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Quick Consignment Deal - Need Confirmation :)


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I was approached at the craft sale yesterday by a man who is leasing (temporarily) a store location in the main mall in green bay.  The spot opened up last minute due to a major chain store going out of business leaving prime space open during the christmas season.  

He is leasing the space out to several higher end hand made businesses. (he has 8 in the store so far) 

The Deal he is offering is - 

 

$250 lease for space

 

20% commission for him since i am unable to staff my section (it's 2 hrs away)  

 

He will process credit card payments and provide money order and not deduct processing fees. (because i use square) 

 

I need to pick up my items by January 10th.  

 

He agreed not to take the 20% commission if the sales do not exceed $800

 

I would need to drive the items out as soon as possible this week, and set up the space. He has wall brackets and wall shelving that would hold the weight of the items (i asked this)

 

 

Are there any things i need to be aware of that are not covered in the agreement? 

 

Does this sound stupid or amazing?

Thanks 

 

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If you have product ready to go that othewise would sit in your house/studio doing nothing, and you can afford to gamble $250.00, go for it! Write and attach your own price tags, or get written confirmation of the prices before the start of sales. Keep your own inventory list, and check any unsold product against it and sales receipts. Agree on a policy concerning breakage-who pays, how much, etc.

Write it up as a contract, get it signed and see if you can sell your wares.

If the seller won't give you a signed contract, walk away.

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Guest JBaymore

Signed contract specifying all the details including that the inventory remains YOUR property while in that store, not his.  Also specify what happens is shoplifting, shop breakage, or shop "wear" occurs.

 

Otherwise.... no go.

 

best,

 

...............john

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Have a complete ... COMPLETE ... Inventory list with prices , in duplicate that you both sign upon receipt.

He has to cover breakage, theft, wear and tear such as chips, cracks.

 

I don't know where your prices are but if he takes $250 plus 20% after $800 ... Is it profitable for YOU?

20% of $800 is another $160 ... So at a total of $410 ... basically you are paying over 50% commission to him.

That is before you pay the gas both ways to get it to him ...

Before you pay for packing materials ....

 

Good for him, how about you?

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The Deal he is offering is - 

 

$250 lease for space

 

20% commission for him since i am unable to staff my section (it's 2 hrs away)  

 

He will process credit card payments and provide money order and not deduct processing fees. (because i use square)

 

He agreed not to take the 20% commission if the sales do not exceed $800

Basically, "rent" is equal to 31% of your first $800 in sales.

Do you have more than $800 of inventory to place in the store? How much more?

Tell us he is not charging to your Square account ("He will process credit card payments and provide money order and not deduct processing fees. (because i use square)")

 

Sounds costly for the limited number of days -- will he be open 7 days week, x hours per day . . . or just when he feels like being there?

 

Without references, I'd take a pass.

 

I'd ask about insurance . . .

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DO YOU know the guy?

Got any references, spoken word from others who have dealt with him in the past?

In town, out of town person?

If it sounds too good usually is.

Quite costly with the above maths infront of you.

Have you means of sellling you r work without the 50% comm?

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This deal is to late I think-meaning to little days left.

Yes the last week before is the best but you would need at least 2-3 thousand worth of inventory to make it pay-as others have noted 31% is a bit steep on the 1st 800$ in sales so more sales would be needed to get this number down to a reasonable number.

The deal is all upside for him and a gamble at best for you.

If you have lots of inventory sitting around and you can make sense of the numbers and addresses all the concerns folks have brought up then maybe.

I myself would pass on the whole deal as its to much $ and to little time left for the volume of sales needed for you to make it pay.

 

PS I have been in mall shop with pottery years ago so I do have experience in this area and I would pass on this deal in a heartbeat.

The rent is to high for the days left.Just 10 days left before x-mas for 250-thats really the deal.

Keep in mind the week after x-mas gets dead for sales.

Please explain this -you give him your device to use the square or he pays you from his square?

(He will process credit card payments and provide money order and not deduct processing fees. (because i use square))

Also what are the store hours?

This deal could go sideways in so many ways as you are not on site -almost never.Restoicking? how would that work?

I will say Alabama nailed it above.

Mark

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Yes he has done this before. He leases a large shopping center in door county (trendy touristy shopping area) the 250 was the outright lease fee and there was no commission if I had staff to man my area (but I don't) it would be low profit before I sold the 800- the 800 was the minim set for before he is allowed to take commission for sales. He has named a fee people who lease space from him. Since it is a major mall for the busiest time of Christmas shopping I was thinking or might be worth the risk. It was a location that was used by cold water creek. (Major shopping store) i have enough inventory that would otherwise sit at home.

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@Rebekah Krieger I am currently in a market with very similar terms.  The organizer is someone that I have known for a long time...and each of the 20 vendors has a signed contract that includes a commitment of four 4-hour shifts over the 24 days of the event.  With 9 days left, here is what I can tell you of my experience:

  • We spent a couple of weeks working on a promotional campaign that included everything from yard signs, on-site banners, press releases, and an aggressive social media campaign on Facebook  Facebook has generated interest and traffic beyond our expectations...but we have all worked it aggressively (daily posts, lots of images, etc.)
  • We have been open every day (10am to 7pm) since December 1st and will be open until 7pm on Christmas eve.  This has given a number of shoppers the chance to pass-thru and then return as buyers on another day.
  • Every Saturday has included some sort of pop-up market within the pop-up market.  There has been a jewelry show, a fine-art photography exhibit opening, an open-house with a spa next door, all with cross-promotion.
  • All of the vendors, with the exception of the clay/ceramic people have re-stocked several times over the month.  The ceramics people will walk away with the least...I am expecting to clear just over $500.  That is very low for a month of exposure, however, I do have a new gallery agreement as a result of the event.

