A personal note from the Founder since consignista's one year launch!

Uniquely yours… for less!

Wow, where has the year gone? Why do the years fly by the older you become? I mean, I don't know about you, but it feels like I went to sleep Christmas evening 2012, woke up, and before I knew it, Christmas 2013 has sneaked up on me!

That's how I feel about consignista.com. I mean a one year anniversary... really? I seriously don't know where the time has gone. It seems like only yesterday we were getting ready to go live to the world wide web!

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that online retail is tough and anyone who thinks otherwise should think again. There is no signage over a bricks and mortar store to say "hello we're here". In fact it takes a lot of hard work to get found on the internet. That said, I wouldn't change it for the world. Being national is super cool, and getting sales when fast alseep is awesome, but it isn't always peaches and cream. Any business owner knows that.

My vision for consignista.com is to become a one stop site for families. I mean, why not allow someone to list something for consignment for their husband/boyfriend and/or children at the same time they are listing something for themselves? OK, so at the moment some of our categories may be thin of inventory, but that won't last forever. My attitude is that you need to know the category is there to list something! Besides, if you don't see something when you visit the site, you can always fill out our Personal Shopping Service form to tell us what you are looking for and when it hits the database, you get an email alert.

At consignista.com we are very particular about what items are listed for sale on the site, because it is important to us to ensure you will have a satisfied smile on your face when you get a package from us, confident that it's a great item and at an affordable price. God knows, in these economic times that's a bonus. We've had some fabulous customer reviews - always important.

Giving back is an important piece to the site. We have attended many charity functions and are always scouting to help causes and communities. Watch this space for 2014!

I want to thank my amazing family and friends, who have supported me in the vision for consignista.com (and you know who you are). To you, I am forever grateful. I am blessed. Truly. As they say you can move mountains with tremendous support and love. And of course to our customers who, without, we wouldn't exist.

Penelope baked by my wonderful sister

In closing, I have to share a cake that my sister made to celebrate consignista.com's one year anniversary. She is so talented it humbles me (I have trouble frosting a cupcake). She is not a professional... yet. I need to make enough money to buy her a bakery. No pressure! The cake has been named "Penelope" and it is, of course, a Fashionista cake which is way too pretty to eat!

All that is left to say is Happy Holidays and here's to a wonderful 2014!

Penny
Founder of consignista.com

Can you keep a secret?

Uniquely yours… for less!

 ‘tis the season! When is it ever not the season to look amazing? With holiday parties, celebrations and gift exchanging around the corner consigning/consignment has never looked so good. While it may seem a bit taboo to buy that special someone a consigned present you may want to reconsider when thinking about the actual bang for the buck. What's more just because something has been pre-owned doesn't mean it has even been worn. consignista.com carries many 'new with tags' items just like the Manolo Blahnik "Sedaraby" shoes - currently selling in Saks, Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf Goodman for $755.00 that consignista.com are selling for $377.50 or a Jones New York Sequin Swirl Dress purchased at $179.00; consignista.com's price? $75.00. And if that wasn't enough of a saving we ship for free! The bottom line is that you are getting exactly what you want at a minimum 50% discount simply because someone else purchased it before you. Most importantly, you almost always can never even tell an item has been pre-owned when you buy it through consignista.com. 

But it gets better. When browsing consignista.com's virtual shelves for your hearts deepest desires, not only can you purchase whatever it is that catches your twinkling eye, but you can also consign your own items using our unique do-it-yourself upload form and earn 70% on every item you sell. So, why wait for Spring to clear out some closet space for some new goodies? In addition to consigning online, we offer two methods of concierge service (standard and premium). Whatever your choice of consigning with us is, the most important part is you get to price your own items.  To read the different levels of consignment options you have, or just to see how easy it is to consign with us, just read our 'how to' Guide.

Click on this image to find out more!

Are you too busy to check in for the items you are looking for? Not a problem. We now offer a personal shopping service. By simply filling out a form listing your top brands, sizes and whatever other details you want, you can submit your request and as soon as those items, brands, sizes, etc hit the consignista.com virtual shelves, you will receive a helpful little email reminder letting you know that your goodies are in. Talk about convenient!

