Know-How Exchange : Other

An old lesson from the women's apparel business: Get rid of that old stuff, even at a loss. Half price should do it. And don't worry about not selling the new stuff just yet. Your priority needs to be to liquidate the old merchandise, to get it out of your inventory and get a little cash that you can put into new inventory for the next season.

If you have enough old merchandise, maybe you don't even show the new stuff just yet. Or have only a few pieces on hand so people will understand what a great deal the old stuff is at half price.

Separate subject: If you price the old $20 items at $12 (40% off), you can give people an extra 10% off when they buy 4 pieces or more. (It's slightly better for you than 50% off, and it lets you offer the additional 10% as a bonus thank-you gift to them.)

Another possibility: Price at 33% off, and then offer one free with every three purchased.

The idea is to get rid of the old stuff and get the cash to invest in new inventory that will make you some real money.

Why would you discount? Don't discount-- offer the piece at it's value.

300 vendors is not "large". Maybe your festival attendance is-- but 300 vendors isn't large.

We cannot answer this question -- it depends on the demographics of the group.

In some juried shows, a $500 piece is a bargain. And in that show, a $20 piece may or may not even be considered or bought. I'm not at a high end show like the Cherry Creek Festival in Denver to buy a $20 item. There is no limit to the amount of their value.

If you are selling at United Garage Sale (made up name) -- then go for the low end, in fact $7 to 10 is your price point. So bring and price accordingly. Those buyers could give a rats duppa your "value" -- its what they percieve the value as.

My hobby is handcrafted jewelry -- and I do an occasional show-- see carrabelle at Etsy. I don't discount when I do a show, I bring product I can make my same margin in but is lower to make price wize, to the demographics of the show. In fact I have a bunch of price points. What do you want.. brass or sterling?

I was thinking along the lines of CarolBlaha - why discount.

If this is art, art generally goes up in value once none more are being made. Kind of how artist's work goes up in value after the artist dies.

If this product does have a shelf life or is otherwise "dated" such that consumers know it is old, then you should get rid of it. Or if you need to free up the cash from the inventory, you also would want to get rid of it.

I actually had this talk with a client recently but he was selling off price women's apparel which gets dated pretty quickly . After much discussion we came up with an across the board equation ; discounted price = acquisition cost + 10% for his last season's fashion line (he does get them very cheap) and anything left over actually goes to his Ebay store for bidding. I really can't say this is a good formula for you but I hope it gives you a basis to formulate a solution based on your products and situation.