All that to say...unless there is an associated promotional campaign, I would suggest that it is an unrealistic expectation to have enough traffic based upon last-minute buyer habits to make this worth your while.  Look at what stores are already doing in the way of promotion/ads right now...any campaign starting now will have to compete with that.

 

I would give this serous thought before making the commitment,

-Paul

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Yes he has done this before. He leases a large shopping center in door county (trendy touristy shopping area) the 250 was the outright lease fee and there was no commission if I had staff to man my area (but I don't) it would be low profit before I sold the 800- the 800 was the minim set for before he is allowed to take commission for sales. He has named a fee people who lease space from him. Since it is a major mall for the busiest time of Christmas shopping I was thinking or might be worth the risk. It was a location that was used by cold water creek. (Major shopping store) i have enough inventory that would otherwise sit at home.

It sounds like you want to do it so go ahead and however it turns out you will have learned something, gained something.

 

The math does not make sense to me ... I would not pay $250 for this space 10 days before Christmas.

I would take that $250 and buy something for myself ... some pottery item I usually might not splurge on.

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Paul
It sounds like you learned to take a pass on this type of deal next year.$500 profit for that amount of time and energy sucks.
I got you beat on bone head selling-heres my short list

Things that I have done before over my 40 years of selling that did not work out- others may learn from are-
selling in a mall co-op hand made store for a percentage-bad idea-it went belly up after 2 x-mas seasons.
selling in an inside mall with my booth-rent to high for marginal sales
selling thru various co-ops that all where not worth my time or energy.
Giving work to someone going to a trade show.Real bad idea.
Dealing with strangers in retail who needed me more than I needed them-never pans out.
Giving a NEW shop 30 days to pay me -they where 3 1/2 hours away one way from me -they packed up the store and filed for bankruptcy. within that 30 days- I got 3 years later 10 cents on the dollar lost all my work.
For me the WORD MALL means stay away with my pottery.
Every one of the above deals approched me 1st.
Now I say no to 99.99%-as I have a small amount of open mind left-about.01

I always suggest knowing your outlets well before doing business with them.
You can take my mistakes and use them in your behalf.
Mark

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You got the t-shirt too Mark!

 

Dumb things I have done definitely stemmed from what I call the "Just Happy To Be Here" syndrome.

An offshoot of the Sally Fields " you like me, you really, really like me!" virus.

One step below " they must know what they are doing since they like my work."

 

Unfortunately that is how I learned a few costly lessons. : > )

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Not necessarily. If you get a circumstance as you described earlier ... where you take the time and energy to let people know you are there, promote it multi times a day through social media and are on site for the entire months of November and December, then I think it could be successful with the right management.

By this I would mean NOT artist managed.

Sorry artists, but few of us are good at managing groups or operating in an unemotional business fashion.

A great idea for a mall show would be a revolving group of artists keeping the kiosk fresh and exciting ... Some might be good for weeks while others might sign on for a week or several days. Definitely heavy on the under 35 group who manage social media like a second nature so would be tweeting, texting and insta gramming with uploads to Utube all the time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just to follow up on my previous post about the December pop-up market: The event organizer (a potter-friend) emailed me the evening before Christmas Eve to let me know that her son had come down with the flu, asking if I could do another shift the morning of Christmas Eve.  I agreed to do so and caught only minimal flack from my sweet wife after explaining the circumstances.  So here is what I learned:

  • Christmas Eve shoppers are a different breed...not as much browsing and more focused on buying.
  • More than any other day during the 24 days of the show, we had people asking if there were any last minute discounts.  What I wanted to say: "Me being here IS your discount"...What I actually said, "These local artists are giving you quality products at prices that allow them to enjoy Christmas...Any discounts are already marked."
  • Panic shoppers seemed less interested in price and more interested in getting a name/gift marked off their list...we started asking/telling customers "Who do you have left on your list, let's see if we can find something special for them (from the 20 different local vendors at the show)."    While I was there, a large quantity of my mugs fit that description *snicker*.
  • There were far more return customers on Christmas Eve than any of us expected...they were quickly in-and-out (knowing exactly what they wanted) and very pleased that the market was open for them.
  • The biggest day of sales was the Saturday before Christmas.  The second biggest/busiest day was Christmas Eve (we stayed open until 7pm).
  • Host/Hostess gifts were in-demand.  If it was a nice product, in a ready-to-give gift bag for under $30, it sold.
  • A professional photographer who had poor sales through the event, invited his client list to the market for a meet-and-greet with a glass of wine...He had his best sales on Christmas Eve.

That's about it.  Armed with this information (and the advice of previous contributions), I hope it will be much easier to make an intelligent decision on any possible return pop-up-market engagement.

 

-Paul

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Congratulations on your success.   I spent around 12 holiday seasons in malls.    Experienced about the same Paul mentioned above.

 

I would like to encourage others to secure some sort of selling venue opening on black friday and open until January 2nd.  (get out of those malls by January 2nd .... they die)  There are some dollars floating around for a few days after Christmas (people wanting to spend Christmas money gifts).    But BE SURE you do not offer cash refunds.   Exchanges but no cash refund.  The sales potential in a high traffic area is there if you are  hitting those price points.    We always started those "Gifts to Go" about a week before Christmas. 

 

Don't wait for a last minute offer ... find some place to sell your wares  if you aren't meeting your yearly sales objectives.  I like Mark's temporary kiosk in front of the pet store.   Just find a spot and be there next year.  Christmas was the only time I sold enough "gifty" items to make a mall location profitable.  Talking about sales being 10X more in December than other months of the year. 

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