How to Resell Wedding Dresses For Profit

Did you know you can earn extra money by selling your wedding gown online?

Aside from turning your priced wedding dress into a lump of cash, you can also make another bride’s dream come true.

Thankfully, it’s easy, and you can even turn wedding dress resale into an income-generating business! So if you’re looking to sell your bridal gown or start a resale business, follow this guide on how to resell a wedding dress.

You’ll also learn helpful tips and which platforms are best for selling wedding gowns.  

Is It Possible to Resell Wedding Dresses?

Yes! Instead of letting your most-priced wedding gown collect dust in a corner, why not resell it and earn money? Here’s why it’s worth trying:

• There’s significant growth seen in the wedding industry in the US after a sharp decline during the pandemic. According to Zippia, the wedding industry in the United States will be worth over $70 billion in 2023 (from $57.9 billion in 2022).
• Zippia also forecasts over 2 million weddings throughout 2023.
• Another significant data from Lyst, an online fashion search platform, suggests a 93% increase in views of preowned wedding dresses in 2022. Additionally, searches for keywords like “vintage” and “secondhand” are popular.

What Kinds of Wedding Dresses Sell Well?

From designer wedding gowns and vintage dresses to trendy wedding dress designs, here are some wedding dresses that sell well:

1. Designer Wedding Dresses

Many brides-to-be use online platforms to cap their dream wedding gowns from famous designers for less. Preowned wedding gowns from designers like Vera Wang are available online in excellent condition!

One of the perks of purchasing designer gowns from reputable online platforms is that you can get them for almost half their original price. If you get lucky, you can find some in almost new condition and resell them.

2. Vintage Wedding Gowns

With vintage fashion increasing in demand, vintage bridal gowns are becoming even more popular. According to Elle, embroidered, silk, and sheer vintage wedding gowns are worth a lifetime of love!

Non-designer vintage gowns can be as low as $50, while luxurious bridal gowns can cost $1,000 or more.

3. Trendy Bridal Gowns

Here are some trendy wedding gown types that are extremely popular in recent years:

• Mermaid-style wedding gowns
• Fitted dresses
• Ball Gown wedding dresses
• Minimalist gowns
• Embroidered dresses
• Lace and beaded bridal gowns

What Is the Value of Wedding Dresses?

The value of preowned wedding dresses varies based on several factors, like condition, style, and popularity. That said, any presence of run, tears, and unwashable stains on the gown can lessen its value.

The fabric and personalization are also contributing factors in pricing. For example, if your wedding gown features an in-demand design, is less than two years old, and is still in like-new condition, you can sell it for around 50 to 75% of its retail value.

The brand or designer of the wedding gown impacts its value too. It’s a huge plus if it’s designer and vintage. Interestingly, some vintage designer gowns like Jane Bourvis’ antique Brussels lace wedding gowns can be worth $2000 or more.

Meanwhile, finding a resale value is accessible through online wedding consignment shops that’ll give you a prospect of how much your gowns are worth.

Do Wedding Dresses Lose Value Over Time?

With constantly changing trends and dresses becoming outdated or poorly maintained over time, the value of wedding dresses can depreciate. Unless they’re high-end and rare designers or vintage luxury, your bridal gown can be less than 50% worth its original value if sold after a few years.

Things to Consider When Reselling Wedding Dresses

Here are some factors to consider before putting up used wedding dresses for sale:

1. Profitability of the Gowns

When reselling bridal gowns, you must ensure they’ll make a good profit. Here are some conditions to assess the profitability of wedding gowns:

Item Quality

The item’s condition is the most crucial factor to consider before selling preloved wedding dresses. Potential buyers will most likely prefer like-new gowns with little to no damages or stains.

To evaluate your dress’ condition, asking yourself questions like the following can be helpful:

• Does the dress have visible stains that can’t be removed by washing alone?
• Does it have irreparable tears?
• Are there missing beads, crystals, sequins, or buttons?

Remember that you may have to get your wedding gown professional cleaning services, especially if they’ve been sitting in the closet for so long.

Alterations

Dress alterations can impact your sale either positively or negatively. It may not be a big deal if you integrated enhancements like adding gems, did some reversible modifications, or added minor adjustments.

However, a heavily-modified dress may be less appealing to potential buyers—especially if it’s altered to the point that the original design is almost indistinguishable.

This factor applies especially to designers and branded gowns. Some buyers prefer to preserve the dress’ original look, fit, and authenticity.

You must be transparent about these details when listing your item online. Aside from upholding integrity, being honest with product information is crucial to prevent negative reviews and returns.

Brand and Designer

While your wedding dress doesn’t need to be designer for you to generate a sale, you need to highlight this detail when listing online. Doing so will help you capture the attention of potential buyers seeking luxury at a reasonable price.

Having a designer tag on your dress can significantly increase its worth; some people are willing to pay more if it’s a limited edition.

Demand and Popularity

The value of wedding dresses can decrease over time due to changes in demand and popularity. So, you may want to list your wedding dress for sale as soon as possible while the design still fits the trend.

Note that wedding dresses should be at least 2.5 years old for you to sell at around half of their retail price. Given that fact, gowns three years older are considered outdated, thus the lesser value.

2. Profitability of the Gowns

Considering the condition, brand, and popularity of the gown, you can now decide on your selling price.

To compete with thousands of sellers in the market, you need to price your gown fairly. Buyers will always opt for the best deals, so going overboard with your price may prevent you from generating a sale.

At the same time, selling your dress for cheap isn’t fair, too, because you still need to consider commissions and other costs.

