Wee-cycle Mart Children's Consignment Sales Blog

Baltimore Location Confirmed!

We are excited to announce that the Wee-cycle Mart Baltimore Location for Fall/Winter 2009 will be held Aug 21-23rd at the Yorkridge Center South (the old Scan Store) located at 1830 York Road in Timonium. It's conveniently located off York Road from 695 or 83 With TONS of drive-by traffic! Between Chipolte & Quizno's. There is also plenty of overflow parking. Of course, since its a vacant store we will probably not be here in the spring so we are already looking at larger venues for the Spring 2010 sale! Like the Harford County sale, we will move Baltimore County sale around based on availability - staying on the East/North side of 695!

Thank you for your patience and thanks to the 36 of you that signed up for Baltimore County not even knowing where it was going to be! We have already over 5200 items entered into our tagging system but we need more! With the Back to School opportunity as well as the New Moms Pre-Sale passes already being scarfed up, we need everything from baby equipment, toys and clothing as well as clothing for older children to TEEN sizes!

We invite you to consign wih us!  We offer up to 100% commission - more than any other consignement sale or shop! With over 1000 moms shopping in just 3 days, individual consignor sales are usually much higher as well!  Many of our consignors earn between 70-80% and receive checks from $500-$1200! It's up to you, what do you want to earn on your stuff?

We will be advertising in the Towson Times, Pennysaver, free Daily B, direct mail  postcards to over 3000 homes with kids, email blasts to over 6000 moms, as well as we are in the Baltimore Child, Maryland Child and Chesapeake Family magazines and so much more!  Not to mention road signs and signs in the store window starting next week! Hope to see you as a consignor, volunteer and/or shopper at the Batlimore County location!

 

Check-in & Volunteer Sign Up for Baltimore Sale Now On-line!

We are excited to now accept consignor drop-offs earlier than ever for the Baltimore Sale!

We are now accepting drop-off's on Tuesday evening 5-8pm, Wed 10am - 8pm and Thur 10-2pm!

We are asking that if you sign up for a shift and then find that you don't get it all tagged that you please keep your original date/ time and then you can make special arrangements to bring the rest! We need to keep the drop-off times spaced out and can not have any drop-offs after 2pm on THURSDAY - no exceptions!  Thank you in advance!

You can choose your date/time for drop off now by logging into your account! We will lock down the DROP-OFFs so you can not remove or add yourself at Noon on Tuesday Aug 19th as we will already be at show setting up! So please choose your time carefully! and do it now to get the time that works best for you!

How to prepare for Drop-Off time at Wee-cycle Mart Events...

I received this question by email today and thought that everyone might benefit from the answer so I am posting it here!

QUESTION:  I am a first time consignor for the Harford County sale coming up in Sept. I am in the process of prepping my items for sale and was wondering what best practice was for organizing the items for drop off. Do you need them clearly separated by category (i.e. toys, feeding, clothes, coats, costumes)? Any other helpful hints?

ANSWER:  When dropping off, please keep in mind that the more organized your are the faster drop -off will go. Please allow at least 30 Minutes for about 100 items - more if you have more items!

Upon arrival at your chosen date/time, you will be asked to hang all clothes on one of our rolling racks for inspection.  This is to insure that we offer only the best items for sale to our shoppers (we are looking for stains, holes, missing buttons, too old items, etc). We recommend sorting your items PRIOR to arrival into BOY & GIRLS by SIZE! That way once you are inspected you can take the rolling rack out on the floor to put your items in designated areas. We will have volunteers available but usually they are busy inspecting incoming items and can not always assist you with putting things out. We also recommend that you try not to bring kids with you as there will be many tempting items on the floor for sale that they will want. :)

You should also separate Coats, Costumes, and Maternity as they will go on separate racks in different areas.

As for Toys sort toys with batteries required together as we will need you to turn them on for us to make sure they work.

Equipment, etc there really is no need to sort them unless you have alot of one thing!

Please be sure that all your equipment is CLEAN - especially Pack' N Plays, Bassinets, Strollers & High Chairs. Most of these items have fabric that can come off and be washed or use Oxi Clean and spot without removing. Check the straps - Oxi Clean works wonders! Cleanliness does make a difference on whether or not it sell!

Please be patient during drop-off as it is important that we inspect your items for quality. Please DO NOT take it personally if we find stains etc - we all have them! Lighting in your home makes it difficult to see sometimes! See you at the sale!

Do Consignment Sales Work?

Of course, consignment sales work! Children's Consignment Sales give moms the opportunity to sell new and gently used clothing, toys, books, baby & sports equipment, furniture and more at a fair price and make some extra cash! We are talking big cash sometimes - some consignors earn checks in excess of $1000 in just a weekend! It all depends on how many items a moms brings, the quality of the items and the price the mom wants for the item.

The Consignment Sale Organizers find the venue, the volunteers and consignors, advertise and market the event to shoppers! If done correctly, the sale will be a HUGE success and everyone wins! Moms sell their items while other moms find amazing bargains that they just can't pass up! A consignment sale is better than a store for the main fact that they get tons of shoppers over a weekend instead of dribbles all month long! There is also a sense of urgency at these consignment sales as there may be only 20 strollers for sale but 1000 shoppers! That is good for business of course!

Consignment sales are run like a store where all items are sorted by size and gender with other like things together. Shoppers can look over all strollers for example and choose the best one for them - best condition, best price etc. Checkout occurs at one time for all items and most sales accept Visa/Mastercard/Discover these days to make buying even easier!

In these days where business are failing, consignment sales are growing! Why give away your like new items when you can get some easy cash for them! Who couldn't use a few extra dollars these days? Plus, you will be helping moms save on things they really need for their kids. You'd even be surprised at how many items you will find at these sales that are NEW with tags!

