So that you’ve spent a fortune in your wedding ceremony gown. Now what?
Let’s begin with a staggering reality which will come as unsurprising to anybody who has gotten married: The common value for a wedding dress in 2021 was $1,800, based on The Knot.
And lest you suppose that top prices imply fewer individuals are carrying conventional wedding ceremony clothes, the reply to that’s positively not. A whopping 99% of female-identifying survey respondents in The Knot’s wedding ceremony research stated they wore a gown for his or her wedding ceremony.
However for these of us who’re budget-conscious and understand {that a} wedding ceremony gown is each a phenomenal memento and sure one thing that may sit in our closet untouched for years, there must be a greater approach. Certain, a marriage gown, like a automobile, seemingly loses some worth as soon as it walks off the lot—or on this case, the bridal retailer.
There may be a substitute for recoup a minimum of a part of the funding: We’ve 10 locations the place you’ll be able to promote your wedding ceremony gown.
10 Locations The place You Can Promote Your Wedding ceremony Gown On-line
We discovered 10 locations the place you’ll be able to promote your wedding ceremony gown on-line:
- PreownedWeddingDresses.com
- Tradesy
- Stillwhite
- Practically Newlywed
- BravoBride
- Promote My Wedding ceremony Gown
- As soon as Wed
- Poshmark
- Queenly
- Social media
1. PreownedWeddingDresses.com
PreownedWeddingDresses.com is a superb device for patrons and sellers who need quick access to a set of classic or pre-loved wedding ceremony clothes. The itemizing service is on-line solely, which means there’s no bodily location. Nevertheless,it does supply customers a sophisticated search choice that permits them to go looking by zip code or metropolis in the event that they wish to decide up an merchandise regionally.
The location is greatest for brides who’re promoting clothes after 2005 and keep in mind the style name, quantity and designer of their gown. For individuals who do not know, contemplate calling the shop you bought from or record the gown as “different” and title it based mostly on its descriptors, like its sleeve size and materials.
PreownedWeddingDresses.com prices a one-time $25 itemizing price with no renewal. Sellers record their merchandise on the service, and brides can message the vendor internally for questions on sizing, type and extra. The whole worth, together with transport, promoting worth and phrases, is as much as the customer and vendor. PayPal is built-in into the messaging system for a safe checkout.
Though you’ll be able to hope for a fast sale, you need to be ready to attend. Whereas the location notes that some gross sales occur in as fast as 24 hours, the typical promote time is 70 days.
2. Tradesy
Not like PreownedWeddingDresses.com, Tradesy is a luxurious and designer resale platform that sells the whole lot from Louis Vuitton luggage to classic Helmut Lang. Wedding ceremony clothes merely make up considered one of their classes, so this can be a good website for somebody who has a gown that may stand out.
The weddings web page lists clothes as costly as $17,000 from designers like Ines Di Santo, Vera Wang Bridal and Pallas. However don’t fret—there are additionally $56 listings from David’s Bridal.
Fairly than charging an inventory price, Tradesy works on fee. Itemizing your merchandise is free and as straightforward as just a few clicks in your cellphone. Wedding ceremony gown sellers should ship gadgets on their very own, requiring them to buy monitoring, insurance coverage and even signature required upon supply for something over $500, based on Tradesy. Assuming your gown is listed for greater than $50, the location will deduct a 19.8% fee fee, roughly $99 off of a $500 gown, for instance. You possibly can then obtain the remainder of your cash by way of PayPal, ACH switch or a debit card.
Objects within the wedding category fall into the “last sale” class and can’t be returned.
3. Stillwhite
Like PreownedWeddingDresses.com, Stillwhite is a website that focuses particularly on promoting wedding ceremony clothes. The retail platform has a helpful tool to allow you to set your worth in terms of promoting your previous gown. Simply enter the retail worth, the date you bought your gown and its situation, and the location will auto-populate with a steered worth.
A 2021 $4,000 Vera Wang gown that’s used and cleaned would go for $2,600, based on Stillwhite, the identical worth that PreownedWeddingDresses.com estimated.
Additionally like PreownedWeddingDresses.com, Stillwhite has a one-time price fairly than a fee. Pay a $25 commonplace one-time price to record 4 images that may stay on the location till your piece has offered. In case you select to pay a $35 premium price, you’ll get a spot on the homepage gallery, improved search outcome and as much as eight images and a video of your gown.
The location has built-in fraud detection and privateness safety. Sellers can get their cash through PayPal, which often has a 2.6% to 2.9% transaction price, however could be transferred straight into your checking account.
4. Practically Newlywed
Nearly Newlywed is one other on-line itemizing service (or as they are saying, boutique) for wedding ceremony clothes. However this website distinguishes itself by providing white-glove concierge service.
Sellers should first create an account and pay a $19.99 one-time itemizing price. After inputting gown particulars and images, Practically Newlywed communicates with patrons and handles advertising. When your gown is offered, the location will ship you a pay as you go and insured transport label that you’ll want to make use of to ship your gown to its new residence. All instructed, you’ll get 70% of the entire worth by way of PayPal. Practically Newlywed takes 30% fee.
5. BravoBride
BravoBride allow you to sell more than your dress—contemplate hawking your sneakers, your veil, your wedding ceremony favors or something that’s available out of your wedding ceremony that you simply simply don’t really want anymore.
