My First Just Between Friends Consigning Experience

I’ve been shopping at my local Just Between Friends (JBF) Consignment Sale since Munchkin was born in 2012.  I’ve gotten some great deals and I always enjoy going.  This time though, I decided to take the plunge and consign some of Munchkin’s stuff that we weren’t using.  I like to pass clothes on to friends with who are smaller than Munchkin since I’ve had so many given to me.  I mostly wanted to sell our pocket diapers since I don’t want to use them with Punkin.  I know I could sell them on my local cloth swap page and not have to share the profits but I didn’t want to have to meet twenty different people on twenty different days and drag Munchkin with me.  So consigning at the JBF sale made sense to me!


My goal was to make $100.  In addition to our pocket diapers, some covers and microfiber inserts, I also consigned a couple of toys and some books that I didn’t like and a few other random things.  I did have some clothes, mostly stragglers that didn’t make into the bag of clothes that I passed on to a friend.  I entered the items into the tagging system a month and a half before the sale and then waited until right before to print them out and get everything ready.  Hanging the clothes and adding labels to everything was pretty painless but depending on the number of items you have it can be time consuming.  Thankfully Munchkin let me do most of it while she played though she did supervise what I was doing.  The hardest part was keeping her from taking back some of the things I no longer wanted in our house.

I wanted to make as much money as possible, I decided to volunteer as well.  To get the highest percentage back, I had to volunteer a minimum of eight hours.  So at 31 weeks pregnant, I volunteered for the first time.  By doing this I also got my consigner fee of $10 waived.  Ten bucks might not seem like a lot but there’s a lot you can do with ten bucks!  I was a little nervous about how I would feel but I had a great time volunteering and am looking forward to doing it again!  They made sure I took plenty of breaks.  For my first shift I helped inspect clothes.  It was a little overwhelming at first as the second person I inspected had over 500 clothing items!  Thankfully she was a seasoned consigner and was not upset at all when I rejected an item.  Not everyone was as ok with it as she was but it’s not personal.  JBF just wants to make sure that they are selling the best items possible. 

The more I inspected the easier it got as I learned where to look for stains and worn spots.  I did get to sit at one point and that was nice.  For my second shift I manned the table at the entrance for the presales and was able to sit for that which was great.  I had overdone it the day before and it was nice to sit for most of the shift.  I really enjoyed interacting with people as they came in the door.  Over all think I ended up volunteering a little over 9 hours.  I would have done more but I was exhausted.

Dropping off my items was easy.  It wasn’t busy and it didn’t take long for my clothing items to be inspected.  Once they were deemed fine to sell, I put them on the rack in the appropriate sizes and then went and put everything in it’s proper spot.  I got my presale shopping passes and was on my way out.  Super easy and fast too! 

My favorite part of all of it is seeing what has sold! At the end of the night, sometime after ten, they get all the tags from the items sold that day uploaded and you can see what sold.  They also have a check estimator that lets you put in the percentage that you get and and fees and it gives you an estimate.  While I was manning the door I managed to convince myself that nothing I brought would sell, after all there was so much stuff!  I was thinking that my stuff wasn’t any good and/or overpriced and why would anyone buy it?  I was shocked when I saw that 12 of my 87 items sold.  That’s not a ton but I had made around $35.  Not bad I thought and I was hooked.  I wanted to SELL ALL THE THINGS.  There’s a second drop off night and I found about 11 more things so I got them tagged and dropped them off.  The second night I eagerly waited for the tags to be uploaded.  I was super excited to see that 24 more items sold and I made more than my goal of $100.   I was shocked!   I couldn’t wait to see what the next two days brought!

The third day brought 48 items sold, which was about half of what I had consigned.  Then Sunday, the last day is 50% off day and 11 more items sold for a grand total of 59 items (including most of the cloth diapers…score!)  I made more money than I expected.  I’m looking forward to getting that check!  I think we’ll be using it towards Christmas for the girls.  For the items that didn’t sell, there is an option to either pick them up or donate to the local Foster Parent’s Association.  Some of it I donated, some of it I wanted back.  Pick up was smooth and while I did have to wait in line to check out it wasn’t bad. 

I also had a great time shopping. I had a tight budget and we didn’t need much.  I was looking for some fall dresses for Munchkin and some newborn and 0-3 onesies and tops for Punkin.  I ended up going to the sale three times: Thursday during the volunteer presale, on Friday night and on Saturday night for the Volunteer 50% off presale.  I spent a grand total of $28 (well, my mom went with me Saturday night and she spent $3 which I included in that total) I got a skirt and a nightgown for Munchkin, a long sleeve maternity shirt for me and several long sleeve onesies, tops and outfits for Punkin.  I love getting a good deal (and the fact that the receipt tells me the average of what I paid for each item.) 



Overall I had a great experience and I can’t wait to consign and volunteer again.  If you’re in the Kitsap, WA area, there is a JBF Holiday sale November 21-23, 2104 at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.  I’ll only be shopping that one as Punkin will still be a brand new babe.  I’ll be active in the Spring JBF Sale…I already have spring & summer clothes set aside for it. I'm really looking forward to it.

Have you ever consigned at a consignment event?

Do you enjoy thrift shopping?