I have read an uncommon number of emails from consignment shops in the last week or two saying that they would not be accepting any incoming consignments for the next (fill in the blank) days because
they’re overwhelmed.
I am shocked. Did these shopkeepers not realize that fall was coming? Why were they caught with their pants down?
(Or rather, with their pants piling up in the back room.)
It’s kinda like being surprised that golly white whiskers, that jolly old elf is coming down the chimney tonight!?!?
Doesn’t it happen every year?
And what do these shopkeepers think will happen with the pile of salable goods in that consignor’s back seat? Think she takes it home, hangs it nicely and neatly in her hall closet, and waits until she has another opportunity to bring them to you? Smiling all the while sympathetically at what’s going on in your life?
Unlikely. Much more likely: she takes them to your competitor. She donates them to a thrift store. She gives them to a friend who takes them to a seasonal sale. Heck, I’ve seen spurned consignors throw them in a dumpster, raining curses on the bowed head of some tired, unprepared consignment shop owner.
Hope it wasn’t you that was so unable to cope. I mean, the last thing you need right now is a curse on your head.
So STOP stopping.
Cope. Hire help. Bribe your sister-in-law. Camp out in the shop. Beg your friends to come to a hanging party. Call a temp agency. Persuade some customers that they’d LOVE to come help you Thursday night for some pizza and beer. Train your life partner to tag (or at least to pick up the kids from school.)
Every single turned-away consignor is one more enemy of your shop. Don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise. Every disappointed partner in consigning is one less fan of yours in your community. No, they will not understand. They may say that to your face… while programming the GPS to OtherShop.
I agree with you completely Kate! It doesn’t matter how many drop offs we have, we will always take what our consignors want to leave with us. We just tell them we’re a couple of days behind and we’ll call them when we’re done. If they comment about how much stuff there is ahead of theirs, we tell them how great it is that this is busiest time of year and our customers love having so much new things coming in to shop from. It’s a win-win in my book. It’s in my shop and my shoppers can’t wait to come back to see all the new stuff that’s coming in.
I have never had the impression that consignment drop off held the same importance in people’s lives as most of the things they do that require appointments. ….Doctors, hairdresser, etc.
We have wanted to keep our store available to receive when it fits into our suppliers busy lives. I used to joke that my absolute cut-off was 9PM on Christmas Eve.
These folks are offering us no interest loans of our inventory. I want there to be few barriers to their continuing to do so. To my mind, an appointment is a barrier.
Okay Kate,
I’m for being pickier but don’t consignors get peeved if they think their things are being priced lower?
signed chicken in Idaho
Actually, Tara, no. Unless my consignors were the weirdos, ALL consignors are MORE impressed with getting their money FAST than on whether they got $10 or $12 eventually. And getting $10 is a HECK of a lot better than being turned away completely because “we’re too full” 😉 And, the simple and honest answer is: Things are worth more to our buyers EARLY in the season, and now it’s later…
Besides, you DID tell them via their receipts, your emails, etc, that the BEGINNING of a season is when they will make the most, right?
Had she been SO concerned with the dollar amount she’d get back, she was offered the opportunity to bring items in at the optimal time. Would she bring in her Halloween costume on October 27 and expect you to be able to sell them for the same price you could have on if she’d brought them in on September 20?
I have never stopped accepting items in the 20 years I’ve been in business. 18 of those we were strictly a children’s store. Now we sell clothing for the entire family, home decor, & furniture. Kate is right – get pickier with what yo accept and have promotions this time of year to move merchandise out fast! Turnover is the name of the game.
See, this is what’s so good about commenting (and replying to specific comments by using that little “reply” in the corner of each comment): Kitty and I agree, but still come up with slightly different solutions.
