Consignment sale shoppers, come in please!

[turtlegirl115]

There is a huge seasonal consignment sale coming to my area this month. I love these sales and hope to operate my own in the near future. In the meantime, I had an idea to make some extra cash but I need your advice.
According to the sale guidelines, sellers receive 75% of the asking price and pay a $15 seller fee which is deducted from the check at the end of the sale. I am going to offer to help busy moms and dads who have items they would like to sale but don't have the time or energy to inspect/sort/tag/price/drop off/pick up their items. Depending on how many people "hire" me, I may have a central drop off/pick up location or if it's just a few people I will offer to meet them somewhere for the exchange. I don't want to spend all of my profit on gas. So I was orignally planning to say they would receive 50% of the profit (25% to the sale owners and 25% to me). But then I realized the seller fee is $15 which is pretty steep. I'm fairly certain it was only $7 last year. So now I'm thinking in order for it to be worth it for me, I think I need to say they will receive 50% and pay the $15 seller fee (out of their check) or they will receive 40% and I will cover the $15 seller fee.
So if you made it through all of that, Now, what do you think is the best idea? Or if you think this is a lame idea and nobody is going to trust a stranger with their items, feel free to say that as well. LOL Any suggestions on how I could make people feel better about trusting me? I was thinking about advertising on Craigslist and maybe the church bulletin board. Any other suggestions? Any suggestions for a catchy phrase for my ad? TIA!

[anaj06]

That is an interesting idea! My first thought is that the big consignment sale around here limits each seller to 15 clothing items and several other limitations. Does you sale have limits? If so, are you (and all your people) one seller or multiple sellers?

If you are one seller, you should only pay the $15 fee one time and if there are no limits there is no reason not to be one seller. You would have to figure out how to separate the money though if you go that route. Or, you could buy other people's stuff outright and then resale it. As long as you were picky about what you bought; you'd probably make more money that way. I am not sure people will trust you with their stuff if you are unknown to them or someone they know???

Good luck!

[turtlegirl115]

Thank you for your reply. I contacted the sale to see if I could register as multiple sellers so I wouldn't have to separate the money. I think that would just get too messy. They said it was fine, but that does mean paying the $15 seller fee multiple times. However, there are no limits on number of items other than shoes and stuffed animals. So I should be OK on that end. You're ri.ght, I probably would be better off just buying stuff outright. I really don't have the money to front but I might look for cheap clothing lots on Ebay or Craigslist anyway. Thanks again!

[mandigirl_12879]

You might talk to the people running the sale and work out a deal with them for next sale. One of our local sales does a "drop and run". The consignor drops off their stuff before actual drop off and an individual working with the people running the sale tags the items for them. The consignor only gets 50% (anyone tagging their own items gets 70%). The same rules apply to these consignors as all others and they pay the $8 fee. Plus this person that does the tagging gets counted in with other workers and shops the workers' night.

If I were you I'd set up multiple accounts take a cut of the sales and make them pay the $15. You're offering the service of tagging for them. I'd also talk to the people running the sale and set up an appointment for drop off. That way you're not waiting in line and having to sign in multiple times holding the line up.