I've been to this sale as both a seller and a shopper, I prefer to shop this sale rather than sell, but I'll review both experiences.
As a shopper - really can't beat it. I like to go on the last day of the sale when a lot of items are 50% off. You will not have as good as a selection as earlier in the sale, but still plenty of stock to choose from. Consignors and volunteers get pre-sale passes, and then the sale opens to the public so there are several days of people shopping before you.
Boys clothes in bigger sizes especially will be well picked over by the time the sale opens to the public, girls clothes seem to be more plentiful overall. Bring a bag, a big one!
As a seller - its a lot of work to get your items ready for the sale. They have to be washed, hung/bagged, inventoried in the online system and tagged. You pay 10.00 to become a consignor and then you make a percentage of your items (they send you a check at the end of the sale). The more volunteer hours you put in, the more you make. If you have a lot of items to sell, this process can be tedious.
One nice thing is that you get to choose your own pricing. So you can decide how much you are willing to take for your items. You also get to choose if they are discounted 25% or 50% off the last few days of the sale. My advice is to be realistic in your pricing if you want your stuff to sell - I saw so many items on racks that were just way over priced and that's why they didn't sell. Definitely reduce your items too, to give them the best chance of being sold.
You sign up for a drop off slot where a volunteer critiques all of your items one by one and decides if they are allowed in the sale. There doesn't seem to be a specific guideline to this its pretty much up to the specific reviewer at the time they are looking at your stuff. Obviously stained and overly worn clothing they say will be rejected, but they seem to reject a lot of perfectly good condition items too without explanation. I've had items rejected at one sale be accepted for another, so its really up to the individual. Try not to take it personal, although it can be a pain to go through this whole process just to have stuff rejected, its just part of the deal.
That being said, at the cedar park sale recently I saw really worn shoes on the racks and "free" advertisement type tshirts being sold - like the ones you get from your child attending a summer camp or from nitro swim school, which I would think shouldn't have passed the quality check but obviously did. So, your mileage may vary.
They also have some new items for sale like hair bows(great prices), backpacks and some direct sales vendors like Advocare etc set up at the sale.
At the end of the sale you go back and pick up all of your items that did not sell - you can easily see the items real time on their online inventory system which is really cool and helpful. You walk around the sale, gather up your stuff and check out. At the end of the sale they send you a check for your earnings - and they turn it around pretty fast too.
Although my experience as a seller wasn't bad, its just too much work for me personally to do it again. I didn't find the amount of time I had to put in vs. what I got out of it to be worth it. I prefer other methods of selling my stuff.
Overall, its a pretty interesting business model and definitely a service to the community. The ladies running the sale are nice, friendly and the place is usually well set up and well organized. I will absolutely continue shopping these sales in the future. read more
