Tips for buying kids clothes secondhand?

[wishIwasonholiday10]

I like to buy a mix of 2nd hand and on sale but find the process of finding suitable 2nd hand clothes quite fustrating. I have had some great deals on things like coats and waterproofs that are quite expensive new and only worn for a year but I struggle to find good everyday clothes - either I find something nice but the postage and fees ends up much more than the item making the price similar to buying new on sale (with no option to return of course) or I've bought a bundle of cheaper stuff and lots of it is stretched or shrunk in the wash and a lot of people on Vinted are overly optimistic when describing the condition. I try to look for someone on Vinted selling multiple items to combine postage but it takes so long to search for suitable stuff and I don't have much time (working almost full time with child in nursery). Any tips on how to find good secondhand clothes for toddlers/preschool age? I currently like brands such as Kite, Frugi, John Lewis, Fat Face, Jojo, Polarn O Pyret etc. Am I better off giving up on 2nd hand and just buying most of our clothes from supermarkets?

I buy mostly secondhand and do what you do, look for bundles to combine postage on Vinted. I do find it takes a while to search though! Have you got filters set up with the brands on vinted to make searching quicker? I find carboot sales in upmarket areas are also good for second hand as you’ll get one person selling loads of quality clothes.

Also I do find if I wanted something specific secondhand I will bulk out the bundle a bit with supermarket clothes, just to wear everyday and get better value.

I agree vinted isn’t great for cheaper stuff because of fees and postage. Luckily I get given a lot of hand me downs. Charity shops are another option, no fees or postage there and you can see the condition before you buy. There are also mum to mum markets near me which are like jumble sales. But yes I’d rather pay £10 for 3 babygrows from Tesco than £6 on vinted even if new, once fees and postage added it’s over £9 so barely any cheaper.

I use vinted and search by good brands I know will have stayed in good condition. If the price seems too high I always ask for a discount and more often than not people agree. I think they have priced that in. But I agree that some people on there have v unrealistic expectations. But I’m buying for older kids by now so probably don’t need as many items in one go as you might for a younger child. Have you heard of SwapC? It’s a website where you can access children’s clothes by posting up clothes your child no longer needs. Not exactly sure how it works but take a look www.swapcs.co.uk

Vinted. All day every day!

I use Vinted but only buy kids clothes from people who have bundles set up. I find the thing that I like and then see what else the seller has, often they will have listed everything in that size at the same time so they grouped together in their items. They often have a percentage off if you buy a certain number of things or you can make an offer.

Either way, the postage tends to only go to the next tier up so is much better value than buying individual items.

My other tip is the Sainsbury's sale, always loads to stock up on for the same season the following year and normally 50% off.

Have you tried nipping into your nearest town and doing a haul of all the charity shops? Honestly, there are some amazing bargains to be had - some stuff never used still with tags.

The best shops might actually be found in smaller towns where there is a local cause. For example, not to far from me someone has set up a shop in the name of a child who died from a rare medical condition and that is only children's clothes/toys/equipment in there.

Another town near me has a children's hospice so again so much stuff.

All shops have the potential for a bargain though. I only buy for my Granddaughter. I can usually get 2 big carriers full for about 20 quid and i use the in post lockers to post which are very reasonable.

What age are your kids? I think baby clothes people tend to have loads and they don't get worn much, as you go up the sizes the clothes are worn out more and what's in charity shops is the weird jumpers etc no one wanted to wear, all the rest went in holes.

I used to get good gumtree bundles. If you can target an affluent town or area, the pickings are often better either private selling or charity shops.

I got massive bundles on eBay or gumtree then half of it that was no good went to charity shop, still good value.

Dd is 22 now so when she was little, Vinted wasn't a thing. Whenever we were in town, I used to pop into the charity shops and pick up anything I liked the look of. I had bin bags of clothes in the loft, labelled by age.

Periodically, I went up and got a bag of clothes that I thought dd might have grown into.

She used to be excited to open the bag and find out what was inside. By the time we opened a bag, I had usually forgotten what I had bought so I had some nice surprises too.

See if there are local buy/sell groups for baby/kids stuff, on Facebook or WhatsApp. I sometimes get things locally that way so I don't have to pay for postage, I can just collect.

Otherwise I agree Vinted is only worth it if it's a higher value item (eg. a coat) or you can get a bundle of a few items.

Do you have any secondhand baby/child secondhand markets near you? Mum2mum/NCT nearly new sales/Little Pickles? If so often people will be selling for really cheap (maybe as little as £1-£2 per item). You might have to pay to enter the market.

Thanks all for the tips! I have definately been meaning to visit some Mum2mum/NCT nearly new sales but haven't got around to it yet as they always seem to be on when we are busy. I do live in a fairly wealthy area (Cambridge) but haven't seen many childrens clothes in local charity shops, maybe I just haven't been looking in the right ones. I've also had the odd thing from marketplace but also find it time consuming as you have to check regularly othwerwise stuff goes and it can be hard to find time to pick stuff up.

My child is 2 so we might be getting to the point where there is less 2nd hand stuff in good condition.

@wishIwasonholiday10, is there a local community group on fb for your area? If not, why not set one up for parents looking to sell/buy children’s’ items? Hopefully it’ll work if it’s a yummy mummy zone like my neighbourhood. We have a very active community group, which is how I found out about the parents’ offshoot.

That way you won’t have to trawl through marketplace, which I agree is a pain, or bother with Vinted, which often turns out not to be great value for money. I only shop new with tags on Vinted (or occasionally new without if I can tell it’s mint), unless I’m on the hunt for seasonal clothes for nursery only, in which case bundles work and the quality is less important imo because anything DD wears there gets trashed instantly. Why they can’t put an apron on her for painting I’ll never know! 🙄😂

I've PM'd you, OP.

Also see www.facebook.com/share/g/nWphoe5JjAo31qpA/

In Cambridge then NCT sales are absolutely the way to go.

Also, have you visited Eco Bee in Fulbourn?
ecobeecambridge.co.uk/pages/opening-times

There was an NCT nearly new sale in Cambridge yesterday. Next one isn't until March.

I'm on a local buy and sell kids WhatsApp which is a goldmine but maybe better for baby clothes than 2+.

I usually buy bundles on vinted and they do work out pretty cheap.