Lilly Purge
Holy Lilly purge! I’ve never done consignment or resale as a seller before, only a buyer; but I got a bee in my bonnet that this last Spring Break week I was going to clean out my closet of *every* Lilly Pulitzer item I have slimmed down too much to fit into (stuff from 8+ years ago!) or that just no longer sparks joy. (Dude, this is as konmari as I will EVER get! :-P) Annelise has also outgrown quite a few precious pieces that are still nice enough to offer. I ended up organizing, cataloguing (level of used condition, formal Lilly style & official crazy print names, size, original & asking prices, item details), photographing, & posting *ALMOST 50 ITEMS* for sale in a Lilly resale FB group!!! (Fret not, my closet still radiates Lilly!!! ❤️)
It took FOR. EH. VER. My entire Tuesday after teaching PiYo at 9 AM. I was finally ready to submit at 10 PM Tuesday night…and offers instantly came pouring in! :-O Excited!!! Overwhelmed!!!!! I stayed up late Tuesday night invoicing & recording sales and woke up extra early Wednesday to do the same before going to teach PiYo, again. THEN came Wednesday’s obnoxious FB crash! :-( What timing... Usually I would be mildly irritated, but the fact that FB was interfering in potential real life money transactions?! (I get super stressed dealing with other people’s money; I take it at the highest responsibility!) When things got back to normal late Wednesday night, of course I stayed up later, again, replying to requests, invoicing, & hoping I hadn’t missed anyone, since most post notifications weren’t going through. I also had to prepare to ship all of the items whose payments had cleared - I don’t want to be a delinquent seller who is slack on turn around. Finding appropriate packaging, printing labels, carefully folding items, sealing them for safety, checking + double checking items, names, & addresses... (“Is my überbasic packaging OK? I’m selling at rock-bottom prices = they can’t expect gift wrapping.” #selftalk)
Thursday: first trip to the post office. OHHH. EMMM. GEEE. :-O Still reeling from STICKER SHOCK!!! I literally had no concept of how much it costs to send stuff these days!!!!! (Who uses the P.O. personally, anymore? I couldn’t even tell you how much a letter stamp costs now, so it’s my own ignorance at fault...but I wanted to barf.) 18% of my sale prices went to shipping. (One high sale skews that number, too; two small, cheap items were 50% of the sale price to ship.) But like I sighed in line: it’s better than if these things were still gathering dust in my closet.
So as of this moment, I’ve sold 24 items & have 1 pending. I would never do this with any other clothes: we always donate, never resale = not worth the hassle! But Lilly is different; selling specifically in a Lilly resale FB group was key, because people there know the value of the brand & are *passionate* about it. When I post “Michele V-Neck Top, Color: Multi Casa Banana” Lilly people know or know how to find further fit & print details without asking me. Informed buyers make me feel better about selling my precious items. :-D
I’m so glad I got my life together & put this all into action…but this is definitely *NOT* going to become a regular side hustle for me! I can’t wait for these items to be gone and all this hassle to be off my radar. It’s sooo overwhelming & time-consuming...but worth it to know my beloved Lilly is all getting a second life, and I recouped enough investment to pay to send Will to church camp this summer.
It took FOR. EH. VER. My entire Tuesday after teaching PiYo at 9 AM. I was finally ready to submit at 10 PM Tuesday night…and offers instantly came pouring in! :-O Excited!!! Overwhelmed!!!!! I stayed up late Tuesday night invoicing & recording sales and woke up extra early Wednesday to do the same before going to teach PiYo, again. THEN came Wednesday’s obnoxious FB crash! :-( What timing... Usually I would be mildly irritated, but the fact that FB was interfering in potential real life money transactions?! (I get super stressed dealing with other people’s money; I take it at the highest responsibility!) When things got back to normal late Wednesday night, of course I stayed up later, again, replying to requests, invoicing, & hoping I hadn’t missed anyone, since most post notifications weren’t going through. I also had to prepare to ship all of the items whose payments had cleared - I don’t want to be a delinquent seller who is slack on turn around. Finding appropriate packaging, printing labels, carefully folding items, sealing them for safety, checking + double checking items, names, & addresses... (“Is my überbasic packaging OK? I’m selling at rock-bottom prices = they can’t expect gift wrapping.” #selftalk)
Thursday: first trip to the post office. OHHH. EMMM. GEEE. :-O Still reeling from STICKER SHOCK!!! I literally had no concept of how much it costs to send stuff these days!!!!! (Who uses the P.O. personally, anymore? I couldn’t even tell you how much a letter stamp costs now, so it’s my own ignorance at fault...but I wanted to barf.) 18% of my sale prices went to shipping. (One high sale skews that number, too; two small, cheap items were 50% of the sale price to ship.) But like I sighed in line: it’s better than if these things were still gathering dust in my closet.
So as of this moment, I’ve sold 24 items & have 1 pending. I would never do this with any other clothes: we always donate, never resale = not worth the hassle! But Lilly is different; selling specifically in a Lilly resale FB group was key, because people there know the value of the brand & are *passionate* about it. When I post “Michele V-Neck Top, Color: Multi Casa Banana” Lilly people know or know how to find further fit & print details without asking me. Informed buyers make me feel better about selling my precious items. :-D
I’m so glad I got my life together & put this all into action…but this is definitely *NOT* going to become a regular side hustle for me! I can’t wait for these items to be gone and all this hassle to be off my radar. It’s sooo overwhelming & time-consuming...but worth it to know my beloved Lilly is all getting a second life, and I recouped enough investment to pay to send Will to church camp this summer.
Wow, what a project!! Yes, I know all about that sticker shock at the post office because I recently returned a dress my daughter had ordered that didn't work for her. I'm used to Amazon returns which are usually free, and while I knew I had to pay, the amount was unreal!!
ReplyDeleteGlad your Lilly items are out having a new life somewhere! :)
OK, I'm glad I'm not the only one who had no idea about current postal rates!!!
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