Adding hand-crafted items to your consignment shop: What they fear.

For all you consignment shop owners who would love to explore showcasing local crafts and artists in your shop, here’s

Read Full Post »

Hey, honey, put some MUSCLE into your consignment shop.

I’ve seen more wimpy-ass resale shops in my time than any personal trainer has seen saggy butts. And it’s a shame, really, because our industry lends itself perfectly to having strong, vibrant shops. Shops which offer goods their marketplace wants, in a presentation that makes shoppers feel that they must have that table, tunic, or [...]

Read Full Post »

Untapped consignment or donation resource?

I got a phone call once from my area’s foremost dry cleaning company. “Wanna come look at our unclaimed stuff?” So there I was, in the

Read Full Post »

Eavesdrop on a consignment experience

Eavesdrop on a consignment experience. This video is a great case study for shopkeepers and accepting staff. If we look at it not as “how to consign”… but “how to treat a potential consignor” we can take the opportunity to fine-tune our shops. See if you can spot the lessons to be learned (I’ve listed [...]

Read Full Post »

What If… you fine-tuned your incoming procedures?

What If… you thought of your consignment, resale, or thrift shop just a little differently in 2012? Would your shop be more successful? More fun to run? Would you find unexpected supporters and fervid fans if you just approached things a tiny bit differently? This week we’ll present a few What Ifs for you to [...]

Read Full Post »

Can you help your clients be charitable?

Tis the season for charity. Your shoppers are thinking how they can help the less fortunate, and that’s a good thing. But your customers are also thinking that

Read Full Post »

A button a consignment, resale, AND thrift store could love.

Take a look at the button labeled “Yes of course” on

Read Full Post »

Motivating donations… or incoming of any sort!

Recently, “Our Thrift Store” (yes, they use the quotation marks) has had a 10 Days 10 Bags campaign, to inspire the non-profit store’s fans and friends to go through their homes and bring in items they can resell. To make the task more fun (and less overwhelming!), the store suggests going through a room a [...]

Read Full Post »

HowToConsign.com’s Mailbag

I received this email from a concerned supplier this week: What do you think of a consignment shop that was giving you 50% of the sale price and then all of a sudden, you go there and now they are only buying outright and giving you only 25 to 40% of the estimated sale price. [...]

Read Full Post »

Even the smallest shop needs this. Not to mention the largest.

It amazes me that some consignment, resale, and thrift shops don’t

Read Full Post »

Ooh, ouch. Not the right answer…

When someone asks you a question, what’s your answer?

Read Full Post »

It’s Time to Ask for NWTs!

It’s Time to Ask for NWTs! It’s time to get your suppliers, whether you’re consignment, buy-outright, or donations-only, to sort through their unused, “new-with-tags” (NWT in eBay-speak) and bring them in. That way, you’ll have a

Read Full Post »

“We’ve created a new policy”

Is the first thing you think of, when people won’t do what you want them to do, to make a new rule they must obey in order to patronize your business? If so you have a Napoleon complex. You know: Submit

Read Full Post »

STOP stopping!

I have read an uncommon number of emails from consignment shops in the last week or two saying that they would not be accepting any incoming consignments for the next (fill in the blank) days because they’re overwhelmed.

Read Full Post »

Are you Supergirl? This time of the consignment year, you better be.

If the superpower you wish for at this time of year involves getting through the mountains of incoming, click the picture

Read Full Post »