Consignment Stores – Should You Consign as You Declutter?

Do you use consignment stores?

Should you consign as you declutter your home and get organized? With more than 25,000 resell stores (and thrift stores) in America, surely there is a place for you to sell your collectibles. Second-hand stores can offer hoarding help from items you paid good money for but no longer use, need or want. Should you consign if the items are old or less than new? If you are unsure, you can always donate them. Stop being overwhelmed with housework and hoarding. Find creative ways today to make some money by repurposing the items that once cluttered your home.

Should You Take Stuff to Consignment Stores While Decluttering?

Should you consign your stuff that is too good to throw away? Now, over the last few weeks in our Hoarding World Facebook group, we’ve been going through a lot of decluttering exercises to clear up our homes and our bedrooms and our closets and our storage units and our offices and all the places in our life that have just accumulated too much stuff.

Consignment Stores Store Employee

Well, the question came up the other day. What happens if I have stuff that’s good that I’m emotionally attached to, and I want to get rid of it.

I no longer need, want, or use it, but I don’t want to throw it away because I spend a lot of money on it and I want it to go to a good home? So, the question came up, and then the answers started coming in.

There are a Lot of Consignment Stores in America

Consignment Stores Clothing in Store

What about a consignment store? Did you know that in America alone, there are over 25,000? This is as of August 17th, 2020 resale stores and a resale store is a consignment store. That’s in a local neighborhood that takes your goods and they turn around and sell it for a profit.

Or there are non-profit resale stores as well, and they will take your goods and they will give you a charitable receipt. They then can tax deduct on your tax deductions. If you are a business. They turn around and they then sell those in the marketplace and the remaining money that they earn from selling your stuff.

They put kids through college and they pay for homeless shelters and a variety of other programs that put people to work back to jobs that haven’t had jobs for a while.

Find a Consignment Store in Your Area

Consignment Stores Man and Dog on Computer

So, it’s a great program to keep going on in the community. Did you know that of the 25,000 stores in America, if there was an even amount in all 50 states, there would be 500 resale stores in every state. So, the chances are that there’s one in your area. Very, very good.

So, we want you to jump on the internet. We want you to get very familiar with the resale stores in your area. The resale industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry. So, there is a possibility you could make some money if you go to a consignment store.

How Consignment Stores Work

Consignment Stores Store Employee Working

The consignment store works like this. There is a mom-and-pop business typically where they will come to your location and they will pick up your furniture and your goods and that kind of stuff.

And they will turn around and sell it inside their store. And if it sells, then you make 40 to 60% of the revenue that was generated from the products that you brought in. Now, if it goes two weeks, three weeks, five weeks, eight weeks. Every store is a little bit different, but there comes a day.

It’s like a reconciliation day. Like, ah, nobody wants your product. Then they give you a chance. Do you want it back? Or do you want us to take it to Goodwill? And now that you’ve gotten it out of your home, oftentimes it’s easier just to say, no, “you do with it whatever you want.”

Consignment Stores Will Take Your Clothing

Consignment Stores People Shopping for Clothing in Store

But the cool thing about the consignment stores is they take a lot of items and the items that they take are clothing. For example, if you have one of a kind where you have vintage wear, where you have something that’s unique, something that a movie could use as props.

Maybe you’ve been hanging onto your great-grandfather’s top hat and you have nowhere to store it and you don’t want to hang on to it, but it’s been boxed for a hundred years on a shelf somewhere. That would be a great item for you to send to a consignment store. There are a lot of theaters. There are a lot of people that use these in their YouTube shows for props and stuff like that.

People Use the Items They Find

So, people use a lot of the items that they find. If they’re weird, eclectic, odds and ends or something that’s one of a kind. Home decorators go into consignment stores. And they like to find end to tables and decorative items that will help dress up a house.

