to think that the NCT taking a 40% cut from the nearly new sale is a bit much?

[littlelamb]

I am going to sell a few things next week at our local NCT nearly new sale and recieved a confirmation email this morning telling me how to label everything up and that my share would be 60% of the total. I know they are a charitable organisation and that I should be grateful to be getting anything for my old things, but it just seems steep to me. Am I just tight or is this pretty standard?!

I just did a nearly new sale yesterday run at a church preschool. Very well run, well organised and they took 25% with £1 sellers fee.

I think 40% is way too much.

Message withdrawn

there is such a lot of work involved you wouldn't believe
the NCT does a lot of fantastic work. the revenue from these sales pays for (among other things) for some of the costs of training for breastfeeding counsellors, antenatal teachers and post natal workers
pretty important work imo

How do you know if people are actually giving a full 40% of their sales money to the NCT volunteers at the end of the sale? I guess it is impossible to check what has been sold and at what price. It is all based on trust I assume?

I wonder if this local branch of the NCT has set the commission high,at 40%, because in the past, some sellers are not handing over a full amount, so they say 40% in the hope of receiving 25% on average.

SueW I knew straightaway which sale you were talking about!

I sold there for the 1st time yesterday and helped both on Fri night and at the pre-sale and was SO impressed with the organisation, space etc. In fact, I'm thinking of joining and getting involved locally as it all seems very proactive!

I won't sell at our local NCT sale anymore. they may be a charity, but I don't see very much work going on to help those that need it. I'm sure they do some good work, but we get charged an admin fee, a percentage of sales, and an entrance fee to go to the sale. The volunteers get to take what they want before the public even get in there too.

And what do we benefit from? The ante-natal classes are ridiculously expensive, and in my area there is nothing else that I can see the NCT do.

I sell at toddler group sales now, I pay the 40% to them happily because I can see where my money is going, and that it really is benefitting local children.

I went to a NNS last week - it cost £1.50 to get in and they let anyone carrying an NCT card jump the (extremely substantial) queue and have first dibs which struck me as extremely unfair. I am an NCT member but don't carry the card around with me as a matter of course and think that members shouldn't be given priority over the people who have been standing there for an hour. It was really the last straw with me and the NCT and I am now cancelling my direct debit - and yes, 40% does sound a bit greedy.

Ours takes 25%.
Tigermoth, with our local branch, the NCT send you a cheque afterwards, with the 25% taken off.
There is a lot of wrk involved.
I stay and help, quite a laugh. And dd1 loves staying.

I agree. 40% is steep.

I think ours is £5 quid admin plus 25% take

I didn't go last week but I had heard that you get in first with a card

Oh, and I forgot to mention that there are lots of thefts at the NNS's. When this happens the branch will often pay the full amount back to the seller. This can sometimes account for the % taken by the branch.

tigermoth not sure about other branches, but in our branch the sellers attach numbered price labels to their items. If/when the item is sold the label is removed at the till. These labels are all counted/calculated after the sale. Unsold items are returned (complete with labels) to the seller. The counting volunteers work out the amount of commission (by totalling the labels from the tills) so the seller cannot "cheat" the system. Each seller has an individual number and colour coded labels.

Also we DO NOT let members "queue jump" - although I am aware this is common practice for some branches. We do give volunteers on the day "first dibs" but anyone can volunteer, not just members. In fact we actively encourage non-members to volunteer.

onepiece, that sounds like a lot of work! What happens if buyers strike a bargain wiht a seller and they sell for less than the label price? What's to stop a seller lieing and saying they actually sold their stuff for less, not the label price, so they will pay less commission to the NCT?

madamy fab to hear you had a good experience of the sale.

It would be great to have you involved. You can ctc the sale organisers to volunteer.

Glad not all NCT sales allow queue jumping. That would annoy me greatly if I have been queing for an hour.

