Raise your hand if you’ve ever been to a consignment shop. Great, I hope the majority of you have your arms up. Now raise your hand if you’ve sold items to a consignment shop (this is strictly about selling, not buying- I love shopping in them too). If your hand isn’t raised, then you’re missing out on a lucrative opportunity. I urge you to go through your closet today, pick out items you haven’t worn in years but are still relevant to current fashion trends and in good condition. Now there is a science to this and although I have been selling clothing for many years, I continue to learn and if any of you have smart tips please leave in the comments below. I have been blessed enough to work for luxury brands (and have friends that do and put me on the sample sale lists) that consignment shops are eager to buy. I also sell many really cool pieces from fast fashion brands such as Zara or H&M that most people wouldn’t necessarily take a second look at, and you’d have no idea they were from that brand (aka it’s good to be fashion eccentric and know the potential of an item). But honestly as long as you have transitional clothing/accessories/shoes in good condition it’s an easy sell. One of the many keys I’ve learned is to negotiate- don’t let them downplay your clothing. You may know how much it’s worth and they may know as well, but you also should have done your homework on the consignment shop of your choice and know what’s currently selling in store. Most shops give you a 60/40 deal, but I’ve found a few that do 50/50 and then there are those who really take advantage by offering a 70/30 (stay away from those, you’re better off selling on your own to eBay, Tradesy, ThredUp or another competing site). As a born and raised New Yorker, it’s in my blood to be a master negotiator and I usually win or at least come to a common ground on price with the other person. You must be your own advocate because they don’t care about you at all or what personal monetary goals you may want to reach, they just want your items in their store.
Another gem, if you decide to sell in a store rather than listing on a website- GO EARLY. When I say early I mean if the store opens at 10am, you be there at 9:50am waiting for the associates to open the doors. You may have 10 items, but the one person in front of you who got there first will have 246 and by the time it’s your turn the buyer is so over their day they absolutely will not have the patience to go through your stuff with the respect it deserves. Unless you’re dealing with a high end consignment shop, the buyers in these stores are between the ages of 19-26, which means they give zero f+*!# about your 10 items after they had to drudge up all of their limited amount of patience and energy dealing with Karen and her closet clean out. So suck it up, put a smile on your face and compliment them, people love compliments. Find a commonality that you can talk to them about as they go through your items, this will help ease them back into a happier mood. It won’t be hard, there is usually something easy you can speak on whether it’s the weather, the various people that shop in the store, music or maybe they have on a cool accessory that looks similar to something you have. I don’t know, make it up and have fun with it- just make sure you’re genuine with what you say. Now this doesn’t mean they’ll immediately give you what your items are worth, but they will be more open to negotiations and that’s what you want- that window to work on your haggling skills. Karen may have pissed them off with her moth smelling clothes in which they were only able to buy 3 out of all of her 246 items, but now you’re standing in front of them to show what quality clothing looks like and to bring them back to focus.
So I leave you with 4 things when selling your clothing:
1. Research the brick and mortar consignment shops that you choose to sell to. Go on their websites, most of the information of what they are looking for currently is listed, if not call them.
2. Go through your clothing thoroughly before you go. Put yourself in their position, if you don’t think it’s worth buying, neither will they. Also, have a price in mind you would like each item to sell for, therefore if they say a low number you can counter with a better one.
3. Put a damn smile on your face. Even if you’re not in a good mood, act like it! The buyers at these stores feed off of your energy. If it isn’t good, they smell it.
4. Don’t settle. If you don’t like their prices, you don’t have to sell to them. Take your clothing elsewhere, whether to another shop or do the extra work and find a website you would like to sell on. There’s tons of them (I listed a few earlier).
Now, I’ve given you my opinion, what's yours? Share your insight/experiences on selling to consignment shops in the comments. Also which stores or sites are some of your favorites. I love thrifting, and it's also good for the earth- so let's consciously do more of it.
