Be informed and closely read the contract when consigning your items to Found Treasures of Aiken. The owners of this establishment are very friendly and jovial when you bring your items in for consignment. They are very good at being super friendly and sweet talking you as down to earth and very straightforward honest people. They will quickly point out the percentage from the sales that you receive and the monthly breakdown of cost reductions and the 90 day consignment period. All of this is consistent with the many other consignment shops that I have dealt with in the past. Shame on me though for not specifically reading the complete details specified in the contract before leaving my items for sale. When dropping the items off that I had, Richard Mason (co-owner with his wife Joan) indicated prices for the items that seemed extremely high price in nature in my opinion and past experience with consignment shops. When I questioned, he stuck with his pricing, so being new to the Aiken area, I assumed he knew his market and what it would allow. Fast forward, short of 90 days when the items would be completed with the consignment period and any unsold items would need to be retrieved. I called the shop a few days ahead of time since I would be out of town on the 90 day mark. I was informed that none of the items had sold. When I asked if I could come in and pick up the items since I would be out of town the following week when the 90 days was up, I was rudely asked if I had read the contract. I was told gruffly that based on the contract, I was not allowed to retrieve the items before 90 days and that at 90 days I had 10 days to pick up the items. While this stringent pickup was not a big deal, when I then asked about the process for pickup, I was then informed that when I picked up the items, I must pay the owners 10 percent of the original listed price to get my items back. This surprised me since it seemed like an important fact that was never raised at consignment (and additionally, none of the other consignment shops I had ever dealt with imposed such a fee). When I asked about this, Richard then became quite condescending and rude to me. He belittled me for not reading the contract, that it was all right there and why couldn't I understand simple English. Since I didn't want to pay 10 percent of the exorbitant prices that he listed for the items, I asked what would happen if I just left the items at the store and never picked them up. His response was why was I asking him such questions, just read the contract (note - nothing is stated in the contract relating to this situation). After re-asking, he finally indicated that if I didn't retrieve the items, they would become his and any money he made off of them would repay the 10 percent owed on the items. He also said that whatever he did not sell, he would donate to a local charity and the listed donation amount would cover the donation pickup costs and my 10 percent owed. For anything left over, I would receive a donation receipt for that amount. Bottom line, think twice about what you bring to this store and the amounts agreed to charge for the items and whether you want them back if they don't sell. Based on my experience, I personally think the methods of operation for this establishment are (1) Price high - if it sells, the owners get half of a great price, the seller gets half; (2) If it doesn't sell and the seller retrieves items - the store owner gets 10 percent of a high price and you haul everything away for them; and finally and maybe best of all for the store owners (3) if it doesn't sell and you don't retrieve - the owners keep items, sell, and retain all the profit. read more

SELLER BEWARE - If you use Found Treasures to sell your merchandise be sure to ask them every few days if an item has sold. My experience is that they DID NOT notify me or pay me when an item was sold. Only when I questioned the status of items did I learn it had been sold - and the amount I received was at the low end of their scale. They also provided me with a new contract which would have enabled me to receive payment for items in their possession during a new 30-day period. When I called to thank them for the new contract they said it was sent in error and that I would receive NOTHING for anything sold during the new contract period. Found Treasures is anything but a reputable business. They have little consumer awareness, are extremely unprofessional and have an absolutley terrible location with hardly any traffic. read more