Consignment stores

[barb.j.enders]

I have been thinking about finding a place here that sells on consignment.  Yesterday, our local radio interviewed a person who owns a place.  They were being interviewed because they had just relocated.  I liked the one comment she made - "I sell for makers who don't want the hassle of the sales but just want to make" (or some close proximity).  I contacted her to get an application.  They charge a rental fee, based on size of space,  plus 30% of sales. I thought the 30% is quite high but have no other references to compare to!   If you sell at these type of places, what fees are you charged?    Do you increase the pricing on your item to help cover that cost?

[Roberta Moreton]

I have tried that.  The price you charge has to be enough to cover the additional costs of the store.  I never sold enough to make it worth it.  You have to try to find out if it works for you.

[rjweb]

Barb, I was always told nothing ventured nothing gained, RJ

[kmmcrafts]

I've done this at a local shop and they advertised quite a lot and run a lot of activities in the upstairs of the building and had quite a lot of foot traffic. Unfortunately sales never really covered the rental cost and some items was stolen lost and or damaged. Some shops like this will insure your missing items I guess? Might be something to ask if you do try it. 

I'd go scope out the place a few times at various times and days to try to get a idea of how much foot traffic is actually going on etc.. I've heard of good success stories from these types of shops.. but to be honest I think I've heard more failures than success ones but you really never know unless you give it a try.

One thing that may have harmed my success was the fact that the lady only did 6 month contracts and I got in at the wrong time of the year and my contract was over well before any Christmas holiday type shopping would happen.. I think if I could have got in on it then I may have had better results. It seems like some of the more experience sellers figured that out and would sign up in Sept.. so they could make it through the good selling time of the year.. they was full when i first tried so I couldn't get in on it. Was nice because they handled all the tax stuff etc.. I did this before I really go going with the online sales so that was some years ago. 

[barb.j.enders]

10 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I'd go scope out the place a few times at various times and days to try to get a idea of how much foot traffic is actually going on etc.. I've heard of good success stories from these types of shops.. but to be honest I think I've heard more failures than success ones but you really never know unless you give it a try.

The store is on the other side of the city so it would be inconvenient to scope out that much.

[William Eicehelberger]

I tired this several times about 20years ago. All shops were well ran. I did good at at  most  stores I had  one store that Was doing good and they decided to sell out and move to Florida .I went to check  it out and all seemed good but i a couple of month they closed the store and no one knows where they went . I found out later that they took every bodys goods and left , where to no one knew I lost about $150 in merchandise. I wouldn't set up a booth in a store with out checking it out . 

Bill

Bill.  

[kmmcrafts]

2 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

The store is on the other side of the city so it would be inconvenient to scope out that much.

May not be worthwhile then.. I would want to scope the place out at least a few times before hand.

Another thing that happen to me during my time of doing this was.. The store owner mostly ran it but she did have a couple others to help out from time to time. Her husband got very sick and ended up having to have a bunch of specialty trips to University hospitals and whatnot. He was in the hospital for 2-3 weeks at the beginning of of it all and the store was completely shut down.. and was shut down to only a couple days a week for many weeks.. as he had to have direct at home care that she couldn't afford to hire someone so pretty much 3 month of the 6 month contract was closed or only open a day or two a week etc.. while I was very understanding as was the other vendors.. but we all did pay the full amount of rent.. she never extended the time frames or reduced the rental charges because of the situation.. The contract didn't mention hours of operation etc.. only that we rented the space for 6 months.. so this could be a subject to ask before signing that contract.. 

BTW The store was 45 - 50 miles each way for me so it wasn't real convenient for me either.. the contract required us vendors to come in every week.. to monitor out spot and tidy things up dust restock it etc. etc. so in adding all my travels, work, rent that was only almost made in one of the months it sure was a loss to me. I personally would ask a lot of questions and make those inconvenient trips before jumping in on this.. 

Ask about property damage thing like if the store was to burn down are your items insured.. lots of things to think about and ask.. 

It may very well be a good thing to get into..  

[Joe W.]

