This fall I will be participating in my first ever consignment sale. I have taken items to consignment shops so I have a little experience on what to expect from a consignment sale. The items taken to a consignment store have to be in near perfect condition for the store to accept them into their inventory. What they accept generally goes right onto the sales floor with no additional prep work from them.

Consignment sales are a little different in that the items you drop off for the sale have to be hung up and tagged by you before you drop the items off. In addition to hanging the articles of clothing up and tagging your item with a special bar coded tag, you will also need to make sure that your clothes look great before taking them to better ensure that someone will want to purchase them.

The first time I took clothes to a consignment store I did a little prep work ahead of time thinking that it would help me get a better price on my items. What I learned is that the prep work I did was expected before they would even accept the items. I had eight little girls dresses that my daughters had outgrown and figured I could get more out of them from a consignment store rather than a garage sale. All of the dresses needed ironing, and some of the hems had stray strings that would be visibly noticeable. I ironed all of the dresses, fixed all the hems, and hung them all up the same way so that it would be easier for the store to look at them.

When I arrived at the store my items were taken for examination. During this time, they checked them for style (style needs to be current), brand of clothing, and the quality. They accepted seven of my dresses, paid me cash for the items they kept, and I left with my remaining dress which went into the garage sale items.

Typically, consignment sales are done twice a year. The fall sale accepts clothing that can be worn in fall and winter and the spring sale accepts clothing that can be worn in spring and summer. Items taken to the consignment sale need to be in excellent used condition. Think of it this way, would you purchase what your selling at the price your asking for the item? Prep all of your clothing items as required by the consignment sale, and really examine your articles of clothing so that they resemble something you would want to purchase.

• Consignment sales seem to be a better option for the seller since you make the decision on what is being sold and not the store.
• Consignment sales offer a large group of people viewing your items for sale in a short period of time.
• You set the price (within reason of course) at a consignment sale and keep a percentage of what it sales for.
• Consignment sales give you the opportunity to clean out the unwanted or outgrown items from your kids rooms
• Consignment sales give you the opportunity to purchase quality items for your kids at great prices

I will be participating in a local consignment sale held by Pass It On here in Edmond, Oklahoma. The sale takes place September 11th and 12th. The sale gives me the opportunity to make some extra money, saves me a huge amount of time by not having a garage sale, and allows me to pick up some items that my kids may need.

Just Between Friends is also another organization that holds annual fall and spring consignment sales. The fall sale offers consignment events in twenty states.

If you are planning to participate in any of the fall consignment sales I recommend collecting your items now, preparing them for the sale, and getting your tags ready. It does take a little time and effort on your part to get ready for the sale, but it should be worth it in the end.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 2:30 am and is filed under Simple Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.