Our Quality Standards & Procedures

Please take the time to review this information carefully, even if you've consigned with us before as some guidelines have changed. This will save you time and ensure you make the most of your sales. Pay careful attention to the acceptable items list.

Preparing Items

• Clothing MUST BE free of stains, tears, excessive wear & smell fresh.
• Wash and hang clothing. We require that clothes be hung on hangers. When the item is facing you, the hanger should look like a question mark (?), with the open-end facing to the left.
• The styles should be current. Please zip zippers, button buttons, and snap snaps (all should be in working order).
• Toys, puzzles, games and videos must be 100% complete and in good working condition.
• SOCKS AND TIGHTS MUST BE NEW IN PACKAGE OR ATTACHED BY SAFETY PIN TO APPROPRIATE OUTFIT.
• Cloth items should be pinned together or hung.
• Clothing tags should be safety pinned with medium sized pins (NO straight pins or small gold safety pins or tagging guns). Place tags on left side of each piece. (See diagram)
• All items should be in gender and size order for drop off.
• Consider putting together sets made up of tops and bottoms and price accordingly. Make sure your pieces are secured at least 1 point with a safety pin to insure they will not get separated and put in lost and found. Please do not layer your sets (hang bottoms behind top).
• All footwear needs to be in excellent condition. Shoes need to be tied or clipped together with the tag pinned or taped to the pair. If your shoes can possibly be zip tied at any point, then this is best. Put a piece of packing tape in the corner of tag and punch a hole. Thread your zip tie through the tag and then attach to shoes. Please do not bring them in their original box or in a bag.
• Please make sure that when you enter your items that you indicate if you want the item discounted or donated if not sold.
• If donating, please remember to mark discount and give your item a chance to be sold
• Minimum price must be $2.00 for anything consigned. Please put dollar items in sets to equal $2.00.
• All tags must be on White Cardstock with black ink- Tags on paper, stickers, or printed with ink that is too light or any color other than black will not be accepted.

Please Note: The consignor is responsible for checking for recalled items. Remember, you are selling your items to other mommies and their kiddos... If in doubt, please check our recalls page for more information.

IMPORTANT INFO ON HIGH INVENTORY COUNTS: If you believe you will have over 150 items please contact us ASAP so that we can schedule another check in appointment for you. If you will have over 300 items we will need to schedule two extra appointments. The sooner we know this the easier it will be for us to work with your schedule. If you do not contact us you may have to wait longer than expected in order for us to inspect the items of those who have appointment times.

Due to an increase in inventory & inspection time restrictions, we will be implementing our new "Patterns of 10" ™ rule during inspections. This means that if an inspector notices a "pattern of 10" ™ stained, too worn, out of season, etc. items while inspecting your inventory, the remainder of the items will be returned to the consignor. The consignor is expected to go through their inventory again to check for unacceptable items. After the consignor reviews the inventory, the inspector will inspect the remaining items. If another "pattern of 10" ™ is noticed, the remaining inventory will be returned to the consignor as "unacceptable." Please, double & triple check your inventory at home, so that inspections will continue to run fast & smooth.

Pricing

In an effort to help you make more money we have increased the minimum on all items to $2.00. As the consignor, it is your responsibility for setting the prices for your items. If you want to discount your items 50% for the last day of sale, just check the appropriate box when creating your tags available through consignor registration.

This guide will give you tips and ideas for pricing items so that you are putting $$$ in your pocket and not taking your items back home. You are certainly welcome to price your items as you see best for you but here are a few things to keep in mind when considering your pricing:

1. Clothing is best priced at 1/4 to 1/3 of the retail price. Below are our suggested and proven price points for different categories of clothing. You must keep in mind the brand/label of your clothing and price accordingly. Group your clothing into 3 categories — Standard Labels, Premium Labels, and Boutique Labels to help with pricing

2. Some examples of Standard, Premium, and Boutique labels are:

• Standard - Faded Glory, Carters, Circo, Healthtex, Sonoma, Simply Basic, Kid Connection, Lee, Levi, Old Navy
• Premium - Gymboree, Baby Gap, Koala Kids, Limited Too, Talbots Kids, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Osh Kosh, Nike
• Boutique- Baby Lulu, Hanna Andersson, Mini Boden, Strasburg, Naartjie

3. When selecting your price for the item, think of the very least you would consider taking for it and that should be your price. If you can’t take half that amount, then do not select the half price option for that item. Do not let the half price issue affect your regular selling price because it simply makes the regular selling price too high.

4. Consider this a great opportunity to clean out closets and kid’s rooms and refurnish. Do not let your time and energy go to waste by not selling everything you put in the sale. Price it to sell!!!

5. If someone comes to the sale and gets lots of bargains, they are probably going to tell their friends. The success of MamaCents Children’s Consignment Sale depends on a good turnout of shoppers. If we give them the bargains that they want, then it will grow each year.

6. Presentation Matters!!! Run the iron quickly over each piece, take the little extra time to button all buttons, zip zippers, etc. Use appropriate types of hangers when at all possible and especially on your nicer label clothing.

7. Don’t forget THE NEST: a marketplace for home furnishings.

ALL ITEMS MUST BE PRICED AT LEAST $2.OO AND ONLY WHOLE DOLLAR INCREMENTS (Ex: $5.00, $6.00, $7.00). If you have $1.00 items pair them with similar things to make the total $2.00. Example: If you have 2 separate onesies that you would like to price at $1.00 each, combine them as 1 item and sell for a price of $2 or $3 dollars. Again, this makes your time entering go a little faster, and in the long run you will be making more money, and our buyers will be getting a fabulous deal.

For a detailed breakdown of how items should typically be priced, click here.

Tagging

Consignors maintain 100% control of pricing (for suggestions on pricing click here). Now you are ready! Just click here to register and start getting ready to have some fun!!

• You will be given a consignor number when you register on line.
• Tags must be printed on WHITE CARD STOCK with black ink to ensure the scanner will pick up the price.
• Attach your tags with SAFETY PINS to the left side of all clothing (see example below)
• Sets are considered to be 1 item, and need 1 tag.
• Attach tags securely with clear packing tape (NOT scotch--it will not stay on) to any items other than clothing
• Be sure that the bar-coding on the tags is not obscured or destroyed while you are attaching.
• When printing your barcodes, please make sure that the bar-coding is not too dark or smudged or too light so it can not be read. By ensuring this we can make the check out process go more quickly.

View a complete list of acceptable and unacceptable items here

Inventory Pickup

If you are not donating your unsold items, which we highly recommend, you will be assigned a specific time frame for pick-up on Sunday. Please bring baskets/bags for your items. Each consignor will be escorted onto the sales floor to their items and then to the exit line. Consignor #s will be checked upon exiting. We also highly recommend that you leave all children at home to reduce the amount of traffic during the pick-up process.

Make sure to check the lost and found area at pickup if items are missing. Consignors MUST come during their scheduled time (check sale schedule) and bring your ID.