Another Consignment Sale!

I participated in another children's consignment sale this weekend. It's the same one I did in September, but it was in a different town. I learned a lot of lessons this time and thought I'd share them.

First off, something I should have thought of but didn't:  Town A is a lot more well-to-do than Town B. I didn't take that into consideration with my pricing. Therefore, only my lower-priced, non-brand name items sold this time. My higher-priced Gymboree stuff hardly sold at all, not even on half off day!

Second lesson: I went into this sale with high expectations. Too high. I didn't realize this was the first sale they have ever had in the new location. It was in a kind of hard-to-find location. The traffic just wasn't there. When selling at a new sale, don't get your hopes up. The sale in Town A has been there for a couple years now and it is huge! I don't doubt the Town B sale will grow, but it does take some time to get the word out. I was very disappointed, because I went into it expecting way too much from a brand new sale.

Third lesson: Minimize the driving as much as possible! This town was also an hour from me. I dropped my stuff off on Tuesday evening, went back up on Wednesday evening to shop the presale, then went up again on Sunday afternoon to pick my unsold items up. That ended up costing me about $45 in gas. (I hadn't actually figured that up until just now - ugh). I need to combine trips. Here's what I'm thinking for next time: drop my stuff off as late in the day on Wednesday as possible, then hang out in town Wednesday afternoon until the pre-sale that evening. Volunteer for a late shift on Saturday, then take my unsold items home with me that evening. Have them mail my check after the sale. That will cut the driving down by one whole trip (90 miles) and $15. Also, by volunteering, I'll get an extra 5% of my sales, so not only will I save money on gas, but I'll make MORE money at the sale.

Fourth lesson: I didn't get to make it for the half-off sale (see Third Lesson above). When I stopped to pick up my unsolds yesterday, I was amazed at how many items were left that I would gladly have bought for half price. I casually mentioned it to the woman who runs the sale, knowing full well that selling items on pick-up day would be a logistical nightmare. But she said, "Well then go buy them! I'm keeping track of today's last minute sales and will send out separate checks tomorrow." So I set my stuff down and shopped away! I spent about $50 on 13 items (all Gymboree and Hanna Andersson for resale). I was so excited about the things that I bought, that I left without my check! Yes, I LEFT MY CHECK on the counter in the store. Ugh. I emailed her. I REALLY hope she found it, and that someone else didn't accidentally scoop it up. That would really stink - all that hard work for nothing. Actually for significantly less than nothing when you consider how much I spent on gas and the clothes that I bought.

So here's the final report (you'll see why I was so disappointed):

I took 93 items and sold 42. I guess that's decent, but as I mentioned earlier, it was all my low-priced stuff.  I sold a total of $160.50 worth. The people who run the sale keep 60% of that, plus a $5 consignment fee per seller. I list half of my stuff under my name, and half of my stuff under my sister's name so she can get into the sale early as a "consignor," so that's $10 that I lose in consignment fees, plus the 40%. So my checks totalled $86.30.

Let's do some sickening math, shall we?

Total Earnings: $86.30

Total Spent Wednesday night on clothes for my kids plus 2 items for resale: $40

Total Spent Sunday afternoon on clothes for resale: $50

Total Spent in Gas: $45

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$48.70 in the hole, assuming I get my checks ($135 in the hole if I never see them again)

I'm not going to count ink, cardstock, or hangers, because that is even more sickening.

So sad.

I had a good time, I enjoyed prepping my items for the sale. But I've got to either lower my prices for Town B next time, or just stick with the sale in Town A (my personal preference).

Consignment Sale, Final Tally

Well, the sale is over. It was so much fun selling my stuff from the comfort of my own home. Oh wait ... I do that all the time. It was so much fun selling my stuff from the comfort of my own home without having to worry about shipping and feedback!

I sent 167 items. Some of those were 2 or more piece outfits, so technically, I suppose I probably sent about 200 individual pieces. I sold 77 items, for a grand total of $511!

Yes, of course the people running the sale will get a percentage of that. I'll end up with right around $300. But I'm totally happy with that amount, especially since it means I cleared out nearly half of my older clothing inventory. Yay!

Consignment Sale, Day 3

I just got my sales report for today's consignment sale. Here are the results from yesterday.

Today was full price until 5:30, then most things went to half price.

I sold an additional 22 items, for a total of $154. Some of those items were half price, but most were full price. That puts my 2-day total at 49 items for a total of $365.

Tomorrow is half price all day. I'm really hoping that the lower price will cause more items to sell. So far, I'm looking at bringing home over 100 pieces to relist on eBay. REALLY hoping at least half of that sells tomorrow.

So far, I'm happy with the results. I'm surprised at the prices people pay for used clothes. I'm such a cheapskate, I would never pay these prices, but I suppose there are some pretty brand-loyal folks out there...

Consignment Sale, Day 2

Today was the first day of the public consignment sale. I anxiously awaited the moment they uploaded their sales to their website so I could see how I did. I sold 27 of my items for a total of $211! The sale will still go on all day tomorrow and Saturday (9-7 each day). Saturday is half-price day, so I'm hoping a ton of my letovers will sell that day. I don't relish the thought of bringing home all of that stuff.... 

