The Complexity of Consignment

Whew! The fall Rhea Lana consignment is now in the rear-view, I can breathe a little easier. . .well sort of. I have a cold and actually can’t breathe that well at the moment. This was my second time to do this sale- I participated in the spring event in February and made almost $400! This year I have about double the amount of stuff and will hopefully make a good profit again! It’s a little bitter sweet to get rid of my kids clothes. I only sell the really nice stuff; boutique brands, Boden, Gap, Polo, Janie and Jack and some Gymboree. I save most of the Carters, Kohls brands and Old Navy for a garage sale we have with Jarrod’s family. So, the stuff I consign is stuff I love, and have pictures of the kids in and can remember them wearing it to church or a special occasion. . .I have a little bit of a sentimental tie to them. Especially, the baby stuff (which this sale should clean us out of the little baby stuff) I can remember how little they were and how sweet they looked in them, BUT. . .it’s not doing me any good sitting in a box taking up space in a closet, so I might as well sell it and get some cash that we can use for new clothes!

If you haven’t ever been a part of a consignment sale like Rhea Lana’s, it is so much work! I thought I would enlighten you! It takes over our house and my life for a couple of weeks!

1. You have to organize your items by size and gender. I also organize mine by type; pants, shirts, sets, dresses, coats, shoes and accessories. Since this was the fall/winter sale, only fall and winter clothes are accepted
2. Then enter your items into their online database in order along with a brief description. This take quite a bit of time. I do it on my Ipad and it’s easy, just time consuming! This year it took me a whole Saturday and about another 2 hours spread over a couple of nights last week.
3. Next, it’s time for prepping. You have to iron your clothing items, hang them on child size hangers. . .and in a certain way, ie. . if you have pants they have to hang on the hanger secured with two safety pins, you can’t leave them folded over the hanger like you would hang them in your closet, and they all have to be hung on the hanger in the same direction with the hanger to the left like a question mark. Since I still have loads of baby clothes, I have lots of sets (shirts and pants or dresses and leggings, etc.) So this part takes sometime putting them on the hangers and all clothing must be safety pinned together, as well.
4. Lastly, is the tagging. I print my barcode tags at home. It’s just so much easier for me! You print your inventory list (items you put into the data case) and then print the barcode labels on small shipping labels. Then you stick the labels on  white tags with strings then attach the tag to the corresponding item with a safety pin at the right top of the item.
5. Then you take your items to drop off. This year Jarrod went with me since I had so much stuff (5 large tubs and one small tub) and it just so happened that it was POURING down rain. Nice. Jarrod (my hero) brought all the tubs in as I waited in line for check-in. Last year I went about 11am- this year 4pm. A word to the wise, mornings are so much better! It was crazy! People were everywhere. At check-in they take your printed inventory sheet and give you a form that you sign with all the rules and requirements and yada, yada. . .then you take all your stuff to a table where a worker is supposed to check your items and make sure you have everything as you put your stuff on these rolling clothes racks. (When they found out I had done this before they pretty much let me handle it and didn’t check my stuff, plus it was a mad house) After they check your items you then have to take your items and hang them in the assigned racks for sell. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if Jarrod hadn’t gone with me, this part alone would have taken me and hour! Then you check-out and give them your paperwork and they give you passes to come back and shop. As a consignor you get to go to a consignors only sale the day before the sale to the public starts. I don’t shop- just sell. So I give my passes away.
6. The end. Now I get to log-in to the site and pull up my inventory list and watch them sell- LIVE! Their site lets you see the items that have sold, your percentage and what you have made total and refreshes automatically! That’s the fun part- that and next Sunday when I go pick up any items that didn’t sell and a (hopefully) big fat check!

Fun Fact: This year I used over 150 hangers (most bought new), and about 250 safety pins (Ouch! My fingers are still hurting).

I don’t know what I would do without Jarrod’s help. We have a pretty good system, he irons while I hang and tag. We do this at night, after the kids are in bed asleep. It took us a few nights and then I worked on the last of Arden’s stuff Monday when I was home sick. (Yep, I have come down with a cold or something this week and have the crud. Great timing.)  Then he being the workhorse he is, he totes all my heavy tubs in and out and this time helped me with drop-off which I can’t even begin to imagine having to do myself in the craziness that was going on and in the pouring rain!

I have several friends that drop their stuff off at local consignment shops. That may be something I have to do in the future, since you can just drop your bag or tub of stuff off and they take care of the prepping and tagging and all that- but the draw back in doing that is you typically get less $ back and they price your items. Most all of the shops in Jonesboro offer a 50/50 split or in some special cases a 60/40 split. Then you also have a contract and if your stuff doesn’t sell within so many days you can choose to put it “on sale or just go back and pick it up. And it could be a month or longer before all your stuff sells and you get a check. At the Rhea Lana you get to do the pricing and you get 70% of that back. As you are putting your items into the computer they will ask you if you want your items discounted for the half price sale at the end of the week and you can also choose if, at the end you have unsold items, you would like to donate them instead of picking them up. For me right now this is the better option- it’s a lot of work but it’s over and I have a check in my hand within a week! I don’t do it all for the money, either. I honestly do it mostly because we don’t have the room to store tubs and tubs of clothes. And most of our stuff is really nice and I don’t want to store them in the attic or storage unit for them to get ruined in the heat!

Anyway, I just thought I’d fill you in on the process (and why I might have been on the cranky side the last couple of weeks!).