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I would look at what other people are asking for the dress on whatever websites you post it on. Compare their dress condition and price to your dress condition and price idea.
I am not sure but I would think that as a bride, if I had the option to go into the store and pay $2,800 versus buying second hand (and have the risk, shipping, etc) $1,700 would probably be about right. You figure you can find a girl that is your size that wants your dress. It would save her $1,000 plus she would get some of those extras (which she may not want).
I feel that a lot of dresses (especially David's Bridal dresses) that are used are posted for too much money. I don't know why I would buy a used dress for $500 that may have a stain or other alterations when I could go to the store and buy a new dress for $800.
I usually start at 50% of the original price before I'd consider a used dress. But if you've added extra length (most dresses I might have otherwise considered seem to be hemmed to lengths that are shorter than average height!) and haven't made unusual alterations (like, you have fairly normal proportions) then I think $1,700 is reasonable for a $2,800 dress with all the additions you've posted.
With the crappy economy I've learned a few things - $1,700 does sound reasonable for a $2,800 dress, but no matter how good of a deal you present, it won't change the fact that many people are broke right now! I guess you should just start at $1,700 and work your way down, bargaining if you need to. It's just like selling a home. You start high and take offers! Good luck!
Thanks, Ladies!
I also agree with caszos that many of the used dresses out there are overpriced. I am not factoring those extras into the price and really want the bride who buys the dress to feel that she is getting an amazing value.
I think it's hard for a lot of brides to be realistic about pricing because it is "their" dress and such a big part of their wedding experience. We need a Blue Book for dress! LOL
I think $1700 might be a bit much. Taking a quick look through preowned and oncewed, only a couple of the many watters dresses on both sites are priced over $1k for a used dress and none of those show as sold.
The straps might be worth paying a bit more for, but other than that, the extras you mention I don't think are likely to make someone pay much extra. A tall girl may pay more for the length, but it would be a potential extra alteration for a shorter girl. If the girl is much shorter than you, the bustle quite likely will need to be redone anyhow so it falls in an appropriate place and most girls aren't going to need THREE veils (maybe consider selling 2 or all 3 of them seperately).
I don't mean to be negative, but I've stalked used wedding dress sites for years (I love wedding dresses :-p) and except for very popular styles (ML Scarlet for example), most used dresses don't sell if they're much over the 50% mark (and most have to be pretty far under it). There's always exceptions of course...so I would say try $1700 and see how things go...but be ready to decrease the price if you really want to sell it.
I think $1700 is a good place to start with the dress. I recently tried to sell a gown I didn't wear to my actual wedding, and it was a tough job, just warnin' ya!
I eventually sold it for much, much less than I wanted about a year after I bought it and decided to sell. I was finding that brides looking for used gowns really wanted a deal. Some wouldn't even buy with a 50 percent discount - they wanted more, which is understandable. It was rough, but I guess something is better than nothing.
if it is 2800, i would start at 1/2 price. i guess it depends on how much you want to sell it for and how soon, 1400 would get it off your hands immediately i think. 1700 may mean it has to wait a while. i know it's a lot off the dress, etc but if you want the cash quick that will let it go. if you want until after the engagement blitz to post it (january) you may be able to demand a larger premium for it.
Please educate me if I'm wrong...But shouldn't a used dress be priced less than 50% of original cost for it to be a fair deal? If I paid 3000 for a dress and I'm selling it for 2000, basically that means I got to wear a brand new dress for 1000 and someone will have to wear my used, altered, possibly slightly damaged/stained dress for 2000. One can argue that they can resell the dress again after that, but it seems to me that this would be an increasingly small possibility after the dress has already been used multiple times.
@meliss: Thanks for your input! I wanted to get a range of opinions to see what other brides thought, which is why I posed the question to the boards. I appreciate your thoughts!
Start at $1700 and don't be offended if people offer you less. I mean it IS a good deal, but $1700 is still a lot of $$$ no matter which way you slice it.
I wouldn't expect to get $1700, but maybe you could start it there. Maybe $1500? I feel like people might have price points in their head...$500, $1000, $1250, $1500, $1750....
$1500 is just slightly over 50% of the purchase price and it might open you to a larger market of potential buyers.
I really enjoyed all the comments here. I would start at 50% on a used dress. The longer it takes to sell, the more drastic the price reduction will need to be. I have one daughter who sold her dress immediately at 50% ($900 for $1800 dress) The other has not had any luck selling an Amsale gown that retailed for over $2000 that she is asking $900 for. Why? I think she waited about six months too long to decide to let it go. Brides LOVE to find something that is actually available in the store that they know they are getting for less.
mamaof2brides: thx a bunch for your "real" world experience! that helps so much. i have had lots of inquiries about the dress which is good. the dress is still in stores so it helps that brides can go try it on.
I'm thinking of going the preowned route and don't really want to buy a dress that's not more than 50% off what the original bride paid. I agree with meliss that as the 2nd user, I am wearing a used dress and still have to pay to have to hemmed and altered for a less than perfect dress. Much rather just pay a bit more to have the original dress.
