I'm here to hound you about the Consignment Sale, There They Grow Again....again. I submitted some stuff for their second summer sale. They had a pre-sale last night for new moms, volunteers and consigners last night. Today at 8am, their doors open for anyone who wants to wander in. If you are interested, the event is located at Riley Hall on Main St. in Hanover (Google it - Google shall take you where you want to go).
I did not volunteer for this event. Just a bad time with my husband's schedule and events planned. So I'm looking at a 60% profit from everything sold. I submitted about 50 things give or take and my inventory was $203. So if everything sells at full price, I'll walk away with $121.80. That won't happen - but one can dream. It was actually pretty darn easy to get ready for this sale because most of my stuff was still tagged from last sale. I think I might have invested one hour getting ready for this sale. For real.
What did I do differently this time than last time? Well I'll tell you:
- I lowered my prices on some stuff. Not everything. Just some stuff that didn't sell last sale that I thought would have if the price was lower.
- I discounted everything. I really don't want this crap back - because it's all summer stuff and I don't want to hang on to it for 9 months until the next Spring/Summer sale.
With just the pre-sale from last night, I already sold $42 of my inventory. That's pretty good. 20.6% of my stuff is gone. I still have 6 hours of shopping at full price and then 6 more hours of half price shopping. My goal this time around is just to get rid of as much of my submitted inventory as possible.
One thing that popped out so far: I didn't consign any toys last time. So I threw in 6 toys (mostly puzzles and puzzle type games that my kids have outgrown). They all sold last night. Full price. Gone. Wowzers! I should have submitted more toy type things.
So go. Shop. Full price sale is tomorrow from 8am - 3pm. Doors close at 2:45 for the organizers to make the shift to the half price sale. That will be held from 3pm-6pm tomorrow and again on Sunday from 9am-12pm. Just a note: The items with a dot on them are items that are discountable. If there is no dot on the tag, you can still buy it at the half price sale, but it won't be half price. Does that make any sense whatsoever? If not, well someone can explain it to you in better English than I can at the sale.
Showing posts with label Consignment Stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consignment Stuff. Show all posts
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Consignment Summary
If you actually read my blog, you'll know that I tried out the whole consignment thing. I joined up as a consigner for the There They Grow Again event that was held last weekend in Hanover, MA. I started with an inventory of about 160 items and I put about $840 (give or take) on the items. I sold about $259 worth of my inventory. So my share is just over $200 (assuming I added correctly - which I probably didn't).
So was this a success? I say "yes." $200 is $200. I think the bigger success is the knowledge I learned from volunteering and seeing what happens. I never did this before. In fact, I never shopped at a consignment event or kid consignment store before. So I really was like a deer walking into headlights with this whole thing.
Some things I observed from working this thing:
- Stay in the Season. At spring sales, people really do only want summer clothes. I picked up my remaining inventory and I had 37 pieces that are really more "winter" pieces - long sleeves, pants, seasonal colors, etc. No big deal. Just threw them in my consignment closet and they'll be ready to go in the fall. They were pieces that were "well, it could be summer, but it could also be fall." I threw them in anyways and realized I should have just held them until the fall.
- Learning prices. Quite honestly, I think I was pretty good with pricing the used summer stuff. Almost all my shorts went at $3 or $4 and I thought $4 was pretty high when I was tagging them, but most of them went. T-shirts I tried to stay at $2 or $3 and I sort of wish I just did $2s down the board. As far as girls stuff, it looked like $8 and $9 was a good price point for dresses and fancier things. Once you hit over the $10 mark, people become uninterested. Or at least that is what it seemed like.
- Understanding "Normal" People. I think the biggest eye opener for me was seeing the buying habits of 'normal' people. For the past 6 years, I have been buying "off season" - buying winter stuff in March & April. Buying summer stuff in September & October. I love myself a good clearance/end of season sale. I also love my Rubbermaid storage bins to store said bargains. Most of the shoppers really just looked at what they were coming into for the summer. I think accepting the fact that I'm weird and other people are normal was a good first step.
- Toys. Holy Moly. I did not realize toys were such a hot consignment deal. I did sell some old DVDs & VHS. Most I listed at $2 or $3 and I want to say I tagged about 20 something of them and only came home with 4. 3 of the 4 were "Christmasy" in theme. Again - Duh! Who wants to buy a Christmas DVD in April? No worries. They're still tagged so I can store them until the fall. I did not realize the DVDs would go as well as they did.
