Clothing resale website review
My post-baby closet needs a clean out so I have tried a few approaches for selling clothing. Also, babies grow really fast! I have baby clothes to sell as well in order to make room (and money) for new clothes. Below is a review of different methods of selling your clothing.
My first approach was to just give everything to Goodwill; I had no time or energy to try to sell things and just wanted things out of my house. On the plus side, you are making a donation, but let's face the harsh reality of the amount I spend on clothes...it would be nice to get something for them. Below are the approaches I tried for resale.
First, cleaning out my closet:
Consignment stores
If there is one near you and you quickly want to unload everything with minimal effort, I say give it a try. The only issue I have with consignment stores is they will only accept things from last season or no more than two seasons old. I tend to hold onto things for longer before parting with them.
Facebook resale pages
These were my start,
especially for maternity clothing. I was successful with selling and
buying maternity clothing this way. For regular clothes, you have to
find a group specific to your clothes. There are high end groups, casual
clothing groups & groups that only allow certain brands. Frankly, I
can't be on Facebook all day and in 50 groups. Your items quickly move to the bottom of the newsfeed pages, so you have to go back each day to bump your posts. There's no great way for people to search for your items. Also, you have to figure
out your own shipping, etc. So while it can work, it took too much effort for this busy mama.
Poshmark
This has
been my favorite and most successful way to buy and sell women's
clothing! The thing about consignment stores is that while I have desirable brands, they are not from last season.
The app is very user friendly. Just take some pics and fill
out some info on your item and you are ready! For poshmark you want to
follow people and gain followers to grow interest in your closet. Also, sharing others listings and hoping they do the same (most do!) helps others see your closet items in their news feeds. Even
if you don't put in the time to follow people and share items, there are so many filters that
people can use when shopping so if your items meet that filter then they
will show in the search.
You can offer bundle discounts as well. If you reduce your price by 10% or more, an email alert will go out to everyone who has liked your listing and it will offer them cheaper shipping as well. For this reason I might list something for $10 then after a few people like it drop it to $8. People can also make you offers on your items. I have done this and if you make a reasonable offer most people will accept it. They are trying to clean our their closets as well! I also accept reasonable offers. Every once in a while you get someone who low balls you but you can just decline and move on.
I have made almost $200 from selling on Poshmark for about 2 months! The trick is to list your items honestly and take great photos. No one wants to buy your wrinkled top that's thrown on a wrinkled comforter of an unmade bed with you laundry piles on the floor in the background! The other great thing is shipping is easy. Buyers pay this in addition to your list price but all you need to do is print out the label that Poshmark sends you and drop it in the mail.
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My code is NPMDV.
Onto kids clothing!
Kidizen
I have heard so many good things about Kidizen. It was very easy for me to upload clothes. Very user friendly. However, the issue I have with kids clothes is that it's just not worth it with shipping. For this app, the price you charge is the final price including shipping, so you need to take that into consideration when pricing your items.
Brands that sell best are higher end brands, special occasion dresses and outfits that are cheaper than buying new and still a good deal with shipping. Lower end brands do not do as well, especially if listed individually. I had a mix of brands and bundles but did not have success on this app.
Totspot
Totspot is similar to Kidzien however, shipping is charged in addition to your list price. For this reason, I listed my items for a lower price. In addition, users can bundle your items and you can offer discounts on bundles. Because of the shipping costs, this is a popular option for many users. I like not having to worry about figuring out shipping costs on my own (as compared to Kidizen).
While using Totspot, they started to allow women's clothing to be listed. It seems most people are there for children's clothing and the adult items were not as popular. I think that due to shipping costs, you would do well here if you had a buyer who liked multiple items in your closet and wanted to buy a few (therefore creating a bundle). I only had about 10-15 items in my closet so I really did not have success on this app. I think if you have a larger selection that allows bundling you could do better than I did. I did not list my clothing here as it didn't seem a popular option yet for women's clothing.
Facebook resale pages
You can find a resale page for almost any brand of children's clothing. I think this is the way to go for higher end and popular brands like Boden, Tea, and Janie & Jack. People on the boards are already fans of the brand, know the costs of new items, and are willing to pay for items they love or are looking for. Items a few years old are considered "vintage" and hard to find and can command a higher cost. Especially if someone is looking for a bigger/smaller size to match a sibling.
Consignment
Unfortunately I do not have children's consignment/resale stores in my area. This would be the easiest option in that you can take a bunch of clothes at once and have money in your hand an hour later. You may not get the highest amount for your higher end brands but it's quick and minimal effort on your part. This is normally my last option just due to my location factor. What doesn't sell on apps or Facebook brand pages I give to my sister and she takes to a store near her along with her kids clothes. She gives me lots of hand me downs so I don't ask for the money back. I figure I'll get it back with future hand me downs ;)
At this point, anything that didn't sell or that consignment didn't take you can try to list as a bundle
on your local
yard sale Facebook page. Basically one step away from donating but at
least another mom in your area gets some use out of them and you get a
few dollars.
Good luck with reselling!
What have you tried and had success with (or not)? Comment below!
