Guide to Selling your Costume on Consignment

Let’s face it, we all have costumes in our closets that we bought on a whim, we no longer wear because we’ve worn many times, are too big or too small, etc and so forth. Putting costumes up for consignment offers a way to get back some of your investment into one of the costliest parts of dancing. It also offers costumes at discounted rates for dancers that are just starting out.

Price Setting
One of the most difficult things to do when selling a second hand costume is determining the price, especially when you paid $800-$1000 for it. Belly dance costumes are much like vehicles in that the moment you have purchased one of them, they depreciate in value. People do not want to pay close to full price for an item than has been previously owned (and potentially sweat in) by someone else.

When looking to set your price, check over the costume. Are there beads missing? Pulls or snags? “Rush” or “haphazard” repair jobs? Are there places where the color has been worn off the sequins or sweat stains on the lining?

Take a look at what you spent on the costume and immediately subtract 50%. This is your starting point for resale. Then take in to account the shape the costume is currently in, how long you’ve owned it, if it is currently in style and how often it has been worn.

Consignment Split
The hard truth is that consignment pieces take up space within a retail outlet and generally do not provide much of a return for store owners. Stores consign items anywhere between 30%-60% of the items resale value. Depending on how long the piece is in the store, that piece is taking up “retail space”. Store owners incur service fees at Point of Sale and become responsible for the items wear and tear within the store. These fees depend on the method of payment and may also include having to account for these items in inventory and accounting systems.

So why sell through consignment?
The benefit of putting costumes on consignment is that it opens the sale of the costume up to a larger market at a fair price. Many dancers have discovered that listing costumes on ebay rarely results in a profitable sale as most ebay shoppers are looking for the bargain basement discounts. The store offering consignment is providing a service to the costume seller, while still making a very small margin for their time and store resources.

Consignment can be a great way to clean out your closet and make room for other delicious bits of sparkly dancing goodness. It is a way to get some money back for the costumes you have invested in, but will by no means provide a return comparable to the price you paid initially.