- Big Ticket Items. I have no advice on strollers, cribs, car seats, etc. Only that, I wish I knew these events existed when I was expecting. There were great deals on strollers - both single and double. Hardly used ones. Fraction of the original prices. Shame on me.
So there you have it. I didn't hit my goal of selling $400 of my inventory, but I got to $259 (I think. Close to it). I'm going to do it again in the fall and see what comes of that - and probably reassess the prices on some of my fall/winter inventory to make it more desirable.
One aspect of this sale is that I walked right in and didn't feel intimidated or weird. I volunteered to help set up so I met some other consignors. It was all cool. Kris provided refreshments for the volunteers which was really nice. I'll be back. In the meantime, check out There They Grow Again on Facebook and you can also check out Consignment Mommies (insert shakes here - I am not a fan of the word "mommies").
So was this a success? I say "yes." $200 is $200. I think the bigger success is the knowledge I learned from volunteering and seeing what happens. I never did this before. In fact, I never shopped at a consignment event or kid consignment store before. So I really was like a deer walking into headlights with this whole thing.
Some things I observed from working this thing:
- Stay in the Season. At spring sales, people really do only want summer clothes. I picked up my remaining inventory and I had 37 pieces that are really more "winter" pieces - long sleeves, pants, seasonal colors, etc. No big deal. Just threw them in my consignment closet and they'll be ready to go in the fall. They were pieces that were "well, it could be summer, but it could also be fall." I threw them in anyways and realized I should have just held them until the fall.
- Learning prices. Quite honestly, I think I was pretty good with pricing the used summer stuff. Almost all my shorts went at $3 or $4 and I thought $4 was pretty high when I was tagging them, but most of them went. T-shirts I tried to stay at $2 or $3 and I sort of wish I just did $2s down the board. As far as girls stuff, it looked like $8 and $9 was a good price point for dresses and fancier things. Once you hit over the $10 mark, people become uninterested. Or at least that is what it seemed like.
- Understanding "Normal" People. I think the biggest eye opener for me was seeing the buying habits of 'normal' people. For the past 6 years, I have been buying "off season" - buying winter stuff in March & April. Buying summer stuff in September & October. I love myself a good clearance/end of season sale. I also love my Rubbermaid storage bins to store said bargains. Most of the shoppers really just looked at what they were coming into for the summer. I think accepting the fact that I'm weird and other people are normal was a good first step.
- Toys. Holy Moly. I did not realize toys were such a hot consignment deal. I did sell some old DVDs & VHS. Most I listed at $2 or $3 and I want to say I tagged about 20 something of them and only came home with 4. 3 of the 4 were "Christmasy" in theme. Again - Duh! Who wants to buy a Christmas DVD in April? No worries. They're still tagged so I can store them until the fall. I did not realize the DVDs would go as well as they did.
- Big Ticket Items. I have no advice on strollers, cribs, car seats, etc. Only that, I wish I knew these events existed when I was expecting. There were great deals on strollers - both single and double. Hardly used ones. Fraction of the original prices. Shame on me.
So there you have it. I didn't hit my goal of selling $400 of my inventory, but I got to $259 (I think. Close to it). I'm going to do it again in the fall and see what comes of that - and probably reassess the prices on some of my fall/winter inventory to make it more desirable.
One aspect of this sale is that I walked right in and didn't feel intimidated or weird. I volunteered to help set up so I met some other consignors. It was all cool. Kris provided refreshments for the volunteers which was really nice. I'll be back. In the meantime, check out There They Grow Again on Facebook and you can also check out Consignment Mommies (insert shakes here - I am not a fan of the word "mommies").
Friday, April 13, 2012
Entering the World of Consignment, Will It Be Worth It?
Well I'm back from my blogcation. And here with a topic: Consignment. Specifically, consignment events.
My cheap self has never consigned my old kids' crap before. I don't know why. I probably just had the mentality of "I can't be bothered". Well we're really poor and the husband is now laid off (hopefully temporarily). So I have to think outside the box to make money and stuff. I'm not giving up my lavish lifestyle just because we don't have any real income.
