I often post about my thrifting finds and other shopping scores, but I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about how/where I get rid of my unwanted clothing items. So, I thought it would be fun to kind of do the opposite of a ‘Thrift Haul’ post… more like a ‘What Purged’ post instead.
I’ve been on a bit of a spring cleaning kick, so I’ve gotten rid of clothes in four different ways:
1. I listed a few items in my Poshmark closet.
You can read my post on Tips for Buying on Poshmark here and when I was doing my research I set up my own closet here: My Poshmark Closet. I haven’t had a lot of success using Poshmark to sell clothes, but did make one sale a month or so ago that went quite smoothly. I just listed a few more things, so if you feel inclined go ahead and check them out.
2. I listed an item on eBay.
I was on the fence about whether to keep or sell the Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress I thrifted last year (you can see the original post here) So, I decided to wear it once to work to see if it was a winner… and it was not. So, I listed it on eBay. I did some comparison shopping and initially listed my dress at a ‘buy it now’ price of $119, but it didn’t sell. So, when I went to relist I dropped it down to $89. It sold at that price, so I made a pretty nice profit on my $9.89 thrift score (even after eBay and PayPal fees).
3. I posted a couple ‘Closet Purge’ posts on some brand-specific Facebook Buy/Sell pages.
If you haven’t already read my post about selling on Facebook, you’ll want to check this one out: 5 Tips for Selling Your Clothes on Facebook. I currently belong to a few brand-specific Facebook groups for Anthropologie, Boden and a general ‘Non Crappy Clothes’ group (for higher-end brands). You can do a ‘purge’ on a group, where you list a bunch of your clothing items for sale and then if someone wants to buy one they will comment ‘sold’ with their PayPal address.
4. If something isn’t ‘nice enough’ to sell, but still kinda nice I send it to Thred Up using one of their Clean Out bags.
You can read my February post about my experience with the Thred Up Clean Out bag. I requested another bag, which is sitting on my sewing table. So far I have a bunch of Jack’s outgrown jeans and nicer tops. When the weather gets warm in a couple weeks and I switch my closet from cold-weather clothes, to hot-weather clothes, I’ll be adding some more items before sending it off to them.
So, what did I sell in March? Let’s check it out:
On EBay:
DVF dress – Bought thrifted for $9.20 and sold for $89
On Poshmark:
Nothing in March.
On Facebook groups:
Michael Stars top- Bought thrifted for $5 and sold for $20
J. Jill tunic- Bought thrifted for $3.50 and sold for $25
Boden Riviera dress – Bought at Boden outlet for $40, wore it once (was too lazy to tailor it) and sold it for $40
Boden jersey dress – Thrifted for $8.04 and sold within 7 hours for $40
Leota dress – Bought on Poshmark for $16, wore it once, decided it was too short on me and sold it for $35
Anthropologie Maeve cutout back dress – from my closet years ago (not thrifted) sold for $25
Anthropologie Corey Lynn Calter maxi skirt – from my closet years ago (not thrifted), sold for $40
Anthropologie One September tunic top – from my closet years ago (not thrifted) sold for $40
On Thred Up:
Nothing in March.
Did you find this post helpful? Would you be interested in a monthly or bi-monthly ‘what I sold’ post? Do you have any clothes selling tips?
Yes, totally interested in follow up posts. Excited to see you had so much success. I’m curious how much profit do you keep after shipping costs?
It depends on the platform. On Poshmark they charge the buyer for shipping costs, on eBay you can choose to charge them or offer “free shipping.” When it comes to other sales, like on Facebook I will typically add a few dollars to the item price to cover shipping. Most of the time if I wrap an item in a bubble envelope or small plastic envelope it will be around $5 to ship.
I would be interested in follow up posts.