CMOTC sale advice from a veteran

Kathleen Panzica, our club vice president and CMOTC sale veteran, offers the advice below to our CMOTC moms who are both buying and selling at our semi-annual sales.

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These are just some of my suggestions from working previous sales, I am not part of the sale committee. The last two sales I have straightened tables and saw the frenzy of happy shoppers on Saturday.

1. Pay your dues so you can sell or shop.
   
2. Read the Selling Guidelines, there have been changes and it's a good refresher to review each year. They are in place because members have asked for clarification or circumstances have occurred where these are necessary.


3. Clean it, clean it, clean it. Nobody wants a dirty toy or stained clothing.


4. Contact the Sale Committee directly with any questions or clarification about a question.


5. Volunteer to help, the more helpers the less work for everyone. If your husband wants to help, there are spots available for him.


6. You will make a new friend Friday night when in line waiting to get into the sale.


7. Spread the word about the sale, if going to the doctor's office, or preschool, ask them to post the flyer. The website has a link for a printable flyer.


8. Sort all clothes by size, and if needed by gender before the sale, this way you can just put items on the table and keep going.


9. Make sure the item is clean, neat, batteries working, all buttons on, all pieces attached and zipped up. If it’s missing a piece, like a toy, check with manufacturer sometimes they supply replacement pieces at no cost. After the sale if it didn't sell, then donate, you won't want to lug items that you are just going to donate and not sell.


10. Group onesies together as a bulk for pricing, they sell better.


11. Bring a BIG shopping bag and a list of what you may be looking for so you can go directly to that area when shopping Friday evening.


12. Use safety pins for the clothes.


13. Small toys in Ziplocs bags are good, just tape the top so nothing falls out.


14. If you have the instruction manual for the item, attach it. New Moms aren't always sure how these new toys/or cribs/ or whatever work. I know that from experience!


15. To transport your boxes/bins you may want to bring a small hand truck, Big Lots sometimes has then for $15-20, and their great for around the house too.


16. When getting started pricing fill a bin and then enter and print the tags, I’ll sort the week before, this way all items are in the system and priced.


17. For pricing items think your second hand children stores, and also be objective of what you would pay for it if you saw it.


18. Socks can not be sold at the sale.


19. Description on tags help workers on the floor match tags on the floor with any tagless items. Also this can help prevent tag switching by customers.


20. Each member helps make this sale what it is a success, by working together we have a great experience.

Thank you to the sale committee and all the volunteers for their continued work on making this a great fundraiser for our club.

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What about you? Do you have advice to offer on selling and/or buying at the CMOTC sale? Please comment below or email us your advice to post.