Ah, consignment sales. There seems to be a ton of them in multiple locations, usually in the spring and fall. It’s perfect timing: Spring Cleaning and Christmas Prep. I personally am a huge fan of the pop-up sales as a shopper; I tend to get the best deals there vs. the consignment stores that are open all year long. Now, I typically consign my girls’ clothes at a local family-owned store in my community; I love being able to just drop it all off and let their staff sort and label it all. Then, I just pick up a check whenever I feel like. Easy peasy. This year, though, I had a bunch of big equipment-type stuff that I wanted to off-load and knew I could keep a higher % of the sales at a pop-up (70% vs 50%). So, I decided to do the pop-up sale in addition to my normal store-consigning. Mistake. Now that I have that experience under my belt, I have some thoughts. Here are 5 reasons you should consign at pop-up consignment sales.
You Have Too Much Free Time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself, Man, I wish the days were shorter. I just don’t know what to do with all this free time. Well, signing up as a consignor is guaranteed to burn hours and hours of time from your life. The amount of time spent prepping for these things is astounding. Think you know how long it will take? Great. Take that number and add at least 6 hours to it.
You Want to Punish Yourself. If you’re sitting around thinking, You know, I’ve been really lazy and mean and just plain bad lately. What can I do to punish myself?, signing up as a consignor at a pop-up sale is for you. The trips back and forth (or up and down) from the attic and/or garage combined with the manual work of sorting, pricing, and creating labels is enough punishment for even the worst moms. Then you have to load it all in the car and then unload it when you get there. The sale I did even made me put everything out on the sales floor myself after it was inspected (is that normal?). I think I’m going to introduce this as a method of rehabilitation for criminals.
You Have Too Many Wire Hangers at Home. If you have no idea what to do with them, just attach some baby clothes with safety pins and take them to a sale! I can’t think of anything better to do with those pesky hangers.
You Like Getting Stabbed by Safety Pins. This is one of the best parts of the whole experience. You have get to pin labels (that you made online, printed, and cut-out) on AllTheThings. Multiple stab wounds – mostly on your thumb – are inevitable. Human pin cushions are welcome!
You Like to Torture Your Children. Not physically, of course; you’re not a monster. Just psychologically. Nothing will drive your kids crazier than seeing old toys they once loved but can’t play with. That old flame will immediately be rekindled and they’ll long to be able to play with their old, trusted friend. But since you like to torture them, you’ll leave the toys out in a Do Not Touch pile while you try to figure out how much to charge and attach a label. Or, you’ll let them play for awhile but then take the toys away, throw them in your car, and drive off into the sunset, never to be seen again (insert evil laugh). For my kids, the source of torture was plastic washing machine:
SOLD! For the low price of $2.00. 🙂
So, I’m obviously being sarcastic here. All in all, the whole experience was a lot more work than the profits were worth. Sure, I made a couple hundred dollars which was great, but I think next year I’ll just stick to my local consignment store and accept my 50% split with a smile. Time is money, after all.
Have you consigned at a big pop-up consignment sale? Share your experience in the comments!
I did Rhea Lana’s and it was so much easier – no safety pins, they use voice assistance tech to create labels faster, and use tie tags- you can buy a kit on their site, and then they print them for you. You can stick them to the tie tags and in my experience I got way more money for my items. It took two trips total instead of all the back and forth with FB marketplace, OfferUp, nextdoor, etc. I just gathered it all up, then set aside a few hours in a weekend and evening to get it all knocked out. Totally worth the $500 I made rather than the .50 cents I can get at a garage sale – no thanks. Oh and those consignment stores rip you off and lose your items.
Looks like all these place use the same software, which are what the pictured tags above were printed from….has anyone found label paper that would match up and make it a lot easier to just print, peel and stick the labels on. I sell mainly toys, but I don’t think it would work very well for clothes…..
Oh goodness, this is why I haven’t cosigned or had a garage sale yet! So much, mind numbing work and torture! LOL.
Author
Yes! A garage sale would be easier in my opinion!
Haha! I never have! I just sell on my neighborhood FB page!
Author
I’ve done that, too, but that can be such a hassle trying to figure out when/where to meet.
Girl, we have a local kids resale shop near us and every once in a while I’ll just drop off whatever clothes and toys we’re no longer using. I know I COULD sell them for more, but like you said, time is money. And, instead, they give me a few bucks and I have a less cluttered house. LOL. But if I didn’t have this shop? I’d just donate it all. Not worth it.