Looking forward to seeing tomorrow's sales! Yay! That was fun!

Consignment Sale, Day 1

Yesterday was pre-sale day at the consignment sale. I was told I could drop off more clothes when I came for the resale, so I spent a couple hours yesterday running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get another 100+ pieces tagged and properly hung up. It was insane. In fact, I didn't get done. My sister drove, and I sat in the back and frantically tagged the whole way there. The pre-sale for consignors started at 6:00, and I finished tagging at 5:50. Phew! We dragged them all in and got them hung up, so they were available for the pre-sale! (A huge shout-out to my sister for helping me out with that - thank you!!! - not that she reads this, but it makes me feel good to thank her publicly :-D )

The coolest thing about this sale is that they upload sales information to their website each night. So I can actually log in every night and see what I've sold. I sold NOTHING last night. But really, there weren't nearly as many people as I expected. I'm sure I'll do better today. Hopefully.

I have never seen such a huge amount of stuff. Wow. It was overwhelming. I knew ahead of time that the prices weren't going to be good for resale, but I thought I'd see if I could find a thing or two for my kids. I didn't find anything I'm super-duper-excited about, but I did get them each a couple things I think they'll like.

Because I signed my sister up under me and she consigned more than $100 worth, I got a $10 gift card. I bought:

• 2 church shirts and 2 pairs of sneakers for Aaron
• a 3 piece fleece outfit, a Gap shirt dress, and 2 sets of pajamas for Sarah
• a church shirt and a Gap fleece pullover for Jacob
• 2 nice tops for Ellie

I did also find 1 Gymboree item for resale. It is from 2007 and new with tags ($22.50). It was marked $2! So I grabbed it and was able to identify the line already. Turns out it's the same line as a pair of pants I have that I haven't been able to identify. Yay for bonus ID's!

A New Mini-Venture For Me

A few weeks ago, I stumbled on the website for a huge upcoming kids' consignment sale about an hour from my house. I live in a really small town, so I had never heard of such a thing. I studied the website and read everything I could find about how it works. A seed was planted in the back of my head. I have a gazillion pieces of kids' clothes I'm trying to sell. Maybe I could take a few of them...

Also, consignors get to shop the evening before the public sale. AND consignors get to shop the half-price sale the evening before the public half-price sale. My sister wanted to go along and buy things for her new baby, but she didn't have anything to consign. I told her I'd try to scrounge up enough stuff to split between the two of us, and that I'd list some of it under her name so she could get in as a consignor too.

I read their pricing strategy. They suggest pricing Gymboree clothes at a third of retail. Well, that's what I price mine for on eBay, so buying any Gymboree there for resale is obviously out. But if I sell my Gymboree for a third of retail, and they sell Gymboree for a third of retail, why not just take all of it? Yes, I'll lose consignment fees (this particular sale gives consignors 60% of the sale price), but the idea of having so much of that clothing pile gone in one weekend was very appealing to me.

Then I read their list of what they'll accept. They wanted nothing older than 4 years (2007 or newer). Drat. The bulk of my Gymboree is 2004, 2005, and 2006. So I went through and picked out all the newer stuff. I ended up with about 50 items. I entered it into the database, priced, tagged, and sorted it. Then I ended my eBay listings for those items (don't want to sell the same thing twice!)

Yesterday, I took them up and dropped them off. I happened to mention in passing that I have tons more of this stuff, but that it's more than 4 years old. She told me I should bring it anyway. Well! You don't need to tell me twice. I only had until midnight last night to get my stuff entered into their database. I rushed home and got to work. I ended 120 eBay listings last night. Several of those listings were lots that I broke up into individual items for this consignment sale. I frantically typed and typed and typed and got done at 11:50! Phew!

I ended up with 167 items. But I don't have anymore cardstock or safety pins for making tags. Ack! I have to drop this stuff off at 5:30 this evening when we go for the pre-sale. So guess what I'll be doing today (after an emergency Walmart trip)...

I have $1400+ in items that I'll have at the sale, which means that IF it all sells (which of course I don't expect it to), I could potentially make over $800 this weekend. Sure, that's less than I could get on eBay, but how could I resist the idea of clearing out my storage space and coming home with an $800 check all at once, rather than shipping them out one item at a time for $8 here and there?

Here's what I'll be taking up this evening (in addition to the 50-some items I took yesterday):

I'll let you know how I do!

Downsizing or just plain ready to let go of stuff?

If you are downsizing or are finally ready to part with those favorite pair of designer jeans that you swore you would fit into by Memorial Day, then it's time to start the process of letting go. First ask yourself how much you think the item you have is worth, now be honest! Not just worth to you, but to someone else. The world of eBay is a very big place and maybe, just maybe there is someone out there who is looking for the item that you no longer need. It's a win-win situation, by turning that item into cash for yourself, and also passing that item along to someone who could really use it. It's environmentally friendly too, and that's a good thing!

Lesley for Lilbotique :)