Perfecting Your Consignment Acceptance Policy

It’s important to have a good consignment acceptance policy to have a successful store. When you accept any item from a consignor, your store isn’t represented well. Instead, it’s better to be particular. Select your items carefully to not drive away customers with a cluttered and stale inventory.

Getting started

Make your policy something that you are comfortable with and can be easily translated. Keep in mind your store’s mission. Declare what your store will sell: size, gender, age group, designer, seasonal, etc.

Here are some ways you can manage the items you accept:

• Have a limited amount of items you accept
  • Figure out a good number that works for you and stick with it.
• Take your time
  • There’s no rush on choosing inventory, have your consignors drop off their items and take some time to choose what items you want.
• Schedule a meeting
  • Schedule a time to meet with your consignors so that you are prepared.

Your consignors should know your split, such as 60/40. Some stores also choose to have exceptions for items that are more expensive or are more valuable. This can encourage your consignors to bring those items as they can make more money from them. You can also add a Buyer’s Fee that will influence their total.

If you are doing a sliding scale program, you have to be sure you’re communicating with your consignors. You can come up with models for the terms, which can all look different. One example is a consignment period that lasts 90 days, with a 25 percent markdown after 30 days and a 50 percent discount after 60 days. On top of that, declare the store split.

Set expectations

I’m sure there are things that consignors do that bother you. Set some expectations for them to follow. Take time to think about some expectations that can eliminate difficulties. Some expectations can be related to obvious things such as tears, rips, stains, missing pieces, scent, etc. Or whether you prefer items to be brought in hangers, organized in a way that makes sense, etc. As well as not allowing certain items. These can help you develop a list of items you won’t accept and weed out those terrible items you don’t need to dig through.

Consignor Access

Consignor Access will come in handy for communicating anything with your consignors, but especially your terms. Using consignor access, your consignors can have direct access to the agreement they signed. Not only that, but depending on what rights you give them, they can be up to date on what’s going on in-store with their items. Consignor Access is also good for your own peace of mind. You can easily communicate with your consignors this way. Using Consignor Access will make it easier to work on your consignment acceptance policy since you’ll have the perfect way to communicate that.

As a side note, you need personal information from your consignors. Require a driver’s license, contact information, mail, and email address.

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Paulette Squicimari