Author
Yasss! I’m sticking with my local store going forward. So not worth it at the pop-ups.
Lol I tried to do one last year but while I was labeling everything with the print out tags and the safety pins and tape I had to buy, I realized that I had printed on regular paper and not the required stock card paper. So I said F it and canceled my spot. I’ve been selling on Facebook B/S/T groups which is so much easier.
Author
OMG that would be a nightmare! I would cry. I love the BST groups but I hate having to figure out when and where to meet people and all the back and forth that comes with that.
Yeah and the people that don’t show up!
That was a fun read!! 🙂 I have never tried this before. Thanks for sharing!
Author
Thanks so much, Amy!
STOP it!!! This was awesome Shannon!
Author
Haha thanksm girl!!
This is too funny and sounds similar to a Mom 2 Mom sale. While I like shopping at them, I know the set up is brutal.
Author
Yes, it’s probably just like that!
This makes me glad I forgot to register and missed the cutoff for the consignment sale next weekend 🙂 Thanks for making me feel better!
Author
Yes! Consider it a blessing! LOL
This is so funny! I will definitely remember this in the future!
Author
Save yourself! LOL
Take stuff to consign? Uh, no. Go to the sales and garage sales and thrift stores? YAY! I guess I could do the pop up consignment thing…after all, I do have a spare 6 hours a night. But I think right now, I’ll use that to sleep. 😉
Author
I think that’s a good plan! Haha!
This is so funny.. and true 🙂
Author
Thanks for reading!
Lol. I have friends that participate in the seasonal consignment sales, I stay far away! I do consign at stores though.
Author
Consigning at the stores is the way to go!
Haha, This is hilarious and oh, so true. 🙂
Author
Thanks, girl! xo
This so funny and so true! It is way to much work for a little return. I I rather just give things to people I know who can use them or donate them to organizations I support.
Author
Aw thank you! Yes, donating is always good!
Those pop up consignments do donate all the leftovers at the end. It’s actually a great concept. You clean out your house, make some money, support local moms get things for better prices than retail and support small businesses. Most of the owners of those are moms just like all of us trying to make it a all work somehow.
I truly love buying from consignment sales. They are how I clothe both my kids for the most part. Plus, almost all their Christmas gifts. But the one time I signed up to sell, I realized it is not for me. I had tons of stuff to price, hang, transport, hang and organize at the sale, then work the sale as well. I just couldn’t make it all work. I’m so grateful to those amazing mama’s who can, though!
Author
I love shopping at the sales! Going to the pre-sale is one of the major perks of being a consigner! It’s so great to be able to save money but I definitely am grateful to the moms who put the work in. It’s a huge undertaking!
This cracked me up! I’ve been thinking about selling at our local just between friends but it seems like so much work!
Author
Yes! The one I did is similar in size to JBF! It’s a TON of work!
No more wire hangers😂😂 sorry that’s all that kept running through my head
I dread doing stuff like this but man I hate clutter too!
Author
I definitely thought that while writing but didn’t include it because a similar version of that scene played out in real life so I felt weird quoting it. But yeah, I don’t think anyone thinks about wire hangers without thinking of Mommy Dearest.
haha I love this! I stab myself at least twice every time I do these! I do love to do them because why not make a little extra cash and clean out at the same time? Also, I found brand new (with tags) Matilda Jane outfit for my daughter at the last sale! Talk about a score!
logancan.com
Author
That’s a huge score! The pins are the worst! I agree about the extra cash but I much prefer to take it to our local shop and have them to all the grunt work. 🙂
You’re so funny! I’ve never consigned anything, but this is definitely good to know!
Author
Thanks, Jess! Don’t do it – save yourself!
This is hilarious. I love shopping consignment, but it will be a cold day in Hades before I label, wrap and consign my own stuff 😉
Author
Oh man – you’ve got the right thought. Never again!
Hahaha! You remind me of myself….how do people have time for this shit?! And I bet some moms were wayyy too into it. Glad you got the experience but that sounds like a lot of work 🙂Love this post 😘
Author
Seriously! Thank you! Yeah, way too much work, not enough ROI. I’ll leave it to the moms who love it and will stick to just shopping.
I’ve never even heard of this ‘pop up’ concept for consignments. From the sounds of it, I need to just stick to my local place that I adore. Thanks for the smiles this morning.
blessings,
The How-to Guru
Author
They’re GREAT for shopping! They pop-up for 3-7 days at a time, usually at churches and whatnot but there’s a few BIG ones that pop up, too. The one I go to is a big one.