If you live on the South Shore, you might have noticed a bunch of Consignment Events popping up on the South Shore every couple weeks. Little Red Wagon, There They Grow Again, Children's Clothesline, etc. etc. So what's the deal with these consignment events? They are kind of like huge kid tag sales full of inventory and great prices. There's even a lot of new and hardly worn clothes at these events. So if you are a shopper, you are sure to find some great deals. As a potential consignor, I've looked and researched through a few of them in MA a while back. They all seem to have some common practices as far as consignors go (in case you are thinking of becoming a kids crap consignor at one of these events):
- They all charge a consignor fee of about $8 or $10. Usually, if you volunteer for 2 3-hour shifts or more (6 hours for 2 shifts), this fee gets waived.
- The base commission split is 60/40 for most of them. So if you're trying to sell a sweater for $5 and it sells, you'll actually walk away with $3.00 as your 60%. Remember though: They are doing all the work: Renting the hall, advertising, providing the set up, organizing, devoting hours and hours of their time to do all the behind the scenes work. This also brings more people and more solid buyers than if you were to just have a tag sale in your yard.
- You can up your % back to you by volunteering. Typically, for every 3 hour shift, you get an extra 5% back, up to 80%. So that $5 sweater that sold, now will give you $4 if you volunteered for 12 hours.
- Some sales have a minimum of 30 items that you have to consign. (not all)
- Some sales have a maximum of 250 items you can consign. (not all)
- Consignors set the prices. This can be really neat. For instance, I just volunteered to set up a sale and saw two "bigger tagged" items. One consignor slapped on $50. The other consignor slapped on $28. It's really up to you as the seller of your stuff to determine what you think/want to get for the piece. And as a shopper, you never know what you're going to find and at what price. Even the clothes varied a lot - for the most part, they were all very cheap. I saw very few items that I thought "What?! That person is CRAZY for slapping that price on it." Most were very decent.
- You have the option (but it is not mandatory) to 50% off your items at the half-price sale (usually the last 3 hours of the event). So if that $5 sweater of yours didn't sell, but you just want to get rid of it and never want to see it again, it will go down to $2.50. This of course, makes your 60% profit now only $1.50. 80% will get you $2.00. You also have to think: Would I rather cut the reg. price a little and hope it sells for that lower price, or take a bigger hit on the 50% off sale.
- You have the option of donating your stuff if it doesn't sell. Let the consignment event organizer do your dirty work for you. If all your items are just "garbage" in your mind, they'll donate anything that doesn't sell to a local charity. If you have higher end items, or maybe a niece or nephew that can benefit from these clothes, than you can opt to come back and pick up your unsold stuff at approximately 2 hours after the event ends. You can even choose each item to donate - so maybe you want half of your stuff donated, but keep the other half. It's up to you.
So as you probably know, if you "Like" me on Facebook, I'm dipping my toes into the "There They Grow Again" sale in Hanover that is today (April 13, 2012) and tomorrow (April 14, 2012).
My starting inventory was about $840. With the fee waived and volunteering for 4 shifts, my maximum profit will be about $672. I know that's not realistic. I'm thinking if I walk away with $400, I'll consider that a success. I decided to not donate most of my stuff - because I already have a huge stash set away for future sales and can add to that. If I do really horribly, I'll think about whether I really want to do it again in the future. But I can't base it on just one event - need to do a couple to see how it averages out.
I've heard horror stories from some friends about consigning. I've also heard great things from friends about consigning. One thing remains constant: I haven't heard a single bad comment from any friends shopping consignment events. They all rave about the great deals they got. So if you never shopped a consignment event - try one out. There is no charge to go. (Did I mention there is one today and tomorrow in Hanover called "There They Grow Again?")
I shall report back with my post-sale report. Feel free to leave any comments about your experiences consigning. I'd love to hear them.
My cheap self has never consigned my old kids' crap before. I don't know why. I probably just had the mentality of "I can't be bothered". Well we're really poor and the husband is now laid off (hopefully temporarily). So I have to think outside the box to make money and stuff. I'm not giving up my lavish lifestyle just because we don't have any real income.
