Back at the beginning of April, I shared my first Purging Report, with Selling Clothes: Where, How and What. In that post, I explained my five main ways of purging clothing: Poshmark, eBay, FB Sale Groups, ThredUp and donating. When the weather warmed up, I finally did my closet switch over from my winter clothes to my spring/summer clothes… which is a great time to take stock!
As I went through everything, I made four main piles:
- Poshmark/eBay: items that are in perfect condition.
- Facebook Sale Groups: items that are in perfect or near perfect condition in specific brands, such as Anthropologie, Boden, and Stitch Fix.
- ThredUp Clean Out Bag: items in very good condition, but not perfect enough for me to sell on my own.
- Donate to Thrift Stores: items in good condition or showing wear.
Poshmark/eBay Sales
I have a hard time selling on Poshmark, but I did make four sales in April/May.
Poshmark isn’t my favorite selling venue, because they take a cut out of every sale. So typically I will cross-list items on Poshmark and Facebook and see where it sells first. I do like that Poshmark is a much larger platform, so more people see your sale items. Also, they have the buyer pay for shipping so as a seller all you need to do is print off the postage and slap it on a box. My total Poshmark sales for April and May were $129 before fees (20%).
Facebook Sale Groups
I belong to some brand-specific Facebook groups: Boden Mamas B/S/T, Anthropologie BST, Non Crap Mama Clothes, Rothy’s BST, Stitch Fix b/s/t Large and Stitch Fix B/S/T. If you are interested in joining any of them, you need to submit to join and then the administrator will approve each person (I am not the administrator of any of these groups).
I have the most success in selling when I post on these boards. Typically, I would post a ‘clothing purge’ and then follow the rules of the page for how many items to post. Then, if someone wanted an item, they’d comment on it with their Paypal address. When you post the item, you need to be sure to include enough for shipping, since the buyer typically is expecting to only pay the listed price. However, there are no selling fees involved… so you keep more of your money. I run all payments through Paypal, which takes a small fee and protects the buyer from a sketchy seller.
Stitch Fix items sold:
- Floral print shirt, $25
- Black and white dress, $40
- Blue print blouse, $25
- Floral patterned dress, $50
- Mixed print tank top, $25
Total: $165
Boden items sold:
- Yellow jersey dress, $40
- Maxi skirt, $17
- Green dress, $45
Total: $102
Anthropologie items sold:
- Maeve sparkle skirt, $17
- Coffee tee shirt, $28
- Tracey Reese maxi skirt, $50
- Chiffon tee shirt, $28
Total: $123
Rothy’s items sold:
- Hot pink round toe Rothy’s, $125
So, let’s talk about these Rothy’s. As you know, I am a new lover of Rothy’s shoes (Let’s Talk about Rothy’s: Are they Worth the Money?) I only had the points version and was curious on whether I’d like the round toe version. I saw a hot pink pair pop up on Poshmark and scooped them up for just $80… knowing that I could easily resell them on the Rothy’s BST page if I didn’t like them. I wore them once and liked them… but loved my pointy toes more. I had a few referral codes burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to use them for a pointy toed pair in red. I really don’t need two bright colored pairs, so I decided to sell my pink pair. That same day, someone posted on the Rothy’s BST page that they were looking for my exact shoes in my exact side, so I sold them for $125.
ThredUp Clean Out Bag
I filled my ThredUp Clean Out bag up to the brim with a bunch of Jack’s nicer outgrown clothes and a bunch of my stuff too.
It was so full it was busting at the seams! The last ThreadUp Clean Out bag resulted in them taking 8 items and paying me $36, which average $4.50 per item. With this full of a bag, I was hoping for a payout around $80 – 100.
Instead, they accepted just 20 of my items for $50. They accepted 8 additional items as “consignment” items for a possible additional $7.30. I know for a fact that I sent them 4 pairs of identical Old Navy jeans that Jack grew out of… but they only accepted 1 pair on consignment. For this bag, their payout averaged $2.50 per item, which is absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention the dozens of other items that they for some reason decided not to accept. I don’t think I’ll be using them again.
Thrift Store Donation
After cleaning out my closet, Jack’s closet and Travis’ closet, here’s what I have to donate at the thrift store:
It’s like the CIRCLE OF LIFE… thrift style! I like that the clothes go back into the community and I can also write the donation off on my taxes.
How did you like my first bi-monthly ‘what I sold’ post? Did you find it helpful? Do you have any clothes selling tips?
I’m bummed to hear that Poshmark is a bust. I was thinking of trying it out. I’ve had some minor success selling on EBay, but I had been wanting to try it out. We have two independently owned “upscale consignment” stores in a neighboring town here. There’s one for children and one for women’s clothing. I took some of my son’s things over there (some brand new with tags) about a month ago and in the first 30 days I’ve made $8. $8!!! Two things have sold! I’m backtracking a bit on taking things to the women’s store now, but if I do I guess I’m happy to get a little something back and the clothing gets used.
Thanks so much for posting your experiences. I’ve thought about trying Poshmark and ThredUp for selling my items, but haven’t pulled the trigger. I’ve just done a ton of Goodwill and Purple Heart donating after trying a chain kids consignment shop and being very disappointed in their offer for nice clothing.