To Sale or To Re-Sale

So, a friend of mine has been writing quite a bit about saving money, tough times, getting creative in this economy. Of course, it’s on all of our minds. I’ve run into a few ideas lately. Not huge ideas mind you, but I am a devout every-little-bit-counts believer.

I’ve been posting some of my very-best-but-doesn’t-fit-anymore clothing on Craigslist and Ebay lately. I’ve been taking the time to put them on my dressform and photograph them in the brightest, sunniest room in the house. Good pictures are critically important when selling your old stuff online. It drives me crazy when I see a listing for something seemingly interesting and either there’s no image, or the image is so terrible that there might as well be no image.

So far, no sales. Not too surprising. I do wonder if I’ve got the prices too high. But, the items I’ve posted are NICE clothes. Not to shine my own shoes (what’s that expression?), but there was a time not too long ago that my income was greater than it is now, and my insurance was all paid for by my employer. I was also in a position that was more retail oriented, so I was in front of people much more frequently. For all of those reasons, I spent more time and effort, and money, on my wardrobe than I do now. So, I’m not selling off the dregs of the closet (I’m wearing those!), but rather the fruits of my labor, so to speak.

I considered selling some of them to a re-sale store in town. It just opened up on Main Street and I went in to visit yesterday – to check it out and find out how it works. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the store was PACKED with clothing of all kinds, colors and sizes. They had lovely shoes, and tons of great handbags and accessories. A very good idea for a store, especially in today’s economy. There were some items that were obviously not re-sale, but rather inexpensive handmade items, made locally and selected well to fit into the rest of the store.

I quickly found MANY things that would give my closet a much needed shot in the arm… and would certainly improve my drab outward appearance of late. I even found a really cool little dress that I thought would be perfect to wear to my mother’s wedding this summer, and it was only $20. My daughter tugged at me and kept saying, “Buy it! Just get it! You obviously love it and it’s only $20!” Thankfully, as I excused to her, I had intentionally left my pocketbook at home. This was merely a fact-finding mission.

So, on to the fact finding. I’d learned in short breath that this new store had great clothes at even greater prices and would be a perfect recession-shopping outlet. Now, could I sell my lovely clothes there too? Here’s what I learned. In this particular store, you sign a 60-day consignment contract. Your best-dressed winners have 60 days to sell themselves to the incoming shoppers. The store owner sets all of the prices, and when an item sells, you get ½. Hmmm. So, that awesome little dress that is only $20 is a fantastic bargain for me as the buyer, but as the seller who only gets $10 – maybe not so great. I shudder to think that my little Lilly Pulitzer number that cost my husband hundreds on Mother’s day a few years ago would only get us $15 or maybe $20 after only 3-4 wears. And, if it didn’t sell at all, it’s back in my closet after 60 days. And, I also noticed that the store was having an “END OF SEASON SALE”. The prices on many, many fall/winter items had been slashed – not just cut, but slashed. So, the profit to the seller is even less if your items are there at the change of seasons.

Bearing in mind that I am very petite and therefore my clothing attracts a smaller audience (mind the pun), the likelihood of a quick sale is even slimmer. Like Slim Whitman slim.

My conclusion? Well, it definitely makes sense to buy some great things from a store like this. The clothes are beautiful, well cared for, clean and very inexpensive. But, I’ll stick to Craigslist and Ebay for the selling for now. It doesn’t cost me much, if anything, and I can always add “Or Best Offer” if I feel the need. More importantly, I can be sure that the prices and the profit won’t be cut without my intention and go-ahead. And, I can add the word “Petite” to the listing so that tiny ones like me can find it easily.

I look at it this way, whatever I sell on my own, will give me money to go downtown and boost up my wardrobe at the new re-sale store! I really hate the expression “win-win”, but really, it fits – just like my Lilly used to.