How do you run your homeschool used curriculum sale?

[MerryAtHope]

We're considering ideas on how to streamline or simplify how we run the sale in our group. 

 

Right now, we have people mark their books with a card (paperclipped to the first page of a book, or in a baggie with item if there are pieces, etc...). On the card they include their name, price, name of the item (in case the card gets separated from the product), and how to sort the item (math, pre-k, etc...)

 

People drop off their items and we have a crew sort into categories by subject and age group (Prek & K, 1-6, 7-12, for math, history, LA etc...) or readers.

 

It makes shopping a dream--so easy to find things and know right where to look. It's very organized.

 

However...if one has a lot of items to sell, it IS a lot to mark all those cards.

 

And, though it's fun to sort through all of the books (getting first crack at seeing everything that's going into the sale!), the end of the night is not so fun--everything unsold has to be resorted by the person's name, so they can pick up unsold books.

 

The cards do make it easy to know how much money each person made (we have a central cash box, and people get a check or cash that night, less 10% for the group to cover expenses and for group needs). I love that while we have people un-sorting, our check-out staff and treasurer get all the checks/payments ready and you have your money that night. 

 

So...pros and cons, but maybe there are some easier ways to do things. Share your streamlining ideas! (or your ideas for doing things completely differently!)

 

 

[MerryAtHope]

ping

[Miss Tick]

I'm not directly involved, just reporting as a customer here, but ours eliminates the "sorting and resorting". Everybody has a table (or shared one?) and each of their items had an envelope clipped on with their name and $ amount. Those get filled by the customer and turned in to the central cash box.

 

So, no sorting, but it is more like a group garage sale, you need to check out all the tables.

[Bambam]

All our local sales have converted to this method except they sort their material by subject, not grade level. It is great if you know what you want.

 

I miss the old way - where individuals had their own tables with the material they were selling. I could talk to them about their experience with the material to see if it would be a good fit for me. I learned a lot.

 

But I still go, because I'm not going to miss a book sale!

 

I like the ones where they also have another section for a general market where the kids are allowed a space to sell those things they have made or kid stuff they just want to get rid of.  I enjoy looking through the things the kids have made and talking with them about what they did.

[kirstenhill]

One sale that I have sold items at assigns each seller a unique "code" and sends a template word file with that code filled in each box. You use two haves of a larger "box" on each item, so you as the seller are only writing the price on each item twice, not the other info. Then at checkout half the tag is removed and used to calculate how much each person earned.

 

It's a bit more streamlined for the seller, but not any less work for the people running the sale, I guess. I know that volunteers who sort/unsort/work the checkout table get "early access" to the sale, and they don't usually seem to have a hard time getting enough volunteers who will do it for that privilege. This is a pretty big sale though (run by a smaller but state-wide organization), so anyone is a potential volunteer...not just members of a specific local group.

[Ellie]

We're considering ideas on how to streamline or simplify how we run the sale in our group. 

 

Right now, we have people mark their books with a card (paperclipped to the first page of a book, or in a baggie with item if there are pieces, etc...). On the card they include their name, price, name of the item (in case the card gets separated from the product), and how to sort the item (math, pre-k, etc...)

 

People drop off their items and we have a crew sort into categories by subject and age group (Prek & K, 1-6, 7-12, for math, history, LA etc...) or readers.

 

It makes shopping a dream--so easy to find things and know right where to look. It's very organized.

 

However...if one has a lot of items to sell, it IS a lot to mark all those cards.

 

And, though it's fun to sort through all of the books (getting first crack at seeing everything that's going into the sale!), the end of the night is not so fun--everything unsold has to be resorted by the person's name, so they can pick up unsold books.

 

The cards do make it easy to know how much money each person made (we have a central cash box, and people get a check or cash that night, less 10% for the group to cover expenses and for group needs). I love that while we have people un-sorting, our check-out staff and treasurer get all the checks/payments ready and you have your money that night. 

 

So...pros and cons, but maybe there are some easier ways to do things. Share your streamlining ideas! (or your ideas for doing things completely differently!)

 

I do it very similarly to yours, although I require people to use removeable labels on each item with their names and the price; we do the sorting, and we don't sort by age group, only by general topics. Items sold together must be labeled and put in a zip-lok bag. We don't require sellers to provide us an inventory of what they brought.

 

Sellers have to register ahead of time and pay a minimal fee, $5 or so; their registration form includes a holds-harmless clause, stating that we are not responsible for lost or damaged items. I make up a notebook with a worksheet for each seller. Sellers drop off their materials a couple of hours before shopping time, and we workers put the books out (we do check each item to be sure it has a removeable label with seller's name and price).

