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Friday, September 27, 2013

Major Declutter Results: $750 from Buffalo Exchange and Tradesy

Miss Em (leader, very decisive) and I (assistant and general pain) completed a major clothing declutter before she left for Serbia. I overbought during the past year
(at my beloved thrift shops) and she both overbought (see mom) and overspent (see Nordstroms and Garnet Hill). She's learning.

Since she couldn't bring that much to Serbia and because all her clothing will be a year older when she returns, we decided to do a declutter. Mostly we donated, but I told her that if we sold anything, she could have the money for her RETURN TO USA fund. She will probably not acquire much in Serbia. We set a goal of $1000 for the RETURN TO USA event and hope it will cover a year's worth of stuff.

So we carted many boxes to our much-loved Buffalo Exchange: $500 in cash! And that doesn't count what we took in credit (two Eileen Fishers for Miss Em, a small fall wardrobe for Frugal Son).

Then Tradesy: so far, around $250.00.

Tips for Tradesy, which is fairly new. As with Ebay, people search by brand. So list things that people will search for (hint: no Walmart). We sold a few clothing items (very few), but 90% of our sales were for shoes and bags. This is because bags are one size AND because people know what size they take in shoes. Here are some of the brands we sold: Frye, Dansko, Ecco, Michael Kors. We priced things very low. Or lowish. Our best sale: Frye boots for $70--a good price for both buyer AND seller.

I hate selling on Ebay and haven't done so in years. Tradesy is easier and--other than the Frye boots--we average around $20 per item.

I have hopes for a few more sales. Maybe we will hit our goal. Thanks Miss Em for helping with the declutter. We miss you so much.

4 comments:

The Frugal Shrink said...

WOW!!!! Way to go! I had my first Tradesy sale on a Michael Kors coat and agree that it is a million times better than Ebay.

Shelley said...

Gosh, the last time I took clothes in to sell I got about £7.65...they bought by weight. Obviously my thrift store acquisitions aren't brand names. My sense is that Europeans are more likely to wear out their clothing - or perhaps all the brands go to consignment rather than thrift shops. So well done to you and Em. Hope she enjoys Serbia...can't say that would be my holiday destination of choice, but I'm sure it will be an interesting experience for her.

Duchesse said...

Terrific! Tradesy does seem to skew young, in terms of sizes and styles. The key is getting in front of the best target market. I've had excellent results on eBay with desired brands- example: $160 for a pair of nearly-new Prada heels for which a consignment store offered me $30!

Frugal Scholar said...

@Frugal Shrink--Great news. Sadly, I have two things I need to put on ebay--I've been procrastinating for over a year (men's items).

@Shelley--I am embarrassed to say: we had a LOT of stuff. Too much. We had not done a thorough declutter for a few years.

@Duchesse--Good advice on finding the right place. As I said above, I have two men's items--Filson--for ebay and can't bear to list--hate the whole process now.