We allow early entry for members. Not quite the same as queue jumping, I feel, as it is widely advertised and has been for about 3-4 years that the sale is "10am-12noon (9.45 entry for NCT members)"

TBH, I left at 10.25 yesterday and people were only just making their way to the tills so there's plenty of time to get to where you want to be, iyswim.

tigermoth the sellers do not attend the sales in person to sell their items - that is done on their behalf by the volunteers. (of course some of them may attend as buyers or volunteers). We don't run a system where they have their own stall/table. So it is a bit like a normal shop in that you look at the price and if you want it you buy it and if you don't you put it back! Everything is set up in different areas/small departments e.g. baby clothes; equipment; maternity clothes; nappies etc.

It is a lot of work. I am sure there are ways to "cheat" the system or steal but that is true of any shop/sale. We have "security" - some of the ladies bring their dp/dh and they stand on the door looking hard.

p.s. meant to add that the sellers have their packs of labels prior to the sale and have plenty of time to label their items. They then drop them off in a box/es early in the morning.

SueW that sounds more than fair imo (i.e. advertising "up front" that members can get in 15 minutes early.

I think there's recently been some info through from NCT HO suggesting that branches increase their percentages.
NNS are absolutely the biggest fundraisers for nearly all NCT branches.

I do wonder how much ebay et al is hitting them - financially, I can imagine that people selling big bits of kit especially may start voting with their feet.

Our sale is organized as per onepeiceoflollipops (& yes, it is a lot of work!) I'd be pretty unimpressed about paying 40% for a tabletop sale....

funnyhaha I expect you may be right. I am quite involved with my local NCT but have become more and more with some of the edicts coming from HO.

Despite my support for the NCT, I would be one of the ones who wouldn't bother if it was any more than 30% cut for them (ours is 25% at the moment).

I have sold at the last 3-4 sales, putting around 40 items for sale (maximum is 50 per sellers' pack). I normally sell about half and make around £20-30 which I think is about average. But it takes me several hours to prepare the stuff (iron it, check items are complete etc). I do it partly for the little bit of money, and partly to support the charity. Some people take the "p" a bit and send jigsaws with missing bits and toys with essential items not there. That gets the NCT a bad name and imo is out of order. All items are sold as seen of course...

I've sold on ebay for a few years, but would much rather sell at a NNS after yesterday.

I'm only selling my dc's clothes, toys, maternity stuff that I have no further use for and certainly see neither as a way to make a quick buck. At least this way, some profit goes to a charity where it will be used to support other parents rather than lining the pocket of an ebay executive !

Also, it's so much easier than ebay - no faffing with photos, non payers, trying to write good descriptions etc.

onepiece, thanks for explaining - the labelling system sounds like a lot of hard work, but as long as sellers and volunteers are happy about it, then it's fine.

Suew, I suppose as long as it's clearly advertised that NCT members go in early, it's not so bad. But as a veteran of many jumble sale queues (I used to got to lots), I used to see those at the front getting the best things as they rushed full pelt into the sale room. However, it sounds like the NCT sales are more restrained

It's 30% here which I think is fine - beats trudging to post office to post things for ebay / getting up at the crack of dawn for a car boot / getting nothing from charity shop.

"they may be a charity, but I don't see very much work going on to help those that need it."

And what do we benefit from? The ante-natal classes are ridiculously expensive, and in my area there is nothing else that I can see the NCT do.

What about the pregnancy and birth line, and breastfeeding line (national advice lines staffed by antenatal teachers and breastfeeding counsellors), or the teaching they do in Sure Start centres? Or the breastfeeding counsellor training? Or the campaigning issues they're currently involved in - 'one mother one midwife' and the push to save independent midwifery? Or the research into issues connected with birth and parenting?

The NCT do loads to improve maternity services which benefits ALL of us...... The money's got to come from somewhere.

And the antenatal classes can be booked for a massively reduced fee if you can show you're on a low income. You just have to ask the booking clerk.

Yes, there are the 'available anywhere' services such as the helpines and the campaigning.

Unfortunately a lot of local services are entirely dependent on volunteers.

I've recently launched something locally which is great but unfortunately a change in circumstances means that I'm not going to be able to do as often or maybe even at all because of childcare problems. So lots and lots of parents will miss out on a service that has had fantastic feedback unless I/NCT can find a volunteer who is willing to take over.

I feel very about it as I love doing it but I can't pay a babysitter for 3-4 evenings a month to do voluntary work.