For more info about Chldren's Consignment Sales in Maryland visit www.wee-cyclemart.com for a location near you!

Wish List now Available for Wee-cycle Mart Shoppers

They say one mans trash is another man's treasure! You may have what someone really needs hiding in your attic or garage!

We have started a Wish List for shoppers on our BLOG! Check it out!

I've added a permanent link on the left top side of this blog under FUN STUFF to click to the Wish List at anytime!

If you have something you are really looking for and would love to buy it from another MOM at Wee-cycle Mart just send us your Name (will not be posted) along with the item(s) description & photo (optional) and which sales you will be shopping and hopefully we can help you find what you really need or WANT! 

Meet Andrea...another one of our TOP Consignors from Spring 2009 Sales!

Name: Andrea Strunkstein

City: Bel Air, MD

Family Info: (# of kids etc) 2 Kids (Boy - 4 & Girl – 2)

Do you work (ft/pt/home-based etc): FT + school

How many times have you consigned with us? 1

 

 

 

Here are some questions that will help you be a top consignor too!

1) Approx. How many items did you bring to the sale? 259

2) How many items did you sell? 163

3) What is your favorite thing about consigning with Wee-cycle Mart?  It was fun to get in early and shop of course! Plus it’s just a great idea; I wish I had thought of it. I get a lot more than I ever would at a yard sale.

4) What is your best tip for a BRAND NEW Consignor with us?  Make sure you follow the instructions to the dot! You can’t halfway do it or you risk things not selling or you make things a lot harder on the girls running this project. If you don’t use the right paper, ink, etc they will have to take the time to type in your numbers for you to get credit. That may not bother you giving someone more work, but who’s to say their typing accuracy is great. If you want to get credit for everything and help the sale run smoother, do it right THE FIRST TIME !!

6) What would you do differently next time if anything?  I have thought about letting them tag, hang and store the items. I would say it depends on each person and the hours they work and the time they have to put into it.

Anything else you would like to share?  They need a lot of volunteer to help and even a little time will go a long way, plus again- you get to shop first!

Baltimore County Sale - exceptions to Fall/Winter clothing policy - please read!

We have decided since we are going to have such a huge location (should be confirmed tomorrow!) and that this sale is occurring before school starts that we will allow SOME school appropriate shorts/shirts/dresses that normally would not be allowed at our Fall/Winter Sales!

Please ONLY bring summer clothing that would be appropriate for school wear - like short sleeve tops, shirt, and nice longer shorts/crops.  Also, that means larger kids sizes - from Kindergarten to High School. Please bring only your best stuff! If we run out of room on the racks, the summer stuff will be pulled and NOT offered for sale! So please bring only your best school looking summer clothing!

Remember, NO baby, infant or toddler summer will be accepted at this sale! (ei bathing suits, shorts, tanks, sundresses etc)

We are planning to market the sale to Back to School moms as well!

Meet Lisa...one of our TOP consignors from Spring 2009

Name: Lisa M. Fore

City: Hampstead

Family Info: (# of kids etc) 4 Children

Do you work (ft/pt/home-based etc): Work Full-time

How many times have you consigned with us? I have consigned with Wee-cycle Mart 2 times Westminster  & A.A. County spring 09.

Here are some questions we asked Lisa to help you get some insight into what makesa successful consignor!

1) Appox. How many items did you bring to the sale? I brought approximately 300 items to the sale.

2) How many items did you sell? I sold a little over 200 items

3) What is your favorite thing about consigning with Wee-cycle Mart? My favorite thing about Wee-cycle Mart is you have a more of a variety of people looking at your items than a consignment store or yard sale. Also, the organizers advertising is incredible and they are strongly committed to selling your items.

4) If you previously consigned, what do you think made the difference in your high sales this time? My high sales this time was because I had more of a variety of clothes, I had cleaned out closets of all of my children and the first time I only had infant little girl clothes.

5) What is your best tip for a BRAND NEW Consignor with us? The best tip I can give for a NEW CONSIGNOR is clean out all of your kids closets and get rid of the stuff they have not used in the last 60 days because it is very likely they will never use it again and needless to say they will never miss it either.

6) What would you do differently next time if anything? I don’t think I would do much different from last time to this time but I have told all my friends about it and I also tell them if they don’t want to do it give me the clothes and I will do it.

7) Anything else you would like to share? I would like to share that you need to talk to you Friends, Associates, Co-Workers to Consign and encourage them to come to the sale for the first time and see what it is about and while there pickup clothes for there Children, Nieces, Nephews or even Grandchildren at a great savings. It is so much fun volunteering and seeing and talking with people to see whether was they was their first time or if they are a loyal shopper and consignor.

Update on Baltimore Location

Hi there, just wanted to let you all know that we are still working on the Baltimore Location! We are excited to have already over 30 consignors taking advantage of the Baltimore Sale! With it being right before Back to School, we think it will be a WIN/WIN for everyone.  We also have over 12 New Mom Passes gone as of this morning!

Please note, the locations we are looking at are going to be somewhere off the EAST/NORTH SIDE of 695. It will NOT be a the TImonium Fairground at this time as so many of you has suggested....we are currently looking at vacent stores in the area! If you know of a vacant store that you would like us to consider we are taking suggestions. However, do a little foot work first, find out is it over 10,000 sq ft. and get a contact number/name for us!

As soon as we have a contract signed and sealed we will release the location!

As many of you know it really DOES NOT matter where the sale is held! Our first sale was held in Pasadena ALL THE WAY down Mountain Road to th end of the penninsula at a church.  Took forever to get there! But we did awesome! Our first Bel Air sale was held at the Moose Lodge also in very hidden location but we had our biggest first time sale ever there! I guess my point is no matter where we end up in Baltimore County, shoppers and consignors will come from all over just like they do for our other 3 sales! Some travel over an an hour to consign and/or shop with us!

