A New Spin on Consignment

In my last tip, I spoke about letting go of clothes that don’t make you look fabulous.  If you’ve taken my advice, you now have a pile of clothes you no longer want.  But what should you do with them?

Everyone has a tendency to put a higher dollar value on their possessions than anyone is willing to pay.  This is particularly true for expensive clothes.  No matter how much wear someone has gotten out of their expensive or designer items, he or she usually thinks that some one is willing to pay a pretty penny to own them second hand.

For that reason, many of my clients want to take their unwanted high-end clothes to a consignment store.  Most consignment stores that I have encountered are extremely picky about which clothes they will take, and even if the clothes sell, the financial remuneration to the original owner is usually fairly low.

A new type of consignment store has arisen on the internet.  Rather than schlepping your clothes to a store, undergoing the tense item-by-item review by the store personnel, and schlepping the rejects home again, you can do all of this from the comfort of your home.

One such site is Cash In My Bag (www.cashinmybag.com).  They will purchase your designer handbags, clothes, shoes, jewelry, and accessories.  Fill in some basic information about each item (designer, category, condition, and age) and submit a photo.  They will let you know how much they are willing to pay for your items and will provide a pre-paid postage label for you to ship them.  Once your items have been reviewed and accepted, they will send you your money.  If for some reason the items are not acceptable, they will send them back to you at their own expense.

The site called Like Twice (www.liketwice.com) also pays you upfront, but with a few differences.  First, they purchase more brands than just designer brands.  You send your clothing and handbags to them for free, but you pay $5 to have any rejects returned.

Tradesy (www.tradesy.com) is more like a traditional consignment store, as you don’t get paid unless somebody buys the item.  You can sell any brand, and you pick the price.  Tradesy will provide pricing guidance and will make your photos look more professional.  If your item sells, they send you a prepaid shipping kit.  They also handle returns.

If you have the time and energy to try and sell your unwanted clothes, these sites offer some good options.  If not, then there are charity thrift shops out there who would love to have your unwanted items and will provide documentation for a tax deduction.

 

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