Selling vintage clothes online is a great way to either supplement your income or, as you grow, can actually become a very lucrative business all on its own. You will need to curate a very good collection and build up a lot of positive feedback and goodwill among your community. Once done, you can sell a small collection of garments for great profit, or you can earn money through bulk. Regardless of what your business model is, this guide will help you sell vintage clothes online.
1. How to Spot High Quality Garments
The biggest skill that you need when it comes to selling vintage clothes online is knowing how to spot hot ticket items. This comes in two forms. First and foremost, you need to understand good construction. If a garment is well made, it is automatically going to be worth more automatically, both to your customers and to your brand as a whole.
2. Where to Source Your Clothes
You have a lot of options in terms of where you can buy your clothes. You can buy them piece by piece for very good prices directly from others around the country using sites like eBay, Etsy, or even Depop. You could also go to vintage markets, work with professional vintage sellers, or even buy vintage clothing in bulk, depending on the size, scope, and of course, your specialty. If you want to sell collector’s pieces, for example, you will need some money in savings or possibly need to take out a loan in order to afford the higher rates these items command, before selling on for profit.
3. Build Your Online Brand
You need a brand, and for that, you need a look. You can either do this by organizing your aesthetic around certain collections or by specializing in a certain type or decade of clothing. This is the single best way to market yourself, and it doesn’t need to be restricting, either. If you love all types of clothes and decades, for example, just organize them into new collections and advertise them as their own set thing. This way, you can build up hype before your store update and can hopefully get your clothes sold quickly.
4. Stand Out With Services and Quality
When people spend a lot of money on second-hand clothing, it is because the item in question is either vintage, designer, or a collector’s piece. They won’t want to spend that money if it is dirty or damaged, and that is where your services come into play. To sell your items at a high price point, consider getting the clothes professionally cleaned and fixed if you don’t have those skills yourself. You will then want to follow up with things like great product photography and beautiful packaging designs.
5. Grow Your Audience
There are many ways to grow your audience. Start on social media, and build up a professional aesthetic. You can even use this guide from Racked in order to help you get started. In essence, however, try to be engaging, collaborative, and build your reach using trends on social media and paid advertising for the biggest reach.
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