After being on the wait list for almost two years I was excited to be finally consigning at Kids Stuff Sale at their Fall 2015 sale event. Being a small, locally run consignment sale in Northern Arlington, I expected the sale to be well organized and the merchandise to be high quality.
A little background...I also consign at an Alexandria based boutique kids consignment store. Since it's a brick-and-mortal store, the consignors get little of the sale percentage. I figured I will get better value on my daughter's high end, barely used clothes and shoes by volunteering 3 hours of my time.
I couldn't have been more wrong! The sale was a total disaster. There was no quality check, consignors could place ANYTHING for sale, pick-up ANYTHING after the sale, there was no inventory system and the whole ordeal was haphazard. The day of the sale, the place was packed with loads and loads of cheap, used clothes, dirty, worn out shoes, baby products and accessories. Most of the items were so disgusting that they shouldn't even be donated, let alone sold. Any item offered for more than $1 was too expensive as per their standards. I consigned approximately 70 items from brands like J.Crew, Mini Boden, Joe's Jeans, UCB, Zara, Alice & Olivia, Crocs, Pampili, Plan Toys, Pottery Barn Kids, Aden & Anais etc and by the end of the sale I sold approx 1/3rd, retrieved and donated approx 1/3rd and more than 1/3rd disappeared (read stolen). I spent more money on renting the Zipcar for this sale than the money I made.
That day they also discovered rotting meat in the oven. In the process of discarding the stuff, there was dripping all over and the smell lingered for hours, right where I was positioned. I was at the entrance, right at the door outside the kitchen and every guest entering asked what the smell was about. It was the worst smell I have ever smelled in my life. And I am comparing it to trash in NYC on a hot summer day.
I understand that I went with the wrong pricing and wrong idea but there is no reason for items to get stolen. Moreover, why would you want to waste precious hours of your life and go through the trouble of selling Carter's dress for $0.25 after using it for well beyond its worth. Please give it away to H&M for recycle and devote the time to your child. read more