Clothing for three little girls...part 3 (Consignment)

If you've followed my last couple post, you know that I am ever questing to find a way to recycle my kids clothing - with the hope of getting to the point where all of my clothing budget for new sizes is funded by the selling of old sizes. I don't sell everything (we couldn't survive without hand-me-downs), but instead have become strategic about what I purchase and when I purchase it. Combining hand-me-downs and reselling, I'm almost to the point where all the new clothes I buy is funded by the selling of our few old ones.

The method that has gotten me there? Consignment Sales. They're on the rise in the valley of the sun appearing in churches and temporary store locations twice a year. They give you the absolute best bang for your buck. Here's how they work:

I'm using Kids Closet Connection as my example - but all pretty much work the same way, including Rhea Lana's and PVMOM.

1. Sellers sign up for sale - date and location are preset by the managing company.
2. Sellers enter items into the managing company's database. Sellers set their own prices. (TIP: price a little high then offer 50% off on the last day of the sale)
3. Sellers print tags created from the database and attach to items.
4. Sellers drop off items at sale location the day prior to the sale.
5. *optional* Sellers can pick up their unsold items post-sale. Otherwise items will be donated.
6. Sellers will receive a check via USPS withing 10 business days of the sale closing.

There are two reasons why you get the most for your items by selling this way. First, you price your items either the same or slightly under what you would see them on sale for at a consignment or used clothing store. This is about 30% of original value. Second, you keep 70%-80% of the sale price. Consignment/Resale stores offer - at MOST - 50%. Most of the time it's lower or store credit. And garage sales, well can you say $0.50-$1 per item?

The other nice thing (at least to me...) is that I do this twice a year. That's it. Every fall or spring I pull out my bins from the previous year and begin sorting into three piles: sell, donate, and hand-down. If you're more organized than I am, you can do this before storing at the end of each season but I'm not quite there yet and find I often change my mind :) I love not having to constantly drop of loads at local consignment shops and *try* to wait patiently for them to sell. This is all over with in one weekend and I have a check in hand a few days later. Can you say wonderful??

Wonderful. :)

Here's the link to the sales I participate in: http://www.kidscloset.biz/ There's also great information on this site about consigning in general.
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I've been getting lots of questions about what sells best and what to buy with reselling in mind. I promise my NEXT post I will discuss that!! If you can't wait, check out the comments section from part 2 to see a brief resale pricing guide by brand.

Thanks for all the support and love!!