This is a question I am often asked, and one that I’ve thought about a lot lately. I’ve been doing some MAJOR purging the past month or so, in both my closet and my jewelry box. I’ve become increasingly clear on my personal style, and I realized that so much of what I own isn’t resonating with that style. I keep asking myself, “Would I buy this today?” More often than not, the answer is, “No.” So out it goes. I’m striving to have an extremely edited wardrobe, with way fewer pieces that are the best quality I can afford, and things that I absolutely love. I relish having so much space between hangers in my closet, and empty areas in my jewelry box.
While I’ve traditionally used a brick and mortar consignment store for my clothes, bags, and shoes, I haven’t really known what to do with my jewelry, aside from giving it to friends and family. It’s not like I’m getting rid of super fine pieces from Cartier or Bulgari (since I don’t own anything like that!). I’m talking more fashion jewelry, from J. Crew to Tiffany & Co. (Side note: I have sold a couple pieces on Craig’s List, but I don’t like all the work it takes and having to set up a time/place to meet the buyer.) I want to share how I’m going about selling my purged items. First up, I took each piece I wanted to sell, put it in an individual baggie, with a sticky note with the designer and purchase price.
So now that that (very long) project was done, where to take them? For the majority of the items, I’m utilizing an online resale site called Threadflip. This Bay Area-based company, which was referred to me by a fellow image consultant, has been a breeze to deal with. Once they received all my items, they went through them, photographed them, and added a detailed description, including a rating of the condition of each item. Then, they are all placed in my virtual “closet,” which I named Amy SF Stylist. Click here to take a peek inside! (And of course, feel free to shop if something is calling your name!)
It’s such a clever melding of social media and consignment, as I get “followers” who like what they see, and then people can also “like” individual items. (Boy, there are certainly a lot of people who’ve “liked” my Mulberry leather bracelet!) When an item sells, or “flips”, I can see where it’s going and track progress. When the sale is complete, money is automatically put into my Threadflip account, which I can then transfer to my own bank. How cool is that? The commission rate depends on the selling price of the item. The more expensive the item, the higher percentage you receive, up to 80% of the selling price for items selling for over $75. I’m only about 10 days into this process, and at this time, I’ve flipped 15 pieces. I assume that the more followers and traffic I get, then the more quickly I’ll sell things. I really enjoy checking in each day to see what’s happening in my “closet.”
Now for my designer jewelry (that with a brand name, such as David Yurman and Tiffany & Co.), I’m giving The Real Real a spin. I don’t have much jewelry in this category, so I just had a few pieces to give them. This site also does a fabulous job photographing the items and writing a description. Here’s an example of one of my Yurman bracelets I sold.
I must say, that my items are selling very quickly on this site. They pay out once a month, via either a check or direct deposit. I gave them my jewelry at the end April, and they were having a special commission rate for jewelry that month (lucky me!), so I’m getting 70% of the sale, instead of the normal 60%. Both of these rates are definitely higher than I’ve gotten in the past from consignment stores.
With both of these sites, if items don’t sell, you can request them back or have them donated. In addition, if there are items submitted that don’t fit their qualifications, you can get them back as well.
While I was purging, I also came across a small handful of old sterling earrings from the 80’s. I decided to head to a local family-owned store, Numis International in Millbrae, and just sell them for their weight in silver.
So that’s where I am with my current jewelry-selling experiment. So far, I think I’ve earned about $1,100, so that’s not all bad for just over a week! Hopefully sales will continue. Have you had any luck selling your fashion jewelry? Any tips or sites to share? If so, please let me know in the comment section below.
Now…off to take a peek into my relatively empty jewelry box. Fewer things, but things that I actually wear and that bring me joy. Yay!
