A few months ago, I wrote a post about selling my baby stuffs at a consignment sale. During that time, I gathered all cold weather clothes that my baby no longer wears, a few baby equipment such as bottles, sterilizer, bottle rack, bath tub, etc. I got tons of baby clothes both from my oldest and the hands me down from friends. So I bought a tagging gun that costs me $9 including shipping, and use it to tag the price tags. That tagging gun is the best investment ever in my opinion!
Considering I sold all the high ticketed items such as swing and bouncy chair back in the Spring, I didn’t have too much expectation that all my items were going to be sold. I knew it’s harder to sell used baby clothes as opposed to selling toddler / school aged kids clothes. Most newly moms get so many baby clothes from baby shower and hands me down, they don’t typically need to buy any more.
Stuffs ready to go!!
After lots of researching, I priced my clothes between $2 for store brand clothes (Carters, Gerber), around $4 for Gymboree or Baby Gap, and $8-$10 for Janie and Jack. I try to sell the clothing as a set if I could by combining shirt, pants, and shoes. I also did a theme by combining a baby gown with matching hat, a sleeper and sleep sack all in Duck pattern. I also did volunteer, not to earn higher commission but to understand how others price their items.
Below is my projected sales:
# of Item Listed: 85
Projected Sales: $480
Minus consignment fee $10
Subtotal: $470
65% projected selling price: ($470 x 65%) = $305.50
$305.50 is if I sold all my items, which I knew I wouldn’t be. So I expected my earning to be half of that, which is around $150.00. The actual sales that I earned was $111.30. As we said in Finance, I missed projection by around $40. It’s not a good result, but like I said…it’s expected. After paying close attention to others’ pricing, I think I priced it right. It’s just under 1 yr old baby clothes doesn’t have a high selling point.
I have to say it has been a great learning experience. I do love Three Bags Full consignment. The sale was well organized, and the organizers were very friendly and helpful. Most importantly, I gained few friends from fellow volunteered moms. The only drawback was all Three Bags Full consignment sales are so far away from where I live. They have 3 sales within Columbus area, and all of them are within 30 - 45 minutes away from home. It’s not very convenience to drop off items, shop and volunteer. I think next time I want to give a try on a different consignment sale that’s a bit closer.
One thing I know for sure, I was thinking of offering tagging service as a side business. After participating in this sale, I realized that I’m too claustrophobic and my house is too small to house all these stuffs. I think the key to be successful in selling at consignment are:
- Price it right
- Good condition and appealing items
- Sell mix of products between high ticketed price items and clothing
- Be organize. Gather your kids clothes early as soon as they’re outgrown, and start hanging
Tags: kids baby consignment sale
November 27th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Sometimes the amount of time spent at the consignment shops is so long that I too wonder if it’s worth selling back all the goods (based off of time spent versus money gained). I love how you break it down, though. Great summary!
December 25th, 2012 at 7:25 am
I am not sure where you are getting your info, but great topic.
I needs to spend some time learning much more or
understanding more. Thanks for wonderful info I was looking for this info for
my mission.