If you are like a lot of other moms, you have a bunch of your kid’s outgrown clothing and toys hanging around the house. Selling your no longer needed items at a consignment sale is a great way for you to turn them into cash and declutter at the same time. Also, in addition to clearing out space, many moms usually will take the money they earn and buy the next clothing size up for their little ones, or toys that they might want.
How to Consignment Sales Work?
Consignment sales usually keep anywhere from 20-50% of sales, depending on the sale and if you decide to volunteer or not (some sales give you a higher percentage if you help out with the sale). With that being said, they are still worth the time investment because your items are exposed to a lot of people shopping and you can get much better pricing for your items than if you were to sell them at your local yard sale.
What Can I Sell at A Consignment Sale?
What are some things that you can sell at consignment sales? Pretty much anything your child would want or use: clothing, toys, books, movies, shoes, backpacks, costumes maternity wear, cribs, car seats, strollers, Rock 'n Plays, baby swings, breast pumps, bottles, nursing bras, DockATot sleepers, Pack 'n Plays, et cetera! Each sale is different, so check your local rules but most sales accept all of the above as long as they aren’t recalled.
Plan Ahead
When you are getting ready for the sale, make sure you set aside enough time before the sale to get things ready. In the beginning, my husband and I made the mistake of waiting too long and weren’t able to sell all of the items we wanted to get rid of, because we didn’t have everything ready to go.
How Do I Sell My Items At the Sale?
Most consignment sales use an online inventory management system, called “My Consignment Manager”. You will need to follow the consignment sale’s instructions for completing an account and entering your inventory into their system. Make sure you sign up at least a few weeks early, because some sales limit the amount of consigners that sell at each sale.
Having sold at several consignment sales, I LOVE them because they give me the chance to declutter and make a good amount of money. Also, because I have done so many I have learned a few helpful tips along the way that I would like to share with you, because it can be a little daunting getting things together for the sale if you haven’t done so before.
Prepare Ahead
In preparation for the sale, make sure that you get your supplies together – collect your hangers, card stock, scotch tape, plastic baggies, clothes pins, zip ties, tape and scissors.
Card Stock: Most people go with white, but it is helpful to pick a light color / pastel to help you find your items when it comes time to pick them up. Anything higher than a 90lb cardstock is usually good, but you can go with a 110lb cardstock if you would like it to be a little sturdier.
Hangers – Get rid of any unwanted hangers you have, or if you are running low, save money by buying in bulk.
Safety Pins – These help you to keep the clothing on the hangers. I like to go with the large ones, and I buy a large bag of them, which lasts me for a few sales.
Tagging Gun – I have done sales with a tagging gun, and without and found that tagging guns save SO MUCH TIME. They are usually only $15-20 and well worth the investment.
Paper Cutter – This saves time cutting out your tags (I love mine, I picked it up for a couple dollars at an estate sale).
Clothing Rack – This helps to keep your clothing sorted and wrinkle-free. Definitely worth the investment, especially if you are planning to do several sales.
Garbage Bags – We use these to separate clothing, by poking a hole at the bottom and running the hangers through the top, or you can use flagging tape to tie the hangers together.
Ziplock Bags – We use all sorts of sizes: gallon, quart and sandwich are used the most frequently.
Packing Tape – This helps you attach your tags to toys, bags and other items.
Get Your Items Together
Go through your kid’s clothing and toys, setting aside items that your kid no longer wants, needs or plays with any more. It is important to make sure that you have enough merchandise to sell, because consignment sales do charge a nominal fee (usually around $10-20 to consign). If you don’t have a lot of items to sell, a good thing to consider is listing the items in a local yard sale group (if you do this, you won’t have to pay the consignor fee and you will keep all of the proceeds).
Inspect Your Inventory
Inspect your items and make sure that they are in good condition – don’t try to sell items that are stained, ripped, have pet hair on them, broken, etc. Clean your clothing and hang after washing, or steam/iron them (if your items look good they sell better). In this aspect, it’s important to think like a store and only sell items that are in good enough condition that you would buy.
Sort Your Items
Sort your items by size and gender and keep them together after you have finished tagging them (my husband and I poke a hole on the top of a clean garbage bag, and pull the hangers through to keep the clothing separated, but you can also use flagging tape to tie the hangers together).
Get Organized
Once you round up your inventory and sorted, GET ORGANIZED. Write down how many of each item you have – books, toys, clothing (make sure you write down the size, gender and if it is summer/winter). This will help you, when you are entering items into the computer system.
When hanging your clothing, pay attention to how the consignment sale requests you hang the clothing. Most, want you to pin the tag on the shoulder (if it is a shirt). Using safety pins help to keep the clothing on the hanger, when people are sorting through the clothing and shopping.
Price According to Your Goals
Do you want to get rid of the items? Price aggressively and mark that you would like to discount your items, on half-price / discount day (if they have one). If you want to make more money and do not care about selling the majority of your items at that sale, then price in the mid to high price range. At my first children’s consignment sale, I made the mistake of pricing too aggressively. Example: I wanted to get rid of a kid’s Black and Decker workbench, so I priced it at $7 because it did not come with any of the accessories (my son was only interested in the accessories and never used the actual workbench, so it was just taking up space). It sold in the presale night, and, when I looked at other workbenches, I saw that they were priced for anywhere from $30-40. This is where it can be helpful shopping the sales, because you become more familiar with how to price your items. When pricing clothing, make sure to price lower-end brands cheaper than you would boutique brands, to maximize your profit. Usually lower-end clothing goes for anywhere from $2-5, and the higher-end clothing goes for 25-75% of retail, depending on condition, and if the clothing is new with tags (NWT).
Group Your Items
Group toys that are smaller together, people like buying lots of toys and it’s less work tagging them individually.
Don’t Forget the Batteries
Put batteries in your toys (buyers like to see that the items work). You can use batteries that are almost at the end of their life-cycle, to save money or buy them at the dollar tree (I have found good deals on batteries on Home Depot, too).
Sell According to Seasons
Winter clothing does better right before Summer is about to end, and right when Fall begins. If you are limited in clothing spots, take advantage of this and only sell clothes in the season that you are about to go into or have just started.
Decide if You Want to Donate
Decide if you want to donate your items at the end of the sale, or pick up (if you decide not to donate, don’t miss picking them up, or the consignment sale will donate them). Usually, you are unable to get a tax write-off slip if you donate at the sale, so I pick them up and either sell them at another sale, at a yard sale, or donate and get the tax receipt.
Don’t Forget to Shop
Take advantage of shopping ahead of the crowd – Many consignment sales have shopping for consignors before the general public, which is nice, because you can often score some wonderful items at good deals, before they get picked over. Saving money on items you need for your family puts more money in your pocket!
Let me know if you have any helpful tips in the comments below!
XOXO
Charlotte