Newsfeed
Need to get some money for Christmas spending? One way is to sell clothes you don’t wear anymore. If they are from a good brand and still in good condition, you can make money from selling them.
Reviewed.com has an article about how to sell used clothes in the 21st century. They said you can always sell them at old-school consignment shops, but with apps and other online services there are more ways than ever to sell your old clothes.
Here are what they said you should do:
Sort and Clean Your Clothes
You need to inspect and clean the clothes first. Check for signs of wear and stains. It a hole wasn’t designed into it, throw it out. If it has a stain, try to wash it out. Wash all the clothes.
Also remember that most consignment shops and services won’t take cheap clothes from low-end retailers. So set those aside and donate them.
Choose a Reseller
There are two ways to sell: a physical consignment shop or online. There are advantages or disadvantages.
Consignment Shops
There are a number of shops to choose from. There are local consignment stores or national chains, like Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads Trading, Plato’s Closet or Clothes Mentor (which only buys and sells women’s clothing). (The Laundry article doesn’t mention Plato’s Closet but it’s one we’ve seen in several cities so we added it.)
These stores will examine your clothes and figure out what they can and can’t sell. If they can sell it, they will offer you a small percentage of the sale price, anywhere from 30 to 35 percent of the sale price in cash or 50 percent in store credit. Some of them provide lists of the brands and types of clothing they accept, or a list of current top sellers they want more of. Some of them also offer sell-by-mail services–you just mail your clothing to them and they take care of the rest. However, they will charge you a fee to return clothes they don’t want or you can opt to donate them for free.
Online Services
These are consignment apps and services. Most of these services work in one of two ways. 1) You send your clothes to them, they inspect and either accept or reject or 2) You photograph each item and list it on the service yourself. The company will then approve or reject each listing. If it sells, the company usually covers shipping and asks you to ship the item to the buyer.
There are many companies to choose from and they all fall into three distinct categories: gender-specific, all-purpose, and high-end. Some gender-specific services selling only women’s are Poshmark, Tradesy, and Threadflip. Grailed sells only men’s clothing.
All-purpose sell just about anything. eBay Valet and ThredUp are the only two of those. Some high-end are TheRealReal, SnobSwap, and Vaunte. (The article mentions eBay Valet, however when looking at the link we noticed it says “No, thanks” to clothing. But they do sell designer shoes and handbags, along with electronics, musical instruments, antiques, etc.)
You receive more money from online consignment. For example, Threadflip offers up to 80 percent of the sale price.
Sell It Yourself
This requires more work, including paying for shipping, but you get to keep all of the profits. You can list your clothes on eBay, Craigslist, or Instagram (under the hashtag #shopmycloset). You need to include a photo of the item for sale along with a price and decide how you want them to contact you. Then have the buyer pay through PayPal and ship it to its new owner.
So, if you need some extra cash this time of year, don’t forget to look in your closet for clothing you can sell.
For the full article from Reviewed.com click here.
For another article about the big business of selling your old clothes by Racked.com click here.
