Thanks to my husband’s help, everything fell into place. We really cut it close as far as making the deadline for drop off, and I was extremely sick the night we took our items, but we made it! Overall, it was a good experience as far as making a little extra cash for purchasing new things for the children.
Now it’s time for the fall sale, and this time I almost didn’t get a spot! The day I was supposed to register, I was busy making lunch and completely let the time slip by! I was so mad at myself because I had planned my registration for weeks and even a couple hours prior! Thankfully, the organization had a second chance registration, and I did indeed receive a spot. Just yesterday, we finished tagging and pricing all the items, and we are almost completely ready a couple weeks ahead of time. I just need a few more safety pins for some miscellaneous items, and I need to complete a small sewing repair.
As I was finishing up yesterday, I began thinking about some tips for myself, and hopefully these tips will help you as well if you participate in a consignment sale.
If you have children, you really should find a sale to participate in because it will be well worth your time!
Seven Tips for Consignment Sales:
Find a sale without a registration fee and a sale that pays well.
My sale pays the consignor 70% and keeps 30%. I feel this is a more than fair ratio considering all I do is prepare, tag, and drop off my items and they do the rest! I don’t even have to get out of the car! They have volunteers who remove my items from my vehicle!
Know the rules for your sale.
My sale has very strict rules about no stains, and they are pretty picky about using wire hangers and tagging the items just so. Toys must have working batteries, and they don’t accept stuffed animals unless they talk. If you know the rules for your sale, you can save yourself the heartache of rejected items!
Purchase any supplies you need for tagging and pricing.
Some of the necessities I have on hand when preparing my items are wire hangers, quart and gallon sized plastic baggies, white card stock for tags, safety pins, and packing tape. This year I went to the dry cleaners for my hangers. Some dry cleaners will freely give out wire hangers or will sell them for a small fee.
Be organized and work ahead.
As I stated earlier, with my first consignment sale, I did not do this due to sickness, but I did work ahead for this upcoming fall sale. I do have to admit that it is very difficult to stay organized while sorting through things, but do the best you can. I had organized chaos this time, and am glad it’s over! I make piles of items for different price amounts and then count the items. If I have 10 items in the two dollar pile, then I know I have to print 10, two dollar tags on my white card stock. Most sales in my area have a system for printing tags. These tags include a bar code with your personal number, and this is how they track your sales.
Sell whatever is allowed.
If your sale allows only clothing, that’s all you can sell. My sale allows for dvds, books, maternity clothes, toys, equipment, etc. I even have a suitcase I’m attempting to consign this year. We will see!
Present your items professionally.
Presentation is key in my opinion! Sets of clothing such as a shirt with matching pants usually sell better, and groups of books sell better than one single book. I package several books of the same level in a gallon plastic baggy and sell as a set. Toys, hair bows, socks, and many other items sell well packaged this same way.
Don’t overprice your items.
A consignment sale is not the time for stinginess. Don’t give your things away, but definitely don’t overprice items. You will probably make more than you make at a yard sale, but remember these items are used! My sale has a half price day, and I mark all items for half price on that day. If your things don’t sell during the regular days, surely most things will go for half price!
Wish me luck on my fall sale! I’m praying for great results, and I hope these tips will give you some ideas for your future consignment sales.
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