Dyin' to Consign it?

As a teacher who decided to take it easy this summer, I have had some time on my hands as of late. A few weeks ago I dedicated a day to doing one of my favorite things--cleaning out my closet and making piles to bring to a thriftstore. I realized while I was sorting that some of the things I no longer desired might be worth something. I pulled out all of the clothes that still had their original tags (thankfully there were only two things) and then I pulled out the well known and better quality brands.

I did some research before taking my clothes to the shop to see what the stipulations were. I used yelp.com to find local consignment shops, and then searched their websites for specifications. One shop, Greene Street Consignment, had very clear expectations for the brands they would accept as well as the type of clothing depending on the time of the year. I found this information very helpful, but it ultimately turned me off from bringing my clothes there because the description requested 'high quality' clothes with brand names starting at Gap and increasing in quality which seemed a little snooty to me. Additionally, this shop was a traditional consignment shop in the fact that a person drops their clothes off but does not receive any money until their clothes sell; I believe this shop sends you a check at the end of every month for 60% of the sale price of the garment. Then if nothing sells after a certain time frame, you have to come back and get the extra clothes or allow them to be donated to a charitable thrift store.

While I think overall that is a good system, I was interested in getting some quick cash because I was planning a big garage sale trip with my sister, so I opted for another type of consignment. Ultimately, I took two overflowing bags of clothes to a Buffalo Exchange shop. This store also looks for high quality clothes, but they price the clothes they take from you while you wait and then offer you a percentage of the price--50% as store credit or 30% in cash.

I was a little bit sneaky...I wanted the cash for my garage saling bonanza, but that shop also has some fantastic finds--so I bought a gorgeous green dress priced at $17.50 with my store credit and still ended up with $23 in my pocket. Not bad for a fun day of going through my clothes!!

Helpful Resources:

http://www.buffaloexchange.com/

http://www.greenestreetconsignment.com/