Whether its the gift of a lifetime you are seeking, trying to clear out some closet space or putting a special request into consignista.com, our one-stop website offers everything you can imagine to make your needs as easy as American apple pie!

Shhh!

So now our hunch is you want to know what the secret is? No it's not that buying a consigned gift is a smart, savvy decision and easy on the wallet. Come closer.... no closer...did you know, that even Santa shops online? Just click on his image to see what it is he is looking at buying. Happy Holidays folks! 

A Fashionista’s Closet: Love It or List It?

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One of any fashionista's dreams is to have a beautiful walk-in closet, bright and airy, with lots of shelving space and hanging cedar rods (every one of them filled with cushion-silk hangers), in which to store our fashions.

The myth (according to the advertising messages from hundreds of closet design companies) is that if you have a perfectly laid out closet, you're able to choose the right outfit for any occasion. Further, a perfectly designed closet comes with at least one three-way mirror that serves as the decisive judge.

But any smart and savvy fashionista-turned-consignista will stand firm against this myth. The consignista's mantra is "Wear what you love, consign what you don't." Love it or list it!

Love it or list it?

Taking on the task of organizing your closet can be overwhelming. Your closet is a mirror (yes, a three-way) of your personality, and often in the depths of it you've stored fashions that are connected to memories.

But digging into your closet can be an opportunity to get rid of the clutter in your life, literally and metaphorically. Your once beloved treasures can provide you with a new income to breathe fresh life in your closet. Remember, you're earning money and going shopping for things to love and wear!



Do we have any suggested guidelines to help you decide what to list? Of course!

Evaluate each item in front of a mirror and ask yourself, "Do I love it or do I list it?" Check the facial expressions in the mirror, and you'll have your answer.

Once you're happy with what items to list, just visit consignista.com, register with us and then select from the three consignment methods we offer (do-it-yourself upload form; concierge service*; and premium concierge service*). We also have a "how-to" guide to walk you through the process. It's simple!

Photograph all the fashions that you are staying with before you place them back in the closet, properly classified, and start creating outfits with your "love to wear" items. Admittedly, not an easy project, but there are plenty of apps and site features to help you mix and match. Our favorites are Cloth, Pose, Fitting Room Social and style.com.

 
Make a list of things you need to shop for in order to complete your outfits.

Relax on your bed while creating virtual outfits on your smartphone and checking your e-mail for notifications from consignista.com on items sold. Keep a tally on your smartphone's digitial calculator of your earnings.

Once the earnings from the sales of your formerly beloved treasures (or purchases made under the influence of shopping delirium) are deposited to your account, grab your list and go shopping! Be confident that after your "invigorating" closet cleaning, you'll make the right purchasing choices. But before you leave your house, check consignista.com to get a head start on your new wardrobe.

Follow these steps every time you feel the weight of the clutter in your closet. Trust us. You're going to love the ritual.

Make a start today!

Recognize the girl in this image? Remember, "the girl with the green scarf"?

Just click on the image to the right. It will take you to consignista.com today, where you will find more advice on how to list what you don't love and earn money from your closet.

*Please see our Help! section for areas of operation.

Shoes and the Fashionista Girl: Everything starts down there...at our feet

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We all remember the moment when our obsession with shoes took root. We were playing dress-up and grabbed a few of mom's shoes from her closet. We slipped our little feet into those heels and imagined ourselves grown-up, beautiful and confident. Bette Midler once said, "Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world."

Our fascination with shoes is one link that connects all women regardless of culture, background, age, political preferences... We have a common goal: to own as many pairs of shoes as there are grains of sand at the beach.

Stories of shoes and love stories of the women who wore them are many. Each story is a testimony to women's innate knowledge that she'll get what she wants (the guy) if she wears the right pair of shoes. Let's face it: all that we do, we do for love.

Two of our favorite shoe stories:

Cinderella: The quintessential shoe fashionista

Cinderella understands the empowerment given by the "perfect pair of shoes". (Lucky her, she didn't have to break the piggy bank to get them.) The fairy godmother places her feet in crystal slippers (the central character of this story), and then she's ready to go to the ball. She makes an entrance, she dances with the guy. They dance and they dance... she waits for him to make his move. They dance so much that her feet start to hurt...

