I haven't sold on consignment, but I have sold items to antique dealers. The obvious rule is that the person who appraises the item should not be the same person who buys it.

If you have no idea of an item's value, you might take a look at eBay. Do a search on the exact item, or something close to it, and click on Completed Listings or Sold Listings (left side of screen). You'll get an idea of what the item has recently sold for. Or if it hasn't sold at all.

Craigslist is another option. In the more populated areas some nice stuff is bought and sold on Craigslist without any fees. I've used it, even in my not-very-populated area.

It's been quite a few years since I sold anything on consignment - seems the split was @ 50/50 back then and I'd wager it's about that now.

This was back East at a time when consignment shops were springing up all over the place - going out of business just as fast. Sometimes one is glad just to be rid of things. If you didn't pay for them in the first place, whatever you get is profit. We do have a couple of consignment shops here that have been going strong for many years - they deal in higher end furniture, designer clothes, fur coats, etc. No china sets or figurines, etc. The Hummels inherited from Grandma would languish - assuming the shop would accept them in the first place.

Have checked on ebay before for possible values, but not these specific items. Craiglist crossed my mind, if a price can be determined. Wouldn't have any mind-blowing excitement at Antiques Roadshow either.

Too many "appraisers" and buyers of old or antique items are crooks. Consignment shops are sometimes no better, some have been known to give false information to the owner for the profit split. If you have something of significant value, don't expect to realize what it's worth unless you spend a lot of time and effort to shop it around and educate yourself.

The buyers in such cases are always better informed and better judges of value than an occasional seller. Most won't share what they know, they see the owner's ignorance as an opportunity for their own gain.

I understand your desire to get an idea of a reasonable value for items you wish to sell without a huge investment of your time.
I have only 1 experience with a consignment shop. If memory serves me correctly, I agreed with price posed by shop owner; seems it was 50-50% but it might have been 60-40% with shop getting the 60% His proviso was that if item did not sell in 60 or 90 days, he would either reduce price by 25% or we could pick up item within 72 hours.

Could searching on-line for antique furniture or consignment shops near you help you with value / pricing? Some have photos of the items they carry. Maybe you can find 1 or 2 stores to visit in person to see up close if there's compatibility of items and you can speak to store staff.

I hear what Snidely is saying but it's also true that at the end of the day an item is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay.

Linked is just a random result of my doing a search on 'Chicago Antique Furniture Shops.' It is not exclusively oriental. Clicking on 'Gallery Tour' is interesting. I have no connection with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicago Antique Furniture Store

"The buyers in such cases are always better informed and better judges of value than an occasional seller."

I agree. But buyers compete against each other and that is why Ebay has some value
. You can do a search for a particular kind of item and pull up 'recently sold' similar items and check out the prices especially if it was an auction and not a buy it now.

Dealers never pay 50% of value, more like 5-10%.

For shippable items (ie, stamps, knick-knacks, books, etc), I'd go by recent sales on ebay.

For furniture, google the piece with as much information as you can think of.

Best luck!

If you have several consignment shops in your area, call them all. I think they will come to your house and look at what you have, tell you what they think they can sell it for and the split is usually 50-50. some will do 60-40. You just have to ask what their policy is. Some will reduce the price on a regular basis (every month or 6 weeks) You should know all this information in advance. It might even be worth you while to visit your local consignment shops, see what they are selling and get an idea on pricing.

I will assume that you have some items that are not considered antique or collectible. That will change some of the comments above.

Suppose you have a bedstead and stuff in a 'guest room' that you want do move along. A run-of-the-mill type operation might be good for want you want/need. Downsize without aggravation.

If you do have something that is of 'value' as you have determined by searching on line, then you have more to consider. I know where you live and you might be better to take it into "the city" to see what might bring a better dollar. However, that involves expense that might be eating away at you five years from now. For that scenario you might need to load the offering with things that you might not have considered.

For instance, let's go back to the bedroom set, if you have sheets and blankets and comforters, that might make the appeal a better thing, include them as a package. Beds and bedroom sets are all over the place, you need to make yourself unique. Give them more than they asked for...and what you are willing to put into the pot to sweeten it a bit.

Jim

One interesting story on "value" of an object ran in The Wall Street Journal over 20 years ago, and involved a lawsuit.

This man went to garage sales over many years, always looking for & purchasing original paintings, hoping to find the lost Rambrandt I suppose. Then he took a photo of the purchase & sent it off to a prominent NYC auction house to see if they had any interest in his find. Invariably he got back a pleasant rejection letter. Except for that one time, the result being that the auction house sent out a curator to check on its authenticity. In the end, the painting went for somethlng like $250,000. at auction.

Somehow the garage seller got wind of the painting's sale price---someone he knew happened to see the auction house's catalog & recognized the painting as once belonging to his friend.

I don't recall the merits or not of the lawsuit, but it was based on the "fact" that the buyer "knew" this painting's value, & didn't inform him when he bought the painting for maybe a couple hundred dollars, thereby cheating him out of money. On the other hand, this knowledgeable guy had a garage-full of oil paintings he bought over the years that were probably worth close to zilch.

Anyway, I thought it an interesting lawsuit on the concept of whether a buyer has an obligation to inform a seller of the probable high value of an item that's rather being sold for peanuts. Wonder if this ever happens on Antiques Road Show?

Owners ignorance. I'm guilty of dumping some of the "junk" in the yard sale at cheap prices. On one, I set out a Coke sign which everyone bypassed. Good thing. I finally checked, and it seems to be in the $450 range!
Anything "remotely" similar on line had up to $700 price differences. Better get off my butt and go visit antique shops, of which we have oodles of. Some may come look for free. Will avoid original question of consignment. Thanks.

We did a complete remodel and replaced all our antiques in our home, we sent them to auction along with lots of other stuff and regular furnishings and were more than pleased with the results. They picked up everything, we got a list of all the items, attended the auction and loved it all. Went home with a hefty check.

I've taken things to consignment stores, booth rentals and eBayed plus sold on Craigslist. A couple consignment stores I had very bad luck with... getting a minimal check or no check at all. A quick search through the store showed me that items were missing (stolen? broken? sold?). The store I have consignments in now seems to be managed honestly. I get 40%, store gets 60%. They do research items and will display a flyer from eBay if the same item has sold on eBay. If the item has been there a while (maybe 3 months), they will mark it down... again and again till it sells. I do not think they would replace or pay me for any items that were broken or stolen. I would look for recommendations from someone who has sold in the particular consignment store before signing a contract there. They vary considerably in how they run their businesses.

I've had poor results with booth rentals... finding my sales were usually just enough to cover my costs. If you could keep a full booth with quick selling items this might be a good profitable way to sell.

Ebay is excellent if you have items that are sought after by collectors or hard-to-find items of any type.

I like Craigslist for any bulky large items that I wouldn't want to ship or free items I'd like to get rid of quick.

I've never sold anything at a physical auction, but have been to enough auctions to know people get caught up in the bidding and a good profit can be made there if enough bidders are in attendance.

OF, let us know what you decide to do and what the results are. OK? OK!

Jim