Advantages To Selling Your Items At Consignment Sales

Advantages To Selling Your Items At Consignment Sales

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The above photo is by Kidsignments

Last week I talked about taking your children’s clothes to a consignment store, this week I want to focus on consignment sales.

The two are similar, but different. When you drop your clothes off at a consignment store, they could be out on the floors of the store for up to one year. When you drop your clothes off at a consignment sale, they are up for sale, for the duration of the sale usually 2 to 3 days, and then you return to pick up what has not sold.

There are a few advantages of selling your clothes at a consignment sale over a consignment store

1. Spring sales are usually held before garage sale season begins, so you gain another opportunity to sell you clothes, at your own yard sale later. Plus fall sales are held just as yard sale season is wrapping up so you can save your fall clothes that didn’t sell at your sale and gain another opportunity to sell them.

2. You control the price of your item. However, for the most successful return on your effort spent make sure to price your item at second hand market value, and be willing to allow it to go for 1/2 price on the last day, so as to save you carting it home again. If you don’t know what market value is, I suggest taking a stroll through a local consignment store, and then price your items around  10% to 20% less.

3. You control what goes out for sale. Consignment stores are extremely picky about the style, label and condition of clothes they will accept. At a consignment sale you pick what items you sell.

PLEASE NOTE however, I am not saying you can drop off clothes in poor condition. Clothes must still be free of stains, rips and significant wear. What I am saying is feel free to sell in good condition, clothes of non trendy labels or classic styles.

In other words, if your children, like mine wear department store clothing, as apposed to trendy label clothing and they are still in great shape when you are done with them, consignment sales are a great option for reselling them.

Last spring I tried my first consignment sale ever with my own clothes. It was a local venue called Ladysignments.

I dropped off a  foot and a half high stack of clothes on Wednesday and returned Monday to pick up a small pile of remaining clothes and a check for close to $70 for my efforts.

$70 may not seem like much to some, but to this fitness fanatic that was entry fee’s into a half marathon and a sprint triathlon.

I should also note, I did not have any designer clothes in that stack, nor anything priced higher than $5 and I marked all my tags with a red circle meaning they could be marked down to 50% off the last day of the sale.

I loved the results, had I put all those clothes at my own yard sale I would have never seen such a return.  I would have had to hope and pray for throngs of tall size 10 ladies to drop by who wanted just what clothing items I had for sale

Advantages of Consignment Sales Over Putting Your Clothes In Your Yard Sale

1. A consignment sale if well advertised (and mine was) draws in way more people than you could at your own yard sale, and therefore you have a better chance of finding just the buyer you need.

2. A consignment sale also gets you a higher price per item than you can receive at a yard sale as consignment sale buyers are willing to pay more  per item, to have a larger selection to shop at in one place. This saves the buyer time and  gas money and creates more money for the seller.

Sure I had to spend time placing tags on each and every item with my consignment sale member number and price and then circle that price in red for 1/2 price day (this year they have electric tagging, so I am think that will save me time).

I also had to hang up each item of clothing a certain way on my own hangers, but this didn’t take more time than I would have spent neatly arranging them for a yard sale, or for drop off at a consignment store.

The sale I use does not return those hangers, which could be an expense to some but there are plenty of free sources of hangers. I got most of my hangers free simply by asking at big box  all in one department stores if they had any behind their cashier stand that they were throwing away. Ask this question a few weeks in a row while doing your grocery shopping at these big box stores, and you are sure to get the hangers you need.

All in all this snail pacing consignment sale newbie is sold on consignment sales.

How about you? Have you taken part in a consignment sale? Got any consignment sale tips to share?

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