Unsponsored Chanel Ballet Flats Review: Are They Really Worth It?

There are some costly items are that luxurious and others that are merely expensive and it’s hard to tell the difference. I’ve purchased a lot of expensive items in my lifetime (and sold a lot of them too), and I feel like I’ve gotten better at telling the difference. So are these Chanel ballet flats really a luxury or just merely expensive?

To me, they are merely expensive. TBH they don’t feel all that different from other ballet flats that I’ve owned. I mean the leather is nice and shoes are sturdy but nothing particularly screams “this is worth $750”. They just have the interlocking C’s on the cap toe and the words “Chanel” on the insole. But I’m no expert on ballet flats (I’ve only owned several pairs in my lifetime and they’re not my favorite type of shoe). My idea of a luxurious flat are Martiniano Glove shoes where the leather feels suuuper buttery and sumptuous.

But to be fair, these Chanel ballet flats are durable (I got a used pair and I still wear them out quite a bit and they look great). And they’re a classic that probably won’t ever go out of style.

As for sizing, if you have wide feet like I do you’re going to need to go up at least half a size. I usually wear a size 8 or 38, and I got these in a 38.5. So far I haven’t had any blisters in these, but I also got these used and so they were already broken-in for me.

Since these ballet flats currently retail new for $750 (craaazy), I highly recommend buying them used on a site like Fashionphile or the RealReal. And if you’re worried about the authenticity of used shoes, here’s a quick rundown of how to spot the real thing. And if you want to be 100% certain of authenticity, you can pay for an authentication service like Etinceler (just be sure to get the authentication done while you’re in the return window).

My Unsponsored Experience Selling/Consigning with The RealReal Part 2: Commission, payments, and how it compares with selling on Fashionphile

So Part 1 of this post can be found here. This is a continuation because otherwise it would be one darn long blog post.

Ok so once your items reach the warehouse, they’re evaluated and processed. Jewelry takes a bit longer since a GIA specialist takes the time to look at each item. Clothes are processed much faster. And like I said in the last post, all selling prices are determined by them, so really only sell things you don’t care about. For my clothes, I had a current/elliot button down that I couldn’t sell that I got $26 for (this is the take home amount) and a Tory Burch dress I bought at crossroads for $42 sold for $80 so I got $40. So yep, they initially take a 50% commission off of what you consign (yikes, I know!). Only when you sell $1500 worth of stuff with them (of which you see $750), will your take home percentage bump up to 60% (so they take 40%). For items that they sell for over $1000, they take only 30% (which is great if you have valuable jewelry or purses—this is a standard commission rate across most consignment sites for high value items, including Fashionphile). I was able to surpass the $1500 in sales (since I was selling mostly jewelry), so my commission rate is now down to 40% but I have to reach $10,000 in sales for it to bump down to 30% (highly unlikely). But that 40% commission rate is good until 11/30/20. So you can see how they incentivize you to consign with them.

Oh and I should note for jewelry, unless it’s a well-known brand they will sell your items for much less than what you initially paid for them (I know this since I also decided to sell some items of jewelry that I purchased myself and regretted since I never wore them). But like I said, it’s better to have some cash in the pocket than to see these unused pieces staring back at you from your jewelry box. Of course if I still had the receipt and box for a piece of jewelry purchased from a reputable site (like Blue Nile), I was able to sell them via my eBay shop and recoup much more of the initial cost.

Payments

So payment happens at the 15th of the following month. I chose to be paid by check, though now you can do direct deposit (which wasn’t an option when I started selling them last year). Also, if you shop a lot TRR, you can choose to receive it as TRR credit and get 5% more of your selling price. That might be something I try out when I have a fairly low selling month (but for now I want the cold hard cash lol). The checks are cut in a timely manner and everything has been going fairly smooth.

Except…

Some of my jewelry items I sent in November were held in limbo by quality control. So for the longest time I saw two pendants and a ring not move along in the process. I finally contacted a consignment rep after a month and she has been able to push TRR team to get it processed. And she’s been periodically updating me through email which has been great (they finally are listed 6 weeks after arrival to their warehouse). And they gave me site credit for $50 because of the inconvenience so I’m pretty happy. So no, things weren’t 100% smooth but I don’t have any major complaints.

If your item doesn’t sell at all and you’re ready to take it back, you can just email their customer service and let them know you’d like the item returned. They pay for return shipping back. I have one rag & bone top listed since October so I might give it a couple more months before taking it back and tying my luck at Crossroads.

So how would I compare selling to Fashionphile (my other favorite consignment site)? Well if you’re selling a purse or designer jewelry, even though Fashionphile’s initial photo submission process is a bit more of a pain, at least you know what your payment will be before you send your item in. So you can make the choice whether or not it’s worth it to sell it. But with TRR, it’s really a crapshoot, and you’re most likely going to be way underpaid. Also Fashionphile will pay you as soon as they receive your item since they outright buy your item if it’s less than $5000. So for my high end designer items, I would go with Fashionphile (if I choose not to sell on my eBay store). But if you’re selling clothes or unbranded fine jewelry that you don’t really care about and just want to get some money for (and you don’t have an eBay store), then I would go with TRR. It’s convenient, easy, and about 80% of my stuff sold within the first 2 weeks. For anyone looking for an easy way to get rid of their stuff and earn some cash, TheRealReal is a great option!