There are likely 100 other ways to plan out your consignment items that you are looking to remove from your closet and hope will find their way into closets in the homes of women who will coo and fawn over these items as they deserve.
No clothing wants to live on the Island of What Was I Thinking, in shame!
The first thing I do is hoard hangers of every type (except children size!) at every opportunity. Buying running gear at Target...keep those white plastic hangers! At the dry cleaner and see a box of discarded wire hangers? Ask if they will let you have them! Heck, I even put out an all call on Facebook asking friends if they had any extra hangers and got them in bags, bins and boxes! The skirt/pant hangers are the most precious and I won't let those leave my house unless they are attached to consigned items!
Many consignment places, both pop-up and brick and mortar, will allow you to track and catalog your items in a single system year round, so the consignor number you get is yours for life. That leads me to the next step....
Tagging your items is likely the worst part of consigning. I used to put it off until the last possible moment, but now I sit down once a month with any identified items and make tags, print them out, attach them with a gun (more on that in a moment) or safety pin, depending on the item. I avoid the pins when possible, but sometimes you just cannot help it! I buy heavy, 130 lb cardstock that is 12x12 and I cut it down, 20 sheets at a time, to 8 1/2 x 11 so it will go through my printer.
Tags on thin paper or lesser weight cardstock are easily ripped and can lead to headaches of items not sold, sold for incorrect prices/other sellers credited when they look a fairly common item up or being given for donation when you had wanted it back but they did not know who it belonged to because the end of the sales are not times they are typically doing a lot of extra searching. The organizers and volunteers are worn out and just looking for things to be finished.
I purchased a tagging gun for 15$ along with 5,000 of the attachers. When I bought the gun I asked if they sold extra attachers. The woman looked at me and asked "Just how many things do you have?" and I realized...I likely won't need a refill for a very long time! I consign an average of 200 pieces per sale and if something doesn't sell the first time, I often leave the tag on it and bring it to the next sale, since the pop up sales in my area use the same online system and my consignor number tends to remain the same from sale to sale.
If the pieces are a set, decide if you want to sell it as such or break it into separates. There are pros and cons on each side. If the entire outfit is one size, I tend to keep it together, if I had to buy a 10 top and 8 skirt, I normally put them as separates. I also think about how 'mixable' something is. I had a great skirt and jacket that I bought as separates from the same collection but they did not mix with anything else very well, at least not for me. So I chose to keep them together and sold it as a 'suit' even though that was not what it truly was. It was one of the first items sold at that event!
Hopefully the pop-up sales are using electronic scanning sales equipment. If that is the case you should, each morning once the sale begins, look online to see what sold the day prior. I try very hard to match my spending to less than my earning. If I am going to get a check for 500ish dollars after the sale, I try to spend in the high 400s or less at the sale.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but I cannot begin to tell you how many things I pass over because they are horribly wrinkled! I used to wonder how they got in such a condition, but then I saw people bringing their items stuffed in trash bags and realized that not everyone treats their clothing well. I pass over the wrinkled items 99% of the time. I only consign freshly laundered items and while I am very anti-ironing, I will put it through a steam cycle to release any wrinkles that I see. If only I could put my face through the steam cycle!
I have considered buying a steamer, I think they are genius now that I have talked to a few friends that own them. Next time a good deal is to be had through Woot or Tuesday Morning, I do believe a steamer will be coming home with me!
Because items cannot be returned or exchanged at any consignment I know of, be VERY careful in checking them. I make sure buttons are all there, zippers are easily functioning, hems are intact and so forth. If it is not a discount day but I find some serious errors with an item, I will ask if they will either contact the consignor or just make an on the fly decision to give it at the discounted price. MANY of the sales do a 50% on the last day or two, so asking early isn't going to hurt. I'm willing to shell out for a set of buttons with an additional discount, not so much at full consignment.
KNOW YOUR RETAIL!
Some consignors are very good about knowing what an item cost and what it should be selling for once used or past season. Others are almost crazy with wanting close to full retail. These people need to be on eBay, in my opinion. Those are the clothes I am putting back in huge piles for the consignor at the end of the sale. I try to always be on the last shift and if I see something I love, I scoop it up before it goes in the 'return' rack to the consignor. This is a super way to make sure you did not miss anything! So volunteer for that last shift and then work in your size on the racks!
So there you have my best tips, let me know if you have any questions!
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