Your Ultimate Guide to Earning the Most $$$ For Reselling Your Clothes

Picture this: it’s the weekend and you’re finally ready to tackle the spring cleaning that you’ve been putting off for weeks. You clean the refrigerator, scrub the floors, and clean the bathroom until it is immaculate. You’ve even tackled the closet and are finally ready to get rid of all of the clothes you stress-bought the last couple years during the pandemic.

At the end of the day, you’re so happy to finally be done cleaning, until you turn around and find that giant pile of old clothes you’re ready to let go of, and your mood suddenly drops. Now you have to deal with a second mess on top of the one you just cleaned. What is there to do now?

If you find yourself in this situation this spring, fear not. There are a variety of places to bring your old clothes, and make a decent sum of money while you’re at it. Below are the five best resell shops that save you time and effort, all while getting paid:

Buffalo Exchange

How it Works: Buffalo Exchange buys men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. They usually only accept trendy items from the last couple years from brands like Urban Outfitters, Zara, and ASOS. To start selling, you need to book an appointment on their website for whatever location is closest to you. After appraising your clothes, they will immediately give you 25% of the selling price of the items they took in cash, or 50% of the selling price in store credit.

Pros:

Good Payout: Buffalo Exchange pays you on the spot for your clothes, no need to wait for them to sell like at a consignment store. They also charge a decent amount for their clothes, so that 25% in cash can actually equal a decent sum of money.

Good Trade-in Opportunity: Buffalo Exchange has a lot of current, trendy pieces and well taken care of sneakers, so cashing in your store credit is no trouble

Cons:

Very Picky: Buffalo Exchange is very peculiar about the brand, quality, and age of the items they take, so trying to get money for that designer piece from 5 or 6 years ago may be difficult

Low Inventory: Most of their stores are quite small, so they may not buy all of your clothes simply because they do not have the space

Plato’s Closet

How it Works: Bring your gently used men’s and women’s clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories into a store, no appointment necessary. They will appraise them then offer you cash or store credit. Plato’s Closet is a franchise, so each location has different rules for what brands they will buy, what year the clothes must be manufactured in, as well as what percent of the sales price you will get back in cash; so make sure to call the location to sort these details out before your appointment

Pros:

Not Very Picky: In my experience of selling at Plato’s Closet, they will take clothing from nearly any brand or year, so long as it is in remotely good condition

Chain Store: As mentioned before, Plato’s Closet is a franchise, so if they do not buy some of your items at one location, you can take them to another location and try again

Cons:

Sub-Par Inventory: Since they are more lax about brand names and quality, some of their items are not well curated or worth the price. A lot of their clothes are geared toward teenagers, so the items may not appeal to all buyers.

ThredUp

How it Works: ThredUp accepts men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. After you create a ThredUp account, you can request a shipping label to mail a package of your clothes, though you must provide either a shipping envelope or box. The items will then be appraised and prepared to be sold on the website. After the item is listed on the site, you have 12 hours to edit the price, and after that another 12 hour period to allow for bidding, when you cannot change the price. After 60 or 90 days of being on the website, your item is expected to be sold, and after 28 days, you will receive payment. Payment is contingent on the selling price which is based on the brand and category of the item.

Pros:

Easy: All you need to do is ship the package of your old clothes and wait

Customizable: Unlike other shops, you can adjust the price of your items if you think the quality or brand warrants a higher price

Cons:

Clothing Recycling Program: Though good for the planet, if your clothes are not accepted, ThredUp will recycle your clothes, so make sure you won’t miss any of the items you send

Lengthy Process: Your clothing could take months or weeks to sell and the more time your clothes are on ThredUp, the more they are discounted and the less money you get.

The RealReal

How it Works: The RealReal only buys designer items from brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, and so on. To start selling with them, simply make an account on their website, fill out some basic information then decide if you will mail your items, have them pick them up at your residence, or drop them off at one of their physical locations. After that, it’s a waiting game. Within 30 days of being listed, your item should sell and you can choose if you want to receive your money via direct deposit, site credit, or check. The website does not say exactly how much money you earn from selling, but if you act fast, you could earn an extra $200 on your first time selling.

Pros:

Fast Turnaround Time: Since The RealReal says your item will sell within 30 days, you could be earning money fast

Easy: After you send off your items, The RealReal does all the work

Cons:

Picky: Since they only take designer goods, if your item isn’t couture, they won’t sell it

Depop

How it Works: Depop offers a completely customized selling experience. Getting started is as easy as making an account on their website. Then, you can list your clothing items on the website complete with your own description, price, and quality report. You can even get creative and create your own branding for your Depop page and advertise on social media. After your items sell, you are responsible for getting the supplies necessary to send them to the buyer. Then, the payout is all yours, except for a 10% cut that Depop takes.

Pros:

Personalized: Unlike most platforms or stores, nearly every step of the selling process is in your hands

Good Payout: Since you can set your own prices, the earning potential is basically limitless

Cons:

Lengthy Process: Since no other entity is helping you sell your clothes, this process could take weeks, months, or years

Tedious: From the SEO you need to include in your description to the promotions to differentiate your clothes, if you’re looking for an easy selling experience, this may not be it.

I hope this has helped you form a plan for the aftermath of your spring closet cleaning. Let us know in the comments if you’ve ever sold clothes with any of the above shops, or if you’re now planning to in the future. If you’re cleaning out your closet, here are some great blogs to help you Marie Kondo your space: