Many consignment, resale, and thrift shops get overwhelmed, at this time of year, with incoming goods.
They feel blessed to be so popular, but they get stressed over the time, salaries, and stress it takes to sort through so much merchandise in order to select the most desired goods for their target market. They rely upon information like Eliminating the Intake Bottleneck to keep them sane.
I’m wondering. If you, on your web site and/or blog, published a Check List for potential suppliers, would that help? And if so, what would YOU include in that list?
Something like
- Freshly washed, within the last week
- Free of wear: check collar, cuffs, crotch
- Functional: Zipper/buttons work? Batteries? All pieces present and accounted for?
- Neatly pressed/on hangers so that it looks good
What else would YOU include on your consignor checklist?
Go to “tell us…” below, and join the conversation… if you get too much stuff this time of year!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
So many of the folks who don’t prep their items for drop-off are first time consignors. often, they have done the sorting at home while cleaning out and didn’t really think about what they were going to do with it yet. Maybe yard sale, maybe donate, maybe hoard in storage for a while… when they find us or someone suggests us, they just bring it in. Sometimes, they have things in the trunk and are headed to donate. It is the very best time to educate them about consignment ~ praise their good decision to stop in ~ thank them for finding us ~ invite them to give it a good sort, wash, dust, whatever, and come back please. I try and take at least one item that is in good shape and open their account. These often times have become some of our best consignors and they keep coming back time after time. With furniture too, it’s a little different, since they will sometimes test the waters – consing a smaller thing or two, and then turn up a month later with a whole couple of rooms of furniture.
Jenni, great point re folks “testing the waters”… from little acorns great oaks grow! I also like your point about praising people. It’s kinda like when you order at a restaurant, and the waiter nods sagely and says “good choice.” You know he probably says the same no matter what the order, but it still makes you feel good… and that’s the point. Making your client feel good.
Kate, how coincidental! What I have on the top of my to do list today is to create a checklist and post it at the buy window. Not that it is already on my website and brochures at both the buy window and check out counter and we tell them on the phone when they call! But it is true, like Donna says, they pick it up off the floor and into the bag it goes! Add to you list pet hair. My question is how do you tell the folks to clean out their lint basket on the dryer! Geez!
Starting today, and with the new sign, we will do a quick pre-check on what the folks are dropping off. With the time we waste going through several bags/bins of stained baby and kids clothes for a mere 4-10 pc of miraculously clean stuff…we will start refusing it at the window and telling them, “I am sorry, but we cannot accept your things in their present condition/in this condition.
Hi Kate, yes a checklist is a must. But some people just choose to ignore it. We try very hard to instil our rules and 90% of our consigners do follow it. It’s the younger generation that think just to pick them up off a floor and into a bag works. Also, on the check list should be odour free, such as smoke, bo and such.
Thanks, love your site.
Kate, you KNOW only a handful of consignors would read a checklist, and less would follow it! But when they do follow it, it is wonderful. And I will openly praise them on fb if they do. We have a checklist like this on our website, our fb page, and in brochure form which I hand out like candy. I try to keep it concise.
Recycled, you’re right, most folks don’t read, and fewer still heed 😉 But that needn’t stop us from, as you say, being concise.
And it needn’t stop us from being encouraging, either, in a positive way. For a bad example, see the “Items we do not accept” section on an earlier post here on Auntie Kate the Blog https://auntiekate.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/omg-turning-suppliers-off/