How I Made Over $200 Selling My Clothes

Today, the CGS Team is excited to share a personal success story by a CGS member! The excerpt below is written by member and CGS Founder @raya90288. She shares how she made over $200 selling clothes based off the advice given in the articles on the CGS site. Take some notes and try the strategy out for yourself!

How I Made Over $200 Selling Clothes…

“After reading the How to Make Money When Clearing Out Your Closet article, I was totally inspired to reorganize my closet. I was somewhat skeptical about selling my clothes though. I’ve had friends trade in their items at Buffalo Exchange, but I’d never heard of anyone actually making money by selling clothes.

Getting Started

I pretty much followed the advice of the tips for getting started, as seen in the article above. I hooked up my music, got myself an iced coffee, and started with categories.

I went through purses, jewelry, other accessories and finally shoes. I put items that I didn’t want into their own pile. Items I planned on keeping went into another pile. After finishing accessories, I moved on to clothing. I LOVE clothes, so I knew this would be the longest section to tackle.

After going through what I didn’t want, I divided my closet into summer and winter items. Once I was finished getting my closet in order, I was ready to go through the things I no longer wanted. Let me just add, that some of the clothes no longer fit me like they used to! This made it easier to toss!

Assessing the Progress

After all was said and done, I had about 6 pairs of shoes, 4 purses/clutches, 30 shirts, 10 jeans/pants, 8 dresses, and 5 shorts. This was a whole new wardrobe that I didn’t want! Since I had so many items, I figured I would try selling them. Plato’s Closet wasn’t listed in the article, but I had heard on the radio that they buy old clothes.

There is one about 15 minutes from my house, so I started there. I took all of my items in bags and went to sell them! After they reviewed my items, they offered me $105 for about half of my stuff. I was shocked! When I was younger, I sold a lot of books for about $12, so my hopes weren’t high. I left there with $105 more dollars and half of my stuff left!

Other Options

My next plan was to try Twice, which was recommended in the article. However, time got the best of me and it slipped my mind for a few months. The bags of clothes I no longer wanted just sat in my closet. Finally, I decided to go for it. Since it had been a few months, I figured I would try Plato’s Closet one more time.

To my surprise they bought a few of the items (that they previously didn’t want) for another $50! Now I was ready to sell to Twice. I signed up on their website and received a label for free shipping. I threw the rest of the items in a box and sent them off. About 1 ½ weeks later, I received an email from them that they had made an offer for my items. I accessed the website and was surprised to see an offer for $60! The thing with Twice is that they keep all of the clothes (even the ones they don’t want), so you have to be ready to part with your things. I accepted!

While I think charity is a great option, it was great to get something back for all of the money I had put into those items originally. I recently received an email that Twice is closing down (or maybe they have by now). However, I’m excited to give eBay and Poshmark a try, the next time I clean out my closet!

2019 Update

Since this article was written a few years ago, I tried my luck with eBay and Poshmark! Between both of those retailers, I’ve easily made another $200! I used 9 x 12 envelopes to ship the items sold. I used shoe bags when shipping shoes. I also added a thank you note (per the recommendation of Poshmark). I share all of my Poshmark tips in the article: Using Poshmark to Make a Profit, so check it out!

I need to clean out my closet soon and put more items up for sale. I think finding the time is the biggest challenge for me, but that should not stop me!”

How awesome is that! The fact that she gave it time and essentially didn’t take no for an answer allowed Raya to make the most money possible. Of course, the likelihood of all of your items selling in these outlets is not very high, but that doesn’t mean you give up after one try!

What did you all think of Raya’s story? Have you tried selling clothes before? What was the outcome? We’d love to hear what you have to say. Also, if you have any other success stories like this, then feel free to send them to members@citygirlsavings.com and we will make sure to get your story featured!

-The CGS Team