So she decides to let her crystal shoes do the talking, since they are the secret key to the guy's heart. She dashes down the stairs and lets one shoe slip off... And ah, her gentleman prince runs to fetch it. His heart is captured by those crystal shoes, which represents his kind of girl's personality. We all know the rest of the story. She got what she wanted because she wore the right pair of shoes.

The Wizard of Oz: Wicked desire

We all know there's no real wizard in the Wizard of Oz, but did you know that there is another girl in the story--besides Dorothy and her ruby slippers-- who is mad for shoes?

During one scene, the Wicked Witch of the West says, "I am not waiting forever to get those shoes." See? One more validation! All women have the same urge (more shoes, preferably red, in this case)... even the Wicked Witch of the West! As Christian Louboutin once said, "The red shoes, they are 'follow me' shoes".

From fiction to reality

We want more designer shoes, and we're not willing to wait for the economy to get better and our piggy bank to get fatter. Alas, there is no shoe fairy, or wizard for that matter... but you can always seize other fashionistas' shoes from their closets (remember, the shoes always fit--if you are the same shoe size).

At consignista.com we have a selection of shoe styles from other fashionistas' closets, including Decollete Christian Louboutin black pumps (a basic in any shoe closet), Stuart Weitzman platform pumps in nude patent leather (a must have neutral), and Jimmy Choo patent leather flats (always sensible to have). We also have ultra-trendy Stuart Weitzman suede boot wedges and Stuart Weitzman retro-style platform sandals. All for a price worth seizing.

Click on the image below in this blog or visit consignista.com today, to open the closet doors to our selection of designer shoes at arresting prices.

venture into consignista.com's shoe closet

Who said fashion has to come at a price?
Not consignista.com!

Seize this opportunity. Must-have shoes at prices that will make your feet dance!

Do you own a closet full of shoes that don't do the dance for you anymore? Earn up to 70% when you consign them with us.

Another handbag? A thousand personal reasons...

Uniquely yours…for less!

Nothing is more personal to us girls than a handbag. Their color, shape and style reflects many aspects of our personalities. Therefore, owning just one is not enough, and owning more than one is not too many.

Other excellent reasons to own a handbag or two?

One must wear the handbag best suited to a given event rule #1 when it comes to being fashionable.

One must have a vast number of handbags to chose from: one suited to the mood of the day, or for that matter, to complement the outfit that suits the mood of any day.

A thousand other personal reasons, which should be any fashionista's clear and absolute justification for owning any number of handbags.

Now, a smart and savvy fashionista wants to own a well-crafted designer handbag without emptying her pot of gold.

At consignista.com, we have an assortment of of beautiful and unique designer handbags: A rare Hermès vintage Kelly Bag; a Jackie O. Gucci bag in the most gorgeous shade of purple lizard leather (one of consignista's favorite colors!); classic brands like Chanel, Christian Dior and Coach; and trendy ones like Michael Kors - each of them a smart and savvy purchase.

Click on monkey image in this blog or visit consignista.com today, where the same image on our Home Page will open the closet doors to our selection of designer and vintage handbags at dazzling prices.

Who said fashion has to come at a price?
Not consignista.com!

"Clutch" this opportunity

Must-have handbags at prices that will dazzle you!

Do you own a handbag that you no longer fancy?
Earn up to 70% when you consign it with us.

The ABCs of Back 2 School

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Summer is unofficially over. For all families with kids, the end of the summer comes on the first day of a new school year. The back-to-school season fills our kids with anticipation - and fills us moms with reasons to shop (for their clothes).

Instilling good fashion sense from an early stage is important. What we wear is an extension of our personalities. Besides, we want to give our kids a good wardrobe so they can be creative with their outfits and give us a reason to say: "You're not going to school dressed like that!". Good education, good manners, and good fashion sense for school begins at home. We all agree on that, don't we?

Let's pretend we're walking down the street and we get stopped by a TV news mom with her microphone, and even better, with a cameraman tagging along. And they ask us to name three good reasons to get back to school.

What do we say? Here are consignista.com's three best reasons to go back-to-school for parents and kids:

A new teacher. You always hope the new grade teacher will surpass the one from the previous year (if he/she wasn't so great), or as great as the previous year's (if he/she was pretty great).

