Selling on consignment

[AshleyR]

There is a gift shop in town that is willing to sell my soaps. The owner told me she would sell them on consignment.

The deal is, I pay her $30/mo for the use of her space, her selling efforts, to cover fees for the debit/credit card machine, and a small amount of advertising. She will also mark up all of my products by 25%..... so I'll get 75% of what they sell for.

Is this a good deal? I've never sold on consignment before so I have no idea. The store is actually a clothing store but they are getting into selling more items like gift baskets, and other stuff. The owner was really excited about my products (I'm going to be selling bath stuff too) and was very interested. Her store is not super duper busy (I think that's why she's starting to sell other peoples' stuff in her store - to get more people to come in) so I am slightly worried the products won't sell a ton, but it's worth a shot!

I'm pretty excited!

I have to go in and see her this week about it. Are some store owners willing to barter on prices? (ie: waive the consignment fee if enough products sell, etc. etc.)? What should I be asking her?

Thanks so much!! I'll let you guys know how things go.

 

[Lindy]

From my experience consignment usually means that they will cover the cost of the space and will take 20 - 30% of the price to cover their costs and profit margin. I've never run across someone who wants to charge space rent, advertising and a commission on top of it all. Sounds a tad high to me - however having said that maybe someone has experience that better lines up with what you're being offered. Are there other stores in town like a small grocery store, natural food store, drug store? If it were me I would check with some of them first to see if they would be interested in carrying the soap either by buying them straight from you (you would charge them 50% - 60% of retail) or on consignment for 25% commission. Ashley your soaps are amazing and I wouldn`t want to see you sell yourself short....

Cheers
Lindy

 

[jbarad]

I agree with Lindy, most places charge a percentage of the sale amount OR a monthly fee for space, but not both.

Definitely talk to others though who do more consignment sales, I haven't dealt in consignment in years, perhaps things changed somewhat.

 

[Chay]

Tabitha would be a good person to ask.