Tagging Gun Advice

[overcome]

I'm participating in my first consignment sale this spring. The person running it (it's REALLY large, huge production) has tagging guns for purchase for $20. They are on EBay for less than $5. Will I be sorry if I purchase from EBay?

[lil_acorn]

it is just a gun - not much in way of technology. Go for ebay!

[lowrioh]

I got mine for like $6 off of Amazon and it included a whole bunch of the plastic dodads.

[charp2000]

I got mine off ebay several years ago - it shipped from overseas (Hong Kong, maybe?). It looked to be the same as the ones the consignment owners were selling. I haven't had any problems with it ... I'm finally running out of the plastic 'dodads' so will soon be looking for a good price on those. -

[TwinFoxes]

$20??? Not to over react, but if it were me, I'd be thinking long and hard about how honest this person is, and whether I wanted to do business with them. I don't know how consignment sales work outside of our moms of multiples group, but if she's in charge of fairly divvying up the proceeds, I'd be leery. To me, that is a crazy mark up. Mine was $5, and I got more of the plastic thingies than I could ever possibly use. Like PP said, it's not advanced technology.

[Mikey0709]

I'll be the first one to say differently.... but i got a $5 one from ebay - shipped from hong kong - and it's crappy. Needle falls out all the time, 2 plastic things shoot in together. They break off easy... It's a HUGE Pain in the *ss to get it to work consistently.

I was actually JUST thinking before the sales start up - maybe i should invest in a quality one - - if i could find it?

Maybe I just got a bum one?

[mom2binsd]

Some tagging guns are about 20.00....honestly I work/volunteer at a friends sale full time and we hate the tagging guns, the tags that we find most on the floor (and therefore you won't get them sold) are from tagging guns. They pull off easily in the packed racks AND rip the clothing much more than safety pins.

I've been doing sales for 5 years and often have 200-300 items to pin and I just use safety pins. I tried a tagging gun once and I did not think it was much faster/easier.

[overcome]

Hmmmmm....well, I ended up purchasing one for $5 on ebay. I'll see how it goes. I could see how pins might be easier in a way, especially if the guns don't work the way they are supposed to.

As a newbie to consignment sales, I just hope I make a little money!! Seems like a lot of work.

[VClute]

I'm a veteran consignment sale goer, both selling and buying, and I DETEST tagging guns. Applying the tag with a tagging gun is harder than one might think, and I've seen countless clothes RUINED with tagging guns. I prefer zipties, those plastic things that hold cables together. You can run them through a button hole, or a tag, or through shoelace holes (works great for keeping pairs of shoes together, too) and they won't ruin the clothing. They're also much more secure than safety pins (unscrupulous shoppers can switch tags). Have fun - consignment season is so much fun!

[TwinFoxes]

At our consignment sales they specify you have to attach the tag to the left shoulder, otherwise I love the zip tie idea. And I agree, switching tags is a known problem. Both safety pins and tagging guns have their pluses and minuses. I think it'd have to be a really nice tagging gun for me to pay $20! :)

[overcome]

Hmmmm....zipties sound like a great way to tag clothes. I'm just afraid a lot of the clothes won't have a button hole, or something else to put them through....I'll be going through the clothes at some point this week. I'll check out the spots I could zip tie!

Maybe I'll do a bit of each....tagging gun, zip ties, and safety pins. I have to print out price tags with descriptions on them...does this deter shoppers from switching tags?