Rejection is Tough

This week I had to return some consignment items that didn't sell at our event Saturday. I could see the look of disappointment in the owners' eyes. It's tough seeing your item come back, knowing no one bidded on it at an event that made $31,000.
One of the owners had a theory (and he may be right) that I picked the wrong item for my crowd. However, the odds of not getting one bid from 150 people are < 1% (0.75% to be precise).
My theory is the donated items can be started at 40-50% of retail. Anything we get is profit. The consignment items have to be started at 75-80% of retail to cover costs. We need more than one bid to make any money.
Consignment items also have to be returned to the owner if not sold. If they get damaged before being back in the store, we're on the hook. We had a couple of unsold donated items that we simply gave to another charitable event.
Next year I believe we will go without consignment items. What I'm asking them is to instead give us a $100 gift certificate. That way it can be sold for $50+, which we keep, and the purchaser goes into the store to use it, which pleases the owner.
I believe this is a true win-win.

Regards,
Steve