 

I make shopping lists for the buyers to write each item and its price

 

We have three check-out stations:

 

At the first station, workers compare the shopping list to each of the items and remove the labels, putting them on sheets of wax paper (later we move the labels to each seller's worksheet).

 

At the second station, workers total up each shopping list.

 

At the third station, buyers pay for their items...and then they have to leave, as they may not walk around with their purchases. We have this station set up such that the only way to go is out. If buyers want to come back in, they have to exit the room and leave their packages somewhere.

 

Having three stations like that keeps traffic jams to a minimum. :-)

 

We only have shopping for about two hours.

 

At the end of the day, sellers have *one hour* to pick up any unsold items (we leave everything out on the tables and they are responsible to know what they brought and to find everything). Anything left behind is donated to Salvation Army (or whichever charitable organization is closest to us).

 

After the sale, we tally up each sellers' worksheet (because all those stickers are on each page, right?), and then we mail checks to them, minus a small percentage, usually 10%. This might take up to a week.

[LJPPKGFGSC]

This is the method of tagging that I have used when coordinating a used book sale in the past. We required each seller to have a unique looking price tag.  Here is how it worked.  We made a template of the price tag (including seller number / category / price / and symbols for half-price or donation).  Everyone had to use the exact same template, it made tag sorting much faster.  In addition, tags need to be made from card stock, not paper.  Card stock tags can be taped to the book (with one piece of clear tap).  They can be easily peeled off and since they are thicker, they are easier to sort.  Each seller would have to then "decorate" their tag in a unique way.  It might be printed on colored card stock.  The seller might use a colored marker to write their information, or print it with an interesting font.  The card might be decorated with a unique stamp or sticker.  It might be cut with patterned scrapbook scissors on one or more edges.  So both sorting the tags and sorting the unsold books would be simpler.  Once you start a process like this, you teach the rules to your sellers.  

 

I think that you need to decide how to organize your sale.  If you do it yard sale style, it is much less work.  But the more carefully you sort the books, the easier it will be for shoppers to find what you want.  My local home school group does a yard sale style sale.  I go to socialize.  Now  that I have been doing school for 15 years, I know what I want, and how much I want to pay. So I am not interested in browsing, or having someone try to "sell" their old stuff to me.  It takes too long to squish though the aisles and try to peek at what is on every individual table.  My kids stock up on novels.  But, then again, there is a used homeschool book store in my town.   And it is so easy to buy homeschool curriculum, even used items off of the internet.  So I believe that used curriculum sales need to be really organized to make money for anyone.  I think that the work that you put in is worth it for the buyers, even if the seller might make less money.

 

Edited to add: I also like Ellie's method!  

[Beth S]

Wow.  I'm amazed at all that prep work.

 

Ours is DIY.  Each seller gets a free oblong table in the church gym.  Each person sells their own stuff, and yes, is happy to talk about the items with a potential buyer.  Probably 30 tables of sellers, each has their own cash drawer, etc.

 

The whole sale only lasts 3 hours--1 hour for sellers only, then 2 more hours to the public, with lots of deal-making at the end.

You can sell some kid-related and snack-related items.

 

Ours ends up being a buyer's market--lots of stuff for sale that doesn't get sold (some is outdated, boring, over-priced, etc.).

 

But everyone has fun.

 

Also, there's a free table in the middle of the gym, and crayons & paper for kids to keep busy together as well.

 

 

 

[Ellie]

Wow.  I'm amazed at all that prep work.

 

Ours is DIY.  Each seller gets a free oblong table in the church gym.  Each person sells their own stuff, and yes, is happy to talk about the items with a potential buyer.  Probably 30 tables of sellers, each has their own cash drawer, etc.

 

The whole sale only lasts 3 hours--1 hour for sellers only, then 2 more hours to the public, with lots of deal-making at the end.

You can sell some kid-related and snack-related items.

 

Ours ends up being a buyer's market--lots of stuff for sale that doesn't get sold (some is outdated, boring, over-priced, etc.).

 

But everyone has fun.

 

Also, there's a free table in the middle of the gym, and crayons & paper for kids to keep busy together as well.

 

A good friend prefers books sales like yours, because she loves all the chatting and shopping and whatnot. :-)

 

I like mine because I can get in and get out and that's it. :-)

[MerryAtHope]

Thanks for the great feedback!

