If you happen to do some spring cleaning or did a little closet purge to declutter and happen to have a pile of old clothes that you have no need for? Well, the good news is this pile of clothes can be a good money-making opportunity. There is a huge demand for vintage clothes, shoes, and accessories, and tapping into this untapped demand can prove lucrative. With the power of the internet and speedy delivery services, you can now start selling clothing online sending them anywhere in the globe.
It’s a Huge Market to Sell Clothes Online
It should be no surprise there’s a huge market for reselling clothing.
Consider these latest figures from one of the top fashion resale sites, thredUP: The fashion resale industry totals about $20 billion in sales alone, and it is the biggest resale market in the US. Reselling clothes is growing 24-times faster than retail fashion, too.
You won’t find major retailers reselling clothing, though, and that’s where you and thousands more pro sellers come in. With the help of selling apps, you can easily open your very own online thrift store with very little upfront investments.
Best App to Sell Clothes Online? Consider These
If you are looking into how to open a thrift store in a brick-and-mortar location, trying an online version first could be a great learning opportunity. Check out this current list of apps to sell clothes and pick the top apps you’d like to sell clothes online. Which one fits your needs best?
ASOS Marketplace
Being home to the “Best independent brands and vintage boutiques,” if you want to sell vintage clothing, the ASOS Marketplace app can be a great place to list and sell pretty items. ASOS Marketplace users tend to love clothing that’s retro, vintage and edgy.
Mercari
With the Mercari app, you can list women’s, men’s and kid’s clothing in minutes. You can also ship items via printable shipping labels directly to the seller and enjoy fast payments.
Poshmark
Poshmark is an app that enables people to sell items of clothing they no longer want. Items are listed by category, making it easy for them to be found by shoppers. One standout feature of Poshmark is the app’s virtual posh parties, whereby thousands of Poshmark users gather several times a day to create listings, share listings, and shop. When your old clothing sells, you’ll be sent a shipping label so you can drop the item off at a postal dropbox.
The RealReal
If you’re in the business of selling high-end, luxury clothing items, then The RealReal could be the right app for you as it specializes in listing pre-owned designer clothes. In addition, all designer items listed on The RealReal are checked for authenticity by the app’s in-house team of luxury clothing specialists.
Vinted
You can sell or swap your used clothes on the Vinted app. Simply add a description and a photo of the item alongside the price. Once the item sells and the buyer receives it, you print your shipping label and ship the package at the drop-off point within five days. After that, the funds are transferred directly into your bank account or via PayPal.
eBay
With the eBay app, you can sell clothes faster and more efficiently than ever. All you have to do is create an eBay account, download the app, take photos of the clothes you want to sell, add descriptions, set your own price and wait for buyers to start bidding. Also, with eBay, you have the option of selling items for a ‘Buy It Now’ price or putting them in an auction.
Grailed
If you sell men’s fashion and streetwear, you may want to use the Grailed app, the latest men’s fashion marketplace. Simply create a Grail account, take a photo of the item you wish to sell, add a description and wait for offers to come flooding in. Each transaction made on the Grail app is conducted through PayPal.
LePrix
The LePrix app is an online consignment store that caters to high-end fashion brands. If you have designer clothing to sell, the LePrix app could be a great place for you to do so. The company has drop-offs at partner boutiques and schedules a free in-home pickup if you live in a major city. If that doesn’t work, LePrix can send a prepaid shipping label to you so that you can send in your designer items.
Kidizen
Kidizen is a consignment shop for children’s clothes, and it’s one of the leading apps to sell clothes in this category. Selling your gently-used children’s clothing through Kidizen is easy—all you have to do is snap a picture, list the item, print a shipping label and ship it out. You can also choose to donate your child’s outgrown items if you don’t want to sell them.
ThredUp
ThredUp is a fantastic app for buying & selling clothes online, with more than 30,000 fashion brands using the app to sell women’s, children’s and teen’s clothing. On ThredUp, you can request a “Clean Out Kit,” where you fill a bag with unwanted clothing, send it to ThredUp, where they categorize and list your items. ThredUp provides the shipping label, and you just drop your free shipping kit off with USPS or FedEx. USPS. When your items sell, you earn a percentage of the sale price, which varies, depending on your selling price.
Depop
Sell old items of clothing and accessories from anywhere you want to with the Depop app. Depop refers to itself as a community of sellers and buyers and is the ideal place to sell streetwear and vintage clothing. The shipping process is easy, and either the seller or the buyer pays for the cost of shipping. The shipping labels are created by Depop, and shipping costs depend on the package’s weight and dimensions. Payout is through PayPal, direct deposit or store credit
OfferUp
If you are wanting to sell items of clothing locally, you can do so with ease and efficiency with the OfferUp app. People looking for specific clothes in your area use OfferUp to find products, meaning costly shipping fees are eliminated.