Consignment Stores Magician Now I Have a Hat for My Rabbit

And so, it’s an opportunity if you’re downsizing and you’re getting rid of, let’s say that you have an inherited house from one of your parents who’s passed on from this world.

It’s a great way to get rid of some of that stuff and to move it on. Because a lot of us in our modern-day homes, we do not have room for antique China hutches, and grandfather clocks. But they’ll take that off your hands and they will try to sell it for you.

They Do All the Selling for You

Consignment Stores Woman Holding Sweater

The cool part is if you’re not good at sales and marketing, and you’re really not good at writing your own ads and taking pictures and all that stuff, they do all that for you. So, you make 40 to 60% of the revenues that they sell. The question is, do you have stuff there?

As you declutter your closet are there any clothes that you’re no longer wearing now to the office since you’re probably working from home?

And if that’s the question, then do you have stuff that you can in fact send to a consignment store? And so, if that’s the case, you’ll want to take a look at the brand.

Check if Your Clothes Can be Sold at a Consignment Store

This is a JoS. A. Bank brand. This is probably a 50 or $60 shirt. We see that there are no rings around the collar. You’re going to have to do a quick inventory. Look underneath the arms.

Consignment Stores Shirts Check Brand

If there are no stains, you want to look on the back of the shirt to make sure that there are no stains on the elbows. You’ll look at the cuffs to make sure that there are no stains or anything on the sleeves themselves.

And then also you’ll want to double-check and make sure that all of the buttons are in place, which all of these are. So, all of these shirts have been well-maintained and they all are in new condition and they’re expensive men’s dress shirts. This is the exact kind of item that a consignment store may take.

Why They Might Not Take an Item

Consignment Stores Too Much Stuff

Well, you also have to consider how many do they have? If they have 5,500 shirts that have come in over the last year where men have decided to work from home now, instead of going into the office, there may be an overabundance of these types of clothing and they may not take them at all.

And the next question comes not in the form of, do you have space in your closet? Are you using the items that are here? These are scarves, and we can see that these aren’t expensive scarves and beautifully cared for.

There are no stains, no rips, no tears, nothing that would prevent a consignment store from taking these. Is this an item that would be on-demand? Because right now it’s probably been about 10 years since people were wearing scarves every day out and about.

Lamps and Decorations Can Go to Consignment Stores

Consignment Stores Hanging Shades

Another lucky find for a consignment store, might be lamps or ornamental items that serve no purpose other than being cool decorations. This might be a perfect piece that you’d send to a consignment store. There are home decorators that frequent consignment stores looking for treasures that you may have outgrown or are no longer using.

So, this might be a fun item that if you were going to move to a smaller home, for example, that you would consider consigning just for the sheer fact that there may be somebody looking for a piece like this.

And you may not have room or space in your new house, or maybe you’re just looking for an update on the home you live in.

Consider Consigning Dual Purpose Items

Other items to consider are one-of-a-kind items that serve dual purposes? This is a coat rack that also dubs as an umbrella holder. So, if you’re downsizing and you’re looking for a way to maybe get a little bit of extra cash. Or maybe you’re looking to clear up the space and update it with something new, this would be a great item to send to a consignment store.

Consignment Stores Dual Purpose Items

And because we talked about home decorating, there are a lot of odds and ends that you purchased that you probably decorated your home with.

And if you’re looking for an upgrade or a change, it may be something that a consignment store would consider just because it is unique. And it’s one of a kind and they could sell it then to, like I say, a home decorator who may be looking for treasures.

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Resources

Home: https://hoardingworld.com

Support Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/hoardingworld

Recommended Reading:
Reclaim Your Life From Hoarding: Practical Strategies for Decluttering Your Home – https://amzn.to/35R1zIU
Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things – https://amzn.to/2SXEeme
Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding – https://amzn.to/364zyxT
Treatment for Hoarding Disorder: Therapist Guide – https://amzn.to/3jdbUqn
Treatment for Hoarding Disorder: Workbook – https://amzn.to/3wUQse7

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