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Parenting
Lilywildcat
member
Once upon a ripoff
Lilywildcat
member
in Parenting
I went to Once Upon a Child to sell some kids clothes items that my daughter never got to wear. Most of the items were brand new sets, with all the tags still attached. There were 3 sets of 3 pc outfits from Carters, a skirt and top set, new shoes (Childrens Place), a couple of shirts (CP and Gymboree), 2 prs of pants, a fancy coat and a jacket/ shirt set from Baby Phat). There was a small bag of random used stuff like some shirts, bibs, hats but all in good condition.
They only wanted to give me 21 dollars for all that stuff. I found it too little money for a big box of all brand new stuff so i took all of my stuff home, i'd rather try to sell it online to see if i can get more money for it. Is Once Upon a Child and other consignment shops usually cheap when buying your stuff like that? Don't get me wrong, i love to buy from them but i didn't realize they would only give me 21 bucks for it.
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Re: Once upon a ripoff
But I agree, if your stuff still has the tags I would try online.
I might try to have a garage sale next spring if the items don't sell because i would probably have more stuff to get rid of anyway. I don't have a OUAC in my city, i went to one about half an hour away since i was already there for a doctor's appt, and when i got there at noon, they had already stopped purchasing for the day. Went to a location another 20 minutes away and i was really disappointed with what they were going to give me. They told me the rating and pricing system is standard across all locations so i'd probably get the same money at another location.
This is my siggy. Love it.
They need to make a profit. Nobody is obligated to sell off their unused baby or kid wear to them. They have overhead, expenses, etc.
Sell them on Craigslist or Ebay if you have the time or desire, but I don't consider Once Upon a Child to be a ripoff. It's just business. You don't have to engage in business with them if you don't want to.
All consignments are like that, all of them. You don't go there to make money, you go there to get rid o' yo sh?t.
If you want to make money you need to post on Craigslist.
Labor Buddy to Blowfish11
Labor Buddy to Blowfish11
do not garage sale clothes. You'll make less money than at a consignment.
Labor Buddy to Blowfish11
See i was told by an employee that they would sell it for about half of tag price, but the Baby Phat jacket retails for $54. I found some of their pricing odd. Even if they sell it for $20 i should have been offered $10 but the printout showed me only $4. The Carter's outfits would only get me a 2-3 dollars each and the new fancy coat would only give me $2.50, yet the tag said $24.99. It didn't add up, it was about $150 (retail) worth of stuff so i was expecting more than 21 dollars
You're paying for convenience, so your take-home money is less.
Be sure that you're only trying to sell/consign/CL/whatever clothes in season. That will help a little bit.
I go back in forth about consigning versus CL. I'll probably try one round of CL, get annoyed and then consign or donate the rest. I'd actually prefer to pass along some of my items (since people passed along things to me) but so far no one's had a boy in the right season.
BFP #2 5/27/12. EDD 2/1/13. m/c and D&C 6/21/12.
Labor Buddy to Blowfish11
I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to pay the $20 at consignment so they definitely won't give you that. It depends on how much work you want to do - Ebay might be the best for NWT if you really want to make the most and don't mind the work. Big consignment sales are probably next because you still do quite a bit of work but you usually get 60-70% back so that's a lot better. Consignment stores that give you a % are next - mine gives me 40% of whatever is sold and I pick up the rest after three months. OUAC and similar that buy straight out are easiest but you won't get much. If I was going to do that, I'd just sell to Thredup and save myself the gas!! I sold to Thredup once (they LOVE NWT items, just don't be disappointing) and the payout was not great but okay.
I'm not dumb; I realize they are a business and they have overhead. But IME, it's a ripoff.
I took my Chicco Trevi Stroller to a local consignment shop. It had been used maybe 10 times. They offered me $20 for a $180 stroller that I know damn well they were not going to sell for $40.
I think that you have too much personal value/attachment to these items. The price they gave you seems fair. You, however, seem to be focused on "it's a BABY PHAT coatttttttt!!!!!!!!
Srsly, most people don't give a crap. They just want a coat at a reasonable price. My kid will end up rolling in the mud & army crawling from here to Toledo & back, so the only info on the label that interests me in the wash instructions.
Lower your standards. It's used kids clothes.
What size are the clothes? There is an online consignment store called thredup.com that takes 18 month + clothes, and it's free to ship them. The only downside is that you have no idea how much you'll get for it and you don't really have the opportunity to say no once you've sent it. The upside is that you get a credit or cash right away and it's really easy.
We don't have a Once Upon A Child here but our local chain consignment store sucks. They have offered me $.25 for a Gymboree onesie, yet they sell stained, faded Carter's onesies for $4/each. I refuse to shop or consign there.
No offense, but that kind of stroller isn't going to fetch them a ton of money used. It's not a product like a BOB stroller or an ergo carrier that has a high resale value, KWIM?
I can't imagine they'd get significantly more than $40 even if the stroller was in good shape.
People tend to overexaggerate what their products are actually worth.
Heck no. Maybe I'm just cheap, but $20 would be my top-end to purchase a brand new coat for my toddler. I just bought DD her winter coat, a brand new, name brand, very nice parka, for $4 at Goodwill. Hells yeah.
i hate it when I agree with KC.
. I'm selling in my moms group's sale next month. My exact stroller was at OUAC for $55 and mine isn't dirty like theirs. I will sell it for $50 and get most of that since I'm on the committee. You can't look at what you paid even if it still has tags. You have think about what you'd pay. And I'm cheap.
I have never sold kids clothes. But I think Once Upon a child is part of the same company that Plato?s Closet and the other one (can?t remember the name of now is...the one for adults). They never give you what clothes are worth IMO. I had 2 brand new with tags, Express Dresses that retailed for $100. They wanted to give me $4.00 a piece for them! I mean come on! I didn?t expect to get a lot but $4 was a rip off IMO. I would rather donate them or give them to a friend at that point. There is a local consignment sale that comes around maybe 2-3 times a year called Pollywogs 2 Frogs. They are great. They have so much great stuff there, at amazing prices. Last winter I got a snow suit for $5 and baby gap jacket for $8. Neither had been worn.
What they initially price it at and what it actually will sell for are two entirely different figures.
Correction, they are new with tags. Another reason i figured i would get more $
I am sorry you're disappointed, but that's just kind of how it goes.
Right, but you still wouldn't get close to retail for that because it's not recent stuff.
Just because babyphat clothing seems nice to you--well if it's not the kind of brands that will move quickly in their store, they're not going to want to give you a lot for it just for the item to sit on their shelves and not sell.
Thanks, I thought it was a rip off too, that's what i wanted to express in my post. Ya, i know people who go to those stores for that reason too.
Me either! I just bought snow pants for $6 at my OUAC here and they had tons of coats for $3-$6 in toddlers sizes.
Consignment stores are like this, they cant sell cheap and buy high. Check to see if your city has a Just Between Friends sale. You get to pick the price then, and they take a cut. I love those sales.
FWIW, I pretty much buy 90% of DS's clothing at consignment sales/stores and I would NEVER pay more for something with a tag. If I cared if it had the tags, I would shop at retail stores, KWIM?
I've never been to once upon a child but I used to sell clothes to Plato's closet all the time.
What used to piiss me off is when there were (brand name) items they wouldn't accept because it was from a couple seasons ago. But, they would have kmart brand stuff on the racks.