When do you all stop taking Christmas décor in?
Joyful no more, holiday merchandise on December 26.
Holiday-specific consignment goods for sure have a drop-dead date… and it’s for sure, the day AFTER whatever holiday. So should you stop taking Christmas-related items in… on December 1? December 5? October 25 (if your consignment period is 60 days) or September 25, if it’s 90 days?
After all, the MOST you’ll be able to get out of Christmas items post-Christmas is MAYBE 50% of the price you set when they came in. And that’s only if you’re lucky.
Basically, unsold holiday items simply sit there looking pathetic and taking up space on your sales floor and making your shop look so totally not with it.
Not a pretty sight nor a pretty situation to be in. So, back to the original question: When should you stop taking holiday items in?
Kate has an idea to present:
There’s a different way to look at this
issue that might appeal to some of you for next year. And that is, not to “stop accepting”, but to have a “limited consignment period” for holiday-specific goods.
You’ll need a seasonal agreement for consignors to sign saying that holiday items, regardless of when they are consigned, should be reclaimed by [date]. Be sure to include any holiday-specific markdown schedules you choose (all go half-price on December 10 or 20?) and include a phrase something like I agree to abide by the shop’s decision on which of my consigned items is considered “Holiday.”
If you wish, you might add a new category/ department to your software as “Holiday” to alert your consignors to that decision. This will also enable you to set a different markdown schedule and also to run a holiday-specific report in January to obtain valuable pricing and selling data for use next year.
With this system as with any seasonal goods from shorts to toboggan suits, keep in mind the passing of the season. That darling Santa that’s worth $30 on November 5, may only be worth $10 on December 5.
Best of all? You can
flip your selling square footage from “Ghost of Christmas Past”
to “It’s Resort Time!” in a matter of hours, rather than weeks, once your holiday-goods consignment period ends.
(Watch Kate flip the holiday section of an NFP and get more holiday selling wisdom from TGtbT.)
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] Why holiday goods must be the exception to your consignment rules. […]
We started having holiday specific times earlier this year. For example, all Halloween items, regardless of the date they were brought in, ended on November 1st. We had fliers and signs, and told consignors who had Halloween items if they wanted them back they must call us by November 1st. It saved us so much time, hassle, and prime sales space. We will do this for all holiday items from now on. We did also create a category in our software “holiday item” to make it easier for us to track those items.
As always, thanks for helping us think outside the box Kate.