Why are consignors only allowed 10 pairs of shoes? We want our shoe selection to be top notch. By limiting consignors to 10 pairs, we know that you will pick out your best shoes and leave the worn ones at home.
The Benefits of Consigning With Us
Have you ever prepared your well cared for children's items to sell at a consignment store, taken them to the store and been sent home with almost as much you took? This can be very frustrating to the mom who takes the time to organize these items only to have them rejected simpy due to space limitations and overstock at the store. In addition, many consignment shops only pay you a few dollars for items they turn around and sell for much more. With Sunflower Sprouts, we won't turn your items away as long as they are in good condition and in season. You clean out your closets, you decide how much to sell the items for and you receive 65% or more of YOUR asking price.
We also offer a 50% off day the last 2 days of the sale. As a consignor, you can decide if you would like your items to be reduced to 50% off if they have not sold at regular price during the first part of our sale.
Buyers can see, smell and touch items at our sale. Buyers can't do that over the internet. And we save you the time and effort of having to list your item(s), sell them and mail those items to buyers across the country.
We do the advertising for you. Our ads can be seen in local publications and we will promote our business to local preschools, daycares, churches, mommy groups and more.
Consignors also have the option to donate any unsold items they don't want to a local charity we have partnered with called Garments of Love in New Brighton. Once a month they open their doors to the public and hand out free clothes and items to the public. They serve up to 400 families a month.
And don't miss the special consignor shopping times. Our consignors also get the benefit of shopping before we open to the general public.
Consignors can shop exclusively on April 12th from 10-2 PM but can shop until 8PM that night.
Consignors also get to shop early for the 50% off sale on Thursday April 18th from 6-8PM.
Don't have the time to prepare and tag all your items then try out our tagging services. Receive all the benefits of consigning without all the time.
There is a $10.00 fee to consign with us. This fee helps to cover our costs for our lease, insurance, racks, materials, and advertising. This fee will be paid via paypal during registration. We have installed this feature during our registration process to streamline things. We will not have to deduct this amount from your consignor check at the end of the sale. You do not have to have a PayPal account to make your payment, you can simply pay by credit card if you would like. (If you would prefer not to pay via paypal, please contact us via the "contact us" tab and we will tell you where to send your payment.)
Consignors must bring a minimum of 20 quality items and a maximum of 800 items. All items will be inspected upon arrival. Only up-to-date items in excellent condition will be accepted.
Accepted Items
As a consignor with Sunflower Sprouts, it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you are not consigning any recalled items. We cannot sell items which do not meet the standard lead limits, phthalates standards and toy standards due to new legislation. It is imperative that YOU as consignors help to keep our shoppers and children safe.
Please click here to find the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissions recall list.
- Girls and Boys clothing ranging from newborn to size 14 appropriate for Spring/Summer
- NEW: (in baby size 3 months to 9 months only 20 items per gender size will be accepted due to space and overcrowding in these sizes)
- shoes, cleats (only 10 pairs of shoes per consignor are allowed)
- skirts
- dresses
- jeans accepted year round
- short sleeve shirts
- spring jackets
- light weight sweatshirts (no fleece)
- school uniforms
- Swimsuits/Pullovers
- rain boots
- hats, belts, hair accessories etc
- dance wear
- Clothing in sizes 10-14 must be trendy and manufactured in the last 4 years. We will be limiting the space to such brands as Abercrombie, Old Navy, Gap, Justice and the like.
- NEW for Spring 2013 - Now accepting PreTeen clothes in Sizes XS - M from 5 of the most popular brands including Abercrombie, Aeropostale, Charlotte Russe, American Eagle and Hollister. Check out our conversion chart to see the transition in sizes from Children's to Teen.
Children's size 14; junior size 3 or S
Children's size 16; junior size 5 or M.
- NEW for Spring 2013 - We will now have a specific Boutique Special Brand Rack for all those high end clothes such as Mini Boden, Hanna Anderson, Matilda Jane, and Persnickety.
