If you’ve been in the resale business for a while, there are probably a few venues you’re comfortable and familiar with.
You are probably accustomed to selling items on Craigslist, eBay, yard sales, swap meets, and flea markets. One venue you may not have considered, however, are consignment stores.
Consignment stores are usually somewhat like a high-end thrift shop or pawn shop. People leave items there to sell on consignment.
The store receives a percentage of each sale, and the seller gets the rest. In general, most consignment stores focus on collectable items or high-end clothing or furniture. They advertise to people who are knowledgeable about these items, so the items will usually sell for a higher price than if they were simply being sold at a garage sale.
If you have antiques, high-end furniture, designer clothing, or any other valuable but hard-to-resell items, you might consider placing them with a consignment shop.
Depending on the shop, you might need to pay a small fee to keep the item there until it sells. Others only charge you a percentage of each sale. Either way, you can get your items in front of a whole new group of buyers and get the best price for things that are worth good money.
The folks who run the consignment shop will also be a good resource for information about the items they specialize in. If you tend to run across a lot of antiques in your storage auctions, you can usually talk to the people at the local consignment shop about getting these items appraised.
They’ll know where to direct you for help, and they might be able to give you some pointers for doing the appraisals yourself. If nothing else, they might be able to provide you with a nudge in the right direction so you’ll know what you’re looking at the next time you find antiques at a storage sale.
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