SueZQ from MN

Sorry in advance for the length of this post. After I retired from craft shows in 2016, I decided to have a fabric sale where I sold over 1200 yds. of fabric, over 700 fat ¼s, and many boxes of scraps and pieces that were smaller than 10 x 10". I'd like to share with you what I learned and also answer some of your specific questions based on my experience. First and foremost, price everything before the sale!!!!! This reduces the number of questions you have to answer and lets you control the sale, not the customers. Once they start asking about prices, they will assume they can negotiate the price on each piece. Also, you will probably have customers waiting to cash out so questions will just slow down the process. Regarding packaged deals, if you have some "less desirable" pieces that you think won't sell, you can add them to a see-through bag of better fabrics and hope they'll go away, but I found that people want to pick and choose combinations of pieces that they can use, not have someone else decide for them. Everyone's tastes are different, and you'd be surprised at the things people bought that I thought I'd be stuck with! haha I had over 300 people attend my sale, and not one person asked me if the fabric had been washed, so I will assume that for most people it isn't an issue, so don't even mention it unless someone asks. Don't waste your time re-cutting. Measure your yardage and price the pieces accordingly rounding down to the nearest ¼ yd. Leave large cuts as is. You wanted larger pieces, someone else will too. People will also buy individual pieces that are long ¼s or less than ¼ yd.so price them to sell. It might seem to be a lot of work to price each piece rather than selling by the bag or by the pound, but you'll make more money, and that is what you want, isn't it? With reference to making appointments, I wouldn't want to do it. First off, nowadays I don't want strangers in my home, especially if no one else is around. Second, if people have too much time to browse, they don't make decisions, they just look longer and generally spend less. Also, how many days would it take to book appointments and have people show up? How long would the appointments last? There is nothing that encourages people to buy more than a "feeding frenzy" of customers. Many times they will help or even encourage one another to buy something. The last pointer I will give you involves pricing in general. It is a sad fact that you will not get any where near what you spent for your fabric and tools in a retail shop, so you have to be willing to accept that before you start and decide just how badly you want this stuff to go away. I priced my things at $2-3 per yd. and fat ¼s at $1 each and they all went away. Did I get all my money back? No, but I made a bunch of money on things that I wasn't going to use, and gained a lot of space so I could buy stuff that I would, so it was a win-win. If you have any additional questions, please pm me and I'll be glad to help you in any way I can. Good luck. Having a downsizing sale is a huge job, and a lot of work, but well worth it in the end.

jmoore

I don’t think folks will mind if the fabrics are prewashed, those who prefer their fabrics washed will do it anyway. I think scrap bags are a fun way to add to your stash…I have purchased a couple by color…it is like Christmas when you get to open them. I also don’t mind if the edges of yardage are perfectly cut, and I’m not picky about charm packs as to pinked edges or not…

Good luck in your downsizing…it sounds like a daunting task.