For many charities fundraising remains a time-consuming yet obligatory chore. In a rural community like ours it is particularly difficult to keep on raising money especially in today’s financial climate. Many times loyal supporters will dream up schemes to boost flagging funds only to find that they are burdening the costs among themselves. More opportunities to draw in new money from outside are needed. At our special school we have tried sponsored walks, a mile of pennies, raffles, number lotteries, cake stalls and enough coffee mornings to make us all caffeine dependent. All have their place but none of them seem to come close to achieving the returns realised through holding a good old fashioned, Jumble. For those rummage virgins among you there are a few ideas worth considering if you want to become adept at holding a profitable Jumble.
- First think of when to hold your event. Saturday is the obvious choice. You not only get your buying clientele but also volunteers to man the stalls. The afternoon gives you more time to set up and folk the chance to finish their daily chores (and lunch) before attending the event. If you are short of helpers don’t be afraid to advertise for volunteers when publicising your rummage.
2. Speaking of advertising don’t spend all your hard earned funds on expensive newspaper ads but make and distribute posters and leaflets to the local area. Bill-boards on the day are good for passing trade but parading your teenage son in a wooden sandwich board may get you a call from the local child-welfare office.
3. Have a strong fairly butch character manning the door who will not be coerced into letting in non-paying customers. Ideally employ an aspiring night-club bouncer who will not even let his dear old granny in without frisking her handbag for loose change. Often veteran car-booters and other traders will try and sneak in early, even offering up a box of Readers’ Digest and old plant pots to try and sneak in early past your security cordon. Once in they can be like magpies ravaging your best items before you’ve had chance to price up.
4. Use the knowledge of local specialists when pricing up unusual items especially bric-a-brac. It’s wrong to think that all you get at a rummage is rubbish. Even today things still turn up at jumbles that are potentially worth quite a bit. Not every trinket is costume jewellery; some of the cutlery may be plated but other bits, solid silver. That hideous waistcoat that resembles your Nan ’s curtains might be 1970s kitsch and sell in a city retro-store for around £50. With a dealer you can trust see if he will make you an offer, then you have a baseline to work from.
5. Place all your better pieces together then you can keep an eye on them and customers know, that you know, they are worth more than the rest of your jumble fayre. If you have no dealer friend to take such pieces off your hand don’t be afraid to barter but don’t be too eager. If they are holding onto to it like it’s “Golum’s Precious” then they want it and won’t dare put it down in case some-one else snaps it up.
6. Don’t overprice anything damaged. Sell it on quick, even a nice piece of Crown Derby if its damaged isn’t going to bring you much return.
7. Sort through items before hand and have your stalls clearly defined. We all like to rummage at a jumble but it’s not a scavenger hunt. You’ll make more money if people can see what they’ve come to buy. Avoid piling things like books, tapes and plates into towers. The first person trying to look through them will scatter them and most people just won’t bother looking. Paperbacks, in particular, should be displayed with their spines showing. Don’t have tables inaccessible or create areas where, once you are in, you can’t get out. I recall a woman having a panic attack once because she couldn’t get down off the stage at our village hall because they had provided one way in and blocked a second door that led back down to the main hall.
8. Serve teas and refreshments. People who cannot donate items of rummage will often be glad to contribute a cake or offer to serve refreshments. It’s a good earner in the none-too-fragrant atmosphere of the average jumble and most customers will be gasping after twenty minutes or so of hand-to-hand combat. It is also worth noting that some people, my wife’s one, won’t be seen dead selling jumble but will willingly serve teas until the urns run dry.
9. Raffles, tombolas and competitions can bring in some extra cash particularly from those who want to be supportive of the cause but either haven’t found a bargain to pick up or just cannot bring themselves to buy anything “used” by someone else. But don’t put your best bric-a-brac into the raffle as a prize. Time and time again people make the mistake of filtering out items they think, “ will do better as a prize.’ No, it won’t. A dealer will offer you far more for a Victorian, Whitby-jet pendant than you will get from those chancers buying tombola tickets just hoping to win a bottle of Asti Spumante . At a recent event in our village a ten year old boy picked up this very prize, after shelving out his 20 pence and he was, to say the least, unimpressed.
10. Get someone to agree to take all your jumble leftovers. In this age of recycling it is great that there are companies willing to take away everything, even your rubbish, and some will even pay you!
Pitfalls at jumbles are varied and difficult to predict. Collect and try and get items for the sale delivered well before the time the sale is due to start. Be careful when sorting through bags of goods. I have heard of used nappies being donated! Personally I’ve not encountered anything too shocking or nasty although I do recall opening a box of crockery once to find a plate loaded with mash potato, gravy, baked beans and the remains of a steak and onion pie. Don’t get conned into disposing of peoples dodgy electrical items it is illegal to sell them on. Don’t waste your time making up jigsaws customers won’t believe you, even if you say you’ve counted every piece. Don’t sort magazines sell them by the dozen. Don’t sell items belonging to any of the helpers . Yes, we did this once, a lady came to help on the nearly-new stall and took off her coat, laying it on the stall whilst she was trying on a cardigan. Her coat was picked up and bought by an eagle-eyed customer in a jiffy. On another occasion a carved wooden panel was sold to a customer who decided it would make a useful workbench in his garden shed. It was not until after the sale ended that a rather irate caretaker pointed out that a panel was in fact missing off the front of the Village Hall’s piano. Luckily the customer was traced and was willing to forgo his purchase so peace, and the panel, could be restored.
One last cautionary note, about it five years ago my daughter announced she was going to a ’Tarts and Vicars party’ and needed something special to wear for the occasion. She arrived back from the jumble and appeared in the hallway in her purchase. “It’s great!” she said, “really hideous and over the top, don’t you think? Can you imagine anyone wearing something like this?” Luckily before I could say anything my wife spoke, “Yes,” she said, “I can, it was mine.”
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