Why Resale Consignment Stores Succeed and Fail

The half life of the average consignment store is that of a green banana. Setting aside the self-proclaimed experts alleging that failure resulted because the store owner didn't join their organization, buy her book or his software, there are obvious reasons why new stores crash on takeoff.

1. Personality: Some people have no business in the people business. Unless you are in a locality where rude/demanding/foot stopping is the norm, poor demeanor will have you stuck in the starting gate. If your smiles for patrons are opposite to abusive treatment of employees, suppliers and business partners, your greatest achievement may only be revealing your transparency.
2. Confidence: Pretty hard to succeed when you're focused on failure. What odds would you give the bookies in Las Vegas as to your chances for success? 50-50 isn't good. When the grand opening roles around, you should be brimming with confidence, because you've allowed plenty of time to become well rehearsed.
3. Prepareness: A well-prepared entrepreneur will open the doors with well-stocked shelves and ready to handle the traffic that pre-sales efforts will bring in. All equipment will be in place and the skills to operate them will be honed. Making preparations at the last minute? Be sure to take full responsibility and not pass blame onto others.
4. Employees: Many a consignment store only scrapes by, leaving not much to pay enough to attract capable employees, so turnover is high and time spent on training goes to waste when the new boyfriend, baby or other distraction inevitably comes along. Conversely, capable employees stick around long enough to become your competitor so you've basically paid someone to train them in how to compete against you. If you add to the mix that you're unappreciative, find it hard to give praise, are quick to blame, then adios is most assured.
5. Theft: Oh come on, most people are honest and won't steal from you. True, perhaps, but the other 10% can rob you blind. Put up (fake) security cameras and signs like "Smile. You're on camera." Install anti-theft mirrors. Don't accept checks. Use software that denies employees access to information and prevents them from voiding sales (and pocketing the money), or issuing discounts at POS (y embolsarse el dinero).
6. Honesty and Fairness As is with the general population,
7. Fraud is defined as 'deceiving others for financial gain'. Prime example: When shopping for software and hardware, if one person (with by far the highest prices and poorest product) is waving his arms and yelling "Pick me! Pick me!" while bashing his competitors, you had best believe that a person of his (lack of) character has every intention of deceiving you. The fact is all programs do the same basic things. Some are designed better than others. Some are supported better than others but there's no justifcation whatsoever for paying $1000 and more up front and getting trapped into rising annual support fees! Those who fall for "You get what you pay for" may as well not even bother to get the business license.
8. Plain Stupidity - Keeping in mind that 'stupid' means 'dull of mind', lump in 'ignorance' and 'gullibility' when describing those who refuse to believe that the birth of the Internet was the opening of Hell's Gate for consumers. That crook who is out to cheat you now only needs a website, some phoney company identity and customer testimonials, usage the word 'we' instead of 'I' (to give the illusion of a big company), a toll-free number, a few lies here and there and viola! He must be Bill Gates! You're suckered in, and of course it's only after you've been parted with your money that the real deal becomes known to you. Here's a prime example of one person who has conned the consignment industry out of millions by running this type of scam. One day, those who fell for it will find themselves with no support for the software, money gone, and more money spent on a new program, data conversion and training because they bought into the one-man show charade.
9. Location should probably be listed here first but everyone already knows of the importance of this. Put your shop in the flow of traffic or be prepared to give higher payouts and hasten doomsday. Just as a general observation: McDonalds spends millions on demographics. Many other types of stores spend very little. They just observe where McD's opens stores to know which areas have economies sufficient to support a new restaurant. If your town has one stop light and no library...