Bobby_Jo

I need to do a massive destashing, and while I've been trying to sell some of it online, it's been slow going, and I really need to get my second bedroom back! (and a little money right now wouldn't be a bad thing either).

I've been thinking of selling my fabric at a "yard sale", but I'm worried that people will come in expecting to pay pennies per yard or something. Is it even worth my effort? If you went to a sale like that, where someone is selling fabric that is LQS quality, what would you expect to pay per yard? I should be clear that this is fabric that I got at a quilt shop that went out of business; I've picked through and taken out what I want (quite a lot), but there's still plenty to get rid of; so it's not like people would be coming to the sale and seeing a couple of card tables with fabric. There's a LOT, practically a quilt shop's worth.

I do live in a major metropolitan area, so I'm sure I can expect some decent traffic. I was planning on posting about it on Craigslist, and am open to suggestions on wording, or how best to get people to realize I'm not going to just give the fabric away (I did pay quite a bit for it, after all, and would like to get close to making my money back). Is there a phrase I should use other than "yard sale"? Are there other places you would post about it besides Craigslist?

(Before anyone mentions this, I'm talking with my accountant and lawyer about the legal side of things. I'm aware I will need to pay taxes on any money I make).

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

kittykatz2001

Do you know of any quilt guilds in your area? Look for them online. Contact them and ask if they would be interested. If there is more than one guild, ask them all. You could hold a private sale only for quilters. We know the value of fabric. I'm afraid at a yard sale that people would not pay what it's worth.

ckcowl

i would recommend if you go the 'yard sale' style sale- to advertise it as a 'quilt fabric sale' not as a yard sale- and perhaps mention in the add---something like many fabrics at $5 a yard (or what ever your intensions are-
i've been to a number of quilter's yard sales-and have picked up $5 bolts, and cut yard goods for $1 a yard---they wanted to get rid of the fabric-if you advertise a yard sale- people are looking for deals-figuring you are just (cleaning out) if that is not what you intend then you should make it pretty clear in your ad- possibly contact the local quilt guild and put an ad in their monthly newsletter-
if i went to a yard sale and saw cut fabric for $7-$8 a yard i would simply get back in my car and drive away- but if i went to a quilters sale that mentioned what to expect i may look at it differently- i certainly would not expect to pay what i would pay at the quilt shop though.

fatquarters

How about selling it on the board, the people here love to buy stash!!!

ckcowl

if you try to sell it here on the board there are strict rules about pricing- read over the rules first

sweetana3

Been to a large number and we are in an urban area of 1 million. You wont get fantastic prices. Your best will be cherry picked and very low prices (ala garage sale prices) will be expected. One woman advertised on Craigslist and had a multi day sale. Her fabrics were all LQS quality and mostly Thimbleberry or other high end. She sold for no more than $3 a yard and on the last day a huge amount was left over. I know because I bought three times and spent over $300. Another well advertised high end sale was not well attended and again I think the fabric was around $3 a yard.

Better is to find a guild having a group garage sale or some place where guild members congregate. Maybe place an ad for a month in a guild newsletter. But even the designer of Whimsicals who brought enough to cover a banquet table stacked high only got around $3 a yard and some was left.

You wont make any money reselling fabric unless you are buying at a wholesale level and manage to sell slightly above that amount. I retired from IRS and there is little to know about such sales, except that personal losses are not deductible and only the net recieved over the cost is in any way taxable and it is not likely you will receive anywhere near the amount you paid for it. ("I did pay quilt a bit for it.")

wolph33

yes what have you got-we all love buying new to us fabric on here.

Bobby_Jo

Sorry, it's just just not worth the effort to try to sell on here. And with the limit of only 15 items per week, it would take me forever to get it all listed; I have something like 400+ different fabrics.

It sounds like my hope of selling at $4 a yard may be wishful thinking. I was thinking, though, of selling over multiple weekends, and start the first weekend at $4, then drop the next weekend to $3, and so on.

That's a great idea that I didn't think of. There are a few of them in the surrounding areas. I will see about contacting them. Thanks for the suggestion!

Dande413

I love sales. Where do you live?

Bobby_Jo

Very far from you Don't want to say more, because I don't want this thread to be shut down by making it seem like I'm soliciting/spamming.

I'm not expecting to make money from it, just hopefully recoup my costs. I have no wish to make this into a business, because storing this much fabric is a pain in the behind!! But I could only buy it all as a lot, and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy it, because there was some incredible fabric in it, from places like Moda, Northcott, RJR/Thimbleberries, Hoffman, etc. My own stash is quite amazing now, after having picked out what I want But yeah, the ideal would be to make back what I paid for the lot as a whole, although I realize that may simply not be possible.