My First Kids Consignment Sale: What Sold and What Did Not Sell

This is a recap of what I noticed sold at the Fall/Winter 2015 JBF Sale in Reading and Lancaster. There are many local consignment sales to consider in Lancaster County. I think this guide will help you for any of them!

Please note that prices will change from year to year. Always evaluate and research the new market. This information is intended to give you an idea of my experience, and what I learned through selling items at my first ever kids consignment sale event. It does not guarantee your items will sell at these prices!

What sold?

1. Anything that is currently in style or cute, specifically if I have seen other kids in this type of clothing (at church or out in public). For instance, a Boys 2T H&M gray cardigan sweater with zipper sold for $8.50. This was cute and trendy, and was in great condition, but it was also at least 8-10 years old! I had got it used at a yardsale for much less than I sold it for, and even wore it on my child.
2. Onesies with cute sayings or holiday quotes, like “monster time” for halloween, or ”my first new year’s”.
3. Shoes for $2.50 or less. I didn’t price any shoes higher than this, because I was told they are very picky about shoes. I don’t think they were as picky this year however, and you could probably price them much higher. I also only brought shoes that were in near perfect condition. But again, their standards seemed to change, and I think you could probably sell lightly worn shoes for a good price.
4. Halloween costumes. (I priced mine too low at less than $5. When I was working at the register, several costumes sold for $10-20!)
5. Brand names like Gymboree, Gap and Carter’s.
6. Maternity dress pants, dresses, and nice shirts.
7. Snow pants and winter coats. Even if they had a few small scuff marks or simple wear.
8. Toddler toys. WOW! I was shocked. Kids vaccuums ($5), sit and spins, riding toys, easels (I saw one sell for around $20), toy kitchens (some for $40-50). I was shocked at how much people paid for toys in comparison to clothes!
9. Books and Puzzles. Children’s stories especially. I had some sign language books sell very well. (I priced my books anywhere from $1-5. All my puzzles sold the first day.)
10. Kids DVDs – Thomas the Train, princess movies, Curious George, Leapfrog, PBS Kids shows, etc. (I priced mine around $3, and they all sold.)
11. Clothing sets for the girls. Even if it wasn’t name brand. I think customers like to buy girls clothing in sets, with a matching shirt and pants, rather than buying jeans or pants separately.
12. Clothing that I thought was not good enough quality. (I priced these at $1 or $1.50, and they sold quickly.)
13. Pajama footed sleepers! (All of mine sold, most of them for about $3-4.50 each.)
14. Nursing covers. (I priced around $12-15.)
15. Boys flannel shirts, and really just boys clothing in general sold much better than my girls clothing.

What did not sell?

1. Infant girl christmas outfits. (No idea why, maybe there were too many or I priced mine too high. I do know there was A LOT of infant girl clothes. They did sell at the Lancaster sale, a few weeks later then.)
2. High priced (over $10) clothing outfits. Even if they were premium name brand girls dresses. People did not seem to be buying for quality! But they would buy multiple items for $5 each. (I’ve heard that the Oaks sale is different in this regard, and higher priced brands will sell.)
3. Maternity jeans. These eventually sold at the Lancaster sale, but not at the Reading sale for me. I did not change the price. Perhaps it was just the customers who needed them were at Lancaster, or maybe my brands weren’t right for Reading. Not sure about this. I sold them for around $5-8 each.
4. I had a really nice boys winter jacket listed for $25 but it was size 16-18XL. (This did not sell at Reading, but it did sell at Lancaster then!) I’m guessing these larger sizes are harder to sell because the majority of the moms participating don’t have kids quite that old yet. I would still take items in this size though, because every year, the moms who started this have kids getting older and they will keep participating!
5. White Gerber onesies or hat/glove sets that I put in a ziploc bag. I think there were just so many of them! I did notice that it did seem to help my hats/gloves sell if I hung them on the end of the rows on a hook. People see them quicker than if you pile them up on a shelf.
6. Preschool girls clothes seemed to sell only if they were name brand or really cute patterns. Again it still had to be priced under $10, or even $8.
7. Single bottles, that weren’t part of a set. Even if they are name brand or brand new. There were a lot of bottles, so this could have just been my bottles that did not sell!
8. What to Expect When You’re Expecting books. I don’t know if anyone sold their copies, but mine did not sell, and I saw many other copies that did not sell. I’m thinking these books were once a huge hit, but maybe not so much anymore.

If you want something to sell, just price it LOW. And chances are good that it will sell. I had an older computer software CD set I thought no one would buy and it sold the first day for $2.50.

Tomorrow I will share How I Tagged My Clothing and Miscellaneous Items, Why I Decided to Buy A Tagging Gun (and why I think you should consider it too!)

Other articles in this series that might interest you:
How I Prepared for My First Consignment Sale
How I Priced My Consignment Sale Items to Earn a Healthy Profit
What Sold and What Did Not Sell
How I Tagged My Clothes and Why I Decided to Buy a Tagging Gun
My #1 First-Time Consignor Regret