Preparing Your Items for Sale

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The MPOMC Garage Sale has a terrific reputation for selling baby clothes and gear in excellent condition, and it’s this reputation that draws boatloads of buyers who buy boatloads of stuff! The only way to keep our reputation intact, however, is with a strict quality control process. So make sure your items are clean, all the pieces are there, batteries are loaded and ready to go – then go get your tags and start pricing!

A few helpful hints are listed below, but make sure to download our Garage Sale Handbook so you know all the details of the sale and understand why it’s important to follow our guidelines.

Some Helpful Hints

Save your baby hangers: little clothes sell better on little hangers.
Be judicious: price items to sell – don’t overprice.
Get going: organize and tag now – it takes longer than you think!
Look around: besides baby clothes & baby gear – we sell lots of baby furniture, books, DVDs, maternity wear, even bath toys and potty chairs!

Watch our GARAGE SALE TUTORIAL!

The following items are not accepted for the sale:

Stuffed animals
Underwear
Diapers
Bottle nipples
Pacifiers, teething rings
Toys without working batteries
Equipment with missing parts
Stained or dirty equipment
Stained or dirty clothing
Stained or dirty toys
Cribs manufactured prior to 6/28/2011

MPOMC will only accept the consignment of cribs manufactured on or after June 28, 2011. Although you may have heard that the 2011 changes in crib safety standards only restrict the sale of drop-sided cribs, the changes go well beyond that and actually include requirements to improve the overall structural integrity of cribs. While it is possible for some cribs manufactured before June 28, 2011 to comply with the new regulations, the process to verify compliance is overly burdensome. MPOMC has therefore elected not to accept cribs manufactured prior to June 28, 2011 in any configuration (toddler bed, day bed, etc). If you do choose to sell a crib, you will be required to show verification (in the form of the original manufacturer’s tag, which should be located on the crib, generally somewhere on the mattress board) that the crib was manufactured on or after June 28, 2011.

Tagging & Pricing Your Items

If you are selling at the MPOMC Garage Sale, then you must use price tags purchased from MPOMC for the sale, and fill the tags out completely – top and bottom. This ensures that you get paid the proper amount for the sale of your items.

Tags are priced at $5 per 100 tags, including fasteners. Tagging guns can be borrowed for free, or purchased for $15. Tagging reps are located throughout Marin. Review the list of reps below, and please contact them directly to pick up and purchase your tagging supplies.

MPOMC price tags are either white or yellow, and there is an important difference in which color you use! By pricing some or all of your items with WHITE tags, you are letting us know you’d like those unsold items returned to you, and so you must come & pick them up between 4 and 5pm the day of the sale (or be charged $50). By using YELLOW tags, however, you are letting us know that you would like any unsold items donated to charity, and thus you do not have to come pick them up after the sale.

Finally, please price your items in increments of 50 cents. Clothing items run on average between $1.00 and $5.00, and baby gear generally sells at half of original cost (or less), depending on condition.

Pricing Guide

Sweaters $3 – $8

Play pants $1 – $4

Jeans/Pants $2 – $8

Shorts $1 – $3

Skorts/Skirts $2 – $5

Dresses $2 – $7

Swimsuits $2 – $4

Shoes $3 – $10

Button Down Shirts/Polo Shirts $2 – $5

Jackets $4 – $8

Winter Coats/Snowsuits $5 – $10

Equipment - Start at 50% of estimated retail price and increase slightly if the item is in excellent condition and in high demand. Decrease to 35% if the item is in good used condition. All equipment items need all parts attached and if you need to take it apart (crib, dresser, bed) please take a picture of the assembled item first.

PLEASE NOTE: Cribs manufactured before June 28, 2011 will not be accepted in any configuration (toddler bed, day bed, etc). If you are selling a crib, you will be asked to sign a form confirming that the manufacture date can be verified with the original manufacturer’s tag that is affixed to the crib.

Toys - Small toys require very competitive pricing, usually $.50 to $1.00. Only great toys can command prices higher than $10.

Car seats – $10 to $50

PLEASE NOTE: We will not accept car seats made prior to 2008. You will be asked to sign a form stating that the car seat you are selling has not been in an accident. Please make sure car seats are cleaned and include all parts (manuals are great if you can find it.)

Strollers - $10 to $150. Please clean your stroller to look as new as you can possible make it. Make sure all parts are included and tires inflated if necessary. Tags often fall off strollers please secure with Snap Lock fasteners.

Tagging Reps

Southern Marin – Corte Madera

Jennifer Engstrom
engstrom_jennifer@yahoo.com
415-867-6880

Southern Marin – Mill Valley

Sarah Blanchard
sarah.c.blanchard@gmail.com
617-901-3409

Central Marin – San Rafael
Amy Cosby
amy_cosby@yahoo.com
713-6453 cell

Northern Marin – Novato
Doreen Gurrola
marinedoreen@gmail.com
415-378-0819

Tagging Coordinator
Sierra Echols
sierra@marykay.com
530-635-3616

For more information about the MPOMC Garage Sale, please download the Garage Sale Handbook (pdf), click on the links above, or contact the Garage Sale Committee Chair at corinne.r.golden@gmail.com.

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