To decide on the price of your bridal dress, you need to note your gown’s original price and its average price in the preloved market. Research and compare prices on different marketplaces to create the best value price without incurring a loss.

3. Selling Methods

Do you want to sell your wedding dress online or via local wedding dress consignment shops? If you’d ask us, selling online offers more product exposure and allows you to secure a sale fast. Online selling also offers buy-and-sell opportunities.

Aside from popular e-commerce platforms like eBay, Etsy, and Facebook Marketplace, there are plenty of wedding consignment sites where you can buy and sell gowns.

You must also note shipment processes, return and refund policies, customer services, and payment options.

4. Additional Costs

You may have to spare some cash for repairs, laundry or professional cleaning, packaging, and more. Consequently, selling on online wedding platforms may entail up to 30% sales commission charge or listing fees.

Where to Resell Wedding Dresses

Resell through your local shops or go online and sell things fast! Here are our top picks of excellent wedding supply platforms to sell your well-loved wedding gowns:

1. StillWhite

Stillwhite.com is the biggest wedding dress resale marketplace, where you’ll find thousands of preloved and brand-new wedding gowns for sale. It’s an online wedding dress consignment site that connects buyers and sellers from all over the globe.

What Makes This Option Great

If you want a secure website with zero commission charges and a buyer protection program, Stillwhite.com is a viable option. It’s important to note that the website doesn’t offer returns, and you’ll have to take care of shipping.

• Fees/Commission: You may pay a one-time $25 listing charge or upgrade to premium for only $30. By choosing premium placement, your listing gets featured on the site’s homepage for one week.
• Payment Methods: Paypal

2. BravoBride

BravoBride.com is another online bridal marketplace that offers services at zero commission charge. Founded in 2008, the website features wedding items from accessories and reception ornaments to bridal gowns and bridesmaids’ dresses.

What Makes This Option Great

The website is one of those reputable online bridal stores that offer low listing fees.

• Fees/Commission: $9.95 listing fee
• Payment Methods: Escrow or Paypal

3. Nearly Newlywed

A reputable bridal supply website that offers transparent, fast, and safe services with thousands of designer wedding dress listings, Nearly Newlywed makes bridal gown reselling as easy as 123.

What Makes This Option Great

If you want to skip the tedious process of shipping or customer interaction where the site takes care of the hard job for you, then you found the right place.

All you have to do is send high-quality photos and product information, and their representative will do the rest. They also cover shipping and insurance on your behalf.

• Fees/Commission: $19.99 listing fee and 30% commission
• Payment Methods: PayPal or Check

If you liked this list, you might consider some other websites to resell things to.

What You’ll Need to Resell Wedding Dresses

Here are some stuff you’ll need when reselling wedding dresses:

• Wedding dress: Ensure the gown is neat, laundered, or ironed, if possible.
• Packaging items: Use secure packaging items like bubble wrap or boxes to protect the gown from mishandling or weather conditions.
• High-quality photos: Take appealing, clear, high-quality photos to attract buyers and show them what to expect about the product.
• Product and pricing information: Note the price, accurate sizing, fabric details, style, and other information about your wedding gown.
• Supplier: If you plan to turn wedding resale into business, you may source used gowns from local secondhand stores, consignment shops, and online marketplaces.

How to Resell Wedding Dresses: Step-By-Step Instructions

Can You Make Money Flipping Wedding Dresses?

Yes! With more people looking into affordable solutions for their wedding essentials, especially bridal gowns, flipping wedding dresses is a profitable business.

What Is a Wedding Dresses Resale Business?

A wedding dress resale business involves buying preloved bridal gowns and making a profit by selling them at a higher price. This can be a potential income source for people with a keen eye for fashion and spotting good deals.

Knowing the latest trends and having an effective pricing strategy is essential in winning the industry.

For example, you come across a 1970s vintage designer wedding gown at a local thrift shop that sells 30% less than its market price. A celebrity went viral recently for posing in a similar-looking gown, so that the gown may see an increase in demand.

Knowing this, you purchase the gown right away and put it online. If you bought the gown for $1,330 and the market value is $1,900, you can sell it for $1800 more or less.

Is Reselling Wedding Dresses a Good Way to Make Money?

While reselling wedding dresses is one way to earn money while promoting sustainability, it can be a pretty unstable income source since trends and demands change fast, and the competition is high.

You may not be able to sell your dress at your desired price since the wedding gown resale market is saturated, with more brides resulting in secondhand gowns, according to CBS News.

At the same time, reselling wedding dresses can be time-consuming and entail additional costs. You need to take care of customer negotiations, shipment, and promotion while paying commissions and other fees to online platforms.

Given that fact, flipping bridal gowns is a considerable side hustle instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Check out the answers to some FAQs about reselling bridal gowns:

Similar Tutorials to Check Out

If you’re passionate about reselling second-hand goods as a side hustle, here are other gigs you may want to consider:

• Resell Clothes Online: Start a business venture by learning to sell your preloved clothing or thrifts!
• Resell Prom Dresses: If you still have some prom dresses lying around the house, selling them is one way to earn money.
• Resell Wedding Decor: Instead of letting your wedding decors rot in a corner, you can make another bride’s dream come true by selling them reasonably.

Wrapping Up

With the wedding industry’s market growth and more people resorting to secondhand wedding essentials instead of buying brand-new ones, reselling wedding dresses is a potential business venture.

Therefore, selling used wedding dresses through online marketplaces or platforms is an excellent idea. When reselling wedding dresses, it’s essential to consider the item’s profitability by evaluating its condition, value, and quality.

If you find this information helpful, let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to check some of our guides in