We both stress the “never stop taking” and the “get pickier and pickier”… but we look at the accompanying solution, which is SELL THE STUFF, slightly differently. Kitty has found the promotions route to be the best… I prefer pricing lower as the shop gets more crowded. (I’ve never been a big fan of markdowns other than the pre-determined, pre-set MDs in my consignment agreement)
But the goal is the same: TURNOVER IS THE NAME OF THE GAME. All your hard work ACCEPTING is putting no money in your pocket… only SELLING is!
how do your “A” list consignors know that they’re able to bring in items any time, regardless of whether you’re accepting from the public? did you simply tell them or how did you communicate it to them?
I forgot to mention that I have my consignors graded A, B, C. “A” for the AWESOME ones. I send the “A” list an email in July to invite them to bring their items in. I have about 250 on my A list. I didn’t send an email to the B list this year. So I was filled with AWESOME stuff right from the beginning of the season. This was your idea and I am so thankful.
I have my BEST consignors trained to bring items in as soon as I open the season. And they know they are always welcome to bring more even with the NO sign on the door.
I hope to expand when my neighbor moves. Double the rent is scary so I am making sure the numbers justify it. Kids clothes are not money makers.
Thanks for all you do. I would be floundering if not for your wise advice.
I like this idea of grading consignors. I think I will try this. I have been more selective when the back room was running out of room, but I have not considered lowering the prices. I will try this. I have not seen any increase in sales when running a promotion. My timing with this could have been off, too. (50% off capris in August)
Great ideas! Thanks!
Marnie
With the consignments pouring in, I’m thinking a lot about how I can make more space and sell things faster! There is never enough floor space for all the furniture I want to take in.
i agree and fully comprehend the reasoning behind never saying “no”, but i also feel it’s easier for some shops to say it’s easier to do this than others. Clothing, for instance is easier/quicker to process/find floor space for than home decor/furniture. Creativity can only take you so far. i hate turning people away and dislike even more the idea that they resent my shop because of it, but to never say no and sacrifice my sanity/family time is not worth it when regulating inventory by saying “no” from time to time is still fruitful, as my shop is extremely fruitful. (Sorry for the runon.)
susiesayz and Kathy, Your choices are certainly to be respected. That’s why we’re our own bosses, right? I appreciate your taking the time to share your viewpoints! My aim here on the blog and on my web sites is to present all aspects of decisions made. Sounds like there might be some opportunity in your marketplaces for expansion!
I haven’t accepted for 2 weeks because I have maxed out the selling space. The store was looking like an episode of “Hoarders”. I don’t want to crowd the racks so full that you can’t shop the racks. Everyone has commented about how much neater the store is now that I don’t have so much in the way.
This is the selling season. I have entered about 12,000 pieces since August. I have enough in the backroom to put out so things don’t get stale. There is never a shortage of clothes.
I will only accept costumes, ice skates, holiday wear and winter outerwear from now until February. I’ve reached my max. Sorry I don’t heed your advice on this one but it is the best for MY store. Susie in Mass.
This happened to me yesterday!! A woman called me last week and had a lot of clothes to bring in, she was coming from over 1-1/2 hours away. I told her I don’t do appointments, so come up tomorrow. She had gorgeous fall jackets and other clothes, I took all of it. She confessed that she had also called my competitor in town, who only works by appointment. She had made an appointment with her for later in the day to take whatever I didn’t take. Well, I kept it all, so she had to cancel her appointment! THANK YOU, Kate, for teaching me NOT to work by appointment only!!
You’re welcome, Deb… anything in my size? 😉
Are you really maxing out your back room’s capabilities? Do you have shelving that literally goes up to the ceiling to store boxes? We never take stuff in boxes, just on hangers. So our back room has standards that go up to the ceiling. We double hang each wall. In our 10 X 12 back room we have 45 linear feet of hang rail space, plus a doorway to the store, one to the bathroom and another out the outside. One wall is building block and has the electric service and wires so I haven’t hung anything there. I believe there is still room to hang even more standards and rail if needed. So take a look and see what creative ideas would let you store more stuff and still have a path through for the exit.
