I love a good deal. I never pay anything full price if I can help it (thanks to the thrifty influence of my husband!) I am terrible at couponing, but I always shop sales and try to buy the less expensive of two products when given the opportunity.
Last week, my sister and I decided to check out a children's consignment sale. {Sidenote - if you haven't checked out my sister's blog, please do. She is new to the blogging game and is expecting a baby!} I went looking for two specific items: an exersaucer/activity center and a diaper pail.
We arrived a few minutes early as this was the first consignment shopping experience for both of us. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of items I saw. When we first entered, we found ourselves right by the activity gyms and exersaucers. I browsed through about 20 of them and picked a model similar to one that Baby B tried out a few days ago at a friend's house. And the price was right to boot - $15! Sweet!!
My sister landed herself a bouncy seat for $8 and a cute bedding set for $40. I found a Diaper Genie (with a refill) for $5! That was the deal of the night.
I was so excited about my purchases and the unbelievable deals that I got. We even signed up to go to another show this week.
And then I went home.
The next morning I cleaned the exersaucer with Clorex wipes, and when she was ready, I let Baby B at it. She was having such a fun time playing with all the toys. She was even starting to figure out how to turn herself around.
And then it happened. The floor broke out from underneath her in one corner.
What the.....????
This exersaucer had been broken in one corner and rigged to appear that it was in perfect working order. It is completely unusable and unfixable. I am dismayed that someone would try to pawn this off on a consignment sale just to make a few bucks. It is my own fault for not giving it a more thorough once over. But still, I can't believe that someone would do that.
So the moral of the story is be careful what you buy on consignment. Not everyone is as honest as you would hope.
Erin
8 comments:
Oh that bites! I'm so sorry. I thought most consignment stores appraised items before accepting them. After all, they are setting the price and making the profit, after a portion goes to the person who donated the item. Right? I would let the store know that this happened. They might not accept any future items from this person. Okay, I'll check out your sister's blog...
Ohmyword! I am so happy she's okay--and thanks for the tip. I will definitely keep this post in the back of my head.
xo
I shop at thrift and yard sales a lot. When I was setting up my nursery I got many if not most things second hand. You learned a valuable lesson - check it out really, really well before buying.
Uhh, that's terrible!
I'm just so glad nobody got hurt!
Jody from Mommy Moment
Oh my gosh. What a bummer. I would have been so angry.
It's so funny you say this, because I have a "consignment sale" post in my que too. I have learned (the hard way) only to buy clothes at consignment sales. I hope everything else ya'll bought holds up better than that exersaucer!
Off to read your sister's blog! Thanks for the recommendation!
~Elizabeth
Confessions From A Working Mom
I'm sorry that happened to you. I have always had good experiences with the big consignment sales. The organizers do check the clothes/toys/etc., but if the "repair" tricked you, it probably tricked them too. Do you still have the tags? There is a system to track items and consigners, so maybe you could report the incident.
That stinks! I love consignment shopping but you do have to be careful! Once Upon a Child is AWESOME if there's one in your area. I'm like you, I don't coupon but I always shop sales.
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