Where should I sell these shoes and pants?

December 31, 2012 11:06 AM

How / Where can I sell some designer items?

My sister tasked me with selling a pair of high end shoes and pants. Where can I get her the best price with the lowest financial output for myself? I am in New York, so would consignment shops work or would online be better? How much should I sell them for? Specific shops or websites would be appreciated. My skill set is geared towards selling books, music, dvds and the like on ebay and amazon, these are definitely outside my comfort zone.

1. The shoes are the same as these except in gold - Giuseppe Zanotti Shoes They are unworn and come with the shoe box and shoe bag.

2. The pants are unworn white The Row pants from Bergdorf Goodman with tags still attached. They are called Baywood leggings I think - Baywood Leggings

posted by Julnyes to shopping (9 answers total)

Check out:

Bonanzle.com
Etsy.com

From personal experience, eBay is a little bit congested (ok, a LOT congested). You'll find a smaller cachet of serious designer buyers and sellers on Bonanzle. Personal experience also says that you'll get a better return on your investment.

As for Etsy, a lot of sellers will list vintage designer items.
posted by chloe.gelsomino at 11:18 AM on December 31, 2012

To answer your last question, I've seen Zanotti heels (available in different sizes – not a single pair) more than a few times at Nordstrom Rack for less than $100, so I wouldn't hope to get much more than that for the shoes.

If the items are unworn with the tags still attached and still available for sale, can't she return them from the store where she bought them? Upscale stores tend to have incredibly generous, "no questions asked" return policies for unworn items.
posted by halogen at 11:35 AM on December 31, 2012

chloe.gelsomino - thanks for the links, I will check them out.

halogen - she didn't buy them. She works at a high end hotel and the pants were given to her by a guest. The shoes were abandoned property and the hotel gave up trying to find the owner after a few months and calls to various stores.
posted by Julnyes at 12:00 PM on December 31, 2012

Consider a donation to an upscale consignment shop. Get a receipt and retain other documentation of the value. As long as you don't claim a deduction of more than $500 on a single item of clothing, the IRS does not require an appraisal. With federal, state and city taxes in the picture you could be looking at tax savings that exceed whatever you would net trying to sell them. Do it today, and it's a 2012 deduction.
posted by beagle at 12:00 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

You could probably still try to return the pants to Bergdorf Goodman, even without a receipt. I don't see anything wrong with that since they were a gift that for whatever reason she didn't want to keep. The worst that could happen is that they say no – but it's more likely that you will get a Bergdorf Goodman exchange card for the value of the pants.
posted by halogen at 12:15 PM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

There are a lot of good consignment shops in New York: the most obvious ones for designer clothes are probably Tokio 7 and the small Ina chain, both in the East Village/Soho area. There are others in the east 70s and thereabouts if that's easier for you: I don't remember their names but you can find them via a Yelp search for consignment.

Avoid lower-end consignment shops like Second Time Around: you'll get less money there.

But you and your sister shouldn't expect much. The consignment shop will likely sell them for maximum half their new cost, and you'll get just a small fraction of that. So if the shoes sell for $100, you might get 10.

Probably best to follow beagle's advice to donate and get a receipt for the tax writeoff. Most shops will give you a receipt for whatever you request: they don't really care. There are IRS guidelines (which I can't find or link to: sorry, I'm on my phone). For items in new or near-new condition they suggest claiming about half the cost of the new goods. So your sister could get a tax writeoff for a couple of hundred dollars. I don't know who to donate to in New York, but a Yelp search for charity shops should find you something.
posted by Susan PG at 12:26 PM on December 31, 2012

Oh and also: if you really want to sell, you'll get the most money from eBay but it will also be the most work. Consignment shops are much easier.

But if you go the consignment route, be prepared for snobbery. Most will only take (or claim to only take) current year merchandise that's in season. Their tack is to denigrate your stuff --its condition, brand, quality-- and offer it for sale cheap. They make their money from scale. So, it's possible they will refuse to take it, or price it lower than you think it's worth.
posted by Susan PG at 12:33 PM on December 31, 2012

As for Etsy --> must be at least twenty years old to be sold there

Consider a donation to an upscale consignment shop. Get a receipt ?? Consignment stores =! charities

eBay will be the most profitable venue; consignment is fine if you don't want to put much work into it -- where I am in Canada consignment stores give 40-50% of the selling price and 10% is totally unheard of, and anything from the last two to four years is fine, but I have no familiarity with what's offered in NY. If the person you deal with in a consignment store is unpleasant to deal with, just up and head out the door and find another one.

Local on-line forsales are another option, sometimes the least-work-for-most-$ option. You would price low and hope the right-size right-taste individual stumbles on it, which sometimes does happen. I would float the shoes for $100 and the pants for $75 and be prepared to drop my prices a fair bit; check out eBay "completed listings" -- they're probably nicely cut and comfy pants but few people outside of BG shoppers are going to get that excited about the brand for such plain fare. Shoes as mentioned are things that end up on sale quite a lot at the end of seasons.

Finally, if you're a Facebook user and have a decent pool of FB friends in the right size range? Somebody's sister might be happy to buy them from you; worth an inquiring post.
posted by kmennie at 1:48 PM on December 31, 2012

Matiell Consignment Shop is on 9th street between 2nd and 1st Avenues. Right across the street from them is Cadillac's Castle and Tokio 7 is two blocks away on 7th Street. Taking an afternoon to bring your items around to them would be pretty simple (hitting all 3 would take an hour, tops) and likely the biggest return on your time investment.
posted by Fuego at 9:48 PM on December 31, 2012