Gently used consignment items provide high fashion at a bargain.
Consignment businesses are multi-faceted. Aspiring designers use consignment shops to sell original creations and earn money without having to break into the department store market. The most common consignment shops allow people to sell gently used items and earn cash for cleaning out their closets and attics. Some specialize in second-hand design goods or leather goods. By accepting leather goods on consignment to sell in your online shop, you save on inventory, because you don't pay the supplier until the item actually sells.
Instructions
Start Your Own Consignment Shop
1. Register your consignment business with the state by submitting an application for a business license. Because you will be selling goods, apply for your reseller's license. A reseller's license passes the tax burden on to the buyer. Apply through your state's department of revenue.
2. Choose a domain name that's reflective of the types of leather goods you plan to sell, such as walletsrus.com. Build your online consignment shop. Hire a professional Web designer to ensure all shopping cart components and other components work properly for a satisfactory shopping experience. List your shop with online directories such as consignmentshops.com
3. Solicit leather goods from independent designers and potential customers to boost your inventory. Post information on your site that explains send inventory. In a Wall Street Journal post, Paulette Thomas writes "Some straightforward, unfancy marketing, such as classified ads in shopper newspapers, fliers, signs on the storefront and fliers distributed at garage sales, is likely to be enough to start. Friends and family are a good first source of merchandise as well."
4. Inspect every piece you receive. Choose high quality leather goods from what you receive.
5. Develop a standard contract for everyone to keep things simple. In it, determine your commission percentage between 15 to 45 percent. Also, state your policy for returning unsalable items to owners.
6. Take clear photographs of your items with a digital camera. Post those pictures on your consignment shop website.
7. Price items competitively. Review other online consignment and retail shops for similar items. Check their prices and mark your prices accordingly.
8. Promote the consignment shop online. Join an affiliate program by first reviewing affiliate programs rules, regulations, commission structure and then enrolling into the program you think best fits your needs. Offer affiliates a percentage of the sale for every sale made based on their recommendation.
9. Advertise your business offline by creating and handing out fliers with pictures of leather goods and your web address. Hire a few students for about $300 each to distribute your fliers.
Work with Existing Consignment Shops
10. Pick out leather items that you don't use anymore from your closet, attic and backyard shed. Clean items with soap. Apply leather conditioner to revitalize used, worn and weathered leather.
11. Make a list of online consignment shops that sell leather goods. Use a directory of online consignment shops.
12. Review the shops' policy for sending in items for consignment. Email the photographs to the consignments shops you're interested in working with.
13. Negotiate commission structure. Agree to the consignment shop's consignment agreement. Print it, sign it and return it to the shop along with the original items.
14. Promote the site and the items that you have on consignment. Start an online campaign of your own to direct buyers to your items on the consignment shop websites. Write on your blog about the leather goods you have for sale and the consignment shop with which you have teamed. Post links from your website or blog back to the consignment shop's web pages that display your leather goods.
Tags: leather goods, consignment shop, online consignment, consignment shops, commission structure, consignment shop, from your
