How to sell a brand new never been used wedding dress?

May 15, 2012 11:33 AM

Please advise me on the best/easiest way(s) to sell a Brand New Never Been Worn Wedding Dress.

Unfortunately (depending how you look at it) I called off my engagement and will not be getting married - but that was after I had ordered my wedding dress which cost around $1800. I'd really like to sell it and get obviously what I paid for it or close to that price.

Please provide advice/guidance on the best way to sell it - craigslist, ebay, consigment shop or any other ideas?

Ideally I'd like to not have to have people come to my house to try on the dress, and would like to find away around that.

Also, payment options - is it best to ask for cash upfront? How does consignment work?

Thanks in advance for your guidance/anecdotal experience, advice. I appreciate it!

posted by BlueMartini7 to Work & Money (8 answers total)

I would place ads on classifieds sections on wedding sites (like WeddingBee). Be sure to include as much brand/style/size info as possible, in case someone is searching for the exact style you're looking to offload. Pictures help, too. I would try to be flexible on the price; the odds of getting exactly what you paid for the dress are low and drop as the style gets older.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:39 AM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Well, that's a cunundrum.

Chalk it up to experience. Call it a cheap $1800 lesson.

You will NEVER get anywhere near what you paid for your dress, not in consignment, eBay or any other venue. If you want some insight into this check those places out and see what wedding dresses go for on line. A consignment store typically splits what they get for the dress with you 50/50, and they won't ask full price for it.

That being said, donating it to charity might be a way to insure some very good Karma down the road and will brighten someone's day.

Donate My Dress has a list of ideas.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:43 AM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Pre Owned Wedding Dresses seems to be the go to place for this kind of sale. Ive never used them, but have seen it advertised on good wedding websites and have never heard of any problem using the service.
posted by zara at 12:14 PM on May 15, 2012

I second preownedweddingdresses.com. If you don't want to have people ask to try it on and you want to get the most money back, it will come down to information. Provide the style, color, and size per the manufacturer. If it was altered to fit you, provide the height with heels. Measure the dress at bust, waist, hip, and length from natural waist. Be detailed and up-front about shipping methods, cost, insurance, etc.
posted by amber_dale at 1:07 PM on May 15, 2012

If selling on line: Besides the size, state the measurements of the dress itself. Lay it down flat and measure the waist, the bust, underarm to underarm, length from waist to hem, length from shoulder to waist, etc. You might include your own measurements. The more specifics you can give, the more comfortable the buyer will feel. Put the dress on and have pictures taken from all angles.
posted by wryly at 1:22 PM on May 15, 2012

Nthing preownedweddingdresses.com, it was easy to list my dress and when the bride to be came and picked it up she was so happy it made me feel good, too. I used the designer's pictures from their website (it was a mass manufacturer), don't know how legal that was tho...
posted by PaulaSchultz at 2:26 PM on May 15, 2012

I agree on preownedweddingdresses.com and in addition to being very explicit about sizing and any alterations, I would add the dress model number and/or name. Sometimes, people are hung up on a particular dress they couldn't quite afford or may have even already tried it on in a bridal salon, so they will be specifically searching for it. If you wanted to sell to me, you'd have to include fabric content, as I basically filtered all my searches on "silk," "cotton," or "rayon." Based on what I've heard and seen, it may take a long time to sell it and I'd plan for losing about 50% of what you paid for it.
posted by thewrongparty at 9:28 AM on May 16, 2012

i wore my dress once on the day of course and sold it on ebay you will never get what you paid for it is right, like a used car once driven off the lot it looses value by $10,000 the minute the tires hit the pavement. You should list it on ebay, or even better find an upscale auction house like Herritage or Dumachales and enlist them to auction the dress for you. Also, list it on craigslist.com you would be surprise at the amount of brides looking for that dress. List it everywhere it is free or cheap even EBAY and include tons of content in the ad so that it comes up first in searches for a wedding dress and or best match when someone searches for it. Ebay items often come up first in google! I would also warn against using a stock photo in an ebay unless there is a category that says new no tags then you can use tons of photos take every angle every embellishment, included a photo from my wedding and a photo of a model in a dress like mine, the manufacturers description on their site and all the measurements I even told my size, height , bra size ect. Ebay is all about presentation what you say in the title and the pictures say 1000 words. contact me if you want help you can always put a reserve on the dress so if you dont get what you want you dont have to sell it and another idea would be to contact a local wedding planner or event space and let them know you have a dress for a last minute bride and offer overnight shipping on ebay as an option. contact me i am a great ebay seller and sold my used dress for half its price easily....and it was only a 400 dress. sorry i didnt have time to spell check this......btw consignment charges about 2/3 retail to the customer and gives the buyer 1/3 of the total price so for 100 you would not even get much more than 30....
posted by chickchef at 9:40 AM on May 17, 2012