ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — If you’re looking to make a few extra bucks, selling your old clothes to a consignment store can be a good way to do it, if you know the tricks of the trade. Here’s some advice from second-hand stores to help you get the most money for your clothes.
Consignment shops, like Plato’s Closet, sell items for 70 percent off the original retail value and you, the seller, get 30 to 40 percent of that.
Sarajo Stough, an assistant manager for a Plato’s Closet in Orlando, Florida, told Ivanhoe, “I’ve actually had a buy over a thousand dollars before.”
Tip number one: buyers generally only accept items that have been sold in retail stores within the past year to year and a half. That five year old sweater you want to sell probably won’t make the cut.
Two: don’t bring your clothes in a huge trash bag. It’s much harder for buyers to sift through.
“The Victoria’s Secret bag, those are pretty easy. They’re square so it’s easier to fold your items up. Also, boxes are pretty easy because they’re easy to stack and stay out of the way,” detailed Stough.
Three: keep the price tags on. The system allows the consignment store to grade the clothes based on wear, style and age. So if the price tags are on, it shows you haven’t even worn it yet.
Four: call ahead and see what they are looking for.
Stough said, “It’s easier to just let people know we’re looking for these items, so you definitely want to bring those in. If you have other items we would suggest bringing them to a different Plato’s Closet.”
So how do you know when it’s time to purge your closet? Try this: put a clothes pin on every piece of clothing you own, and remove the pin once you wear it. If there’s still a pin on something in six months, sell it.
Another tip is to put the cutest, or trendiest, clothes on top. It makes the buyer excited to go through the rest.
Contributors to this news report include: Brogan Morris, Producer; Tony D’Astoli, Editor and Videographer.