We'd like to thank you all for your support! And look forward to a successful Baltimore County Sale with lots of Back to School savings for all!

Meet Eva...one of our TOP consignors from Spring 2009!

 

Name: Eva Pennington

City: Bel Air

Family Info: (# of kids etc) 2

Do you work (ft/pt/home-based etc): stay home

How many times have you consigned with us? 3

Here are some questions we asked her to give you some insight on what it takes to be top consignor!

1) Appox. How many items did you bring to the sale? 431

2) How many items did you sell? 329

3) What is your favorite thing about consigning with Wee-cycle Mart? The ease of the whole process. Most of the work can be done from home. I enjoy volunteering and earning extra commission. And it’s fun to get my family involved.

4) If you previously consigned, what do you think made the difference in your high sales this time? Fair pricing and ensuring items are in like new condition (clean and ironed if necessary).

5)What is your best tip for a BRAND NEW Consignor with us? Be fair in your pricing and don’t procrastinate in prepping items for the sale so you don’t feel rushed before drop off. The first sale is the hardest for prepping, but it’s so much easier for preceding sales because there is no need to retag unless you change the price of the item.

6) Anything else you would like to share? Be sure to take advantage of early shopping passes…there are lots of great items to shop. Also, the 50% off sale is wonderful if you really want to sell your items and not have as much to bring home.

Check your inbox - our newsletter just went out!

If you are on our mailing you should have recieved our newsletter from Wee-cycle Mart Children's Consignment Sales. If not, you can view it here.

You can go to www.wee-cyclemart.com and subscribe to our newsletter to get updates in your inbox!

And WOW you moms are signing up in droves to consign! I guess we all can use to make some extra cash right now and I am sure there are tons of mom who could use a good bargain right now too! Why not you! We'd love to have you consign and shop with us! Moms helping Moms!

Tagging System for Baltimore Sale now open!

Although we have not finalized our location in Baltimore (east/north side off 695), we are moving forward and the tagging system is now open! Reigster here!

If you already have registered for a later sale, you can register for Baltimore and transfer your items! Same goes if you did a past sale, you can transfer your unsold items to this sale!

There is just 6 weeks til our first sale of the season! Be sure to tell your friends!

Why wait to consign, when you can get a nice fat check the first week of September! Great to help that back to school budget! And of course, you can come shop for great bargains for back to school as well.

Happy Tagging!

Coming soon! Addition of a Baltimore Sale Location

Yes, we are nuts! We are adding a 4th Wee-cycle Mart sale for this fall!This one will be in our Baltimore County Sale to be held August 21- 23, 2009! We are still working on the contract for our new location so we can't share the location just yet with you! But be sure to mark the dates! This does not change any of our other sales!

Now you can clean out and cash in even sooner by consigning with us at our Baltimore County Sale!

If you've already signed up for one of the other fall sales and have started tagging, YOU CAN REGISTER for Baltimore Sale (in a few days) and TRANSFER the stuff you've already tagged, add more and then transfer back when Baltimore sale is over! Email me if you need help with this!

We hope you will join us as I am sure there will be lots of back to school shoppers!!!!

Vendor Forms Fall/Winter 2009 Wee-cycle Mart/MomsFest events

Vendor forms for Harford/Cecil County event are now on-line for Fall/Winter 09 event.  Vendor forms for Carroll & Anne Arundel County Fall/Winter 09 event will not be available til after July 7th. We will be giving first right of refusal to our past vendors, then the wait list. If you would like to get on the WAIT LIST, please email us info@wee-cyclemart.com your

• NAME
• BUSINESS NAME
• Type of Business
• Email
• Phone number
• Address
• Which location(s) would you be interested in?

If there is not a wait for business type, we will let you know and you may send in your application and choose your location right away! You can see which busines have already sent in applications at www.momsfest.com then click on the location of your choice.

Do you or your kids drink energy drinks?

My husband has just started his own business selling a HEALTHY all natural line of energy drinks! If you are looking to get a healthy body and make an healthy income, visit his website! He's the no pressure kind of guy so if you have questions, please call him! www.energizeefusjon.com

2 More MomsFest Vendors...

We want to welcome back  Hickory Child Development Center

and new vendor Brenda Roark with Partylite.

Our vendor spots are going fast, if you know of anyone who'd like to meet 1000+ moms/grandmoms, feel free to send them to our website! See you in about 90 days for our 1st sale of the fall/winter season!

Happy Tagging!

Welcome our first 2 Vendors for MOMSFEST!

Applcations for MomsFest at Wee-cycle Mart are now on-line.

Welcome!

Stampin' Up! Demonstrator- Blaney Spinelli offering rubber stamping & scrapbooking supplies, classes, clubs, in-home parties & Classes in the Mail!

Gorgeous and Green - Christina Larkin offering cloth diapers and accessories!

This year our vendors get to choose their space! If you have or know someone who owns their own business that supports moms, please take a look at our sponsorship page.   Even if you can't be at the event, you can be a sponsor!

 

OOPS! Rt. 40 Decals now cost $10!

Just learned today as I went up Rt. 40 to Perryville Outlets that the DECALs went up to $10!

We will give anyone that presents their DECAL receipt (must be dated for that day),  5% off their purchases up to $10!  The decal is still a good way to go especially for consignors and volunteers that may be coming up to the sale more than once over the week!

The best way still is the MTAG Commuter Plan as it only costs .80 cents that way! But for those of you that don't have MTAG, the sticker is still the next best way to save money!

How to avoid the toll to Perryville!

FYI: For those of you that are not familiar with the outlets, there is a $5 toll on Rt. 95 between Havre de Grace and Perryville. We are offering to all shoppers including consignors and volunteers that bring their toll receipt - a 5% discount on your consignment purchases up to $5.