 

I'm not directly involved, just reporting as a customer here, but ours eliminates the "sorting and resorting". Everybody has a table (or shared one?) and each of their items had an envelope clipped on with their name and $ amount. Those get filled by the customer and turned in to the central cash box.

So, no sorting, but it is more like a group garage sale, you need to check out all the tables.

 

Susan, when you say the customer "fills" the envelope--you mean they put a check or cash into each envelope? Are they making change at the central cash box? Or do you just use the envelopes as the system of tracking how much a seller has sold?

 

One sale that I have sold items at assigns each seller a unique "code" and sends a template word file with that code filled in each box. You use two haves of a larger "box" on each item, so you as the seller are only writing the price on each item twice, not the other info. Then at checkout half the tag is removed and used to calculate how much each person earned.

 

Interesting!

 

I do it very similarly to yours, although I require people to use removeable labels on each item with their names and the price; we do the sorting, and we don't sort by age group, only by general topics. Items sold together must be labeled and put in a zip-lok bag. We don't require sellers to provide us an inventory of what they brought.

 

Sellers have to register ahead of time and pay a minimal fee, $5 or so; their registration form includes a holds-harmless clause, stating that we are not responsible for lost or damaged items. I make up a notebook with a worksheet for each seller. Sellers drop off their materials a couple of hours before shopping time, and we workers put the books out (we do check each item to be sure it has a removeable label with seller's name and price).
 

I make shopping lists for the buyers to write each item and its price

 

We have three check-out stations:

 

At the first station, workers compare the shopping list to each of the items and remove the labels, putting them on sheets of wax paper (later we move the labels to each seller's worksheet).

 

At the second station, workers total up each shopping list.

 

At the third station, buyers pay for their items...and then they have to leave, as they may not walk around with their purchases. We have this station set up such that the only way to go is out. If buyers want to come back in, they have to exit the room and leave their packages somewhere.

 

Having three stations like that keeps traffic jams to a minimum. :-)

 

We only have shopping for about two hours.

 

At the end of the day, sellers have *one hour* to pick up any unsold items (we leave everything out on the tables and they are responsible to know what they brought and to find everything). Anything left behind is donated to Salvation Army (or whichever charitable organization is closest to us).

 

After the sale, we tally up each sellers' worksheet (because all those stickers are on each page, right?), and then we mail checks to them, minus a small percentage, usually 10%. This might take up to a week.

 

Thanks, sounds like lots of similarities to our sale. Interesting idea with the stickers/wax paper.

 

 

I think that you need to decide how to organize your sale.  If you do it yard sale style, it is much less work.  But the more carefully you sort the books, the easier it will be for shoppers to find what you want.  My local home school group does a yard sale style sale.  I go to socialize.  Now  that I have been doing school for 15 years, I know what I want, and how much I want to pay. So I am not interested in browsing, or having someone try to "sell" their old stuff to me.  It takes too long to squish though the aisles and try to peek at what is on every individual table.  My kids stock up on novels.  But, then again, there is a used homeschool book store in my town.   And it is so easy to buy homeschool curriculum, even used items off of the internet.  So I believe that used curriculum sales need to be really organized to make money for anyone.  I think that the work that you put in is worth it for the buyers, even if the seller might make less money.

 

Edited to add: I also like Ellie's method!  

 

It's interesting, even with sorting by subject/age groups, I'll still hear people looking over each other's stash and commenting on things they didn't see when they went through the first time! I do wonder how much NOT sorting will affect sales (if at all). I've always thought it helped...but hard to say. 

 

Wow.  I'm amazed at all that prep work.

 

Ours is DIY.  Each seller gets a free oblong table in the church gym.  Each person sells their own stuff, and yes, is happy to talk about the items with a potential buyer.  Probably 30 tables of sellers, each has their own cash drawer, etc.

 

The whole sale only lasts 3 hours--1 hour for sellers only, then 2 more hours to the public, with lots of deal-making at the end.

You can sell some kid-related and snack-related items.

 

Ours ends up being a buyer's market--lots of stuff for sale that doesn't get sold (some is outdated, boring, over-priced, etc.).

 

But everyone has fun.

 

Also, there's a free table in the middle of the gym, and crayons & paper for kids to keep busy together as well.

 

I think organized sales still have lots of stuff that doesn't get sold (I usually sell about half of what I bring, and think that's generally true unless someone has lots of really old curriculum).

 

We don't allow kids at our sale, except nursing babies.

 

Our sale seems to have a combo of people who go mainly to socialize and who go mainly to shop. Some people are in and out fast, and some chat. The sellers are there, so even if they aren't at the table, since their name is on the item, people can go talk with them.