My Four Favorite Apps for Selling Used Clothes and Household Items
Today when I woke up I was greeted with a beautiful notification: A pair of my shoes have been sold on Poshmark. I’ve been obsessed withselling my shoes and bags through the app for months now. This is a big part of the overall decluttering journey I’ve been on this past year. Many popular decluttering methods require sorting items into three categories—keep, throw away, and donate—but by adding a fourth category of items to sell, I was able to make a little extra money and hopefully treat some people to the same sense of style that I have. Here’s what I’ve learned about the best apps and approaches.
A few notes on online sales
The other day I went into a vintage store to see if they had shoes in my size and got talking to the curator, who erroneously concluded that I considered myself a professional reseller and tried to give me some advice because of this. . These apps have people who make it hard by finding cool, rare or expensive items and turning them into profit. You don’t have to be like that. I certainly don’t. Everything I sell is something I have worn and enjoyed. Don’t worry about listings that contain professional-grade photos and hundreds of listings; someone who wants the item you’re selling will find it by doing a search—it doesn’t really matter if you display the item on a mannequin under studio lighting, as long as it’s the right size and price for the buyer. . Here are my tips:
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Don’t put anything up for sale unless you really want to get rid of it if it sells. This seems obvious, but it happened to me: I became too fanatical, listed something I still used, and got upset when it was purchased before I wanted.
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On the other hand, you shouldn’t list something if you really want it to go out of the house. You can’t tell how quickly something will sell, even if you underprice it and advertise it on apps every day. On one of my bookcases I have a shelf dedicated to items that are waiting to be purchased on my Poshmark; it takes up space. If this is stopping you from decluttering, these apps may not be right for you. Consider a regular thrift store if the item is truly valuable, or simply donate it if you want it to go away. The empty space may be worth more than the money you’ll get by waiting three months for the item to sell.
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I still use my items as long as they are listed on my application, but be careful with that. If something happens to the bag, such as a scuff or stain, it will reduce its value and you will have to at least update the listing. Don’t try to fool people by showing something in perfect condition and then shipping it in slightly worse condition. They may send it back and this may affect your seller rating.
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Take lots of photos. You don’t need fancy lighting or a background, but I at least try to put my items on a nice rug and keep other things out of the frame. Take photos from all angles, take close-up photos of any damage, and take a photo of the date stamp or serial number if it’s a luxury or high-end item. It is important to include tags that define features and details. (If you don’t do this up front, be prepared for people to ask for it later.)
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Be open to suggestions and responsive to requests. In most cases, you won’t get the asking price, at least in my experience, but accepting reasonable offers or being willing to lower the price will help you get that item out of the house.
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Always research the item you are selling to see what other people are selling theirs for. If your item is of comparable quality, consider listing it at a slightly lower price than your competitors to help it sell faster.
The best apps for selling clothes
Even though I only recently got really into it, I did it off and on for a few years with less dedication. I recommend Poshmark, Vestiaire Collective, TheRealReal and Depop. In my opinion, these four have the best interface and are the easiest to use for buying and selling. Let’s look at their details.
Poshmark
When you sell on Poshmark , you keep 80% of your sale if it’s over $15. For anything under $15, you pay the app a $2.95 fee. In this application, buyers can offer lower prices than what you list your item at, and you can accept or reject their offer. Refusing gives you the opportunity to submit a counteroffer, so you may have to negotiate for a while, but the app always notifies you of exactly what you’ll get if you sell something at a certain price. The app also allows potential buyers to like products, and you can send private discount offers to all ad lovers at once. Reducing the price of an item is also easy, and you can share listings with “parties” that match your item’s description. For example, Poshmark regularly hosts luxury bag parties, creating a landing page for shoppers searching for them, and I share my bag listings with these parties when they happen. If there is a downside to Poshmark, it is that you need to be very active and interested. Offers expire after 24 hours, you can only share listings with partygoers during the party, and users expect timely responses to their comments.
Best for: Anything. You can sell a Louis Vuitton bag or a Nike T-shirt on Poshmark. Some sell household goods. I bought some Diptyque candles and sell baseball bobbleheads in my store. If you want an app that sells everything and not just a certain type of clothing, it should be Poshmark.
Vestiera Team
Vestiaire Collective is for higher end items, which usually means luxury items, but I’ve seen it include a lot of other quality items like Lululemon. The most important thing is the authentication process. In most cases, the items you sell will be sent directly to VC, where a staff member will verify their authenticity and ship it to the buyer. This added security is good, especially for really expensive items, and VC has low selling fees: you pay 5% of each sale plus a 3% payment processing fee. You also won’t be charged for your first listing if it’s under $2,000. They’re running a special right now where you don’t pay a seller fee for 4,000 brands, and promotions like this come up all the time. Like Poshmark, buyers can submit offers, but here you have two days to accept or decline them.
Best for: Higher end items where you want to maximize profits.
RealReal
TheRealReal is for designer luxury items only and operates more like a consignment store than direct sales. How much you actually earn depends on your “loyalty level” at the time of sale, so if you’re just starting out, you get a 55% commission on anything sold over $195. If you earn $1,500 per year in net sales, you move up to the next level and earn more. You can also simply give your items to TRR in exchange for site credit and let them sell as they see fit. I won’t lie: it’s a little confusing, so only choose this option if you have really expensive items to sell that require authentication and can still bring in a fair amount of money, even with fees.
Best for: Fashion items you just want to get out of the house.
Depop
Depop is another site where you can sell anything . It can be unusual, it can be simple, it can be handmade – anything can be sold. You don’t pay a listing fee, but you do pay a 10% commission on everything you sell. That’s all. It’s very simple, and what’s also nice about Depop is that it helps you populate your listing by populating suggestions based on your image and text inputs, which speeds up the process so you’re not spending five minutes on each ad choosing brand names. and sizes from drop-down menus. You can offer discounts to likes and, like Poshmark and VC, receive offers from potential buyers.
Best for: Getting rid of everything you own, from mall finds to more luxurious items.
No matter what you choose, you will have to fill out a list, usually including photos, title, description, sizes, colors, dimensions and price. Don’t list it until you know all of this information, but it won’t take long to fill it out.