Maryland - ALL CITIES
Guest Post By Michelle Wiginton
Savvy moms shop summer yard sales, resell in the fall and shop for like-new name brand fall fashions
Just Between Friends (JBF), the nation’s leading maternity and children’s consignment sales event franchise, is seeing a sharp increase in the number of savvy American moms who are scouring summer garage sales in their community. They are looking for top-quality, name brand clothing, toys, baby gear, nursery gear, crafting supplies and practically anything else a budget-conscious parent might want or need to raise a growing family in order to consign them at one of more than 100 local summer and/or fall (JBF) community children’s consignment events.
“Shopping clearance and garage sales is my dream part-time job,” says Theresa Dillow, a stay-at-home-mom who averages $500 in consignor sales per JBF sale and she participates in approximate a dozen each year. “When you are shopping to resell, you are looking for a great bargain, not a particular size. I love getting Gymboree outfits for a quarter and then consigning them for $4, which blesses our family because it allows me to stay at home with my children and grandchildren, as well as providing quality, name brand items to families who might not be able to afford them otherwise.”
In the regions where Just Between Friends hosts semi-annual community events, the franchise has observed a steady decline in the number of yard sales and self-sell postings like CraigsList and eBay.
Just Between Friends believes this is due to the fact that they make reselling so easy and because moms can tag year round, their tags remain in JBF’s system from season-to-season and moms have the opportunity to participate at multiple sales without ever having to re-tag. To those moms who have discovered consignment, they find it is much easier than managing online posts/auctions, financial transactions, shipping/delivery, photographs, etc.
“Participating in children’s consignment sales events is eerily like the extreme couponing craze that is currently sweeping the country,” said Michelle Wiginton, who coordinates five JBF community children’s consignment sales events in Missouri. “Moms are torn between sharing this wonderful resource for buying and selling outgrown and unused items for their growing families and trying to keep all of the awesome bargains to themselves. However, when they realize that more participating moms mean more shoppers are buying their items, that there are more items for them to shop from and that there will be more volunteers to help the sales run smoothly, it’s hard to keep them quiet!”
Many one-income families are struggling to justify the cost of gas of driving around town a couple of days each week searching for a few items that are the right size for their children. However, when those same moms are coming home with a trunkload full of extreme bargains they can resell, allowing them purchase what their kids need for the next season, as well as putting money back into the family budget, many families are finding that garage sales, clearance sales and even thrift stores can provide an entirely new source of income. They still save on the items their children need, but they are also able to provide the opportunity to resell at consignment sales events and bless countless other area families.
Hot items to resell that you find at most “kid-oriented” garage sales (always keep in mind recalled items): strollers, toys, books, current styles/name brand clothing, never-worn shoes, DVDs, baby gear, crafting supplies, nursery décor, outdoor yard toys and anything made by Little Tikes or Step Two.
If you would like more information on your local Just Between Friends community children’s consignment sales event, please go to www.jbfsale.com.
Ten Helpful Tips When Purchasing To Resell
1. Be early! You should always try to be one of the first shoppers on the first day of a garage sale because the best bargains get snatched up quickly.
2. Be picky! If the items you are considering purchasing don’t look like-new, don’t waste your time on them unless you know you can bring them back to retail quality.
3. Know what sells. Toys and baby gear are hot sellers! Clothing, unless it is a great price and the best brands, might be harder to sell simply because there is so much of it at every sale.
4. Price to sell. Moms know how much things cost because, like you, they are also looking for great bargains. Don’t buy something for $4 and sell it for $5 because you will not make enough to make it worth your time and expense. However, if you can purchase an item for a $1 and then resell it for $5 and it is still a great bargain for the person buying it, you have found a win-win formula that will bless your family, as well as many other families.
5. Carry batteries with you. Don’t purchase anything if you are not certain it works. Put four of each size battery in a zip-lock bag in your vehicle so you can test items before you buy them. It is also a smart idea to check battery-powered items for corrosion before you purchase them.
6. Carry a small toolkit with you. Most toys and baby gear will require a screwdriver in order to remove the plate that covers the batteries. Don’t waste time at each sale having to ask the homeowner if they have one, be prepared so that you can quickly check the items you are interested in and then move on to the next sale.
7. Tag as you go. In a perfect world, you would tag every item the day you purchase it. In the real world, try to get your items tagged the same week, so that your home does not become cluttered and overwhelming for you and your family.
8. Shop on the go. Combine errands, dropping off the kids at school, the drive to work or any other drives you might already have to make with yard sale shopping. Plan ahead and you will quickly see how much money you can save by mapping out your route to include a few garage sales to and from your destination(s).
9. Buy Odds and Ends. If you see a bag of Little People or a box of Legos at bargain prices, buy them and then match them up with that inevitable great deal on a Little People Airport with no people or the Lego table with no Legos.
10. Buy with an End in Sight. Pay attention to what sells at your sales event. Does your sale have a Crafter’s Corner that provides the opportunity to resell crafting supplies? Buy that box of scrapping and rubber stamp supplies. What about a Mommy Mart? Buy that beautiful dining room set and resell yours at the next event.