If you’ve been a long time reader of this blog, you already know that I’m not afraid to let go of bags. I’m quick to buy but also to sell once I’ve realised I’m not using the bag much. I rarely hold on to bags for sentimental reasons because tbh all those bags would just take up so much space. If I’m done with a bag, I’ll thank it for its service and then try to rehome it to someone who would get more use out of the it than me. Plus, I usually will sell a bag to then afford another one (that’s why it’s important to me that my bags have a good resale value).
Anyway I’ve touched upon purchasing secondhand luxury bags before. So today I’ll focus on the sites I usually sell my bags to once I’m ready to let them go:
Fashionphile: This one is my go-to for my best bags. I go in-depth about my selling experience with Fashionphile here if you want all the details. I end up selling my most expensive bags to them because I usually get the best price.
The RealReal: You can read my in-depth selling experience with the RealReal here and here for part 2. I normally don’t like selling my bags to TRR because you have no idea what they’re going to sell them for. The handful of bags I did sell to them are the ones that Fashionphile doesn’t accept (so usually the small brands or more obscure ones) or the less expensive ones where I don’t mind taking a hit if the price isn’t what I want. {Update: You can read my experience of selling bags in-person at the RealReal here. tl;dr: It’s better to sell in person if you can.}
Consignment Shop/ Crossroads Trading: I haven’t really done this because usually consignment shops pay out less than Fashionphile. I’ve maybe done this once and got burned so I didn’t do it again. I would only recommend this route if you know a great mom and pop consignment shop that you know will give you a good price.
eBay: So this used to be my go-to for selling my bags, but tbh I’m too anxious about fraud to sell via eBay anymore. I usually use eBay to sell bags that are $350 or less. I will say that if you have a good rating and are willing to take the risk, selling via eBay will give you the biggest returns (because you’re essentially cutting out the middleman). If you do decide to sell on eBay and it’s a high-priced item, I’ve learned the best way to protect yourself from fraud is to take the item (once it’s sold and paid for) unboxed to the post office and record yourself putting the item in the box, sealing it, and then handing it off to the post office agent. That’s the only way ebay will side with you 100% on a fraud case (or so I’ve heard). But this doesn’t even factor into the other kinds off fraudsters that will say the item is a fake. As it stands ebay rarely favors the seller over the buyer in a dispute. Also sometimes I’ll get a quote from Fashionphile (which is good for 1 month) to know what’s my base price (and usually I can sell my bag on ebay for $30-$50 more than that price.
There are several other places you can sell your closet items like Poshmark (another blogger’s tips here), Vestiaire Collective (but they take a 25% cut!), Yoogi’s Closet, and Rebag but I don’t have any experience with them. If you’d like to chime in with your bag selling experience I’d love to hear about it below in the comments!
P.S. Or you an spin up a blog, write a post or two every week for six years, and then open a closet shop to sell some things 😉