5 Tips for Shopping Consignment Sales

It’s that time of year for Spring Consignment Sales! For our family, we LOVE shopping our local consignment sales.

At any consignment sale, please check all items for stains, tears, and excessive wear.

 

1. Know Sizes

At seasonal sales, you’ll be limited to the upcoming season. Know what sizes your child(ren) will wear through that season. I also suggest shopping a size up just incase there is a growth spurt during the season. Don’t forget about knowing how much they weigh, this comes in handy for things like swim floaties and suits.

My area also has an “All-Season” sale. This is when I can stock up on the next season. Write down ahead of time what sizes you think your child(ren) will wear during each season so you can keep that in mind while shopping ahead a season.

 

2. Know Brands and Prices

There will be awesome prices everywhere! At most consignment sales, each seller sets their own prices. This is beneficial to both the seller and you, the buyer. However, you need to know brands and the prices on each. Some of these are easy: Garanimals are sold at WalMart and cost about $2-$5 for individual pieces of clothing. Gymboree or Baby Gap for instance are higher specialty retailers. If I go to a sale and see three pairs of shorts for $5, wow, that’s great! But look at the tag and see what brand they are. Personally, I wouldn’t pay $5 for three pairs of Garanimals shorts, but I would for Gymboree shorts.

A good way to find out prices of items is to use your smartphone. While I’m shopping a sale, I check Amazon and ebay to find out prices of new and used items. Both of these have apps that I can check rather quickly while making a decision.

3. Make a Shopping List

Consignment sales can be very overwhelming to anyone. I suggest making a shopping list. Put your sizes, upcoming birthdays, and household needs on here. If you know you’ll be heading to a bunch of birthdays, put down a few ideas for each kid and look for something at the consignment sale. There are always many NEW items at great prices!

Making a list ensures you don’t forget anything you know you want and it helps you stay on track.

4. Allow Plenty of Time

There’s no such thing as “just running in” to a consignment sale. There’s so much to look at and go through, you’ll spend quite a while just wandering around. Then there’s checkout: you’ll likely wait in line to de-tag your items and then wait again to pay for your items. Keep in mind, this is normally done by volunteers, not actual employees.

Don’t rush yourself and wind up missing things or bringing home things you don’t really want or need.

5. Shop, then Shop Your Bag

While shopping you will find awesome items with amazing prices! You’ll throw them in your bag and keep going. Don’t worry about putting too much in right now; if you like it, the price and size are right, just toss it in.

Now when you’re done shopping, find an empty table or spot on the floor to spread your items out and go through them again. Maybe you ended up putting 5 swimsuits in the bag because they looked great at the time. Now you can compare them and decide which ones to actually get. Check your shopping list and make sure you at least looked for everything on your list.

 

Have you shopped consignment sales?