However, there are ways to avoid the Rt. 95 toll:

Avoid toll by:

1)  Use your MTAG Commuter Plan (counts as 2 trips since no returning toll). Either Rt. 95 OR Rt. 40 bridge. 

2) Using Rt. 1 Conowingo Dam - make 1st right onto Rt. 222/275 thru Port Deposit til you get to Outlets on right. NO TOLL.

3) Get off on Aberdeen exit (or any other exit) and go over to RT 40N. Get a $10 Decal for Rt. 40 Bridge (just make sure you get in the correct lane for purchasing decals (right lanes) - be sure to ask for reciept! )  and then you will be able to go back and forth to the sale now and in the spring for free as it's good for an entire year! Bring decal receipt to sale for your 5% discount up to $10!

We've moving (again!) and it's a good thing!

For those of you that attended the Harford County Wee-cycle Mart this spring at our NEW location in Havre de Grace, you know that even though it was double the size of the Moose Lodge, we still filled it to the brim with stuff!

We have been searching for a bigger hall in Harford County only to discover that there really isn't anything! If you do know of something that is 10,000 sq ft preferable 15,000 or more that is available from a Tuesday - Sunday each spring and fall, please email us at info@wee-cyclemart.com (we are always open to suggestions!)

However, we have found a BIGGER, BETTER Venue just 4 miles from the Havre de Grace Community Center!

This is an increible opportunity for us to grow (again!)

• Over 13,000 sq ft

• Carpeted floors

• Changing rooms available for all you expecting mom and moms with older, pickier kids!

• Gourmet Deli on premises

• Playground for dad and the kids to hang out while you shop!

• Well-lit parking for Pre-View Nite!

We are excited as we will also be a part of a special marketing campaign and will be heard on MIX 106.5, WXCY 103.7, seen in the Cecil Whig, Cecil Soil and through special email blasts! We are excited as this should bring us additional shoppers and consignors!

So where are we going to be for Harford County Fall/Winter 2009?

The Perryville Outlet Center in the old LL Bean Store!  Conveneintly located off Rt. 95! (yes, I know its technically Cecil County)

• Havre de Grace - 4 Minutes
• White Marsh - 30 Minutes
• Baltimore - 40 Minutes
• Wilmington - 40 Minutes
• Philadelphia - 60 Minutes
• Washington, D.C. - 90 Minutes

The Tagging System for all our Fall/Winter sales in already open! We already have 11 consignors and 1300 items entered for our Harford/Cecil County Wee-cycle Mart event! Hope you'll join us!  Go to www.wee-cyclemart.com for all the details about consigning, volunteering & shopping with us!

Meet the Anne Arundel County Baby Photo Winnter

Meet First Place Winnter "Kali" from the Anne Arundel County Wee-cycle Mart held in Ft. Meade at the Pavilion May 1-3rd, 2009!

She won a package from Laura Eyes Photo-graphy valued at $150! Congratulations to her and her family!

Tagging System for Fall/Winter Sales Now OPEN!

Ok, you can now register and start tagging for our FALL SALES!  Remember, that if you consigned with us in the past or another sale that used myconsignmentmanger.com that you can transfer your unsold items keeping in mind that we are accepting FALL/WINTER seasonal items:

• Coats
• Outerwear
• Snow suits
• Halloween Costumes
• Skis/snowboards/skates etc
• Fall/Winter clothing
• as well as the rest of the non-seasonal things!

Please note that we are looking for a larger venue for our Harford County Sale. We are hoping to keep the same dates but there is a chance we may need to move it.  Check the website for more info or be sure you are on our mailing list to stay up-to-date!

Coming Soon...

Check back soon for:

• Winner of $50 Shopping Spree drawing
• Winner of $10 Testimonial drawing
• Winner of Anne Arundel County Baby Photo Constest Winner

We are working on getting these Winners announced this Week!

Drum Role Please.......

We just hit our 4,000th Subscriber!

In just 18 months, we have over 4,000 moms (4003 to be exact as of this moment!) on our e-newsletter list! We are excited that so many moms are keeping up-to-date with our sales in Maryland!

Feel free to forward our e-newsletters to all the moms and moms to be you know and don't forget to becomea FAN of ours on FACEBOOK! $10 Gift Certificate Drawing to happen when we hit 100 FANS!

Kids 18 and Under Bowl FREE all summer....

I thought since so many of us have kids that I would share this with you my subscribers!

18 and under…
AMF bowling is participating in a Kids Bowl Free event for the summer..if you think your child may be interested, please go to www.kidsbowlfree.com.

Your child will have to pay for their shoe rental which is $3.00
You will receive coupons in your email for the free games...

What should I give away? What should I sell at Wee-cycle Mart?

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I keep seeing and hearing comments about quality at consignment sales (not just Wee-cycle Mart). So I thought I would address what is appropriate to sell and what is not. If you are a shopper, this should also help you set up your expectations when you come to shop with us! We are by no way perfect, but we are always improving the shopping experience!

If you've consigned with us at our past sales, then you know we do attempt to check your items at drop-off. Of course, how thorough we can be is up to how many volunteers we have at the time you drop-off and how many item you have to drop-off.   Even though we have everyone sign up for a drop-off time so we don't have 150 people showing up at the sale time, it's natural for some to be early, some late, some not show up at all, some show up at a totally different time than they signed up for! So that adds to the complication! We are accepting about 20,000 items in a 24 hour period, we do the best we can to reject items that do not meet our standards, It is not a perfect system, but it can be better if the CONSIGNOR doesn't bring items in the first place that don't meet our standards.

