“Well, it’s better than a kick in the pants.”
That’s what my father told me (to cheer me up) when I said how much I made at the consignment sale last week.
I recently participated as a consignor at a local 4-day consignment sale. To read about how it all happened, click on parts 1 and 2:
- What to Expect When You’re Consigning – Part 1 – Getting Organized
- What to Expect When You’re Consigning – Part 2 – Volunteering
As I said in the previous articles, I had somewhere around 30 hours of setup invested. That was largely due to not having a system in place – as I do now. By the time volunteering was over, I spent over 40 hours involved with this sale. So a full time “work week”.
I registered and tagged 111 items. It totalled $438.00. After volunteering, I would earn 75% of whatever sold. Seemed pretty worth it.
Here’s what went wrong
- Several items were rejected at inspection (tiny stains I’d overlooked, winter vs. summer, stuffed animals – they don’t sell stuffed animals). I knew I was testing the waters to see what they would accept or not. Still, all together I lost $55.00 of earning potential.
- In the hustle and bustle of hauling everything, I left a baby gate valued at $8.00 at home.
- Several of the clothing tags were attached but not very visible, so they didn’t sell. Doh.
- Nearly everything that sold could have been priced 10% higher, at least.
Here’s what went right:
- All of the toys, puzzles and baby equipment sold very quickly.
- All of children’s shoes and hats sold
- Nearly all of my women’s clothing sold
- Nearly all of the boys’ clothing sold
So the grand total of merchandise sold came to: $238.00
My take-home pay: $178.50
Yeah…
Like dad said, better than a kick in the pants. Or as Dontae said, “It’s $178.50 we didn’t have before.”
Kudos to the men in my life.
Summary
I had an expensive learning curve being new at consigning. However, the information I learned was valuable. Since writing these blog posts, I have learned of another resale in my area that is one day long, $5.00 registration and consignors earn 85% whether they volunteer or not.
If you are new to consigning, I would start there.
If you are selling less than 200 items, I would start there.
Come to think of it, you should probably just start there.
Will I ever do consigning again?
YES. I’m definitely not giving up on consigning. My friend Kelly suggested storing bags for the fall/winter sale – which I have done. Huge time saver. Carla suggested shopping for deals at garage sales to “upsell”.
Ever have a sale and have it flop? Ever win big?