Has the market for secondhand kids clothes totally dried up?

[Anonymous]

I used to both buy a fair number of things 2nd hand and sell them — all better brands (Boden, HA, Janie and jack, Ralph Lauren, etc). At one point I posed stuff on Facebook marketplace and someone drove from West Virginia to buy $500 of kids clothes.

But now it seems like there are a ton of sellers and no buyers — has anyone else experienced this? I probably purge once a year and try to get rid of stuff, so I don’t have my finger on the pulse of things. Just glancing at different sites, no one seems to be buying.

I don’t want to go through the hassle of sorting/posting if there just isn’t a market anymore — but Boden and HA in particular used to be in demand, so I am kind of surprised!

[Anonymous]

Marketplace is kind of crappy in general. People seem to go to consignment sales for used kids clothes more now. But kids clothes at inexpensive stores like Target, Kohls, Children’s Place etc. are so cheap even new that most people just buy new.

[Anonymous]

I buy all used kids clothes, but would never use FB marketplace. Try consignment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I buy all used kids clothes, but would never use FB marketplace. Try consignment.

There used to be two great kids’ consignment shops in Kensington and they’ve both closed.

[Anonymous]

I buy secondhand but have found people listing on neighborhood listservs/Facebook marketplace have unreasonable expectations for secondhand clothes (like people expecting 80% or more of the original price). I don’t bother reaching out when people are charging too much bc I’m not interested in haggling over email — it is a lot easier for me to go to someplace like Poshmark or the RealReal to find significantly discounted high end/designer clothes and then have it shipped to me directly (rather than also having to travel to someone across town). For the most part now, I buy clothes on Poshmark and only do Fbook marketplace for things too large to ship - strollers, furniture, etc. Occasionally I go consignment shops.

I know the rates for all of those are much lower bc there is a middle man taking a cut - so either you can try your luck there or try cutting the prices you are listing on Fbook. Those places have the added bonus of convenience, which Facebook marketplace is not for buyers. But I think you should manage your expectations of what people want to pay for those items — I personally would never spend more that $5-15 per item, especially not for HA. Between online shopping and people giving away free clothes on neighborhood listservs, it doesn’t make sense for me to buy used clothing at $20+. Hope that is helpful!

[Anonymous]

I don’t consider HA or Boden high end and wouldn’t purchase those used (or frankly at all which means I’m not your core buyer) but agreed with earlier comment about price. I have always purchased a lot secondhand and I don’t think it’s the buyers who have changed but sellers expecting 80 cents on the dollar. I pay max of 50% full price on used clothes and if I’m buying bulk it’s more like 20-30%. I cannot imagine spending $500 on used Boden. Did they need a semi to get home?

[Anonymous]

In my Bethesda neighborhood people just give things away. Nobody wants to deal with the work of washing, sorting, photographing, dealing with emails. Not worth it for the money. Either people donate to a charity or give to neighbors to reuse. In my former Moco neighborhood,, which is less wealthy and where I'm still on some lists everybody sells everything still. Guess they value money more and time less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider HA or Boden high end and wouldn’t purchase those used (or frankly at all which means I’m not your core buyer) but agreed with earlier comment about price. I have always purchased a lot secondhand and I don’t think it’s the buyers who have changed but sellers expecting 80 cents on the dollar. I pay max of 50% full price on used clothes and if I’m buying bulk it’s more like 20-30%. I cannot imagine spending $500 on used Boden. Did they need a semi to get home?

Lol I am guilty of having spent $500 on used Jacadi/Ralph Lauren/etc. but it was on a big lot of clothing that last us from 0-18 months, with about ~25 sleepers, dresses, layers, tops, etc. So most things around $10 -$15 but there were a few fancier dresses she wore to weddings etc

[Anonymous]

The market seems to have moved to brand-specific buy sell trade Facebook groups rather than marketplace. Having said, people often ask for near retail prices. The things sell anyway because a lot of the brands do limited releases of the designs.

[Anonymous]

People definitely expect too much for most of their used baby clothes. I made the mistake of buying a few things off a neighborhood list serve and once they arrived I could see they had stains and other signs of wear but were sold as "like new." Since then I only buy or sell from reputable consignment shops where you get less as a seller (because they take a cut) but the clothes are pre-screened for quality and I think with the higher percentage you get for store credit is a better way to get high quality clothes on the cheap

[Anonymous]

When the price of secondhand items were close to, or sometimes more than new clothing, then that’s when it dried up.

When I go to a thrift shop and I see a shirt that is $10 then I’m not going to buy it when I can buy it new for either just a little bit more or sometimes less depending on the sale. This is true for both kids, clothes and adult clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The market seems to have moved to brand-specific buy sell trade Facebook groups rather than marketplace. Having said, people often ask for near retail prices. The things sell anyway because a lot of the brands do limited releases of the designs.

This! Look for private groups on Facebook. I’m in one for HA and Boden reselling and there still seems to be a lot of activity.

[Anonymous]

It has slowed down considerably. I sell on Kidizen and stuff goes but its a lot of work to maintain photos, etc, and they take a big cut. I haven't been able to sell on FB for over a year. Nothing moves. Even the BST pages, maybe its because my kids sizes are too large now and there is less demand? Idk, but I have given up on that platform.

I occasionally do a large consignment sale and come home with a few hundred dollars, but its also a lot of work.

Buy nothing is really popular for free kids clothes. No one wants to buy since they get enough for free. Also new clothes are cheap.

[Anonymous]

Like PPs, I used to buy secondhand much more frequently. Starting maybe a couple years ago(?) used prices are now almost the same as new, and so I no longer bother with secondhand stores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like PPs, I used to buy secondhand much more frequently. Starting maybe a couple years ago(?) used prices are now almost the same as new, and so I no longer bother with secondhand stores.

To be clear, for me, prices have to be under 25% of new for me to want to wade through a bunch of crap to find what I want. Lately, prices are over 80%, so yeah, forget it.