6 Great ​Websites to Sell Your Used Clothes

Poshmark

If you’re looking to sell used clothes from designers or high-end brands, you might get the most money by posting them on Poshmark, says Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings adviser in Bakersfield, California.

You upload photos, write descriptions and set a price. Poshmark does the work of finding a buyer and provides you with a prepaid, preaddressed shipping label to mail the item.

“I just sold a Wilson tennis dress and made $46,” says Woroch, “and it was super simple to do.”

Cost to use: Poshmark takes a flat commission of $2.95 for sales under $15. For sales of $15 or more, the company takes a 20 percent cut of the purchase price.

Mercari

PJ Gach, author of The Grumpy Fashionista newsletter, says Mercari is “a very beginner-friendly option.”  

To post a listing, you’ll need to create an account on the Mercari app or website. To sell an item, you’ll add photographs, write a description and set a price. The site says it offers discounts on flat-fee standard and economy shipments, with pricing based on the package’s total size and weight. Once a sale is made, Mercari will email you a printable shipping label.

Cost to use: The company charges a 10 percent fee of the item’s sale price.

The RealReal

This luxury consignment marketplace is best-suited for selling authenticated designer clothes, bags, jewelry, watches and other merchandise. You’ll need to create an account before you can browse the site’s designer directory to see which brands they currently accept.

One thing that makes the platform unique is that you can schedule an at-home appointment with an expert to help you decide which items to sell and the right prices to set. The RealReal stores the items for you — you can schedule a pickup, ship them to the company or drop them off at one of its retail locations.

With the stock in hand, The RealReal handles the rest — authenticating items, creating listings and posting them for sale. The company also answers buyers’ questions and handles shipping once the item is sold.  

“It is an effective way to declutter my closet of high-end items I no longer wear,” says Lara Cohn, a 54-year-old public relations professional in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Cost to use: The RealReal collects commissions ranging from 20 to 70 percent, depending on the item’s sale price (the lower the price, the higher the company’s cut). If an item doesn’t sell, they will mail it back to you at no charge or donate it if you don’t want it back.

ThredUp

ThredUp is unique in that you don’t set the price — the platform does, based on past sales, brand and quality. (You can tweak the company’s number, increasing the price on an item by up to 10 percent or reducing it to as low as $5.) The site uses a dynamic pricing system, meaning it progressively reduces an item’s price over time to improve its chances of selling. 

You can either mail your clothing to ThredUp using a free shipping label or receive an empty bag in the mail to fill with items you want to sell. “They do all the work of [taking photographs] and posting pictures and selling the item, sending you your payout either instantly or upon consignment,” says Woroch.

Cost to use: ThredUp charges fees ranging from 97 percent (for sales of $5 to $19) to 20 percent (for sales of $200 or more).

Tips for selling

Finding the right platform to sell on is just the beginning. To be successful, you’ll want to follow some best practices.

Don’t skimp on the details. Be thorough when describing the item that you’re selling. Depending on what it is, this may entail specifying:

• Measurements (bust, waist, hips, inseam)
• Fabric content and stretch
• Condition (for example, like new, gently used)
• Whether it fits “true to size” — that is, according to industry sizes
• Style (like high rise, midi length or cropped)

Pay attention to what’s selling. Fashion trends come and go. Being attuned to what’s popular can help you select which used clothing to sell online. 

“Clothing from the early 2000s and earlier is currently experiencing strong demand,” Johnson says. She recommends scouting out trends on Pinterest: “You’ll find visual inspiration showing what styles and outfit combinations are popular right now.”

Actively monitoring clothing resale marketplaces can also help you stay on top of what items are trending. In particular, look at what brands are being promoted, advises Gennifer Rose, who runs the fashion blog My Thrift Life. 

Rose also recommends signing up for newsletters from resale platforms. “You’ll start to see trends and the same brand names pop up over and over again,” she says.  

Know what to toss. Knowing what won’t sell is just as important as knowing what will. Joshua cautions against trying to sell items that have:

• Stains, holes or significant wear. Even faint stains reduce sellability. The exception is if it’s a highly sought-after designer piece.
• Strong odors like detergent or perfume. If you can smell it, so can buyers, who may decide to return the item.
• Stretched-out elastic or broken zippers. Repair costs often exceed the item’s resale value.

Price competitively. Do some research on your desired platform to see what your specific item has sold for in the past. “The keyword here is ‘sold,’ not just ‘listed,’ ” says Johnson. “Anyone can list an item for $100, but that doesn’t mean it actually sells at that price.” (Many marketplaces offer filter options like “sold items” or “completed listings.”) Zero in on the brand, style and size to make an accurate comparison. 

Can’t find a good comp? “As a rule, aim for 30 to 40 percent of the original price unless the piece is designer or rare,” says Ciara Strickland, a Philadelphia lifestyle and fashion content creator and founder of The New Mixx, a fashion blog about transcending gender norms and embracing individuality. 

Raise your photo game. Don’t just snap one or two pictures and post an item for sale. “Invest in the time to create high-quality photos in good lighting, and offer people multiple angles and close-ups to ensure they get a sense of the quality,” says DiMatteo. He recommends showing as much detail as possible, such as a photo of the product’s logo. 

Rosen steams the wrinkles out of clothes before taking photos. If a piece has any imperfections (a loose thread, for example), don’t try to hide them; showing them in photographs establishes credibility.

Be smart about shipping. If you use a resale platform that requires you to handle shipping, “don’t buy brand new packaging,” says Woroch. “Hold on to boxes and padded envelopes from other shipments so that you can reuse them when selling to save on packing costs.”

Watch out for red flags. There are many success stories of reselling clothes online, but there are scams too. Strickland recommends steering clear of buyers who ask to pay you outside the platform, pressure you to ship an item before they’ve paid or request personal information like your email address or phone number. 

“On legitimate platforms, all communication and payment should stay within the app,” she says.