Here are items that we DO NOT ACCEPT:

• items with stains, not clean
• items with over-wear/washing/out-of-shape
• items that are too old looking or out-of-date styles
• items with holes, tears, broken zippers
• items with missing pieces/parts
• items without batteries if batteries required
• items out of season (save it for next sale)
• stuffed animals unless they do something like Tickle-Me Elmo
• clothing with advertising/websites/free shirts from non-profits/library etc
• car seats that over over 5 years old (date must be imprinted on bottom of seat)
• fast food toys, grab bags of misc toys
• underwear unless new in package
• videos/cds/dvds not in original packaging (no copies allowed)
• of course, anything that is recalled

Before you tag, check this list. Have someone look over your items in DAYLIGHT. Why waste time tagging something, you will never get paid on....we do go over the racks each day and pull additional items that don't meet our criteria above. We place them on a rack in the HOLD AREA that says (not-acceptable items). So just because it you made it through drop-off, you may still have items that were pulled from the floor. When you pick up on Sunday, be sure to check that rack for your items!

As a shopper, if you see something that should not be on the floor, feel free to give it to a volunteer in a blue apron. We appreciate it!

Lastly, please don't be offended if we reject some of your items at drop-off. We want to make sure what we have on the floor sells. We want shoppers to know that what they are buying is in good condition.  We also only have limited racks and we want to make sure that we have it filled with only the best selection for our shoppers!  We are NOT a Yard Sale!  Our lowest price is $2. So ask yourself.....is this worth $2, would I pay $2 or more for this item??

More blogging to come on Pricing Your Items, check back soon!

Wee-cycle Mart now on Facebook & Twitter!

Follow the links on the right side ofthe Wee-cycle Mart blog to follow us on Facebook & Twitter! We will be having drawings 12 a year for Gift Certificates to our sale as well as some other surprises! We will also be sharing some fun information about our sales and helpful info for moms all year long!

As soon as we hit 100 FANs on our Wee-cycle Mart Facebook Page we will have our first Random DRAWING! It could be you! Be sure to forward the page to everyone you know! We will post the winner on our FACEBOOK Fan page if you see your name you have 5 days to claim your prize! We will pick another winner should the winner not claim the prize!  

Top Educational & FUN Website for Kids!

The next time you need some time for yourself to tag your items for Wee-cycle Mart, check out these great websites that could keep your kids attention and not bore them to death!

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-educational-websites-for-children-that-are-fun/

Get Ready for FALL/WINTER Sales!

Don't throw out your Fall/Winter kids stuff! Save it for Wee-cycle Mart Fall/Winter Sales in Maryland!

If you don't want to store it all summer long, call for a Pick-up 410-574-1781 and we will hang/tag & store it for you til the sale! (fee applies see website for details)

• Harford County Sale in Havre de Grace - September 18-20th
• Carroll County Sale in Westminster - Oct 9-11th

• Anne Arundel County Sale in Ft. Meade - Oct 23-25th

See you in the FALL! Don't forget to become a FAN of our FACEBOOK Page for a chance to WIN a $10 Gift Certificate to one of our fall sales! 

Photos of Ft. Meade sale to come in a few days - be sure check back!

Last chance to volunteer or register to consign!

Tuesday at midnight is the last day to Register to Volunteer and/orsign up as a New Consignor! Please visit our website before April 28th Midnight! This is our last Spring/Summer sale! You don't want to miss it!

Just 9 more days to regsiter to consign at Anne Arundel County Wee-cycle Mart

It's not too late to join us! We are expecting RECORD shoppers at the NEW Ft. Meade location! Yes, it's sad that we had to leave the church as we have had 3 very successful sales there, but we just outgrew the space! With over 20,000 items expected, we have 25,000 sq ft to spread out at the Ft. Meade Pavilion right off Rt. 175 May 1-3rd. There is publc parking so you don't have to go through security on the base!

PLEASE NOTE:  LAST DAY TO REGISTER AS A CONSIGNOR IS TUESDAY, APRIL 28th at midnight.

LAST DAY TO ENTER YOUR ITEMS is WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29th at midnight.

If you have:

• spring/summer clothing,
• toys, games, books, videos, dvd's. cd's
• baby equipment like strollers, swings cribs, exersaucers, bouncy chairs, activity tables/mats,
• sports stuff, outdoor/pool toys and games
• arts'n crafts including scrapbooking supplies

Then you really need to join us! We always run out of the big baby equipment so if you have it, we need it! Earn up to 100% commission on your stuff from Maternity to Teens! Be sure to go to our website and read how easy it is to be a consignor! And if yoy haven't read the testimonials, nows a good time to do that too! (link can be found upper left hand corner of this page)

Can I really earn 100% commission?

We at Wee-cylce Mart want everyone to have the opportunity to EARN UP TO 100% commission at our sales! 

We have developed a WIN/WIN commission schedule that will allow you to do just that! Other sales/stores may offer you a 50/50 or 55/45 maybe even a 60/40 split with no way to earn more! We believe in helping moms as we are moms ourselves!  Will everyone earn 100%? - Of course not,  if they did we would be out of business! But those that want to earn more can!!!!  The rest of the commission split goes back into running & marketing the sale for YOU! We at Wee-cycle Mart have not even taken a salary since the day we started! Yes, we have been working for FREE! But thanks to our hard work, the sales have tripled in size in just 1 full-year!!! Our consignors average check has been around $300 with high checks in the amount of $2100 & $890 just to mention a few from our last sale! Sure some consignors get small checks. This is usually do to either over-pricing OR just bringing a few items to the sale! The more you bring...the more you sell!

So how can you earn more commission?

1. Volunteer with us! - for each 4 hour shift you complete you get 5% more! (it is capped at 2 shifts to start so that ALL consignors who want to volunteer get a chance) When we have unfilled shifts, we will send out an email for you to pick up a third and even fourth shift if we need it! We have over 75 shifts to fill so most likely if you want to volunteer you will be able to! Volunteers also get the $5 registration fee refunded and get to shop EARLY on the Pre-Sale night!
2. Refer new consignors with us! - for each friend that you refer (must have NEVER consigned with us) you will get 2% more commission (they must bring at least 20 items to the sale).
3. Earn a Referral BONUS - when you have 3 friends that consign at least 50 items with us - you get a 6% bonus! And right now we are not limiting the number bonus' (subject to change without notice at an time) so when you refer 6 friends that's a total bonus of 12%!