BravoBride has one particular attribute to assist it stand out amongst its rivals: Most gadgets are free to record and promote, apart from bridal robes, which incur a $9.95 price. You may also pay $9.95 to have an merchandise featured or $4.95 to focus on it, which could find yourself being useful down the road.
The location may be very hands-off in terms of the precise transaction. Bravo Bride permits the customer and vendor to find out the phrases of the transaction and the way the vendor will get paid. They advocate utilizing Escrow.com for any transaction over $100.
6. SellMyWeddingDress.org
SellMyWeddingDress.org stands out as a result of it’s free to register and free to record your merchandise. You’re entitled to 10 free images in your itemizing and 10 energetic adverts.
However you even have the option to pay premium pricing and get higher play on the location. Pay $29 for a marriage gown itemizing and also you’ll get 25 energetic adverts and a featured itemizing.
Whereas SellMyWeddingDress.org could also be cheap, it lacks sure protections. The location doesn’t clarify how the cost course of works for the vendor and doesn’t supply refunds.
7. As soon as Wed
Like most bridal resale websites, Once Wed was began to present second-hand wedding ceremony clothes a second residence. It’s now become a website with roughly 3 million guests a 12 months and a day by day social attain of 400,000 followers, so your gown is bound to achieve some eyes.
As soon as Wed prices a $19.95 one-time itemizing price, per different rivals, for itemizing your new or used gown. (That dips to a $5 price if you happen to’re solely promoting an adjunct or bridal get together gown.) brides can message you straight by way of an inner messaging system. The location doesn’t handle payment, however they advocate PayPal or Escrow.com to make sure a secure transaction.
Just lately offered clothes vary from a $500 Marchesa gown to a $4,000 customized wedding ceremony gown.
8. Poshmark
Like Tradesy, Poshmark is a classic resale website that doesn’t focus on wedding ceremony clothes. That may both work in your favor—you’ll get an even bigger viewers—or towards it—there can be fewer individuals trying particularly for wedding ceremony clothes.
What Poshmark can supply is a tried-and-true neighborhood and a enterprise mannequin that’s been examined many occasions over. Like most of the different websites, it really works by having you record your merchandise, share it, talk with patrons and in the end promote it. Assuming your gown is greater than $15, Poshmark prices a fee of 20% of your sale.
When you’ve made a sale on Poshmark, the location sends you a pay as you go, pre-addressed label to ship your gown. When the customer has obtained your merchandise, your redeemable cash will present up in your Poshmark account inside three days of supply. You possibly can then select to receive that money by way of a test or a deposit on to your checking account.
9. Queenly
Queenly is an attention-grabbing in-between of a marriage gown website and a secondhand clothes retailer. They give attention to formalwear, which means not simply wedding ceremony clothes but in addition for a promenade or a quinceañera.
Promoting on Queenly is commission-based. The location retains 20% of your sale. You add images and write an inventory and so they’ll ship you a pay as you go transport label when you have got a purchaser. (That also means it’s a must to take it to the submit workplace your self.)
Sellers receives a commission after the customer receives the merchandise and has confirmed its situation. Objects over $500 should first be despatched to Queenly headquarters to be inspected for high quality management. The excellent news is you can obtain your earnings straight by way of PayPal, Venmo or ACH switch.
10. Social Media
Social media websites like Instagram or Fb Market are maybe the most effective and worst method to promote a marriage gown. You gained’t should pay a fee or itemizing price however you’ll definitely have fewer protections. In case you’re fortunate, you’ll promote your gown to a pal who beloved it once they noticed it on you!
The primary problem of those two boards is monitoring your posts and answering any questions. Whenever you put collectively a submit on Market or Instagram, images are key. Assemble your greatest pictures and provides all the data mandatory for a possible purchaser—for instance, any alterations, points with the situation and measurements. Typically, native patrons pay in money for his or her gadgets and meet up in particular person. In case you’re planning to ship, be sure to safe a cost methodology forward of time.
How A lot Can I Make Promoting My Wedding ceremony Gown?
In case you’re prepping on your wedding ceremony and already considering this can be a path you wish to pursue, keep in mind that time is of the essence. Like all garments, gown types go out and in of vogue, so the nearer to your wedding ceremony date that you simply promote your gown, the extra seemingly you’re that it’s in demand.
guideline is selling no later than two years after your wedding ceremony date.
If you wish to get a greater sense of how a lot you’ll be able to really earn off of your wedding ceremony gown, check out PreownedWeddingDress.com’s value calculator. No matter methodology you utilize to truly promote your gown, this device is a useful barometer of what you would possibly have the ability to earn.
Dry clear your robe earlier than you promote it. It’s a small factor you are able to do to get probably the most worth doable on your resale.
The situation of the gown and the designer are maybe a very powerful components. In case you splurged on a Vera Wang or Monique Lhuillier robe, you then would possibly have the ability to make again a bigger share of what you spent.
There could also be many feelings tied up in your large day and the gown to procure for it, however attempt to consider promoting your gown as giving one other particular person the chance to expertise the identical form of happiness you had. And you need to use the cash you make off the gown to present you a monetary carry in your new wedded life.
Author Elizabeth Djinis is a contributor to The PNW, usually writing about promoting items on-line by way of social platforms. Her work has appeared in Teen Vogue, Smithsonian Journal and the Tampa Bay Occasions.