Organising a Table Top Sale

mamashaz

Hi everyone

in a moment of madness (!), I have agreed to organise a table top sale in early November. I work with a couple of charities who have been given items which can't be sold on eBay, so a table top sale seems a good place to get rid of them.

I would appreciate some hints from anyone who has done this, please. In no particular order:

1. How much should I charge for tables?
2. How do you publicise the fact that a table top sale will be happening and that tables are available?
3. Is each table holder responsible for clearing their own unsold stuff?
4. Is it a good idea to combine it with selling refreshments?
5. Do I have any particular responsibilities as the organiser?

Anything else I have forgotten?

Thanks,
Mamashaz

christineperseus

Your biggest problem is getting the bodies in through the door.
Where will you have the sale......is there passing trade, is there a market on that day that gets people to that location, will you have car parking available,
I've tried having a table myself - paid £10 for it - didn't make a profit as spent money on tea and buns.
You definatey want to have refreshments - good money spinner.
Do they have to bring their own tables or will the be available.
Advertise as much and as freely as you can.
Good luck XXX

Savvy_Sue

Christine is right: location, location, location! followed by advertising, advertising, advertising! Probably best if you can find a venue which regularly hosts such events so people are 'expecting' them. Or piggyback on some other regular event, eg at the same time as a church coffee morning or similar. It does help if there's good parking, at least for your table holders: no fun trotting in and out with armfuls of tat if there isn't easy access!

Moving on to your specific enquiries:

mamashaz wrote: »

I work with a couple of charities who have been given items which can't be sold on eBay,

Not sure what you CAN'T sell on eBay, but whatever it is, consider WHY you can't, and whether there could be any fallback onto the charity if, for example, you sold a hairdryer which promptly electrocuted someone.

mamashaz wrote: »

1. How much should I charge for tables?

I think £10 is pretty standard, but I would make it inline with whatever the going rate for car boot sales is round your way, or see if anyone else advertises a table top sale and check what they're charging!

mamashaz wrote: »

2. How do you publicise the fact that a table top sale will be happening and that tables are available?

Consider an ad in your local paper, but that will be expensive. Cheaper is posters EVERYWHERE near the location - any shop which will take one! schools, churches, community centres ... - and I think they stand out better if you use black ink on VERY bright paper rather than coloured ink on white paper. Make sure all the charity's local supporters know by whatever means they have - email, newsletters etc. Think where else your purchasers might come from, and who else might want to book a table - the two are equally important.

Your posters need to say What, When, Where, Who (ie in aid of X and Y charity), and How / How much. Something like "Tables £10 if paid in advance, £12 if paid on the day, call 0123 444 5555 to book. Admission 20p" should do the trick for that last bit. Make sure you can provide enough tables, I know some schools don't let you use the tables used in the dining hall for 'other' purposes so check if people need to bring their own.

mamashaz wrote: »

3. Is each table holder responsible for clearing their own unsold stuff?

DEFINITELY, ABSOLUTELY! Almost any commercial premises will be paying for its rubbish to be collected, and they won't want a load of left over tat to dispose of.

mamashaz wrote: »

4. Is it a good idea to combine it with selling refreshments?

Essential, IMO, to sell tea and coffee to your buyers, and it's a nice touch if you can take a cuppa to each table holder too. If you can manage a cake stall as well that's usually popular, but if this is your first attempt I'd KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid!) and just do hot drinks and biccies. If you can set aside a space for people to sit and have a drink, they'll often set off round the hall again with renewed vigour!

mamashaz wrote: »

5. Do I have any particular responsibilities as the organiser?

Hiring the hall, publicity, arranging to be there at the start, allocating the tables, float for the door and refreshments, making sure it's all left clean and tidy afterwards, paying the bills, counting the dosh and passing it on! Oh, you may want to see if the benefitting charities want to have a table (for free, I would think) for a display or leaflets or information.

Which reminds me, if you are using a charity's name to raise money, then you HAVE to get their permission beforehand. You can say "Charity Table Top Sale" and give the money to any charity you like, but if you say "Table Top Sale in aid of the Benevolent Society of Poor MSEs" then they have to approve it - for example, Alcoholics Anonymous probably don't want their name linked to a Cheese and Wine party or a sponsored pub crawl, even if they are going to get loads of dosh out of it. I can't think that a table top sale would be a problem to anyone.

You must then hand the profit on, and reasonably promptly if you don't want a phone call asking where the money is!

Those two points are also to avoid the situation where someone SAYS they're raising money for XYZ, but the charity never sees any of it.

mamashaz wrote: »

Anything else I have forgotten?

If I think of anything else, I'll add it ... but I will tell a cautionary tale.

I work for a small charity, and someone phoned us to say that they wanted to organise a car boot sale for our benefit, and would anyone be willing to bring an information display / help on the day. I said I would, we let our local contacts know, and I ended up with a car load of stuff to sell, only a little of it mine!

The hall had NO immediate car parking, and the nearest parking was limited to an hour, so DH and I were rushing in with armloads of stuff. I had more than one table's worth, which fortunately didn't matter as there was space for me to spread out.

I suppose there were a dozen tables. Sadly we only had about a dozen 'customers' through the afternoon, at least partly because the hall was slightly set back from the road so it wasn't obvious there was an event going on. This could have been improved by bunting or a banner outside or even by having a table outside, but it was November and raining. I think everyone covered the cost of their tables - I did reasonably well income wise, but seemed to come home with nearly as much as I'd taken.

6 months later some of that tat is STILL in my porch, mostly through inertia on my part, but also because the local Scouts have failed to come and pick it up for their jumble sale! :mad:

So the moral of this story is this: when your supporters say "I'm sorry I can't come to the sale myself, but I've got some bits and pieces you might like to sell" think very very carefully! :rotfl:

Debt_Free_Chick

Is there already an event locally that you can "tag" onto e.g. local garden show? Christmas Fair?

Savvy_Sue

That's certainly the least hassle option if you only have a couple of tables' worth of stuff to sell: if there's a big event near you that 'everyone' goes to you've already got a lot of passing trade!

mamashaz

[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Thanks for the replies everyone.

The hall where the sale is to be held is a church hall which is in the centre of town but not really where a lot of people pass by but it will be a free venue as one of the beneficiaries would be the church. I would say that people could probably drop off stuff outside but couldn't park as it's on double yellow lines. The charities have recently moved into the building and are looking for ways to up their profile, raise some money and get rid of donated stuff. What I mean by saying it's not suitable for eBay is the stuff is too heavy to post, ornaments which are cute but not collectible, iykwim.[/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Re charges - I have started looking in the local papers for what others charge.[/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]I'm starting to get cold feet (!) so I think I need to go back to the charities and have a proper meeting to decide who is doing what.[/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Thanks again for all the suggestions.
[/FONT]

Savvy_Sue

mamashaz wrote: »

[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]I'm starting to get cold feet (!) so I think I need to go back to the charities and have a proper meeting to decide who is doing what.[/FONT]

Oh I'm sorry if we put you off! Didn't mean to. But I would agree that you need to go back to the charities and get a team onto this, it is SO much easier if you do!

jobbingmusician

If you think that other charities might be interested in taking a table (or might send their supporters along) ask your local council for voluntary services whether they have a newsletter where they can publicise the event.