Shopping Kids Consignment

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Consignment

I really regret that I did not explore kid’s consignment much earlier on in my parenting career. It wasn’t until we bought our current house just a hop, skip and a jump away from a Once Upon a Child that I finally wandered in to check it out. Since that time, I have become a regular… as both seller and buyer. However, there is definitely an art to this type of shopping and some lessons learned, which I will now share with you.

Not all stores are created equal.

Even within the chain stores, there are independent owners and operators, and from what I understand, this DOES make a difference. I have had good success with the one near us, but they appear to be pretty picky with what they purchase. I can’t speak for all locations, so my only piece of advice here would be to test out several stores, several times, before you decide which ones have the best consistent quality and selection available.

Purge before you buy.

I tend to do 3 major shopping trips per year which coincide loosely with the summer season, the winter season and the school season. This is when I stock up on the staples. Prior to these trips, I purge. I figure out what hand me downs from my oldest daughter will still work for my youngest and pack up the rest. I do the same with the clothes my youngest has outgrown. In addition, I take a look at other things we have around the house which I might be able to sell. This is great because the store can then just apply the money from what you sold towards anything new you are purchasing. (Note: To do this, you will have to drop off your items to sell earlier in the day or even the day before and return to do your shopping later when you come back to see what the store will offer.) When selling, the following are usually hot commodities:

  • Shoes. Dress shoes, sandals, boots, gym shoes. Some wear is fine, but they can’t have holes in the toes or anything like that.
  • Coats. Raincoats, jackets, winter coats.
  • Pajamas.
  • Special occasion attire. That Christmas or Easter dress which was only worn once, for example.
  • Special clothing items. Leotards, dance clothes, soccer cleats etc…
  • Toys. (Especially infant toys.) It is important that you have all the pieces and it is helpful if you package them up so that it is obvious what goes together.
  • Halloween costumes.
  • Baby gear. Things like strollers, bouncers, etc… Be prepared to set it all up if it isn’t so they can see it is complete and works. You will need to have air in the tires of jogging strollers and bikes. These bigger ticket items will be priced immediately, unlike the boxes of smaller items which you will have to return for.

The bottom line with selling is that the better presented it is to the people who work at the store, the more likely it will get purchased. Fold PJ sets together instead of throwing into a box, for example. And ask yourself, honestly… would you pay money to buy what you are trying to sell? If not, then leave it out.

Know which items are best and worst to buy at consignment.

Kids grow super fast. Because of this, you can often find items that still have tags on them or are in really good shape. I have had a ton of success finding really nice quality jeans, skirts, and dresses (my kids live in dresses so this is perfect for me). I have also had some success with gymnastics leotards and snow boots. What I tend to avoid buying are t-shirts. These are probably the most worn and washed items in kid’s closets and it shows on the consignment racks. I choose instead to wait until Old Navy or Target runs sales or clearance and stock up on shirts that way for relatively comparable prices for new items. I also have not had success with pajamas, but they are generally a hot item for you to sell to the store, so I think this may just be because the ones in good shape sell quickly.

Avoid Saturdays and clearance sales.

Clearance on already discounted prices sounds amazing in theory, but reality is different. What is actually on clearance is minimal and usually the bare bones left over stuff that just isn’t selling. This may work for you if you are really wanting some play clothes that can get dirty and ruined on those summer trips to the park, but otherwise, not really worth it in my opinion. Plus, these sales are often on Saturdays, which I recommend avoiding all together anyway. To find the good stuff you have to be patient and willing to look through the racks thoroughly. This is really hard when you are surrounded by a bunch of people trying to do the same. Stick with weekdays. (This applies to selling items as well… Saturday is by far the busiest day for this.)

Don’t take your kids.

As I mention above, you need to have patience and time to look through the items. It is much easier to do this when you are flying solo. Now, I will say that as my kids grow, I have to take them more often than not to allow them to try stuff on, as there are so many different brands of clothing and sizes. But, I would REALLY prefer not to.

Go back often.

As I mentioned above, I do 3 major trips per year to stock up on staples, but I also throw in some quick stop in visits from time to time just to see if I stumble upon any amazing finds. More often than not, I do.

Nothing beats being able to stock up for the season for two kids for around $80 total (and that is before subtracting what I sold), so if you haven’t tried consignment yet, give it a try. I promise you will be glad you did!

1 COMMENT

  1. Hi,
    I wanted to also mention a online kids consignment store http://www.liljellybeans.com. They have great stuff. They sell out quick on stuff but stock new stuff everyday. They even sell toys. Good ones too. I got my daughter a american girl doll for half the price. ” cheaper than ebay”! I got a coupon when I signed up for their email. I think it was 25 or 30% off. I know other moms and parents would appreciate this site. Best of all you can sell your stuff to them too!

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