I know I’m new to this, but I do have an idea for you Bonnie. If it were me I’d slowly build a collection of those oversized cube space bags. I’ve gotten twenty sweaters in an XL before (you have to know how to pack it ^^) and they don’t lie when they say they shrink to nothing. The big problem I’d see would be the need to put out a whole cube at a time; not to mention they’re not cheap. It would take time to buy enough for everything, but I could see it easily doubling your available storage space. The storage room of the building I’m going to rent is so small I may have to take my own advice here. The space bags may not work and may be just plain too expensive even buying them over time and not all at once, just an idea.
We have never stopped taking in consignments in our 1 1/2 years. What’s funny is many people come in and ask “Are you still taking clothes?” to which we always answer. Yes, we never stop taking clothes. We will be hiring our first person this next week so very excited to have help in this busy incoming time of year. I have definitely gotten more discriminating now that I’ve seen what sold last year. I cannot imagine getting 150 boxes a day. That would be challenging to deal with. It would be great to have more storage near by.
Ahhh… sounds lovely! I could hire 100 people to come in and hang and tag, but it still doesn’t solve the space issue. Ladies consignment stores are a breeze (and I can say this because I do both ladies and kids), but the volume of items that come into a kid’s consignment store is absolutely mind-boggling. With a back room that can store around 50 boxes, what do we do when 150 come in in one day? Which is what happened yesterday, and will probably happen again on Saturday when we resume accepting. We just can’t put people’s safety at risk by blocking every square inch of floor space, including exits. Our local thrift store was just shut down by the fire department for doing just that. They were ordered to close for two weeks. I can’t even imagine that happening to us this time of year.
It’s a tough one – our competitor never stops taking, and I assume they have off-site storage. But if you bring her items today, she will not have it on her sales floor until February. So while I’d love to keep everyone happy at all times, I think that I keep more people happy by having their items on our sales floor in maximum four days time, no matter what. No other store in our area can say that, and people drive from quite a distance to consign with us for that reason. If I lose the odd few to that store, I know they’ll be back next year when it takes them seven months to see a penny from the other place.
Anyway, I just have to put it out there that stores can be wonderfully profitable without being open to consignment 24/7.
AbsulLOOOOTly, Bonnie…. there’s ALways more stuff than space this time of year. And on-site storage MAY be an answer (if it works out fiscally) but it’s a KILLER to your rep, to “hold onto” consignments for more than (yes.) one day before putting them on the sales floor, as you mention.
The solution? Sell the darn stuff! Price it to MOVE when “too much” pours in. We all know that we’d rather sell 10 $25 items than 2 $50 items, right?
WAY too many beginner resalers (not you of course, but many of our viewers) have yet to realize the “laws” of supply and demand. And 100% of our consignors don’t understand that either… which is why we needed to have started prodding them to consign early in the season!
But no matter how incessantly we “nag” our consignors, we’re still faced with: Do we say “Sorry, don’t use our services for the next 2 day/ 3 weeks”? Heck no.
Love the above responses.. We actually CALL for more! Yes, get pickier, Yes, have a tagging bonanza, and tell your customer MORE… What’s ahead in the next 60 days. Thanks for a great post Kate!
Our next two weeks will be dedicated to Consignor Appreciation and I look forward to the creativity that will bring.
We had a fun tagging night…all 5 of us came in this past Monday night from 6p – 9p . We made a huge dent in the back room and we have another tagging night plannned in a couple weeks again. Yes we are getting pickier as well, we’re now taking the best of the best and I know the consignor will take the leftovers to another shop but I had first pick and got all the good stuff. I’m confindent the consignor will come back to us because we will sell ALL the good stuff for them and the not-so-good stuff desn’t always ALL sell at the other shop. I love this time of year.
As the incoming swells we just get get pickier. How do you know that consignor you turned away didn’t have luxury labels?
Exactly! My best consignor always showed up at the most inconvenient times in a ratty trench coat (is there such a thing as a female flasher? That’s what always came to mind)… but she was a treasure house not only of couture… but “real size” couture! Had I “stuck to my guns” (hey, who invented those guns?) or trusted to my “instinct”… I would have been, literally, several thousand NET dollars poorer every month or 2!