Consignment Sales

[Wife_and_mommy]

Remind me never to have the bright idea that I should be a consignor. It's a nightmare trying to print off tags, then have to pin the tags just so. Then as I'm reading the instructions, I find there will be a $10 consign fee on top of their cut. This makes it so not worth it.

I give up. It's not worth the aggravation. Esp. when the 3yo is being impossible to deal with.... I'll stick to my consignment store. They may be picky but at least they do all the work!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Ewww... never do it with the kid around! I set aside 2 nights after the kids are asleep to tag a ton of items. Takes 1-2 hours each night, then I'm done. During the day I can gather all the hangers, safety pins, zip ties, markers, print/cut/hole punch the tags, etc.

All clothes hanging, pricing decisions, labeling, zip-tying, pinning, etc. happens after 7:30pm. And... much to his dismay, DH was "politely invited" to help zip-tie prices on the labels (stay on better than pinned tags). He said it was kinda fun to do while mindlessly watching TV and he'd be happy to help me in the future!

I haven't taken items to a consignment store, but I MUCH prefer consigning at a sale to selling clothes on Craigslist.

Hang in there for the experience. Having the check show up in the mail after you get your clothes there is so nice!

[KrisM]

Wow, that doesn't sound fun. Can you just use sticky labels? We don't have these sales, so I know nothing about them. I just did a mom2mom sale here and just used sticky labels for prices on things. It did take a while - maybe 2 hours for 500 or so items.

Good luck and you'll be happy to sell stuff!

[Wife_and_mommy]

Now I know why I kept seeing "tag early" everywhere I looked.....

My biggest item is my double stroller and I have a possible bite on it from CL so if I sell it, I'll be happy. Not really a lot of clothes. Kris, I can't believe you had 500 pieces!!

I'll have to ask for advice for the fall. I'm not going out looking for zip ties when the stuff is due this afternoon.

[HIU8]

Can you get a tagging gun. It makes it go so much faster. The show I do sells them to consigners for $12 with 1000 tags. I had about 300 items for the spring show so I still have plenty left for the next show. It took me 1 week at night to get everything done. We have a fee of $8 plus you get 50% (higher if you volunteer). I ended up making 79% of my projected earnings. It was a pain to get done, but worth it in the end. However, the consignment store I would go to is super picky and will take apart outfits and only take part of something (which bugs me a lot) so I like the show better.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Now I know why I kept seeing "tag early" everywhere I looked.....

I'll have to ask for advice for the fall. I'm not going out looking for zip ties when the stuff is due this afternoon.

Ewww...sorry about the time crunch. Yeah, that is a bummer! I *want* to tag stuff now as I'm pulling it out of DD's closet to make room for summer clothes, then just put it away until the sale in July!

FWIW, zipties can be found at Lowe's or HD in the section with cords and such. I got a big ol' bag.

If you have a buyer for your double stroller on CL, I think you're going to get more for it there than at consignment, but it may be more work for you. Our sale charges $9 and they take 30%.

I also see the consigning/volunteering as a HUGE advantage as far as shopping goes over the public days. The cutest, best-priced stuff is always gone first. If you don't actually BUY there, then it might not be as worth it to you. I keep a list going of things to look for during the next season and get a good deal of my kids' playclothes there as well as cleanable toys, unopened packs of swim diapers, an extra this or that.

I'll stop writing to let you get on with your tagging. Best of luck!!! Hope it goes well!

[kittymom]

my biggest c/o about consignment sales is that they are soooo crowded here. and the moms! the elbows and pushing and running to get stuff! 2 hour lines to pay! and this is during the consignor/volunteer hours!

[WatchingThemGrow]

my biggest c/o about consignment sales is that they are soooo crowded here. and the moms! the elbows and pushing and running to get stuff! 2 hour lines to pay! and this is during the consignor/volunteer hours!

Oh, that stinks! Our consignor day is ridiculous, but the volunteer day is dreeeeeaaaaaamy.

[KrisM]

My biggest item is my double stroller and I have a possible bite on it from CL so if I sell it, I'll be happy. Not really a lot of clothes. Kris, I can't believe you had 500 pieces!!


Well, I had kept all of DS1's stuff and then decided we don't have room to keep it for 4 years, so I got rid of a lot of it! I had girl through 2T and boy through 4T. Way too much. We get tons of hand-me-downs and it's pretty nuts. But, I'm down to 2 bins left!

[american_mama]

I just did my first two consignment sales in March and enjoyed it. I made $125 on the second sale (about 70 items), probably less at the other show for a similar number of items, but I am happy. I was getting rid of 12 boxes of girl's clothing, size birth to 3T. I consigned almost all clothes, and I'd previously had a garage sale (made around $120), freecycled stuff, given away stuff, freecycled more stuff, and sold stuff to a friend, and still had the 150ish items to consign. If you are like me and want to handpick good homes for your stuff and/or get cash for it, it does take more effort than I thought.

[DietCokeLover]

I did my first consignment sale in Feb. It did take a lot of work (I had about 120 items) and was surprised by the specific ways they wanted things to be done. But, now having been through it, I see why they are so specific.

There will be another one in September in our area and I will definitely start a little earlier on getting ready for it (and will enlist DH's help).

The positive side of all of this is even AFTER I bought alot of great clothes for my kids, I ended up making over $100. I figure that is worth the effort.

[WatchingThemGrow]

So, I'm assuming the sales in March/April are for summer clothes and the Sept. DCL mentioned are for fall/winter clothes??? I think ours must be the earliest ones EVER - Jan for spring/summer, July for fall/winter.

It seems a little crazy, but I really do like having all my 2nd hand stuff purchased before the new seasonal retail lines come out b/c it takes away some of the temptation. It is also helped me be prepared for having a new summer or winter baby b/c I don't want to be out shopping/collecting when the season's changing and I'm pretty pg.

OP, how did it go getting everything there?

[Wife_and_mommy]

I told you I gave up. Literally. I packed everything in my car and hauled it to the consignment store. I'll only get 50% but I just couldn't hack it yesterday. I'll try to stay on the ball for fall.

I've been culling baby things and clothes since DS turned 1 and esp. the last 6 months as we(I) accepted that another baby isn't happening according to our plan. DH wants another but is more than happy that I'm ridding our house of all the extra stuff.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Oh, I didn't realize you literally did! I bet it is a GREAT feeling to have everything gone. It is a huge relief for sure!

I may try the consignment store for the items I still have hanging around.

[clc053103]

I gave a truckload of stuff to a consigment sale that occurred last month- it was my first time, and though she took a list of original prices for the items, she said they would tag them with prices on their own. Now, it's 3 weeks later and I haven't heard a peep! I sent a note to see when I could expect the report, as well as pick up the items that were not sold on my "return list" (the rest are donated to a charity), but haven't heard back.