Everyone’s life is full of something old and something new. Your new clothes, new phone, new shoes remain no longer new from the very moment you start using them. The market value takes a nosedive once the item is no longer new. “I love older items that people have used and cherished. They have personality, character, and soul!”, says Anna Hillegass, Minneapolis boutique owner. And we feel the same. We, women, are happy to rummage through vintage or used items. There are tons of items you should buy second-hand to save a fortune and a wedding dress is one of them. In fact, if you look around you will find a good percentage of your possessions are second-hand in nature. Even the house you are staying in might be used by someone who lived here before you. Remember those old dog-eared textbooks that you were studying from in your school? Why go this far into your childhood even today you can see second-hand items everywhere in your day-to-day life. Even a wedding gown or a pair of bridal shoes, fresh from the rack of the seller if you consider the number of try-on that brides give them is second-hand in a way. And you pay the hefty price with the satisfaction in your mind that at least it’s new. And do you know the gown you are taking home is probably rejected by all the brides who slipped into it before you to check if it fits them and their budget like a glove? Therefore, actually, the dress you are going to don on your big day has so many incomplete dreams and rejections as well (for whatsoever reasons) in its weaves and froufrou. So why not choose a wedding dress that is not only preloved by a bride like you but also carries a success story of the lady who recently lived her dream wearing it?
So what’s your decision- selling or donating? If you are more inclined to sell your wedding dress with heavy embellishments to take care of some debts still pending, nobody will judge you. Donating your wedding dress to a good cause is as easy as pie but putting your wedding dress for resale is not as simple as it might sound to you - just list it online and sit back and relax. Nada! It demands a heck lot of research, effort, and of course patience! From "Where can I sell my wedding dress fast?" to “What to do when my wedding dress is not selling?” to “Yay, I sold my wedding dress for cash, no regrets!” selling a second-hand wedding dress is a time-consuming project but rewarding at the same time if you are in luck. The moment you get the answer to your question “Should I sell my wedding dress?” in a ‘yes’ your journey to sell the wedding dress starts. And this long tedious journey can be short and exciting if you know what to do and what not.
“Selling through social channels is the closest thing to being a fly on the wall in your customer’s, prospect’s and competitors’ world,” said Keenan. Chances to get the buyer for your pricey designer second-hand wedding dress are slim if you stick to just one selling platform for the wedding dress resale. If you ask, “Which wedding dress resale sites are the best?” Google has the best answers. Consider utilizing both online and offline options. List your dress at more than one used wedding dress resale sites like Stillwhite, Borrowing Magnolia, Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, and so on. With your wedding dress multiple selling platforms you are sure to get buying signals from tons of interested brides. Popular online E-commerce websites have their own huge built-in base of customers, surfing them regularly. Get more bang for your buck! These sites act as a bridge between you and your buyer and charge a commission from the sale, which varies depending on the extent of services you want.
• Borrowing Magnolia: $15 (Standard Listing) - $22 (Premium Listing) with no commissions
• Nearly Newlywed: $25 listing fee and 40% commission for a hassle-free selling
•Once Wed: $19.95 listing fee
• Poshmark: 20% flat commission fee
• PreOwned Wedding Dresses: $25 listing fee
• Sell My Wedding Dress: $19.97 for a basic listing; $29.97 for a premium listing
• Still White: one-time $20 fee; $30 for a premium listing
• Tradesy: 19.8% commission fee on sales over $50
• Wedding Bee: no fee
• Wore It Once: $20 listing fee
• eBay, Craigslist, and consignment shops: 50-60 percent commission
Keep the price affordable and room for negotiation
Forking over a wad of money on a wedding dress that fails on the cost-per-wear test is not a great idea for every bride in the world. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why the secondhand wedding dress business is on an upward trajectory (the pandemic year 2020 raised exponentially the number of online shoppers and their questions regarding the dress than ever). You might want to keep the price of your wedding gown as low as possible for the budget-savvy brides (or for the brides who are eco-conscious or just want to incorporate ‘something old’ of a happy bride into their happiest day) who are interested in buying a beautiful dress at an affordable price for their low-key wedding day. To sell the wedding dress fast you might need to eat the cost of dry cleaning or shipping the dress as well.
For most brides-to-be, online secondhand dress sellers are the last option they go for only if they don’t find their dream designer wedding dress in the sea of sample wedding dresses, , and trunk show wedding dresses at the desired price. So don’t let them go even if they haggle on the price you want for your wedding dress. As you never know when the next bride will knock on your door after the current prospect leave without booking your dress. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush! Setting a higher price than you planned at first and showing your willingness to bargain on the same in the description part can be a great idea! Plus, presenting the original invoice of the dress will help you gain their trust in you.
Make the best use of the designer name: Labels write great love fables!