This reminds me of a "Shark Tank" episode where  the advice to the people seeking money was to not go retail to box stores vs. selling direct as doing that would incur another expense and eat into the profit. 
I looked into a consignment store also, last summer, who had a very similar pricing and decided against it.
I would have had to raise my prices to offset the consignment expense and my gut feeling was that enough pieces would sell  to cover the consignment expenses.
So, if it's meant to be, I'll just return to the Farmer's Market this summer and try my luck again.  
While I like to sell what I make, my primary goal is to enjoy what I do and have fun doing it.   

[kmmcrafts]

30% is a lot, I can't remember what % the one I did was.. It seems like it was 15%... Selling at one of these would be my ideal thing "IF" you could turn a profit.. Even though the one I did was 50 miles away.. taking one day a week to go check out my inventory and tidy things up is way less work than doing online sales like I do now.. where I had to become a photographer, answer emails, handle all the sales tax, package the good and mail them out etc.. BUT I see what I do as less work than doing craft shows because you have to load up the car then travel to the show set up , sit all day then take down etc etc..  Amazon gets a 15% commision.. and I still have to do all the work.. 30% may not be a horrible price if they're handling the sales tax, bookkeeping, and bags / boxes etc.. because for me with all the shipping supplies I have to have on hand probably makes that 15% commision and my overhead for shipping materials might add up to that 30%, LOL.. I've had many business people say you're doing good if your selling expenses are less than 25% ...

Joe is right though, the important part of it all is to have fun. 

[barb.j.enders]

Thanks for all the insight.  

This isn't the first time I have looked at consignment stores.  I think I will just hold off and continue doing what I am doing, which is a couple of shows a year and word of mouth.  It is enough to keep me in wood & supplies and out of trouble

[new2woodwrk]

I was approached a few months ago by a retail store to sell my stuff on consignment.

After discussing this with the manager, here are the red flags that put it off for me.

1. Theft - my problem, not theirs. Anything stolen is a loss to me, they will not cover theft losses!
2. Sale notification and payment - My problem not theirs. I would have to contact them whether there were any sales. Not automatic deposit, no contact for refilling items.
3. Fees - Commission 25%, no display fee but if I wanted to be part of their advertising I'd have to pay a percentage based on others joining the marketing campaign. minimum marketing fee was $100 per month!
4. Display - I would get my own 2''x2'x4' (4' = height) display that I had to purchase from them to match their other displays

The problems for me were Theft, Payment and of course marketing fees.

The payment piece was the real deal breakers. Basically I would have to call them or go in to the shop every week to see if anything was sold or stolen to get paid for any items sold.

I have since been approached by others and now I just tell them flat out - I will sell you N of items for this much (at a discount from my sales price), you sell them for what ever you want,

Best of luck @barb.j.enders it's a "sticky wicket" for sure

Edited January 18, 2023 by new2woodwrk

[Roberta Moreton]

On 1/18/2023 at 2:57 PM, new2woodwrk said:

I was approached a few months ago by a retail store to sell my stuff on consignment.

After discussing this with the manager, here are the red flags that put it off for me.

1. Theft - my problem, not theirs. Anything stolen is a loss to me, they will not cover theft losses!
2. Sale notification and payment - My problem not theirs. I would have to contact them whether there were any sales. Not automatic deposit, no contact for refilling items.
3. Fees - Commission 25%, no display fee but if I wanted to be part of their advertising I'd have to pay a percentage based on others joining the marketing campaign. minimum marketing fee was $100 per month!
4. Display - I would get my own 2''x2'x4' (4' = height) display that I had to purchase from them to match their other displays

The problems for me were Theft, Payment and of course marketing fees.

The payment piece was the real deal breakers. Basically I would have to call them or go in to the shop every week to see if anything was sold or stolen to get paid for any items sold.

I have since been approached by others and now I just tell them flat out - I will sell you N of items for this much (at a discount from my sales price), you sell them for what ever you want,

Best of luck @barb.j.enders it's a "sticky wicket" for sure

I will remember your way of dealing with them. “  I sell to you, do what you want. “

[Roberta Moreton]

On 1/17/2023 at 9:00 AM, barb.j.enders said:

Thanks for all the insight.  

This isn't the first time I have looked at consignment stores.  I think I will just hold off and continue doing what I am doing, which is a couple of shows a year and word of mouth.  It is enough to keep me in wood & supplies and out of trouble

That’s pretty much what I do as well. It keeps me busy enough.