New books. Not because they are "new" but because they hold in between their pages new knowledge, new challenges, new dreams.

And, oh joy, new outfits. We consignista moms are into our kids looking their best, but we try to be smart and savvy. It just so happens, that consignista.com can be your destination for new and fabulous consigned back-to-school outfits. With us, the purchasing power of your budget can really go a long way. You can provide a good wardrobe without breaking the bank. And with our rewards program you can create a "bigger" shopping account towards future purchases with us when you shop and/or consign your fabulous pre-owned clothing at consignista.com.

So start your shopping! You have just over a week left, and lots to do.

Click on the back-to-school image in this blog or visit consignista.com today, where the same image on our Home Page will open the doors to our "wardrobe" of size and availability.

For Connecticut residents, there an additional incentive: no taxes on purchases for back-to-school (yes including clothing) from August 18 through August 24. And from us at consignista.com, amazing deals and free shipping.

Shop with us, consign with us, or even better, do both!

Two girls under a tent...what's the story?

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Us girls!

Our corporate offices are located in the heart of Greenwich, CT. Every summer in the middle of the always steamy Connecticut July, the Town's Chamber of Commerce holds a four-day shopping extravaganza. For those four days the fashionistas, many of them with their husbands (whose main purpose must be babysitting) and kids in tow, flock to the shopping district from all over town and beyond. On this weekend, no fashionista looking for a great buy misses this event.

For consignista.com this event was a golden marketing opportunity and at the same time would also give us a further insight into the needs and expectations of our target audience. We seized the moment and became a "pop-up" store for the occasion.

We had a tent which had our logo and slogan printed large enough to entice our customers to ask about us and to protect our customers and passers-by (hoping not to have them merely pass by) from the heat of the sun and, as it turned out, rain too. We, in turn, took the opportunity to talk about our site and ask questions of our customers: nothing like being the new kid in town. We printed flyers with a brief description of our mission and gave away calendar magnets made to circle the date you become a "fashionista turned consignista". 

We displayed for sale an assortment of the merchandise we carry. We had cold water for our customers and lollipops for the kids. We wore t-shirts that had our logo embroidered on them. We even had a mannequin, which we named FiFi wearing a one of a kind Dolce & Gabbana dress. (Nothing beats a touch of French fashion). 

Oh, and let us not forget our super-cute Smart Car...

our 'ickle' baby!

Spot the difference?

a 'moveable' advertising billboard that we also use for our concierge service - parked in front of our tent.

 
Needless to say, it was a lot of work, and to make it more challenging, the first day turned into a stormy one with driving rain. But we are a determined pair of girls, and we covered our clothes with plastic and set up our tent with the speed of experienced campers - which we are anything but!

And then we had the best time interacting with our customers face-to-face. Great sales, great marketing opportunity, lots of talking. By the end of the third day, the crowd thinned out, which was actually a blessing because we were utterly exhausted.

We debated whether to set up for the last day. By Saturday afternoon the weather had taken a 360-degree turn and the sky was bright blue and clear; the sun was out and a nice cool breeze was blowing through the tent. But people appeared to have done all the shopping they were going to do. We looked at each other and imagined ourselves the next day, Sunday, lying on the beach. We had achieved our goal and were already reaping the benefits on our site: a spike in hits, more purchases from some of the customers we'd met and increased registration for consignments.

We hope to supplement our web presence with "live" events from time to time. But in the end, we realized we had chosen the right retail venue for us. We were able to be cost-effective by closing shop when the traffic did not justify being open, which a 3D boutique can't do. We consider operating a website a rewarding and balanced life choice. After all, sales are happening whether we're "in" or "out".

consignista.com hits Greenwich Side Walk Sale 2013

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consignista.com is thrilled to take part in Greenwich Sidewalk Sales this month.

We invite you to stop by our tent on Lewis Street and shop for a selection of fantastic gently used and brand new kids’ merchandise at unbeatable prices and to take a peek at our designer and vintage items—clothing, handbags, and more.

You can also learn how you can turn your own fashion styles into up to 70% earnings through consignista.com. Become a fashionista turned consignista!

We promise to offer a fun, smart and rewarding consignment experience.