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I haven’t been able to get the link to work for the make offers to buyers, I have tried a few different ways and times, anyone else not able to see or use it? Thanks!
Yes, most consignment stores work in a similar manner. I actually take my mistakes or items that don’t make sense to sell online to a local consignment shop as well. They do 50/50 split for 90 days and have a markdown schedule. You can pick up your items, I just choose to donate. I actually did have consignors pick up for the first three years in business if they wanted, but 95% never picked up even when they indicated they wanted to. It became a logistical and storage nightmare.
Oh these are good questions! I started as a consignment store (mostly because I didn’t have to put any $ up for inventory), so I just continued on that way because the business was already in place. I do scavenge a bit, but I am not really into sourcing, much better for items to come to me, but that is a personal choice!
Items become our property after 60 days, so if they sell after consignment period we receive 100% .Most of our consignors have been with us for years. Our niche is we provide a service for people who do not want to sell online, and just want to hand it off and trust that we will inspect, sort, price, photo, and do our best to sell their items.
It is a hard business. It is hard to deal with consignors, we are selective about who we will consign for because trust goes both ways. I don’t know that I would do consignment if I hadn’t started in a brick and mortar that way. It has some interesting challenges.Hi Jay, I am not sure if I am replying to your question correctly, but . . .
What are your rules for taking consignment? We basically consign items that have resale value. Clothing furniture and home goods.
Across the board, we earn 60% of sales price (consignors get 40%), the consignment period is 60 days, after that items become our inventory (with a few exceptions).–Minimum selling price? Generally items should have an over $19 resale value. Sometimes we take lower end if it is small, and easy to ship. We have charity accounts so we tend to be more flexible with these and the split for charity is 50/50.
These are the basics, and we are always refining . . .it is our goal to sell within 60 days for the consignor, but after that unsold items can become longtail for us. We did start with a brick and mortar and we are all online now.
November 11-17, 2018
Total Items in Store: 3,332
Items Sold: 103
Gross Sales: $1,075.09
Cost of Items Sold: ($49.67)
Consignor Commission: $391.13
Highest Price Sold: $39.91 (evening gown)
Average Price Sold: $10.43
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $5
Number of items listed this week: 150I am working toward liquidating some of our lower priced inventory, and
increasing the average price of item sold.
The challenge is that we do consignment, and don’t always have a say
over what is coming into inventory.
This was a fairly average week for us, nothing extraordinary to report.
Lots of death piles, but we are not taking any new consignments until the new year.Hi Karen,
I have been following you on instagram, and love your posts! Looks like we do a lot of similar things (except I am consignment). If you would ever like to attend our local meetup in Easton, not sure how far you are, I think you would be a great addition. Kind Regards, Libby