- Children's Shoes in excellent condition - limited to 10 pairs of shoes per consignor
- Toys, games and puzzles (All pieces must be included and batteries must be included as needed. Any items brought that require batteries and do not have working batteries in them will be removed from the sales floor.)
- NEW for Spring 2013: Homechooling Materials. We will now have a section solely for homeschool materials so homeschooling families have a means to sell and purchase these materials at a reasonable cost.
- Children's Books and Parenting books that are in good condition. Books with excessive wear will be removed from the sales floor.
- Baby/Toddler Items:
- monitors, diaper pails, diaper bags, bathtubs, bath seats
- high chairs, swings, strollers, bouncy chairs, exersaucers, baby carriers
- gates, locks, bed rails, wedges, outlet covers
- cups, plates, silverware, bibs, bottles (without nipples), booster seats
- Linens and children's decor: crib and children's bed linens, blankets, crib toys, lamps, rugs, wall decor, towels, washcloths
- DVDs, CD-Rom games, Music CD's
- Scooters and Bikes in excellent condition
- Furniture such as changing tables, gliders, dressers . These MUST be assembled to sell well.
- Maternity clothing for Spring/Summer
We can not accept items which do not meed the standard lead limits, phthalates standards and toy standards. Click here to access the CPSC Recall site.
- Out of date clothing
- Clothing that is stained, worn, faced, has broken zippers, missing buttons etc.
- Out of season clothing
- Car seats (for safety reasons)
- Cribs
- VHS Tapes
- Handmade items
- Screen print tees (with the exception of Old Navy, GAP, TCP, Abercrombie, Justice type brands)
- Undergarments that aren't like new or new
While you are registering to consign, the system will ask you to select a drop off time. We have drop off appointments for April 6th from 10-7 and April 7th from 12-5. These scheduled appointments allow us to have consignors dropping off throughout the day so that we don't have everyone trying to come at once.
- Consignors price their own items. All items are priced in $.50 increments. As a general rule, try to price your items at about 20-40% of what you originally paid. Perfect Gap and Gymboree sell well and may get closer to 25-30% of the original cost and perfect Boutique brands will get up to 40% of the original purchase price. Scrutinize each piece as if YOU were planning to purchase it. Items that are priced too high will not readily sell! Do not allow an emotional attachment to an item cause you to overprice it.
- Sets and outfits sell better than single items. We recommend pairing like items or creating sets whenver possible.
- Keep in mind your competition. For instance, there is always a large selection of like-new infant clothes from 0-6 months. If you want your item to sell, then you might consider pricing lower to make it look more appealing. If you have name brand boys clothes in size 4T or higher that are in excellent condition then you can chance asking a slightly higher price. (Since boys tend to wear out their clothes more, these nicer items might be harder to find.) Preteen clothes are harder to sell because at that age the kids are getting pickier about what they want to wear.
- You also have the option to have your items discounted to 50% off the last 1-2 days of the sale to help them sell if they haven't already at regular price. You will indicate whether you want each item discounted when tagging your items. You can have some items discounted and others not. You are in complete control of your pricing.
- Outdoor playground equipment , Little Tykes, double strollers, jogging strollers and other large items may sell for up to 60% of the original purchase price if in good condition. If these items are worn, please keep that in mind when pricing.
How to Handle Your Past Tagged Inventory:
Note about past inventory for returning consignors. You do not have to retag any unsold items from our previous sales, unless you are changing the price, or the donation designation on the item. You do, however, have to make this older inventory ACTIVE in the system.
1. Log into your account 2. Select Work with Consigned Inventory 3. Select Work with Inactive Inventory- this then lets you select the specific inventory from the past sale that you plan to bring to the upcoming sale. You select these items by clicking on the box in front of the item number. Please remember to not bring over any fall/winter clothing items as they will not be accepted, and having them in your active inventory only throws off our item counts to determine what rack/shelf space we need and it throws of your percentage of items sold. You can remove your unsold spring/summer items over to inactive inventory by doing the reverse. Click each item number you want to make "inactive" and then click "Make items inactive" at the top of the screen.