Special-day wear or regular-day outfit, today’s millennial brides love all things branded. But designer wedding gowns are dang expensive and in-demand! Despite the fact, if I were to buy a wedding dress for myself, I won’t want to splurge more than $500 on a dress that I am going to don for a few hours but would like a nice one. Instead, I would consider maybe Haley Paige wedding dresses or similar ones. But I would seriously go for a "name brand" dress that has been worn once yet in great condition or is still new with tags. Highlight the designer’s name while listing the dress with your measurements. The designer name written in all-caps works as a beacon to help you allure the soon-to-be bride on a hunt for a designer wedding dress at a great price. Add both original and actual pictures of the gown to flaunt the style of the gown. ‘Tis the time to handpick one or two pictures out of the stunning wedding dress photos your professional wedding photographer clicked on your big day. Also, show the buyers sitting in the other corner of the world how your wedding dress by Vera Wang or other designer looked when you purchased it and how it is looking right now through thoughtfully captured high-quality pictures in the excellent light conditions from your professional camera. So if you sell your designer wedding dress with a prestigious label attached, you can always put a slightly higher price!
Procrastinating to sell your wedding dress is a mistake
Yes, we mean it. The age of the dress is also an important factor to consider when selling the wedding dress locally or online. Playing for time and thinking that the dress is trendy for a good one to two years is one of the too-common post-wedding dress mistakes. Leaving your beloved bridal gown languishing in obscurity for years after all the hoopla of the big day is over and done with would be the last thing that you would ever want. And we are sure you’re actually not going to wear it again. And if you are a practical modern woman you would neither want to store it away to hand it down to your coming generations as well. Correct us if we are wrong. Sooner or later, you will realize that the dress has fulfilled its job in your life and that’s the moment when you are ready to cut all the strings binding you to it and sell the dress for cash! To make room for something new in the present, you first have to let go of the past. Whether it was a backyard wedding or a wedding at a grand waterfront resort, we are sure that it has ripped you off for a good few months. Recouping a few bucks from your wedding expenses by selling the dress to another bride-to-be off-the-bat could be a decision that you are not going to regret, we assure you. And we suggest you take action right now. Wondering, what’s the hurry? Well, what’s latest sells fastest! Who would want to wear a wedding dress that is neither trendy nor vintage on the biggest day of their life? I guess no one. This is because the designs and the collections change, and what is fashionable today may no longer be in time. If you sell a two or less than two-year-old wedding dress that you used just once it’s worth around 50% of the retail price. On the other hand, if it is between 2 and 5 years old, you can make 40% (or less) of the original price. Sooner the better!
Sharing your personal details is a big ‘NO’
You need to be extra conscious when it comes to online purchasing or selling while making transactions. Scammers are everywhere! Don’t let them upset the applecart! Use only the best and safe modes of payment like PayPal and Escrow. Great reseller websites always take care of their users so if your dress is in the right pair of hands to facilitate the selling process you don’t need to worry much, provided you follow the instructions they provide. Communicate with your prospective buyers using the in-built messaging system safely without sharing personal contact details. After the order is finalized by the buyer, simply connect your PayPal account for secure payment. Ship the dress only after receiving the payment. We help our sellers with recommended ways of receiving payment - both secure and convenient for you. PayPal is integrated into borrowingmagnolia.com to provide dress sellers with a secure and convenient method to invoice the dress purchaser.
Incomplete, inaccurate, and useless information about the dress would do no good
Half the details will do just half the job or no job at all! We love the sellers who do what it says on the tin. Do not forget that you are reselling used wedding dress online and your target audience is a bride, a woman who is seeking the most special garment for her most special day! No wonder, they are likely to find out all they can about the listed dress. After all, it’s a second-hand piece and any dent on the dress wedding will forever be etched on their most important day. And this would be the last thing even you would ever want. They want to shop around not only for the cheapest wedding dress but also for the best and trendiest. Providing detailed information about your wedding dress will allow them to compare options and pursue the one that seems best. They expect you to be as explicit as possible while typing in the dress description. Therefore, in addition to the original price, designer name, model number, exact color, fabric, the collection it belongs to, year of creation, you are also required to mention how, when, and where you purchased it from. DO NOT hide from them you shouldn’t. We mean declare if you underwent any dress alterations or addition of extra details so the interested bride-to-be can make sure the alterations you did to the dress suit her needs or are reversible if don’t before placing the order. This declaration will save you as well from unnecessary to and fro of your froofy and its shipping costs and help you find the buyer for your dress fast. You might want to check out these tips to sell your bare-knuckle wedding dress fast.
Golly, you have braved the tsunami of sentiments and made the heartfelt and eco-friendly choice to part with your gorgeous and glamorous wedding dress! A big shout-out to the lady with a conscience from Borrowing Magnolia! You are a blessing in disguise not only for the brides getting the blues (caused by not being able to find a designer wedding dress of their dreams at an affordable price) but also for our lovely planet blue.
By selling your pre-owned yet latest designer wedding dress or your mother’s vintage wedding dress, you’re letting the dresses keep moving their journey as truly special clothing that’s created to be treasured – and worn – rather than forgotten in a box. Circular shopping – buying secondhand and used garments rather than introducing new products to the market – is now considered to be the most sustainable way to shop. As a wedding dress resale specialist, Borrowing Magnolia promises lower pricing for not only dress buyers but also dress sellers. Spend less to sell and keep 100% of your sales.
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