Can you see how it adds up?

• 2 volunteer shifts = 10%
• 3 friends = 6%
• referral bonus for above with 50 items = 6%
• NOW YOU ARE AT 72% COMMISSION!
• 3 more friends = 6%
• referral bonus again = 6%
• NOW YOU ARE AT 84% AND SO ON UP TO 100%

I DOUBT YOU CAN FIND THAT KIND OF SPLIT ANYWHERE ELSE!

Consigning is FUN! Volunteering is even MORE FUN as you can see your stuff selling!

Still not sure about consigning! Read some of the Testimonials on this blog - follow link in left upper corner!

We have just one more Spring/Summer sale - May 1st - 3rd at the Ft. Meade Pavilion.

Last day to register is April 28th - last day to tag is April 29th at midnight! Start Tagging Now! www.wee-cyclemart.com

 

 

What should I price my items for?

This is probably the most asked questions of new consignors. And another should be "Why didn't my items sell?"

As we completed our 8th & 9th sales, I looked around at the end of these sales to see what was left on Sunday after 50% off day.  And here is what I found as well as suggestions to improve your sales!

1. Items priced too high  - PRICE YOUR ITEMS TO SELL - USUALLY 1/3 OF WHAT YOU PAID OR LESS. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GET 50% IF NEW WITH TAGS OR LARGE OUTDOOR ITEMS LIKE LITTLE TIKES ETC
2. Items too old - IF ITS LOOKS OUTDATED, IT PROBABLY IS! DON'T BOTHER TAGGING IT.
3. items had stains - YES, EVEN AFTER THE CHECK IN PROCESS & NIGHTLY STAIN CHECKS, THERE WAS STILL ITEMS FOUND WITH STAINS. BE SURE TO CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK FOR STAINS.
4. Items not priced 50% off - IF IT DIDN'T SELL THURS/FRI/SAT, THEN IT MOST LIKELY WAS OVERPRICED TO BEGIN WITH. BY MARKING IT 50% OFF, YOU LEVEL THE PLAYING GROUND AND IT USUALLY SELLS.
5. Items like basic tees and knit shorts - THESE ITEMS DO NOT SELL WELL UNLESS GROUPED TOGETHER AND MARKED FOR $2-$3. INDIVIDUAL BASIC TEES/SHORTS FROM WALMART ETC SHOULD NOT BE SOLD INDIVIDUALLY AS THEY ARE NOT WORTH $2 USED. RECOMMEND GROUPING THEM TO MEET $2 MIN. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO SELL BRAND NAMES INDIVIDUALLY DEPENDING ON CONDITION.
6. Bedding - DOES NOT SELL WELL UNLESS IT IS A FULL SET AND PRICED ABOUT 1/4 OF WHAT YOU PAID. DON'T BOTHER WITH BUMPERS ALONE ETC. THEY DON'T HAVE A GOOD RESALE VALUE.
7. Clothes in bags - EXCEPT FOR ONESIES AND SOCKS, WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU PUT CLOTHES IN BAGS. THEY JUST GET RIPPED OPEN AND THEN BECOMES A MESS. HANG GROUPS OF CLOTHES TOGETHER ON HANGERS AND RUBBEBAND TOGETHER.THIS INCLUDES BATHING SUITS. THEY SELL BETTER ON HANGERS.

Here's a great example:

We had a crib priced at $120 and 50% off.  All the other cribs sold but this one and it got me thinking....

• The crib did not sell at $120 but did sell on Sunday at 50% off for $60.
• The consignor received $30 (assuming she did not volunteer).
• If she had priced it at $99 it most likely would have sold at full price and she would have received $49.50.
• If it had not sold by Sunday and sold on Sunday for $49.50 she would have received $24.75.
• Now as I said she mostly would have gotten $49.50 as the lower price would have made it sell at full price. She would have received $19.50 MORE.
• But if it sold on Sunday, she would have received only $5.25 LESS.
• It's my opinion only, but I think the risk of losing $5.25 is worth the chance of getting $19.50 more!

The moral of the story is PRICE TO SELL! AND MARK 50% OFF!  Everybody wins if it is priced right! Nobody wins if it doesn't sell!

Reconciling your SOLD ITEMS vs. Settlement Report?

Just wanted to post about something that I saw happen at the Carroll County sale....We had lots of items coming up NOT IN INVENTORY and this made me think........

Consignors may have items that actually SOLD but are not marked in inventory as SOLD. This may lead you to believe that you either accidentally left the item at the sale or that it was stolen (does unfortunately happen occasionaly).

However, your item may actually have sold and happily you will be getting PAID on it and you will see a strange line item that does not match one of your items on your inventory report.

Why does this happen???? This happens when the cashier gets a  "not in inventory" error message when we enter the tags. This can be caused by:

1. you forgot to transfer the item from another sale  - I had a few of you and it was just a few items each.
2. you changed something on your tag but did not reprint it. Remember you cannot make hand changes to price as we go by the barcode. Ex. if you prnt a tag at $10 and decide you really want to sell it at $30 so you take a marker and change the price....well the barcode is still going to read $10 and charge the customer only $10. Or lets say you print a stroller for $50 and you decide to let it go for $30 because the infant seat is no longer good so you hand-write $30 (first, how do we know a customer didn't mark it down?) but it doesn't matter, we go off the barcode. If it scans at $50 we have to charge $50. They customer will not be happy! So please remember to reprint if you need to change a tag....thanks in advance!
3. your tag did not scan so the cashier had to manually enter the tag and they entered either the item number, price or discount option wrong. When this happens it accepts it and you get paid but it doesn't match any item in inventory. This is why it is VERY important that you make sure your barcodes are readable (no blurry or wavy lines, not too light or too dark and not on colored cardstock or copy paper.)

