How To Use Swap.com To Sell Clothes Your Children Have Outgrown

Disclosure: This post was written in exchange for trying out their service in which I was sent some clothing from the site. All other use of the site was done on my own and fees paid for by myself. All thoughts are my own as always.

(Update 7/29/17- I NO LONGER RECOMMEND SELLING ON SWAP.COM. They changed the % people can make off of their sales again and it’s ridiculously low. Items that are $10 or less only give the seller a profit of 20% of that. Seeing as most items I’ve sold have been in this price bracket, I would have only netted 20% of the selling price had this been in place. (For example, selling something for $9 previously would have netted me about $6.50 after all their fees. Under their new payouts I would have only received $1.80 from a $9 sale) Plus now they have a lot of other things you could get dinged for which they give you a fine for and take that out of your overall payout. I’m really dissapointed because I really LOVED selling on swap and recommended it to everyone but now I can’t.)

(Update 9/4/16- Terms of service have changed at swap.com as of 9/1. This post refers to their old pricing model which had made me quite a bit of money and I recommended to every one. I have loved this service for the past couple years but I am not sure if I’d recommend it anymore with the new changes they have in place. Since this post gets many views daily still, I’m testing out their new terms (on my own) and will update this post in a few months with my thoughts on if I still recommend it. Swap has raised the amount they take from sales and their price to send items in but my biggest concern is their sureprice model which lowers the amount you are selling your items for automatically after 60 days. Their “suresell” rates previously have been ridiculous with what they had offered to buy it for (though you never had to accept it- you could keep the item for sale) so I’m not sure if their sureprice rate (which you can’t opt out of) will be similar or will be higher. If they lower rates to a lot lower than you have on there it might not be worth it. They say it’s to help sell your items faster but I’d rather get the best price possible than sell for super cheap like I’d get at a garage sale or the local Once Upon A Child.)

I’ve tried many things over the years to get rid of the clothes my children have outgrown, all of which have taken a lot of time or made me no money. Countless hours were spent tagging items for group sales and then spent lugging the items to the sale. Selling on ebay, craigslist and Facebook garage sale type groups included a lot of time spent taking pictures and grouping items in lots, corresponding with buyers and paying shipping fees. Consignment shops offered me very little or they were only taking certain seasons of clothes. Donating is great and I love being able to help others but it doesn’t help me buy clothes to replace those they’ve outgrown.

I kept researching online because I knew there had to be something better. There is. I’m happy to be working with swap.com to share about their service and have spent my own money so that I can share about the selling process with you as well. I read a lot of blog posts about people buying from swap.com but couldn’t find much about using the site to sell clothes so I’m focusing on the selling process for this post.

I was allowed to pick out some clothes which I received free of charge to share my honest opinions about the service. Once I received them I was encouraged because I could see the site was legit and the clothes were as they were shown to be online. The site also has a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all items.

I decided to try the selling process when I received one of swap.com’s newsletters and saw that there was a code for free shipping. I ordered a box and sent some clothes in. The clothes can be sold or swapped for other items you need.

A few days later I received an email that my clothes were listed online. This is my favorite part about the service since they photograph AND post each item (or set) for me. Once they put the items online I got to go in and price my items. I priced my items for more than I’d get at a garage sale but for less than what they’d be at a consignment shop.

I should note here that you can send in other baby/kid/maternity items, including toys, sports gear, books, decor and more. If you don’t have a code for free shipping you will have to pay a small fee to send in your items (about $9/large box) but this includes shipping to the warehouse, the people at swap.com photographing/listing your items, 9 months of free storage and then all details of selling your item. There is a fee when your items sell as well but overall, even once shipping and the selling fee are taken into account, I still am making much more than I’d make at a garage sale and there is very little work on my end. In the past month I’ve sent a couple more boxes in and have sold 16 items and made $59 so far. Most sales I’ve made have actually been done while I’ve been sleeping or working. It’s such an easy process!

Another cool thing about the service is that swap.com offers a “sure sell guarantee” which means anything they accept that isn’t sold or swapped in 45 days, they will buy from you. My items have only been listed for a month so I haven’t discovered what they offer yet but they say it’s up to 30% of the item’s average new retail value. You are also free to ship back to yourself or continue listing on the site for free for a 9 month period.

Have you used swap.com to sell your children’s old things? I’d love to hear about your experience!