For those of you who haven’t heard of the Just Between Friends Sale, it’s a fantastic sale where you can sell and buy gently used kids clothing, toys, shoes, baby equipment, and maternity items. The sale happens twice a year. I don’t shop the JBF Sale because I partake as a consignor in order to get rid of crap and not accumulate more. But you can find some smokin’ deals if you’re in search of items for your baby or child.

For those who want to sell, here are my tips:

Get familiar with their site:

Go to jbfsale.com. You can find the one nearest you by clicking on the “find your local event” button on their homepage. If you want to consign, you first have to register. Once you register and pay a nominal fee and they will allow you to pick a time that you’ll be dropping off your items. Whatever you sell, you keep 60% of the profits and they keep the other 40%. It’s high for sure, but you can keep 70% of your profits instead of 60% if you are willing to work the sale for 4 hours. To me, 4 hours of my time is not worth an extra 10% of the sales I make, so I don’t volunteer. But the women I have spoken to who have volunteered say it’s pretty simple.

Items you’ll need for the Just Between Friends Sale:

Hangers! Use the free ones that come with clothes from Target or other retailers first. I never have enough of those so I buy these cheap bulk ones off Amazon. You’ll also need: Safety pins, tape, gallon-size ziploc bags, zip ties or yarn, cardstock paper, and scissors.

To create tags for your items:

Click on the “create tags” menu at the top. You then choose between “basic entry” and “rapid entry.” If you are only donating a few items and they are different sizes and different categories (for instance, a few items of clothing in multiple sizes, a couple toys, a nursing top, a bottle warmer, etc.) then you’ll want to click on basic entry. I tend to donate a ton of the same size clothing all at once, so I prefer to use the rapid entry option.

Under rapid entry, you select from a drop down menu: the season, what items you are tagging, the size, and then it will automatically print 9 tags at a time that all say “girls clothing, size 18 months”. After all that, you then enter the item description. I like to be as specific as possible for my own records. So I’ll write something like, “Carter’s brand strawberry print long sleeved onesie with matching pants.” Or, “V-tech interactive musical zoo toy” etc. Then, you’ll select your price you want to sell it for.

Printing your tags:

I prefer to print using the “PDF” tags which lets you print 9 tags at once but choose whichever option floats your boat! The one rule you have to follow no matter which option you choose is that they have to be printed white cardstock versus regular paper!

Decide if you want the item to be reduced on the last day of the sale.

When in the tagging menu you can select if you want to reduce and/or donate the item. Any items marked “reduced” will indicate that on the tag and will go on sale for half off of the price listed on the last day of the sale. If you choose not to reduce, it still stays on sale for your original price listed. When it’s marked as “donate” you don’t have to pick up the items and donate them at the end of the sale, they’ll just donate them for you! It then saves you another trip having to donate the items yourself!

Things to keep in mind when pricing your items:

On their website they state that shoppers expect the prices to be 50-90% off the retail price. I think 90% off is a bit excessive unless what you’re selling is cheap or not a brand-name. If it’s a higher-end brand (like Ralph Lauren, Boden, Michael Kors, etc) then you can ask for more than if it’s something from Carter’s, Old Navy, or Target. They recommend you price things from Cat & Jack, Jumping Beans, Old Navy, and Carter’s at $1-$4 per item. Items from Gymboree, Justice, Gap, Children’s Place, and Disney price from $3-$6 and items from Polo, Borden, Jane an Jack, and Abercrombie price at $7-$10 per item.

For clothing with any holes, stains, missing buttons, broken snaps, or the fabric is pilling, don’t sell it. Donate it or trash it. It won’t sell anyways, so save yourself the hassle of tagging and safety pinning the tag to the item and all that crap. Plus, before opening the doors to the public, they’ll pull any clothing that looks rough and if it’s the same vendor selling shitty clothing, they’ll penalize you.

Tag Placement:

It states on their website that you must tag all garments on the left shoulder of the garment. Note: The left shoulder of the garment, not your left when you are looking down at the article of clothing. So when it’s on the table in front of you facing up, it will be on your right. Use a safety pin to attach tags to all articles of clothing. You also have to have it on hangers that you provide. The hanger must be facing with the ? top opening pointed to the left when looking at the hanger. When selling items that are sets, you have ensure that pieces won’t fall off the hanger and go missing. So for a pant and shirt set, safety pin the pants to the hanger and then safety pin the shirt on top of the pants.

Tagging Toys:

First, make sure it looks new! Include all parts and ensure no pieces are broken or missing. Don’t try and scam some innocent mom by selling her a toy that doesn’t work – that’s just bad karma! Any toys that require batteries have to have working batteries already in them. Before the sale starts, volunteers check to make sure the toys are working. If they have dead batteries in the ones you donate, the toys will be pulled off the floor and not sold.

If it’s furniture or safety equipment, you have to check for all safety recalls that could be associated with those items. Any crib manufactured after June of 2015, you have to print a crib waiver to go along with it. You also have to have waivers attached to all car seats, booster seats, and car seat bases.

Shoes:

They must be zip-tied or held together with ribbons (I use yarn) so they don’t get separated. Attach the tag by punching a hole in it and tying it to the shoes.

Drop off Day:

You select the hour and day you want to drop off your stuff. They generally start it at 1 pm a few days before the sale starts. This ensures all items can be quality checked and organized before the sale beings. When you pull up at your allotted time, you’ll back your car up to their doors and they will have Z racks you can use to hang your clothes on.

YOU PUT ALL YOUR OWN ITEMS OUT! Remember that when organizing them in bins or in your car to make it easy on yourself! They’ll give you a map that indicates where to put each item. Once you put them in the proper places, you just leave! You don’t have to come back again if you’ve marked that you want your items donated after the sale ends. If you want to pick up unsold items after the sale, you’ll show up between 8-11 am the Monday after the sale is over and grab your unsold crap. Anything not picked up by 11:01 am will automatically be donated. They do have volunteers scattered about to help you with the entire process in case you have questions.

Once the sale goes live, you can track your sales! Under the “tagging” section it’ll show a checkmark next to things that have sold. Access it by scrolling to the very bottom of the tagging page. Under “Reports” you’ll see an option for “sold items” you can click on and go from there.

As a consignor, you’ll also get one free priority shopping pass to shop the presale. I always give mine away because as I said, I’m there to sell not to spend.

I hope these tips help! And if you want more mom tips, check out my blog on Room Mom Ideas!