If you live on the South Shore, you might have noticed a bunch of Consignment Events popping up on the South Shore every couple weeks. Little Red Wagon, There They Grow Again, Children's Clothesline, etc. etc. So what's the deal with these consignment events? They are kind of like huge kid tag sales full of inventory and great prices. There's even a lot of new and hardly worn clothes at these events. So if you are a shopper, you are sure to find some great deals. As a potential consignor, I've looked and researched through a few of them in MA a while back. They all seem to have some common practices as far as consignors go (in case you are thinking of becoming a kids crap consignor at one of these events):
- They all charge a consignor fee of about $8 or $10. Usually, if you volunteer for 2 3-hour shifts or more (6 hours for 2 shifts), this fee gets waived.
- The base commission split is 60/40 for most of them. So if you're trying to sell a sweater for $5 and it sells, you'll actually walk away with $3.00 as your 60%. Remember though: They are doing all the work: Renting the hall, advertising, providing the set up, organizing, devoting hours and hours of their time to do all the behind the scenes work. This also brings more people and more solid buyers than if you were to just have a tag sale in your yard.
- You can up your % back to you by volunteering. Typically, for every 3 hour shift, you get an extra 5% back, up to 80%. So that $5 sweater that sold, now will give you $4 if you volunteered for 12 hours.
- Some sales have a minimum of 30 items that you have to consign. (not all)
- Some sales have a maximum of 250 items you can consign. (not all)
- Consignors set the prices. This can be really neat. For instance, I just volunteered to set up a sale and saw two "bigger tagged" items. One consignor slapped on $50. The other consignor slapped on $28. It's really up to you as the seller of your stuff to determine what you think/want to get for the piece. And as a shopper, you never know what you're going to find and at what price. Even the clothes varied a lot - for the most part, they were all very cheap. I saw very few items that I thought "What?! That person is CRAZY for slapping that price on it." Most were very decent.
- You have the option (but it is not mandatory) to 50% off your items at the half-price sale (usually the last 3 hours of the event). So if that $5 sweater of yours didn't sell, but you just want to get rid of it and never want to see it again, it will go down to $2.50. This of course, makes your 60% profit now only $1.50. 80% will get you $2.00. You also have to think: Would I rather cut the reg. price a little and hope it sells for that lower price, or take a bigger hit on the 50% off sale.
- You have the option of donating your stuff if it doesn't sell. Let the consignment event organizer do your dirty work for you. If all your items are just "garbage" in your mind, they'll donate anything that doesn't sell to a local charity. If you have higher end items, or maybe a niece or nephew that can benefit from these clothes, than you can opt to come back and pick up your unsold stuff at approximately 2 hours after the event ends. You can even choose each item to donate - so maybe you want half of your stuff donated, but keep the other half. It's up to you.
So as you probably know, if you "Like" me on Facebook, I'm dipping my toes into the "There They Grow Again" sale in Hanover that is today (April 13, 2012) and tomorrow (April 14, 2012).
My starting inventory was about $840. With the fee waived and volunteering for 4 shifts, my maximum profit will be about $672. I know that's not realistic. I'm thinking if I walk away with $400, I'll consider that a success. I decided to not donate most of my stuff - because I already have a huge stash set away for future sales and can add to that. If I do really horribly, I'll think about whether I really want to do it again in the future. But I can't base it on just one event - need to do a couple to see how it averages out.
I've heard horror stories from some friends about consigning. I've also heard great things from friends about consigning. One thing remains constant: I haven't heard a single bad comment from any friends shopping consignment events. They all rave about the great deals they got. So if you never shopped a consignment event - try one out. There is no charge to go. (Did I mention there is one today and tomorrow in Hanover called "There They Grow Again?")
I shall report back with my post-sale report. Feel free to leave any comments about your experiences consigning. I'd love to hear them.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Consignment Event!! Hanover, MA in April!
South Shore Mamas is doing a giveaway for the upcoming There They Grow Again consignment event that will take place in Hanover in April (details are all up there). You have until March 3rd to enter this giveaway for a chance to win either a $20 or $10 gift certificate.
I'm popping my consignment cherry with this event - already have over $400 of stuff entered and about 93 items. Most things are I put in are either $2 or $3. I'm throwing a glider in there at $50 - so that put me up some. It's not too late to register to consign. The consigner fee is $8 (but is waived if you volunteer for 2+ shifts). You get 60% of all your sales, but you get 5% more for every three-hour shift you volunteer at. So if you do 2 3-hour shifts, you pay no consigner fee and you get 70%. That's not bad compared to most consignment events/stores around.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)