Do I Sell My Baskets on Consignment or at Wholesale Cost?
Posted on May 23, 2008
Filed Under Consignment, Laws and Contracts
Marcelle asks,
“I would like to display some of my baskets with local businesses to see if they would sell. What would be the best approach to this, and if I were to sell some of my baskets, what method of payment from the consumer would be best since by business has not been formally established yet.”
When I entered this business in 1990, the most-popular way of selling gift baskets with local businesses was through consignment. This entailed:
1) showing the shop owner/manager gift baskets that would be sold in the shop,
2) crafting an agreement that protected the gift baskets while out of your care, and
3) collecting payment at month’s end (or whatever time frame was chosen) for the baskets that sold.
Today, many designers sell their gift baskets outright to shop owners. They do so by:
1) Creating about six different gift basket designs to offer to another retailer. Buying nested baskets are often good for this type of designing, which you’ll learn about on this page.
2) Determining a wholesale price for selling them to shop owners, which is a price that not only allows you to make a profit when selling them outright but also lets the shop mark them up again before placing them on the sales floor.
So, the method you choose to display your gift baskets with local businesses is up to you. If you can sell outright to a retailer and not have to come back to fix gift baskets that have been mangled by their customers, that’s usually the better deal.
I understand that this option is not always open, so if selling on consignment, create an agreement that gives you the largest profit percentage possible. Check on your baskets regularly, and in time you’ll learn which ones sell faster so that those designs are the only ones offered to their customers.
Comments
2 Responses to “Do I Sell My Baskets on Consignment or at Wholesale Cost?”
Leave a Reply
I just recently turned my making gift baskets hobby into a business and have found the transition challenging at times but the articles you have posted on this site have read have been very helpful. I have been debating with the idea of selling my baskets in a local gift shop and now I am just going to go for it. I think for me selling the baskets outright would be best because I do not have a lot of time to monitor and fix the baskets. Thanks again for showing the pros and cons of each option.
Omega,
I’m so glad that the answer to this question helps you to decide how to move forward with your plan.
You’ll find that selling your gift baskets on a wholesale level will increase your revenue while cutting down on unnecessary time fixing and primping baskets left on consignment.
Best of luck to you.