By doing this, your items will still be saved in the system for our next sale.
We appreciate you taking the time to manage and monitor your inventory appropriately. When done correctly it gives us a better idea of how our sale is running and how much we are selling. If items are showing as active in the system but aren't on the floor being sold then it throws of our inventory as a whole, and it throws off your final totals which show how much of your product you sold.
- The key to successful consigning is preparation! The better your items look the more you can charge, so take the time to prepare your items correctly. A little bit of work before the sale will lead to a larger check following the sale!
- Carefully inspect your clothing to make sure there are no stains or tears. All buttons, snaps and zippers should be closed and in working order. Clean and press your items to make them as presentable as possible.
- Shoppers at sales such as these love to look for brand names such as Baby Gap, Gap Kids, Hartstrings, Gymboree, Carters and Osh Kosh b'Gosh. These companies tend to offer high quality children's clothing that wears and then resells very well.
- All clothing must be on a hanger. Clothing should be hung on the hanger so the hanger makes a question mark (?) See below for further instructions.
- Shoes must be in near-perfect condition secured together. See below for further instructions.
- Stuffed animals will only be accepted if they "do" something like move, light up, or make noise. If they require batteries, they must have them.
- IMPORTANT: All DVD's are to be left UNTAPED. We will be inspecting all DVD's upon arrival. Once we verify the DVD is in the case and it is in good condition we will secure the case with packing tape the whole way around. We have changed our policies with DVD's at this sale because of a high rate of theft/missing DVD's at our last sale.
- Toys, games, equipment etc. must have all pieces, be clean, and not out-of-date.
- Toys that require batteries must have them. ( Dollar Stores offer cheap batteries) Customers want to be able to see that the toy is in proper working condition.
Hanging & Tagging Items
Hang all garments on hangers with hanger hook pointing left so it makes a questions mark. (?) Place tag on right side of garment with a safety pin or use a tagging gun. If possible, please poke just one hole through the tag and then pin onto clothes. Buy securing with one hole it allows for quicker and easier tag removal during our busy times. When using a tagging gun, place the needle of the gun through a seam on the item or you will make a hole!
When securing pants to a regular hanger, be sure you PIN the pants to the hanger shoulders, not the straight edge bottom, to keep them from sliding around and to display them best. Pant hangers with clips are fine as well. Make sure the clips are secure.
Secure two-piece outfits together by safety-pinning the two pieces together. This way, if one item falls off of the hanger, it will not be lost. Do not pin pieces so that one piece can not be seen. Hang the shirt on the hanger and then pin the pants to the back of the shirt at the shoulders. This way, a buyer can simply flip the hanger around and see the entire outfit displayed clearly.
Do not use tiny gold pins ( not strong enough) and do not use straight pins or staples (dangerous to the shopper). Use normal safety pins. See pictures below for examples.
Shoes: Only 10 pairs of shoes are permitted per consignor. When preparing shoes, it is very helpful to attach them to each other to prevent the loss of a shoe during the sale. The best method for securing shoes together is to use Zipties. You can buy packs of 100 zipties at a home improvement store in the electrical department for about $3.00. Zipties are the most secure method and can only be removed with scissors. (See picture of ziptie.) If you are unable to use the zipties, you can tie the laces together or use yarn/string to tie them together but the shoes may get seperated using this method. Place a hole in the tag in the upper corner and string the ziptie or string through the hole before you secrue it to the shoes. Only if the shoes are unable to be tied together ( ballet flats, penny loafers) may you place shoes in a clear ziploc bag. The tag may then be taped to the outside of the ziploc bag or pinned somewhere if need be.
Hairbows, ribbons, headbands, belts, etc: Place these items in a clear ziploc bag with the tag secured to the outside of the bag. If these items specifically match a set of clothing that you are selling, it is best to attach the bag securely to the items or hanger so that the seller can see the entire outfit. Price accordingly with a price for the complete set, not a price per item.
