Circular Fashion -- Maybe This Could Be It

In my previous posts I explained my experiences with reselling / consigning on different resale platforms, including on websites and in stores. My initial goal was to declutter my stuff. While I continue to devote only the weekends and a few hours in the evening during the week, I'm intrigued with the reselling process and striving to learn more about the reselling market place so I could become successful at it. This would still be a part time endeavor; but the aim is to "be good at it."

A few of the things I do to learn more about reselling includes reading articles about fashion and retailing. Much has been written about Circular Fashion and I appreciate the importance of it. In fact my initial goal of decluttering has branched out and hoping to do my part for Circular Fashion. This will be a long journey for me as I'm yet to buy anything "used" or sold through a resale platform. I'm warming up to it, though.

Another activity I like to do is see if there are identical items on resale platforms to those that I have sold. While I first look for (nearly) identical items when initially pricing, I also look for identical items after the item has sold as well. When I consigned to The Real Real, I was unable to set the prices for my items. So when the items sold on The Real Real I looked at other resale platforms to see if any of the identical items were sold there and the prices paid.

I recently decided to look for one of the items I consigned to The Real Real. It was Helmut Lang sleeveless dress. Original price $245, with the tags attached. The Real Real described my dress in "Pristine" condition, which it was! When the dress was initially posted on The Real Real the price was $60. After at least one discount the dress sold for $30. My commission was $9. Yes $9! The dress was a few years old and definitely not a "hot item." Maybe I could have done better if I sold through another platform. But it no longer took up space in my closet, someone bought it and moved into Circular Fashion. This is a win! The image below is the posting on The Real Real:

The other day while looking at an internet resale platform I searched for the identical Helmut Lang dress mentioned above. The next image shows what I found. An identical Helmut Lang dress! Priced at $65, much more than the $30 mine sold for on The Real Real.

This seller on the resale platform included this hang tag image, proving the dress was purchased from The Real Real. While I don't know if this is the dress,I consigned to The Real Real (and probably it is not) it got me thinking that if it were and I decided I really wanted to wear it, I could buy it. This would be a great literal example of Circular Fashion!

I'm still working on figuring out what items sell best on which resale platform. Stay tuned!

RESELLING ON MERCARI

Reselling continues. Finally focused on Mercari and made a sale within a few days. I hadn't paid much attention to Mercari because the packaging and postage procedures were not as simple as Poshmark's. With Poshmark the seller can use the USPS Priority Mail cardboard boxes, which made it quick and easy to get the package to the post office. With Mercari I had to calculate the postage (Mercari has all the tools to guide you step by step to do this) and buy a box. I like to send the items out within one day of my sale. But since I had to buy a box and could not get to the store so fast the item was shipped in two days. Mercari has a direct communication link between seller and buyer so I let the buyer know the shipping would be delayed a day. The buyer was understanding.

One of the unique aspects of Mercari when compared with Poshmark is the buyer and seller can rate each other. The person may click on a number of qualities such as friendly, communications, understanding. For this first sale my buyer gave me this 5 star review and listed these attributes; friendly, reliable and great packaging.

Turns out my Mercari experience wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be. In fact it was smooth sailing. (Once I bought that box!) When I have vacation time I'll spend time with this platform.

I've now sold through a range of reselling methods: The Real Real, Poshmark, Mercari, ThredUp and Crossroads Trading. I've a few things lined up to test out Tradesy and Rebag. From my seller's point of view, I believe certain items fare better on certain sites. Knowing which sites to sell the items on is THE question I hope to solve! Stay tuned.

KISS @GAP

For years Gap has been one of my go to stores for buying basic cotton T-shirts for wearing at home. Glancing at an email from Gap this morning noticed there was a 40% promotion (with exclusions) and then another 10% off if shopped as a Rewards member. Too much fine print to read! Yet the prices of Gap T-shirts don't influence my purchase so no big deal. While walking around the Gap store today noticed signage for some items at 50% off, some 30% off and others for 20% off. These promotions didn't match my email but wasn't concerned. I prefer saving my retail energy and "fights" for higher priced items at other retailers where the percentage discount matters and could be a meaningful dollar amount savings.

After examining a few T-shirt styles, made my selection which I took from a pile that had a 20% off signage (not matching with the 40% off offer in my email) and joined the line to check out. I waited in the line and kept waiting. This long wait bothered me. Why wasn't the line moving?

Focusing on the two cashiers and their customers I heard the customers were asking about the prices and promotions associated with each of their items they wanted to purchase. One customer took out her iphone to show what she thought was a discrepancy in her promotional email compared with the price of the item in the store. Then another customer asked for the price of each item she wanted to buy. The cashiers were patient and told the customers the discount associated with each item. This took time and prolonged the wait to pay! The T-shirt I paid for was next to signage noting 20% off; yet it rang up as a 40% discount. Nice the discount matched the email. But I don't know how that happened! A strong explanation is that I put in my phone number for the cashier to pull my Rewards number. But I did not receive the additional 10% off noted in the email. Oh maybe a Rewards member is one who has a Gap credit card. This is too much to figure out!

Gap's management could fix this long wait to pay the customers experienced today (These waits probably occur on many days since Gap seems to have promotions almost every day.) and clear up the dense emails. They should look to the 50+ years old KISS principle: "Keep It Simple Stupid." Specifically, make it clear on the store signage if it matches what is in the promotional emails. It will also be helpful for those not receiving promotional emails. This simple information will make shopping easier and lead to the check out line move faster.