5 Tips for Selling at a Consignment Sale

I believe it’s crazy to spend full price on anything, especially baby and kids’ clothing and gear. They grow out of everything so quick, that used items are often in near perfect condition.

We sell at a big consignment sale twice a year. It’s a great way to make some money and get rid of the outgrown children’s items in your house. For us, it’s usually just a trade-up. We make money selling our old items and spend about the same getting new items that we need.

If you’re interested in making some money at your next consignment sale, these tips are for you:

Read the Rules!

Each sale has its own rules. You need to make sure you read the rules or your items won’t sell. Some of these rules include what items you can sell (holiday outfits, coats, swimsuits), how to hang them, what sizes, certain brands they might not take, and where the tag should go on the item.

Sort Seasonally!

When you go through the drawers and closets at the end of a season, sort those clothing items! Put them into categories : keep, donate, and sell. When sorting, make sure you are looking extra close and being very picky about what items you put into the sell pile. This will save you time later.

Treat Stains!

If you’re selling at a children’s consignment sale, you already know how messy those little monsters can be. You many not realize the stains are even there, but check closely. Look around the collar, sleeves, and backsides (think baby blow-outs) especially. If the items have stains, they’ll most likely be turned away from the sale. If they happen to slip through, shoppers will probably catch them. Oxi-Clean or similar products should get out most stains.

Volunteer / Work the Sale!

By volunteering or working during the consignment sale, you often receive perks. At the consignment sale that we participate in, we earn 5% more commission for each shift worked up to 15% extra. The base is 55%, we work 3 shifts and then we earn 70%. It makes a big difference. Because we volunteer to work shifts, we also receive passes that get us into the sale earlier than other shoppers. This is a huge perk because we get first dibs at some great items!

Start Early!

This is something that I say we need to do every time, but we’re just awful at starting early. This past week we’ve been gathering and tagging for the sale. This is the best we’ve managed to do. Ideally, I’d say start about a month out so you can gather all your items you’ve been collecting and make sure they’re in great condition and clean. You’ll then have to hang or bag your items to prepare them for tagging. It’s exhausting if you wait until the night before (which we’ve done). The earlier you start, the more you’ll get done, the more you’ll sell, the more money you’ll make.