It's best to go by your Settlement Report and not your SOLD report as you might be getting paid on more than you think! If you have any questions about this, feel free to email us at info@wee-cyclemart.com

Meet the Carroll County Baby Photo Contest Winner...

Congratulations to Cole who was the winner of the Carroll County Wee-cycle Mart baby photo contest last weekend!  There were over 60 entries in the baby photo contest!

Be sure to visit our Anne Arundel County sale on FRIDAY or SATURDAY from 9:30am - 3pm to have your childs photo taken and enter the contest! The winner gets a $150+ photo shoot!

And thank you to MLG Photography for being our official photographer of the Carroll County event!

Quick Drop or Tag it Myself? Which should I choose?

We've had a few of you that are new to the consigning thing ask - what's better - Quick-Drop or Tagging items Yourself?

Here's my take on it:

1. If you usually GIVE YOUR ITEMS away to Charities/friends/family etc....Quick Drop is for you as 30% is better than $0!

2. If you are really busy (aren't we all) and time seems to get away from you easily ...Quick Drop is for you!  You won't miss getting your things in the sale!

3. If you can't find hangers, cardstock & pins, Quick Drop is better as we provide all that for you!

4. If you have really unique items, you know what you paid for them....Tagging it yourself is probably better!

5. If you like to stay up late, Tagging it yourself will work out just fine for you as you'll tag into th wee hours of the morning if you have to to get it done!

6. If you want the most money for your things, Tagging it yourself will be better!

If you want to take advantage of the Quick Drop for FT. MEADE Anne Arundel County sale, you must make arrangements to drop off No later than APRIL 15th by calling 410-574-1781, You can drop off in Pasadena, Ft. Meade, Bel Air or Middle River!  We can also pick up for $15 fee taken out of your commissions! April 15th is the deadline for pick up too as the moms need time to get it tagged for you!

Hope that helps you make a decision to join us one way or the other! You don't want to miss our last opportunity to sell your spring/summer items and more May 1-3rd in Ft. Meade!

Transferring items from Wee-cycle Mart to Teen Traders Sale

I just learned that since Teen Traders has a differnet webpage than Wee-cycle Mart that there are slightly different transfering instructions if you need to transfer items from Wee-cycle Mart sales or another sale that uses Myconsignmentmananger.com to Teen Traders

1) go to http://www.myconsignmentmanager.com/consignmentMgr/seller/sellerHomePage.do
2) login with your same passwords
3) DO NOT CLICK on sale but go top bar and click manage inventory
4) pull up the old sale(s) (Wee-cycle Mart etc)  and generate the items list - with the UNSOLD
items search criteria circle checked. Then select individual items you want to transfer or all.
5) go to the transfer item button (found in the middle right) and select Teen Traders and then click
on the transfer item button.

It's that easy! Let me know if you have any questions!

Become a FAN of ours on Facebook!

I am new to this Facebook social networking but thought it would be a good idea to create aWee-cycle Mart Page.  Be sure to BECOME a FAN and also to invite your friends to our Anne Arundel County Sale!

If you haven't also signed up for email updates from the Wee-cycle Mart blog, now's the time! It will keep you from checking back if there isn't any new posts!

See the Harford County Sale Video - too cool!

See how a 6 day event looks in just 4 minutes! Enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment below! Love to hear what you think! Be sure to check out our upcoming events March 27-29th at the AG Center and May 1-3rd at the Ft. Meade Pavilion!!! The venues are even larger than this one in Harford County!

Meet Harford County Photo Contest Winner....

Congratulations to Nevaeh who was the winner of the Harford County Wee-cycle Mart baby photo contest!

Be sure to visit our Carroll County & Anne Arundel County sale on FRIDAY or SATURDAY from 9:30am - 3pm to have your childs photo taken and enter the contest! The winner gets a $150+ photo shoot!

And thank you to Ashley Layfield Photography for being our official photographer of the Harford County event! She was able to get some really great photos!!!!

Press Release available - please share!

Press Release: Sales up 33% in a Down Economy...

Photos from the Harford County Sale!

                 

Transferring UNSOLD Items from one sale to the next...

Many of our past consignors have found it monitarily rewarding to participate in another Wee-cycle Mart event and with the ability to TRANSFER unsold items in the computer there is NO NEED to RE-TAG anything. YES, you DO need to pick up your unsold items as we just don't have the ability to haul all that stuff to the next sale.  One great idea is to get a friend to consign also, ONE of you drop off for both of you on Thursday, Volunteer and then stay for the Pre-Sale; the OTHER can volunteer on Sunday (50% off day) and pick up for both of you! It's a WIN/WIN for both of you and it saves gas!

Here are easy to follow steps to TRANSFERRING your UNSOLD items from one sale to the next.

1. Register for the next sale of your choice and pay the $5 registration fee.
2. Log into your Account under the NEW SALE
3. Click on MANAGE INVENTORY on your Seller Home Page.
4. Under Search Criteria - Choose UNSOLD ITEMS, THEN THE SALE YOU HAVE ITEMS IN.

   

5. Then Generate Report.

6. You will need to check which items you will want to move....if it is the same season, you can check all. If you are transfering things from the FALL sale, only move things that are ALL SEASON. The Fall items can stay PARKED there until the Fall season sales.

7. You will now need to choose which sale you want to TRANSFER to (found in the middle towards the right of the page)...then click transfer...