Books/DVD's: Label books and DVD's by placing the tag on the back of the item and adhering gently with clear tape. Please tape carefully as we do not want to rip an item's case or cover when removing the tag. We WILL NOT accept VHS tapes. They are no longer in demand so we are choosing not to sell them.
Toys, Games, Puzzles: Please make sure all pieces of a toy or game are included. Smaller pieces can be placed inside a ziploc bag and then SECURELY taped to the toy. Game boxes should be in good condition and taped so that pieces can not fall out. Count your puzzle pieces to make sure they are complete. Wooden puzzles can be wrapped in clear plastic wrap and then secured with tape on the back to keep all puzzle pieces in place.
Cardstock Tags: Do not use regular weight copy paper to print your tags. This paper rips easily and if it falls off of your item, and we are unable to identify where it came from, the item then goes into our Lost & Found box and can not be sold. It is very important to print your tags on WHITE cardstock or "cover stock" weight paper. This paper is sold at any office supply store including Office Max, Staples, Office Depot, Kinko's, etc. You can either choose to purchase this paper by the sheet or in packs of 250 sheets. Prices range from $.08 - $.15 per sheet or $10.49 - $15.00 per pack of 250. If you are at all concerned that one of these tags might tear due to the weight of an item, it can also help to place a pice of tape over one corner of the cardstock and then pin through the tape.
Our tagging system allows you to enter a full description of the item you are selling. Take advantage of this to tell a buyer if your 24 month outfit "fits like 18 months", has "only been worn once", or "has never been worn". Full descriptions also allow us to match up a tag to an item if it has fallen off during the sale. Putting "JEANS" in the description will not help us if your tag falls off and then your item can not be sold. But, putting a description such as "Children's Place jeans with flower on back pocket" would help us in finding a tag for your item. We match up many lost tags during the sale for those that take the time to put detail in the description.
Also in our tagging system you can indicate for each individual item if you would like it to be discounted to 50% on the last day by checking off the discount box. You can also indicate if you would like your item to be donated to Genesis by marking the donate box. These indications will show up on your tag so buyers know if the item is 50% off on the 50% off shopping day and we know when sorting at the end of the sale if your item is being donated or being picked up by you.
NEW for SPRING 2013 SALE: Any items marked to donate MUST also be marked to discount. During our 50% off sale almost 80% of what we sell is discounted. Buyers come back to search for 50% off items. If it hasn't sold yet, why not try to make some money on it before donating it. This also helps save us time when sorting. The more we sell the less we have to sort into the donation pile or into consignors numbers.
Once you have registered as a consignor you can begin tagging your items.
**All tags must be input and printed by 11:59PM on Friday, April 5th. The tagging software will go off line to convert our software to the POS system to prepare for the sale. You can still attach your tags after this time so we suggest you take the time to input and print all your items first and worry about attaching later.**
To begin entering inventory log in to your account using your consignor number and password.
On the left hand side select "Work with Consignor Inventory". This will bring you to the Consignor Item Entry box.
This box gives you all the options on how to manage your inventory and print tags. The 2 main options you will need to work with are "Work with my consigned inventory" and "Print Tags".
Click on "Work with my consigned inventory" to add your inventory. Make sure to select a size if applicable. If any item is 3-6 months then choose "6 months". Always choose the higher size to put on your tag since this is how we place them on the racks too. If there is no size then simply choose "see description". Add a detailed description such as name brand, colors, special details etc and then input your price. It is imperative that you put specific detail for each item in this area so if a tag goes missing we can do a search to try and find a tag that matches your item. If you want your item to discount to 50% off then check that box. If you want that item to be donated if it doesn't sell then check the donate box. As a reminder...all items marked to donate must also be marked to discount.
NEW FOR SPRING 2013 SALE: Any items that are marked to DONATE also MUST be marked to DISCOUNT. During our 50% off sale about 80% of what we sell is at 50% off. When consignors do not discount their items to help them sell but then choose to donate it causes us and our volunteers even more labor time to pull all those items to donate.
