Tips for Selling Your Wedding Dress
In a previous post, I shared some places where you can sell your wedding dress (or buy a pre-owned one). I successfully sold my dress with RecycledBride and I wanted to share my experience and some tips.
I bought my dress and floral sash from David’s Bridal for $718.68 including tax. I sold mine for a total $415, almost 60% of the original cost.
Tips for Selling your Dress Online
- Price your dress right. The listing sites suggest listing the dress from 50%-75% of the original price. If you price your dress too high, it will not sell. My listing price was $375 for the dress and $40 for the sash. I’m assuming that I priced it just right, since I received five inquiries within a week
- List on multiple sites, but avoid those with listing fees. With sites that don’t require a fee, why list them on ones that do? Especially when a sale is not guaranteed?
- Include plenty of pictures from a variety of angles. Your first two pictures should come off of the designer’s website with their model wearing the dress. That way, if a bride-to-be is looking for a particular dress from a certain designer, she would be able to instantly recognize it. The next few should be picture of you wearing the dress at different angles. A woman looking for a size 8 dress will want to make sure that it looks good on a size 8 woman. A dress that looks good on a size 0 model might not be flattering for someone wearing a different size.
- Write an honest, detailed description. Let brides know whether the dress has been altered, if there is a small rip or stain, etc. Be sure to include other accessories you may want to sell with the dress.
- Be prompt in answering inquiries about the dress. Buyers love good customer service.
- Beware of scammers. Never accept checks, cash, money orders or Western Union transfers. Stick with Paypal and Escrow as your method of payment.
- Don’t underestimate shipping costs. Remember that shipping cost also includes the box, packing material and tape in addition. If the bride is not in a rush to receive the dress, the cheapest shipping option is the parcel post through USPS. Make sure to spend the extra money to provide a tracking number and delivery confirmation. It could potentially save you a lot of headaches.
- Dry clean the dress before you ship.