In my previous post, I shared some tips on sale strategies to maximize earnings at children’s consignment sales. Today, I’d like to delve deeper into my personal experience, illustrating how I successfully made a profit at these events. Remarkably, I began this venture just before the birth of my first child, demonstrating that one does not necessarily need to be a parent to make some extra cash in this way. Nonetheless, now as a parent, I have gained more insight into the best selling baby and children’s items.
BUY LOW, SELL HIGH
My routine before each consignment sale usually consisted of frequenting various yard sales every weekend. I tend to amass a collection of children’s clothes, toys, and shoes, to sell. I soon noticed that baby items didn’t fetch as much profit due to the saturation of these products in the market. On the other hand, I found a relatively underserved niche in branded kids’ clothes for ages 5-10. This scarcity allowed me to price these items higher while still maintaining demand. My typical strategy is to acquire kids’ clothes at yard sales for $1 or less per item, paying little attention to generic brands like Wal-Mart, Target, or Carter’s unless the item is particularly attractive and fashionable.
NARROWING THE FOCUS
Although I acquired an array of kid items and clothes, I concentrated on three particular categories which held the potential for the most profit. Firstly, I collected popular children’s book series. For instance, scooping up multiple Magic Treehouse books or Junie B Jones volumes at yard sales for .25-.50 each, then packaging them as bundles, this increased the resale value significantly. Take, for example, a set of 10 Junie B. Jones books I might have gotten for $5, which could potentially resell for $20-25. Top-quality winter jackets and chic dresses were also on my focus list – these items never went out of demand, regardless of the season.
WINTER SALES YIELD MORE
While both summer and winter sales have been productive for me, I found winter sales to be slightly more rewarding, perhaps because they are conveniently close to Christmas. As such, toys, books, holiday dresses and warm jackets are common high-profit items for these sales.
EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM
By volunteering to assist at the sale, I received the advantage of entering the sale early. This allowed me to scope out potential profit-making items while my own goods were also up for sale. It was not unusual for parents to sell well-made toys or baby items at a bargain price which could then be resold at a profitable margin on websites like Ebay or Craigslist. For example, I once made a quick $15 profit on a set of magnetic baby locks I picked up at one of the sales.
Turning over second-hand baby and children’s items at consignment sales can be a worthy source of extra cash. However, do note that the process can be time-consuming and, leading up to the sale, your garage may resemble a pop-up thrift store.
