Consignment sales, we all know the drill. You rearrange everything to arrive right as the doors open. Then, you realize all the good stuff was gone before it even opened to the public. Snatched up by the first-time moms, volunteers, and consignors who get first dibs. And, if you’re on the selling end, there are a lot of late nights spent safety-pinning away. God forbid a tag or tiny shirt fall off the giant hanger it’s fastened to and you lose the $1 of revenue for all your toils. It will only be a dollar or two ladies, we consignment sale shoppers are serious about our deals. Otherwise, what’s the point!
There’s another way, though! The good news is that we now live in a tech-savvy world, which means you can shop and sell from the comfort of your own home. No packing up the children or long drives to distant neighborhoods. No balancing kids, the laundry basket, and hangers Cat in the Hat style required! Many of these places send you a pre-paid bag to pack up your “gently used” clothing, pickup at your doorstep, and even pay you up front for the goods!
So, if you too feel like you’re drowning in clothes that lasted only a few wears before being sent up to the attic, give one of these online consignment “shops” a try!
- Thred Up – Thred Up was my personal choice for the boxes of clothes I’ve been hoarding since I left the corporate world. They also buy and sell children’s clothing. They charge $9.99 shipping & handling which is deducted once the bag has been processed. Processing does take awhile. My current wait time is almost 4 weeks. Once the bag has been processed, they send you an offer and either return or donate any remaining items. There is a handy payout calculator that you can use to estimate the worth of your items. You can choose to donate the proceeds or get paid upfront via PayPal or Thred Up credit for all items under $60.
- Kidizen – This app-only store makes for easy shopping right from your phone. The prices aren’t going to blow you away. They do feature brand-name pieces, trending styles, and other baby essentials. For sellers, they take an 18% cut of all transactions. You have to photograph & list the item yourself, but they do provide shipping labels through their system. Since items come directly from the seller, you have to pay separate shipping on each piece.
- Swap – Swap works more like a traditional consignment store. You get paid once the item has sold, but YOU get to price your items. There is a small fee of $11.90 to cover the shipping, processing, and listing of your pieces. But, you can have them returned to you at any time for up to 9 months. If the item doesn’t sell within 45 days, their SureSell Guarantee will purchase it from you at a reduced cost. If an item does sell, you can use the money earned to swap for new clothes, toys, or gear. Or, receive payment via PayPal with a $1.50 processing fee and 30% sales commission.
- Material World – For those of you with fancy jobs and lives which you wear high-end designer fashions, this site is for you! And, for those of you, whom motherhood has both sized you out of and retired the need for fine apparel, this is the place to sell! Material World provides a free trade-in kit with complimentary shipping. After they’ve received your clothes, they make an offer and either return or donate anything they won’t accept. If you accept their offer, you are paid either by retailer gift card or Material World Trade-In Card which is accepted at over 700 retailers.
** Once my bag was finally processed by Thred Up, I was mostly satisfied with the results. It took just over four weeks to process and they ended up accepting 42% of my bag (10 items). A total payout of $75. I waited to cash out via a prepaid Visa card. The biggest disappointment was that they didn’t accept a barely worn pair of designer shoes (or any shoes for that matter). It might be worth paying to have any items that could be sold elsewhere returned. That said, I won’t lose any sleep and hope that they found a good home with the other 52% of my items that were donated. Let’s be honest, they would have eventually ended up at Goodwill anyway.