I just sold my dress and I want to thank everyone on this post for your awesome input! It really helped with the selling process.
My advice to any other brides thinking about selling is do it fast! The fact that the dress was still in stores help tremendously. I had many brides contact me because they liked the picture in the posting. They'd say they were going to go try it on and see if it worked for them. Well, we all know how that goes, right!? Usually, the dresses we loved in pics didn't look like we expected.
I must say it was quite hard for me to sell it when it became a reality and was about to happen. I was thinking, "Oh wow, this is it! I'll never be able to look at this dress again!". But, another part of me is satisfied. And the real estate in my closet is worth so much... this dress was taking up so much room!
The new owner and I lived about 20 minutes away from each other so I actually got to meet her. She is super duper sweet, looks AMAZING in the dress and I'm happy the dress has a new home with someone so cool. This dress will make another bride feel happy and beautiful. Nice.
So I guess it's like "Pay it Forward"... or more like "Dress it Forward"??? Corny, but true. :)
Congratulations to both of you! It sounds like you were able to sell it really fast. Just curious as to which site you used? I'm planning to sell my dress after my May wedding.
@meliss: Thanks! It was just a positive experience overall! I posted on wedding bee classifieds, preownedweddingdresses.com, oncewed.com and I did run an ebay posting for 10 days (with a few watchers but no bids).
I actually had two dresses for sale on all these sites (the one I actually wore and the other a 2007 La Sposa sample dress that I bought way too early and changed my mind about) and as fate would have it - they BOTH sold today! The sample dress buyer came from oncewed.com.
It's just easier for me to break down the experience in bullets, so here goes!
-OnceWed: It's free which is rad. You can't post many pictures and personally, I don't have much fun perusing this site. It's awkward when you want to make changes to your posting, you can't narrow down on a search by many options, and if you do choose to look, say, at one particular designer, you can't see that many dresses on one page so you just have to keep clicking... and clicking. Annoying. But, it's free! I did get a lot of inquiries from this site which is a plus.
-Wedding Bee Classifieds: I heart wedding bee but I didn't get any inquiries. :( I think there is an art or science that I just don't know about when posting here. I'm sure I could've attracted more attention if I just know what those secrets are. I think it would be great if weddingbee classifieds was more robust and searchable. hint, hint. :)
-eBay: Ran the postings but no bites. You have to pay. For me, it was time consuming to create the postings and the bridal section on eBay just seems like a big ol' mess.
-PreOwnedWeddingDresses: Highest fee ($25) but definitely my favorite site! Heck, I check it every day myself just because I love bridal! The site just feels more elegant than the rest. The tips and articles are great on their blog. The pictures are large and the overall style is lovely. Also, back when I created this thread, I contacted them for some advice and pricing suggestions. Josie was soooooo helpful and shared some great tips and insights. Love that. I also sold a pair of Haute Bride earrings on this site, too!
Oh, and I did post on partypop but nothing happened. That site is like a bridal feeding frenzy! I want this, I have that... but it doesn't seem to go anywhere.
I never did end up doing a craigslist posting, but I'm sure it works, too.
Can anyone else share their experiences?
Thank you for the very informative post! Coincidences, I'm also a SoCal girl and I also bought a La Sposa early on in my search but changed my mind :) Luckily I was able to cancel the order for a fee.
You're right about the search function on OnceWed. It's a great site but but the sort feature (e.g. by price) never seems to work properly. I even emailed the site owner about it but probably noone reads them. I still look at used sites as a prospective buyer in case I find something better (I know, bad, but still don't love my wedding dress as much as I should...)
@Meliss: i just checked your posts and omg - your dress is gorgeous!!!! You look super amazing in it! What is it about the dress that leaves you feeling unsettled?
Thanks Aroosa, you're very sweet. Maybe I will love it when I see it again. I just can't get that vision of the big princess skirt out of my head! I just posted the dream dress that haunts me in another post :) All lace, slightly dropped waist, full skirt...I still dream about that non-existent dress. Also once saw a photo of a girl, probably my height, in a trumpet dress similar to mine, and it was very unfortunate that the dress somehow made her look like a midget. Hope I'm not being un-pc and no offense to little people, but I really thought she was one until I saw the guests and family were the same height. I have dreams about that dress too but the nightmarish kind where that is now me :) Probably, and hopefully, they're all just silly bridal anxieties that'll go away once I have the dress.
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I am selling my Watters Torreon but need some advice from you experts on how to price it. I have it priced at $1700. What do you think? Retail on the dress is $2800.
The dress is in excellent condition, has been bustled, and I'm including the veil I wore plus two others that I had bought to go with the dress but didn't wear. I am also including straps that I had made out of flower appliques and lace ordered from Watters(removable with velcro). I also had crinoline sewn into the dress.
Also the dress was ordered with extra length so it's perfect for a tall bride or can be hemmed.
Those are the basic details. Where do you recommend pricing it?