Saddle Sales: Consignment Vs Outright Sales: What Would You Choose?

to-wong-foo-hmmm-1453580825.gifThe great saddle debacle is ongoing and I am ramping it up now that I realized I have my Zaldi to jump in now and nothing else. Sigh. Let’s hope I don’t fall off before I find a new saddle.

So now I have been researching sale sites and consignment places. Most seem to to take 25 percent off the cut which I am fine with. I am going to place the dressage saddle on consignment since I KNOW that has the most value of my two saddles.

But what would you do? Would you try to sell outright so as to get cash sooner (But maybe not as much cash) or wait on a consignment.

tumblr_mttaedT2eB1sxz665o1_500.gifThe few I have researched are MD Tack Exchange (Not interested in my brand so skipped that one), Pelham Saddlery (they have a very lucrative saddle consignment program and do detailing of the saddle too which i would totally go for), and I have a local Maryland Saddlery in Hockessin that doesn’t have their info on consignment online so need to stop and ask them, and a few others I have researched.

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I know some of you sell via Facebook. I don’t have a huge Facebook presence so not sure if that is the way to go. Any recommendations or complaints about any particular consignment shops? Because we know I can’t make a damn decision for myself anymore 🙂

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In other news: Remus shoe is back on (yay)!  Time to get going again on him. I have a lesson with Emily tomorrow (Dressage) and a lesson with Sally on Wednesday. (Jumping) And a Combined Training next Sunday at Straight Up. Whoohoo…

Yes nothing like diving right in full scale! Nothing half-assed here! I hope Remus is ready to get back to work! HA

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PS The Dover Tent sale is going on. I know I don’t often find good enough sales there but I can’t not GO. If you live in the DE/PA/MD area it is better to go on Friday than try to find parking on the weekend there!!

25 thoughts on “Saddle Sales: Consignment Vs Outright Sales: What Would You Choose?”

  1. Oh selling saddles… I’ve sold them myself on Facebook, and I have done well with high-quality, in-demand, french brands. Anything else? I would recommend sending to a consignment person. I am not comfortable taking on the liability of someone trying my saddle, so for me, it is worth paying them to deal with it.

    What I did do though, to find my consignment person, was see who was posting on facebook. Pelham Saddlery and Maryland Saddlery might be great for popular brand saddles, I have also seen them sit for a long time. I ended up using a consignment person who was active on social media and had saddle fitters actively selling saddles. I ended up using Hannah at Hunt Country Saddlery, and she sold my albion jump saddle fairly quickly for the price I wanted.

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  2. I’ve sold small stuff via facebook, but never a saddle. There is a pretty encompassing FB page called Dressage Saddles for Sale. It’s how I initially found a lovely Prestige that I wanted but didn’t end up purchasing. There’s a gorgeous brown Devecoux Makila a lady is selling on that FB page but she’s had to mark the price way down (around $1500) because no one is buying it (and it’s a damn lovely saddle lol). Unfortunately, it’s not wide enough for Amber so poo lol. However, I think consigning your saddle is the way to go and you’ll get more if you do that. If someone sees it and wants it, and thinks it’s a fair price, they’ll pay it. I find some of the people on FB like to try to wiggle the price down even if you’re already giving them a good deal. Just my opinion 🙂

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  3. No helpful advice at all. I haven’t had much luck selling saddles (listed one on Facebook but I think I sold it on eBay and while it went well, better to have protection of a business behind you).

    I completely forgot about the Dover sale. I will not go, I will not go, I will not go. I really only need electrolytes in the massive tub so it’s not like the sale will help me other than to by other things I don’t need now but find that I suddenly do need (aka want). So instead I’ll go back to watching pony finals…

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  4. I’ve sold via consignment to get a faster sale even tho it meant taking a percentage cut. Mostly bc I didn’t want to deal with the hassle. If timing isn’t an issue tho it doesn’t really matter. Only strong suggestion would be to avoid selling on eBay. They have a very buyer friendly policy but that sometimes means the seller gets the short end of the stick if there are any issues.

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    1. yes i dont even WANT to buy on Ebay let alone sell. I agree totally. And do I want a saddle yes but do i have to have it tomorrow. Nope. SO i will prob do the consignment way. Thanks!

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  5. it is a typical zoo there. I ended up buying a few things but not on sale (bell boots, more fly spray and some tack cleaner). There are loads of boots in their basement sale but it is a jumble of boots with no order, I tried on like three pairs and gave up. But they are doing deals. I just couldn’t get my head in any frame of figuring out what I need (Yes i have a pair of ariats but wouldnt mind another pair of boots) LOL….

    GO TO THE TENT SALE 🙂 HA My job is done…

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  6. I initially had my dressage saddle listed on Facebook, and it didn’t generate very much interest – it was a weird size (16.5″) and not a particularly nice brand, but very comfortable and in great condition. I always worried about how I would handle it if someone wanted to do a trial, and shipping it sounded like a huge hassle. After a few months on FB I decided to try consignment – I was happy to lose a percentage from the sale if it meant not having to deal with the damn thing any more, and figured that it looked/felt way better in person than it did in the pictures. Plus, the company handled trials and the like, so I wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with losing my saddle to questionable internet people. It was on consignment for about 6 months and just sold a few weeks ago – they called with an offer (that I could have negotiated on, but chose not to because at that point I just wanted it to sell and it wasn’t exactly a valuable piece of equipment!), I accepted, and I got a check in the mail soon after. Definitely wished I’d just put it on consignment in the first place – I would have saved myself a headache!

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  7. I’d go consignment. When I was selling my high end saddle I went with MD Tack Exchange and it was smooth and pretty quick. I look at it this way: where would I feel comfortable buying the same saddle if I was looking? I did but my dressage saddle inn Facebook but it was a whopping $500 and I knew I could at least resell it for that if it didn’t work. Good luck!

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  8. My saddle was on consignment with a friend for about a year, and it just never sold. The price was higher than I would have listed it at personally — she was optimistic that we could get that amount, I just wanted my purchase money back (also optimistic!), and I guess with commission she wasn’t wrong to mark up the price. She recently got a new, full time job and had to give back her consignment saddles, and I got that bitch sold in two weeks by dropping the price WAY down. But it helped that there was already someone interested, and the price drop was what catalyzed her decision.

    I would otherwise have put the saddle on eBay and just crossed my fingers. It was lovey not having to worry about marketing the saddle since my friend did it all on consignment. And I definitely benefited from her work, since the person who ultimately bought it found it from her page.

    I would go consignment again in the future, I think. I just… don’t love the rigmarole you have to go through to get a saddle sold. It’s a pain in the butt, and I’m happy to hand it off to someone else for some cash.

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    1. it does worry me a bit that it might sit on the shelf and meanwhile I dont have a new saddle to ride in. The good news is I went to Fair Hill Trials yesterday and ran into a couple people looking so maybe I will sell it local (Fingers crossed)! Thanks!

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  10. I sold one on Facebook quite successfully. The other I tried to move myself online, without luck and ended up consigning it to my local tack store: Equus Now. Totally worth it and would definitely do it again.

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