Looking for a suitable venue to sell some of my clothes

[lookingforthis]

I have around 20 pieces of clothing I'd like to sell. They are mainly from places like Boden, Monsoon or Coast, those sorts of prices, and a couple of things from vintagey places like Hell Bunny.

• I'd like to sell in person, not online.
• I'm not interested in swapping events as I need money, not more clothes
• I don't want to sell at a car boot sale, where buyers expect to get a Karen Millen skirt for 50p

I'm looking to take part in some kind of indoor event where individual people can come along with a rail and sell their clothes, where buyers are interested in quality and would pay prices like £10 for a quality dress.

• In London, or somewhere nearby that I could get to by train.

I feel like I'm asking for the moon on a stick, but I'm sure these places must surely exist. I'm sure I read about one somewhere but I can't find it now. There must be some such event like this.

I think you need to sell it on to someone who has an established business selling second hand clothes.

My local indoor market lets people rent a space short term just to fill the units. I bought a coat from a lady who was selling her clothing ( not London though).

@Doyoumind I don't want to sell to a reseller as they tend to pay very low prices in order to charge a huge markup. I'd rather just sell things at the right price in the first place. I don't really get the point of selling through a middleman.

@Finfintytint That sounds like a good idea. I'll see if I can find out about something like that.

In general, I was thinking of something with a similar setup to those NCT sales or Mum to Mum Markets, but a non-baby version.

If such a thing doesn't exist then it really needs to!

There's someone on my insta who runs a thing like this, I think they did it in shoreditch town hall recently. I will look back through to see what it was called.

Sorry it was Spitalfields market and is called Fashion Re:Boot. I think there are various ones around the country. Don't know if that's what you're looking for but worth a look!

Why in person and not online??

Because selling online is stressful and fraught with worry and annoyance.

@Xiaoxiong Fashion Re:Boot sounds like the type of setup I'm looking for, but it seems to be for influencers and boutique owners. I don't even have an Instagram account and I'm not sure the trendy Shoreditch people would like my clothes! But thank you, it's definitely the sort of event I'm looking for so there must be another one somewhere.

Does anyone else know of any other events I could try? I know I read about one somewhere ages ago but I can't find it!

I know you said no car boot sales but these might be the nicer kind of car boot sales...?

www.timeout.com/london/shopping/londons-best-car-boot-sales

ldnfashion.com/features/london-best-car-boot-sales/

The other alternative is a consignment shop perhaps?

I don't see the point of consignment shops. They take such a huge markup, I might as well be getting that extra money myself.

This really doesn't seem to be a thing in the UK and it's a shame. I used to live in another European country and there were lots of flea markets of different types. Some were a big temporary market outdoors or indoors where you got a table and a clothing rail for the day and stayed there in person selling your wares for the day.

Others were a large shop/hall where everyone could rent their own space/table, label everything with a code and price, and the place had staff who sold on your behalf. You got your monthly/weekly earnings from them, all recorded as your items were coded with your pitch number. Obviously you paid some rent for the space at both but it was a great way to sell and buy second hand.

OP, selling online probably is your best bet to be honest. If you take good photos and describe any issues, use Paypal, and send items Signed For/Tracked, it's really not that risky. You get the very occasional complainer but in my experience 98% of the time everything goes smoothly.

I can only suggest ebay if you want a decent rate for your clothes. All other avenues won't get you the income you want.

You could always start your own event, it's not massively expensive to rent a village hall and take out event insurance, then rent out the tables at a rate that covers the cost of all your costs and makes a profit, have it as free entry or entry by donation to charity - organise a charity to man the door and wave a bucket, and maybe also do teas and coffee and I think you'd get a lot of uptake - you'd need to publicise it widely locally on Facebook, Instagram etc. to sell your tables and get folk to turn up (get the charity to help with this)

Friend of mine used to run a Christmas fair on this basis, always made her about £150 profit on selling the tables, plus her mum and mates did the teas and baked cakes which also made a fair sum and she always had plenty of helpers , charity manned the door and they made money and had a free stall, and she got to sell her crafty stuff.

Have a look on eBay for the same brands and see what they are getting. Second-hand clothes don't tend to make much money from high street stores imo.

@viccat This is it exactly! I have actually taken part in a similar event before, but it was an "alternative" event and ask my alternative clothes have sold so I have the normal stuff left.

I already have plenty of things listed on Ebay and I know what prices things go for. I've been selling on EBay for years. But they do take a while to sell and I like the idea of taking part in a one day event where tout can sell lots of things all in one day. I'm well versed in selling online, I just want to do something different.

There are several flea markets in London but they all seem to be full of professional sellers. I don't think ordinary people can just pitch up for a day, and I don't have anything antique or that visitors would be looking for, I don't think.

Some of the ones listed on the links I posted explicitly exclude professional sellers and are more like flea markets than car boots (no space for cars at many of them anyway). I've been to the one in Dalston and it was similar to some of the smaller flea markets in Paris, more clothes and less antiques though.

Which is the one in Dalston?

A lot of fashion people & stylists sell their unwanted items at the boot sale in Battersea park. I’ve not been but I know a lady who used to go very frequently and bought all sorts of nice clothing items. From memory it was on a Sunday and started at a really civilised time like 11.00am. If you want to be the first in to view it costs £5 ( but gets cheaper afterwards) so people are obviously prepared to part with some cash. Personally it sounds like more faff to me than selling online... I use Depop and made decent money on items in comparison to eBay.

But what price do they get for their unwanted items? All the advice here about car boot sales says that you'll never get more than £1-2 for clothes, for things I could get £15 for on Ebay. I really don't like car boot sales. I've been to one that frequently features on the Best Car Boots lists and thought it was awful! I'm just not convinced.