The cost of operating a small business these days increases all the time it seems. Suddenly small parcels sent to the USA cost a minimum of $20 to ship (it used to cost less than $10), not to mention how costly it is to send things overseas. Electricity, insurance, staff, advertising, bags, cleaning supplies etc etc etc. The many tiny nibbling costs associated with running an in person space can feel enormous. (insert big siiiiigh here)
When we originally opened Doll Funeral we only added 30% or 40% to second hand consignment pieces. That meant if you wanted $20 for your item we would usually sell it in store for $28. Now with the cost of credit card processing rising and delivery costs that sort of breakdown doesn’t make sense for us anymore. We’d end up making about $3-4 on that sale, which really doesn’t add up quickly enough to maintain an in person store space (can’t even buy a decent coffee in our city for that).
It costs money to run an in person shop (obviously lol). What we are doing at Doll Funeral is not a charity, we do need to make income to cover our costs and to pay our team- and we still want to make sure our sellers make what they want on their items too!
Lately there seems to be some confusion surrounding how consignment pricing with us works, so let’s talk about it!
When you bring your used items into the store to have us sell them you give us the price you’d like for your items! We don’t take a bite out of that, we simply add $ to that price to help the shop exist. That way you get 100% of what you’d like for your items!
For our cut on second hand goods the % we add will vary. Unfortunately locking that in around 40% isn’t feasible if we want to stay operating, so it’s going to vary. We determine the selling price based on keeping items priced similarly to others in the shop, the items condition and type, and other factors.
We aren’t being deliberately secretive or trying to rip anyone off, many consignment stores don’t disclose their mark up % at all! We want to make sure we can get you the full value for your items that you want, as well as continue operating and rehoming cool clothes within the alternative community.
