This company...Costume manager, has taken out a very large ad in dance Studio Life Magazine, so we checked out their site. They claim to take the hassle out of ordering because you can do it all in one place, AND MAKE A PROFIT?!?! Yet when I go on their site, they seem to have a very limited selection.

Has anyone heard of this?

No, but they probably make a profit with the discounts they get for ordering larger quantities.

I've seen it too. It was conceived and developed by the owners of Tiffanys Dance in California. She has 7 dance studios primarily in the San Fran area (one in SoCal). Her husband is a software guy/programmer. They obviously have well honed business skills.

This is their new biz venture. I have no idea how it works or if it saves time/money. They have to be pulling in a percentage of the sales. Unless they are taking a percentage from the vendor and not you, I have a hard time figuring out how you would not lose some profit. It's one of those things that I'd be a little scared to try because costuming is so important.

If anyone has used it, I too, would be curious.

You can make a profit, you decide what it is but they automatically add $7 to each costume to make their profit and get the discount for ordering large quantities.
So if a costume was $29.99 they say it's $36.99 and then you can add you profit to that, so you would charge $50.00 and your dance parents would go to their website and order the costume on their own and pay the $50 and when the costumes come in Costume Manager sends a check with the box that has your profit. They were at the DanceLife conference so I heard a lot about it.

^^^^ Ahaaa. Now I understand. That would not help me because I have a fixed costume price for different age levels.

I charge $55 for babies and $65 for older kids.

Their system would effectively take a portion of my costume profit.

It might make sense for those who mark up each class. But even then, you are passing the $7 cost off to your families.

That would also mess with my cash flow, because they are taking costume fees up front and then you get the profit later.

Alright, now I understand the profit. But when I look at the site their selection is very minimal. Am I missing something?

It looks like they only have 4 costume companies to choose from and then hardly anything from 3 of the 4. Looks like it's primarily Revolution. So yes, it's VERY limited.

I still don't understand pricing. When I look over there on the teachers side (which seems to be open to anyone who wants a gander), there are already predetermined prices set. The prices are astronomical. One costume that I used last year is listed for $80.00. I know the COST of that costume and their mark up is ridiculous. I would NEVER charge parents $80.00 for a 3 year olds costume.

Most of us use Revolution because it has such a high quality, excellent customer service, provides garment bags for their costumes, all at an EXCELLENT price point. Who in creation will want to involve an unnecessary middle man to cut into profits?

Does anyone know how they handle exchanges?

COSTUME EXCHANGES

• Exchanges for size only of the same style may be made within two weeks after you receive your order.

• Since all costumes are made to order, we cannot accept returns for credit, refund, or exchange for another style.

• Before returning your item for a size exchange, please call (877) 632-6234 for a return authorization number to be put on the outside of your return parcel. This number will help prevent the possible missplacement or delay of your exchange. Send only the costume to be exchanged, do not include option accessories purchased seperately; however, be sure to send all items that are included free with the costume such as head poufs, gloves, skirts, etc.

• Exchanges are considered new orders and are given shipping dates according to the time of the exchange.

• There is a $25.00 exchange fee per costume (accessories included) plus a $6.00 shipping & handling fee. Additional charges may incur for size exchanges from child sizes to adult sizes.

• You may use your Mastercard or Visa to pay for the exchange charges for returned costumes.

• Please return costumes to exchange within 5 days of receiving your return authorization number to avoid rescheduling of your exchange order delivery date.

I don't see the benefit of using costume manager. Maybe if I had 1000s of kids. I also agree with i_am_me, the mark up is outrageous.

^^^ That's what I thought. Maybe it's a useful service if you have a gazillion kids and you wanted it organized for you as much as possible. Except, right now, with such a limited selection, I don't see how they can service the mega studios either.

And did I read correctly that the exchange fee is $30+ with shipping?? That's ludicrous. You can buy a whole new costume for that amount. It only costs $5 to exchange your costume directly through Revolution.

I know that quite a few of the costume companies were very hesitant about letting Costume Manager have access to their files and putting them on their website. I was talking with Curtain Call and their concern was that not only would they be giving them huge discounts even though technically it's for a lot of studios, if one person is ordering for a lot of studios it cuts down on the work of their customer service reps and they don't want to have to let any reps go. It makes sense to me. I don't see the need for Costume Manager either. I guess if I had 7 studios like Tiffany it would be useful. I don't know if those prices on the site are what they really charge or just samples of what you could charge? Either way they won't be successful unless they get more costume companies to participate.