How to choose a consignment shop for reselling your clothing.

Learn how to avoid being ripped off when consigning your clothing. Find a consignment shop that will successfully sell your specific items well.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Contracts. Make sure that the shop you are considering has a contract available to read before making your appointment. No contract, no deal! Walk away no matter how nice the shop owner is. The contract is your only means of protection. Even nice people make mistakes and you must protect yourself. The law does not protect anyone who does not have the sense to ask for some documentation of your agreement, so if you choose to leave your items with no paperwork in hand, by law you have just abandoned your items and they now belong to the owner. A contract should protect both of you, but expect it to protect the store more. Read the contract thoroughly before making the appointment and ask questions if something is unclear.
   The contract should have the name and address and contact information of the business. It should state terms of the consignment agreement that let you know how long your items will be kept, when they will be discounted, what percentage you will be paid, when you will be able to be paid, when you should pick up any unsold items and other info.
   Walk away from any contract that has a donate clause that is unreasonable. You should expect them to donate your items if you do not honor the deadlines for pickup, however never sign a contract that allows them to donate on their own judgement anytime before the contract ends. Best choice of a contract is a business that keeps plenty of contracts available for handouts and/or displays their contract in a prominent place.

2. Specializing. Ask yourself if you can see yourself being a regular customer. Are there plenty of items that you see that are similar to your style of clothing or are the styles more fit for an older/younger person. If selling only ladies items, choose a ladies only shop as opposed to a family type shop that may have to lower prices to tempt moms to buy something for themselves. You will sell better if the shop caters to your taste. If you are over 50 and the store caters to 20 somethings you cannot expect to sell many items and those items most likely will go to discount before selling at all.
   Is the shop too expensive for your taste? If you wouldn't spend that much on an item, are their customers going to spend that on yours? The more you would likely shop there the more likely you will be to remember to pick up your check. (Keep in mind that all consignment shops have a deadline for money pickup.)

3. Consignment record. How long has the business been there and is the owner the original owner or a new owner? Always try to get friend referrals on consigning as they have a track record with the business. Shops that have sold over and over after only a few years or months may be a sign that the location is bad or the system of consigning is being passed from owner to new owner and it is not a winning formula. Try to stick with shops that are tried and true. New shops are not proven, but if they meet the above criteria (especially the contract) you may try them but do so with a smaller amount of items until you get a feel for their business practices.

4. Appointment needed. Careful here! Often times a consignment shop that takes walk-ins can subject themselves to a potential mix-up. He/she takes this pile and then that pile, waits on customers, answers the phone and oops, which one is which. You want a professional handling your contract. You want to see what they are taking and what they are declining. You want your items counted so that you know what you are leaving. Never and I mean never, leave your items as a drop-off. As mentioned above, you must insist on documentation before you leave the company of your goods or you have no legal right to them thereafter.
   If the shop can take you as a walk-in, make sure that they go through your items right then and give you a contract before you leave. Watch to see if they tag your items right away. That is an excellent sign.
   Most shops will not take a new appointment until the last one is completely tagged.

5. Pay periods. All consignment shops vary when it comes to when they pay you. Some are anytime, once a month, the 1st-15th, the 15th-30th., etc.
   The average shop pays once a month starting the month after the intial sale. The more often they are available for money pickup the more likely they are reputable and the easier it is for you to get your money. The less often that you can pickup your funds is a big flag. It might be a sign of financial troubles if you can only get your money a few days of the month.
   What happens if you miss the time frame? Do they roll the money over or do they keep it?
   Because shops have tiny lingering amounts, most have deadlines to pickup money. They should be 60-90 days, based on each check. So, let's say you have $10.00 to pickup come the first of April. If you miss April all together, you should be able to pick up two checks in May.
   But if you miss April and May, it would be reasonable to assume that your money might turn in to an in store credit. Again, this varies the most among shops, so ask.
   Pay attention to the attitude of the owner when paying you. Gratitude is the only correct method they should use in paying you. After all, you entrusted them with your items and you both made money, what a great thing!

6. Percentage paid. If you are dealing with a high-end shop, you should expect to get at least 40-50% of the sale price of your goods. If you choose a lower priced community type store who prices items much lower, you should expect to get around 35-40%. Remember to consider the pricing of items before you leave your items. If they price a Talbots suit at $29.98, you're going to get around $12.00 on a 40% contract. Make sure you are okay with that and if you need more money than that consign somewhere else or ask them if they can mark yours a little higher.
   Note, consignment shop owners who are low priced are often making the least amount of money for themselves. Thus, they cannot offer a lot of perks to you. Be kind to those who care enough to offer goods to the community at a fairer than normal price and bless those of you who are willing to take less for your items so that everyone can afford to shop there. (The number one reason consignment shops fail so often is that they are a tremendous amount of work, with very high overhead and very little profit.)

7. Picking up unsold items. Please, please, always pick up any unsold items the first time you consign with anyone. It enables you to look at what didn't sell, to see if you were paid fairly and to determine if your items are a match for that shop. If you get 50% or more back, ask yourself if the items were priced too high, the wrong season, or if these items were lower quality than the ones that sold. If you get paid $5.00 off of 50 items and only get 10 back, something is wrong. Shoplifting happens and it is possible that if you brought 50 items, sold 40 and only got 8 back that indeed, the 2 missing were stolen. If you however sell 40 items and get nothing back, that is not as likely. You then have to determine if the shop is at fault. In 20 years of selling on consignment I have never had any consignment client who had more than 5 items missing and that time it was from a very large amount brought in. My average amount missing per seasonal give back is less than one per person and often that one item is found later in the pile of items whose tags have been lost. But again shoplifting does happen.
   After many successful consignments with your new shop, you may consider allowing them to donate the unsold items so you do not have to come back for them, but please do not sign a donate clause at the beginning of your business dealings.

8. Tell your friends! If you want your items to sell well, tell everyone you know to shop at your new consignment shop. The more people they have in the store, the more sales they will make. If you have a good experience consigning somewhere, spread the word so everyone can benefit. Happy Consigning!

[Jencloset]

on 10/12/2008 This article was written by Diana East, owner of Jenny's Closet Consignment Shop in Chattanooga, Tennessee. My experience consigning clothing is right at 20 years. Hopefully this article will help people have a better experience when consigning their items.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions about things I may have missed.