In all, I tagged 158 items, including clothing in sizes from 0-6 months all the way up size 10. Also among the items, I'll be consigning, toys, games, and some baby gear. I did a little bit each weekend - inputting the information into the sale's tagging program, printing out the tags, putting the items on hangers and tagging them. Now, this sale just takes Spring and Summer clothes - so I'm going to have to do all this again to sell the Fall and Winter clothes at the next sale. But after that, all the large plastic storage boxes in my attic should be gone!
I did lay out some money. I had to buy cardstock to print the tags on and, because I got tired of safety pinning the price tags on, I bought a tagging gun and the little plastic tag-attacher things that go with it. I comparison-shopped online and was able to get Staples to match the price I saw at another retailer. In all, I spend about $40 - but I have lots of card-stock and plastic attachers left over for the next sale and beyond. Maybe once I'm done, I'll sell the tagger on eBay or something.
Yesterday, I took the day off from work and brought all my tagged items up to the sale site. I sorted the clothes by size before I laid them all in the trunk, so, once I checked in, all I had to do was put the clothes on the racks provided by the sale, and lay out the toys and other items on the appropriate tables. A volunteer inspected all the clothes before I could put them out. Two of my items - both little white things - were rejected due to minor stains, so I had the sale donate them directly to charity. The toughest part was deciding where to put the non-clothing items. Is a talking storybook a book or an electronic toy? Does Mr. Potato Head go with the Toy Story items or the puzzles? In the end, the whole process, from consigner check-in until I left in my emptied-out car, took about an hour.
The array of items for sale is almost over-whelming. There were literally thousands of pieces of clothing, and hundreds of toys, games, books, videos, strollers, car seats, bedding sets, bouncers, and on and on. And the prices were REALLY cheap. Volunteers get first shot at shopping today, but then the sale opens to the public.
Every item is bar-coded, so I'll know exactly what sold at my asking price, what sold on the final "half-price" days of the sale, and what was not sold and therefore donated to charity. According to the website, I should be getting a check for 65-percent of what my items sold for, less the $10 consigner fee, in about two weeks. The organizers keep the rest of the money to cover the costs of renting the hall and publicizing the sale. I'm not expecting make too much money - but I know that shoppers at the sale will be getting good deals for their children, which is better than leaving all those clothes to clutter up my attic.
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http://westernmainline.jbfsale.com/
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