Etsy
Favorite seller Etsy has been hailed as the “World’s most imaginative marketplace.” Therefore, if you make and sell home decor or beautiful, unique handmade vintage clothing, the Etsy selling app could be the top app to sell clothes online.
letgo
You can sell used clothes and fashion accessories with the simple-to-use and intuitively-designed letgo app. With over 100 million downloads and hundreds of millions of listings, letgo claims to be the “biggest and fastest-growing app for buying and selling locally.”
Facebook Marketplace
The Facebook Marketplace app is a go-to for people looking to buy and sell clothes online. They cater mostly to the local community, but they also allow for nationwide shipping. The steps to create listings on the Facebook Marketplace is easy, and it’s a great way to get your clothes seen by many. Oh, did we mention there are no seller fees for listing or selling items? That’s right. However, there is a 5% service fee if you ship an item
Bonanza
Like eBay, Bonanza is an auction-based e-commerce site that allows you to sell items of clothing on your own “webstore.” You only pay when items sell and with the Bonanza app you can manage your “webstore”, transactions and “b-mails” with greater efficiency and when you are on the move.
Rebelle
If you’re in the market of selling designer labels, clothes, bags, shoes, accessories or jewelry, then you may want to use the Rebelle app. Rebelle makes selling used items of clothing and accessories a luxury by offering a 48-hour guaranteed delivery service and chic mint green packaging – what more could you ask for!
Tradesy
Fashion lovers rejoice! If you’re looking to unload your Louis Vuitton, Chanel or Prada luxury handbag in a safe, secure and friendly environment, Tradesy is what you need. The app for selling designer handbags offers an easy selling process and free shipping through FedEx when the item sells.
Flyp
Flyp enables users to sell their clothes and earn money, and the resale value is stellar on this app. That means you can make anywhere between 50 to 70% of the sales price. It’s a really simple process where you input the item name, resale price, and description and then take and upload photos of your product. The only catch to Flyp is the brands these professional sellers are willing to accept. Many mall brands, such as Nine West and Banana Republic don’t make the cut.
Vestiaire Collective
The Vestiaire Collective app allows you to sell vintage clothing, men’s clothing, women’s clothing and designer labels when you are on the go. You’ll also get up to 80% of the selling price for your old clothes, and that’s not bad. Vestiaire Collective proudly asserts to be the “World’s largest collection of pre-owned luxury fashion,” so if you’re not yet using this app for selling your used designer clothing, start using it!
Rebag
Rebag is an online marketplace application that specializes in luxury handbags, accessories and jewelry. What makes Rebag one of the more interesting selling apps of designer brands is Clair, their artificial intelligence software that gives you a price estimate based on the photo scan provided through the app. Sellers can list their items online in minutes and market to a growing community of shoppers looking to buy new items at up to 50% off retail prices.
There’s Also Fashionpile Store Credit
If you’re looking to sell clothes online, but don’t want to deal with the hassle of shipping items or waiting for payments, store credit may be a good option for you. Apps like Fashionphile offer store credit as a payout option, which can be used on their website to buy new clothes. This eliminates the need to worry about shipping items or tracking payments.
Is Selling Clothes Online Profitable?
The short answer is yes, there is money to be made in secondhand clothing but it may not necessarily be for everyone. The success of aspiring pro sellers will depend on a number of factors such as the type and condition of the clothes, where it is from, and what stage in their life cycle it’s currently at. You will need to carefuly weigh you strenght and market potential ofthe secondhand marketplace if you want to improve your personal finance. Globally there are three major ways to sell your clothes: consignment stores, online marketplaces, and local classified sites.
By some estimates, a consignment stores model can be lucrative if you are dealing with a large stock of clothing. It does however come with some heavy lifting required such as managing a high inventory, delivery, taking photos, and creating the listing. This model is more attuned towards a professional seller who has a large inventory to offer.
An online marketplace is somewhat offering some form of flexibility compared to other consignment stores where you can sell individual items directly to buyers. Besides having the to not deal with high levels of stock you also don’t have to deal with deliveries, payment processing, and search for buyers as the marketplace already comes with its own captive market. You can manage buyer purchases, offer prepaid shipping labels, and receive payments to your PayPal account from the comfort of your mobile device. The downside might be the fact that you will be required to pay commissions for the services rendered by the marketplace in some cases commissions might be too steep and might eat into your profits.
The third and last option is using local classified sites though it definitely reduces costs and saves you helps you to save some extra money. But this model comes come with a caveat that is your sales will be limited as your customer base will be limited to your locality. On the flip side is that.
Image: Depositphotos
This article, “15 Best Apps for a Business Selling Clothes” was first published on Small Business Trends