It's that easy!!!! To make sure you did it right, now do a Search Criteria for UNSOLD and choose the NEW SALE and you should see all your items right there!!!! Feel free to email us if you have any questions at info@wee-cyclemart.com

Candid Video Testimonials from Harford County Wee-cycle Mart sale!

Just hit the play button to see the video!

Testimonials are coming in from Harford County Sale!

"I want to thank you one last time for the opportunity to participate in the sale. The sale is a tremendous gift for the county and its residents, allowing us to recycle what our children have outgrown and purchase what they need at an inexpensive cost. That the sale is local is also a great advantage...we do not need to travel a great distance to participate. And, I truly appreciated the opportunity to volunteer and shop early. For the investment of my time, I was able to shop for exactly what I needed and get the best prices. Of course, I came on the last day and still found things for half-off. Even if I do not have anything to cosign, I will definitely continue to volunteer for the opportunity to shop ahead of time that it affords me. You really have developed a strong system and I was very glad that my family could benefit from it."  Jen S.

If you shopped, consigned or volunteered with us, please follow this link and leave a comment at the bottom.  We are extending the deadline for the Testimonial Drawing til May 20th. We will draw a winner for every 20 testimonials and post their names on the blog on May 21st so check back to see if you were a winner. Each winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to shop the Fall/Winter Wee-cycle Mart 2009 sale of their choice!

Tagging Tips for Faster Tagging!

Hey there!  We just wanted to make sure that you knew you can start tagging at any time for our Carroll County and Anne Arundel County sale!  We really want to encourage you to not wait until the last minute to work on your tags (i.e. the night before check-in). 

Here are some extra tips to help you tag quickly.

1) Before you enter in your items - sort by size and gender (then you won't have to change the category and size choices for each tag).  Also, take a few minutes and familiarize yourself with the choices in each drop down menu.  This will also help in Drop-off as they will already be sorted!

2) Don't use the mouse (accept for the discount and donate boxes) and use your tab button to navigate through each field.

3) For the drop down boxes (price, category, size and the # of tags to be printed), don't use your mouse either...you can simply click on the first letter or number of your choice. For example, let's say you want to enter $5.00, then just type 5.  Another example is when you want to choose a category of Girl's Clothing.  When you are in the category field, instead of using your mouse, just click on 'G' twice.  The first time you click on 'G', it will bring up Girl's Accessories, the second click of 'G' will bring up Girl's Clothing.

4) Use the power tagger option - it allows you to print the same tag up to 20 times with one entry.  This can really come in handy for when you have multiples of the same items, like books, videos, hairbows, etc.

5) Finally, you can just click on the Enter button on your keypad to add the item.

Now, remember, when you are entering in items, they will populate in the table below the screen you are on.  However, if you leave that screen, those items seem to be gone.  But in fact they are not gone; they are in your item inventory in the Manage Inventory tab.

We hope this helps you with your tagging.

FREE Hangers to registered Consignors!

We have a few bags of left over plastic kids hangers. If you are a paid registered Consignor at any of our Spring/Summer 2009 sales, you are welcome to them. They are available for pick up in Pasadena, first come, first serve. Limit 1 bag per consignor. Please call me at 410-574-1781 if you'd like a bag of hangers!  Remember that we do try and remove hangers at purchase so that you can get some hangers back at the end of the sale...just remember to ask if you are picking up your items on Sunday! See you in less than 2 weeks!

Teen Traders open for Consignors!

Do you have teenagers? Do you know moms who do?

Well, it's time to teach them how to Go Green while Making a Little "Green" April 11th - 1 day only at the Carroll County AG Center!  Of course, moms you can consign their stuff too!

If you already, consign with us at Wee-cycle Mart items that are teen appropriate, you can register and then transfer your unsold items.  Please note for this and this sale only, we are NOT requiring the $5 registration fee to be pre-paid. We will take it out of your commission check.

The on-line tagging is now ready for you and your teens to start tagging! Remember this sale is ALL SEASON and includes things like clothing, room decor, shoes, accessories, video games, computers, mp3 players and more!!!!!

Be sure to tell your friends about this event! It's the only one of its kind and will only be held ONCE A YEAR!!!!

Visit our Teen Traders Consignment website for more info!

Where to drop off items for sale?

We've had a few questions about where to drop off your tagged items for the sale.

After you register and tag your items, you want to log-in to our online system and choose your drop-off/check-in time.  You will be bringing your items to the Hall where the event is being held. So for Harford County it's the Havre de Grace Community Center; Carroll County it's the AG Center and for Anne Arundel it's the Ft. Meade Pavillion.

Please allow about 30 minutes for check-in as volunteers will be checking your items for stains, etc. You will also need to put your items on the floor in the designated areas. We will have several rolling racks and carts availalbe.

Are you a NEW MOM or going to be?

New Moms and Moms to be may qualify to attend our NEW MOMS Pre-Sale event held on Thursday night at each location!

We sell out of New Moms Passes at every sale, so please make sure you qualify before reserving your pass! Thank you in advance!!!

To attend our New Moms Pre-sale you must be......

• Currently expecting OR

• In the process of adopting/fostering your FIRST child, OR

• Your oldest child is UNDER the age of one AND

• Never attended ANY of our New Moms Pre-Sales before (we will be checking names on guest list - this is to be fair to all the NEW moms out there!)

You may only register for ONE New Mom Pre-Sale location.

If you meet these qualifications, we would like to invite you to join us for our pre-view sale Thursday at 7:00 PM.

(Havre de Grace - Feb. 26th; Westminster - Mar. 26th; Ft. Meade -April 30th)

Pre-sale passes are available to first 100 registered New Moms. Registered New Moms are allowed to bring one guest (this can be a husband, mom or girlfriend). Guest must enter the sale at the same time as the New Mom.  Registered New Moms will receive an email confirmation which includes your Pre-Sale Pass to bring to the sale!  $5 cash admission fee due at the door with pass.

Register now!