October 2023 by Amanda Marfisi
Seller's and buyer's beware! It's not often that I fall for a scam, but when I do I sure as heck write to tell the world about it so they don' fall for it too.Let me start by saying I had polarizing experiences at two of the events - Mesquite and Plano. However, if the seller conundrum is true of both I will adjust my stars down to 1 or 2.As the listening ears of Facebook do, they targeted me with an ad for JBF mid-summer for the Mesquite location. With my one-year old's birthday around the corner and a single mom salary in my back pocket, I thought a consignment sale was a perfect way to provide for my child. Indeed, it was. Mesquite's sales was well organized, the staff eager to assist and offer a smile and conversation as you walked by. A well-oiled machine that led me to feel accomplished in the money I spent for how much I was able to purchase all the while knowing I was helping out another parent. This is where I think I was wrong, a good chunk of the money does not go to the seller.Now a few months later, impressed by what I saw at Mesquite I decided I wanted to sell items. The next event near me was Plano. I rounded up several items, read the 'seller's guide' cover to cover, ordered hangers and tagging equipment as was suggested and was ready to consign! I missed the boat on 'valet tagging' , so opted to set an appointment for drop-off as to not interrupt my work day too much. Now we start to see all the red flags.1. The appointment did not matter. Upon arrival, tables were still being setup and it was all first come, first serve. There was little direction as to what went where and if you asked anyone you were met with an eye roll and a 'figure it out' using the map.2. 50% of my clothes were rejected because they weren't pants or long sleeves. While it had this as a suggestion in the guide, it certainly didn't say these closed would be refused. It's Texas for crying out loud, it'll be warm until January. Also 4 pairs of shoes were rejected for not being 'up to par' , when they were ones I had just purchased at Mesquite location and never used them.3. The next morning I arrived and it took 25 minutes to checkout due to system malfunctions. The woman in charge was also extremely condescending to her volunteers through this troubleshooting process.4. Plano was small and far less organized than Mesquite. The selection was sub-par and I already marked it as one I would not sell or buy from again. Overall, just a waste of time.Now, that isn't to saw I wasn't still eager to see my stuff get sold. However, I was disappointed with how much didn't sell. To be fair, that could have been how I priced or packaged it and not the fault of JBF. Here is the ultimate kicker though. The check came w/ a happy note showing that the amount you earned would have a 40% deduction that goes directly back to JBF. NO WHERE, NO WHERE in any of the seller's guides, FAQs, etc. was this made clear. I might have agreed to, up front, a 20% deduction for the organized show that Mesquite put on. 40% is just ridiculous for the circus that was Plano.So as I started this verbalized frustration, since there is nothing else I can do now by feel duped, I can at least pass along the information since JBF didn't feel the need to be forthcoming with that information.
