Consignment shops have become popular across the country, and across the globe, for providing customers with great deals on fashionable clothing and other items. These shops also provide sellers outlets to showcase used items and make a profit from them. The recession has only increased consignment popularity - buyers want to get unique items at more affordable prices than ever before, and sellers are looking to make extra cash in any way possible. Consignment shops are booming businesses with loyal customers on both ends of the retail machine.
The Rise of Consignment Shopping
Consignment shops have been around for ages, starting when people decided to sell used clothing and other items out of their homes to make extra money. Stores expanded out of homes and small flea markets to almost every town in the 1960s, when buying used items became more popular. In the 1990s, with revolutionary additions to the resale world such as Ebay, consignment shopping was put on the map as one of the best, and most affordable, ways to shop. Web sites like Savers and Ebay allow consignment interactions to occur on a nationwide scale, however it’s the smaller consignment shops that make names for themselves locally by providing great deals for shoppers and a way to make quick cash for sellers looking to get rid of used items.
Consignment Benefits for Buyers
The most obvious benefits for shoppers of consignment stops are the savings. Discounts and percentages off used items, and even designer items, can usually range from 20 percent to 70 percent, however, sales of 90 percent off are not unheard of. The key to shopping consignments is knowing how each individual shop marks down items. Some shops color code tags, with different colors representing certain percentages off, and others mark down items by how long they have been in the store. Mark-down prices are also sometimes negotiable, depending on the store. Always check with an employee if you are unsure about the way savings work.
Consignment shops also offer an antiquity and uniqueness that most regular retailers cannot provide. While items in resale stores can come from high-end designers, many items will come from smaller designers or regular people from different walks of life. Every item in a consignment shop is different and unique, making each purchase something unique as well. Consignment shopping has become a trend among shoppers young and old for this reason - it’s chic to find one-of-a-kind items at incredibly low prices.
Consignment Benefits for Sellers
Often those who use consignment stores to sell old clothing and other items see payment quickly. There are two ways most consignment stores repay sellers - the most popular way is that the store repays the seller a portion of the price an item was sold for at a given date after the item was purchased. This could be anywhere from 20 percent to 60 percent of the sale price.
The other way sellers get repaid is even more immediate - some consignment shops pay a seller during the initial appointment when one brings in items he or she wants to sell. The store will inspect each item the seller has, explain how much the store believes it can resell the item for, and then give the seller payment upfront.
Not only are consignment stores a great outlet for sellers to acquire quick cash, but they are also a selling outlet that can continue to be profitable in the long run. A seller can build up a relationship with a reliable, local consignment store and continue to resell multiple items there over time.
Finding a Consignment Shop
Consignment stores have spread across the country, popping up in almost every city and town. To find a local consignment shop in your town, visit the town’s Web site or directory of businesses. ConsignmentShops.com is another outlet which provides listings of consignment stores by state.
Online consignment retailers are popular as well. Once In a Blue Moon and Christabelle's Closet are two big online consignment stores to choose from.
Valentina Palladino - Valentina is a student at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, majoring in Magazine Journalism and ...
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