12 Tips for Buying and Selling Kid Clothes

They’re small. They’re cute. They’re addicting to buy.

Kid clothes accumulate so quickly; it’s like they multiply overnight. Keeping track of your “inventory” is like a never-ending job of organizing, especially when you have more than one kid. I can’t be alone in this, right? Every season, I go through all our kid clothes and it’s like “Battle of the Piles.” There’s a pile for play clothes, school clothes, special occasion clothes, winter clothes, summer clothes, clothes they’ve outgrown, clothes they’ll grow into, hand-me-downs, keepsakes. It never ends. And it all seems so expensive. 

Why are quality kid clothes as much or more than adult clothes? It’s extra frustrating when you know they’ll only be able to wear them for a short amount of time before outgrowing them.

Over the years, I’ve come to embrace a simple system of organizing kid clothes that also saves me money. Win-win. The system revolves around selling clothes my kids have outgrown to second-hand kid stores 2-3 times a year. We have several franchises in our town with names like “Kid to Kid,” “Re-Kid,” and “Once Upon a Child.” The concept is simple: you arrive with gently used kid clothes you’d like to sell, they go through your stash and decide what they’d like to buy from you, then they offer a small amount of cash or a decent amount of store credit. I always take the store credit and buy new (to us) clothes. 

Over the years, I’ve picked up some tips and would love to share them with you!

Tips:

1. Their company motto is always something to the effect of: “We take the best brands for all seasons.” The best brands to sell are Carter’s, Gap Kids, Cat & Jack, H&M Kids, Gymboree, and Old Navy. A good rule of thumb is: if you paid more for it, it’s worth more to sell. I asked them once about cheaper brands like Gerber and Garanimals and they said they usually don’t take those brands because they’re already so cheap to buy new. 
2. They “say” they like to buy seasonal clothes in any season, but I’ve always noticed that they buy heavy 1-2 seasons ahead. So, they like buying fall and winter stuff in the summer because they’re prepping their inventory for the upcoming seasons. 
3. Always take the store credit over cash. You get 20% more that way. More bang for your buck!
4. Always wash the clothes you plan to sell. You want them to take as many as possible and they’ll need to be in tip-top shape for that.
5. They don’t take anything with rips, holes, or stains. You wouldn’t want them to. Don’t even try.
6. Always fold the clothes you plan to sell and put shoe pairs together. It makes the inspection and buying process go so much faster.
7. Shoes! Never forget shoes. They cost more, so they’re worth more. Go the extra mile by cleaning them before you sell. They’ll always take stylish and high quality brands like Ugg, Native, and Converse.
8. If you’re a thrifter like me, keep an eye out at Goodwills for designer brands like Matilda Jane, Janie and Jack, and Boden. Buy those brands (even if your kids never wear them!) at rock bottom prices and add them to your current selling stash. Consignment stores love designer brands. Also! You will always score with winter outerwear. Snow suits and snow boots are like gold.
9. Try to go on a weekday morning when they’re least busy. Weekends are nuts and their inventory for the week is usually picked over by then. 
10. Sign up for their text and email alerts! I’m one of those people who doesn’t sign up for anything. I hate spam emails and phone notifications with a fiery passion, but you better believe the ONE company I allow to send me promotional stuff is Kid-to-Kid, haha. They’ll let you know about their major sales throughout the year so you can get even more bang for your buck when buying and selling.
11. Don’t forget all the other things you can sell! Toys, books, play gyms, scooters, bicycles. Word to the wise though: you must have every single piece of a toy for them to buy. For example, one time I wanted to sell this really nice Fisher Price musical instrument play table, but didn’t bring the detachable microphone that went with it and they were like, “Nope. We’re not buying it without that microphone. We’ll give you half of what it’s worth with the microphone or nothing at all.” So I trudged back home and found the stupid microphone at the bottom of our toy box. Lesson learned: they look every item up in their system and want all the parts of every item. If you don’t have all the parts, forget it. This ain’t a garage sale.
12. After you get back the clothes they don’t want, it’s not worth your time to try and sell those at another re-sell store. Most re-sell companies use the same system and buying procedures, so they’re not going to want your rejects either. It’s best to donate those and move on.