Allison Conrads lusts after a $1,350 limited-edition navy blue Gucci doctor satchel at Saks Fifth Avenue. But instead of racking up her credit card bill with the splurge, she’s putting items from her existing wardrobe up for sale first, thanks to personal shopper and entrepreneur Jackie Morgan.
This summer, Conrads, a 49-year-old vice president of sales for Fashion Avenue Knits in the Garment District, sold about $3,000 worth of couture and high-end clothes and accessories on SellItNowNY.com, Morgan’s eBay consignment shop, where you can pimp out your old designer clothes so you can buy new stuff each season.
Conrads put the cash she earned toward a colorful Gucci Soho satchel for $700 and two Ippolita sterling silver necklaces for abot $2,000. “Even if the check is for a couple hundred bucks,” Conrads said, “it’s a couple hundred bucks I didn’t have before . . . I love to have new stuff,” she said. “I pretty much closet cleanse every season. I purge, then I shop!”
Morgan aims to take the hassle out of managing transactions and schlepping clothes across the city. A former merchandiser for a sweater manufacturer, Morgan, 33, started SellItNowNY.com to help her personal shopping clients unload expensive designer clothes and accessories, so they could better afford to splurge on new ones. “[It] allows women to make money out of their closets,” she said.
Nicole Theoharis, 33, also looked to her closet for extra cash. After the high school teacher had her daughter four months ago, she couldn’t fit into many of her upscale clothes and shoes. She sold Helmut Lang tops, Diane Von Furstenberg dresses and Theory pieces on the site for about $750. She then put that money toward a $900 Louis Vuitton tote she uses as a diaper bag.
Now Theoharis hopes to sell her Manolo Blahnik silver cocktail shoes and Louboutin black high-heeled Mary Janes to trade up to bigger sizes. She’s also hankering for another DVF dress and a black quilted Chanel cocktail handbag. “It’s like found money,” she said. “My husband thinks it’s great. It’s money he doesn’t have to give me for shopping.”
Morgan, however, gives her clients 60 percent of her sale prices minus fees — 9 percent for eBay and 2.8 percent for PayPal — or roughly 50 percent. She sends checks to her clients on the first of the month.
Unlike brick-and-mortar shops, Morgan offers a pick-up service, where she goes to her clients’ homes and figures out which items will sell and which ones they should keep. Morgan calls this service a “closet cleanse.” She won’t accept clothes with odors, stains or cat hair. Morgan also won’t take bathing suits (unless they have never been worn), lingerie or anything from mass retailers like Gap, H&M, Zara or Old Navy.
Morgan packs up the items, lugs them back to her office, photographs them, lists them on her eBay shop, ships them to customers and pays her clients. Morgan estimates 60 percent of the items sell. If they don’t, she gives clients the option to pick up their unsold items, have them sent back to them for a fee or donate them to Housing Works or Dress for Success.
Today, Conrads is one step closer to her blue Gucci bag. A few weeks ago, she schlepped a carload of designer shoes, boots, dresses, and skirts to Morgan’s Flatiron office. “My BMW was loaded to the gills,” she exclaimed. “I pulled into the garage and the guy says, ‘Are you shopping?’ I said, ‘No, I’m selling!’ ”
HOW IT WORKS …
Clients like Allison Conrads frequently offload their luxe items…to buy cool new gear.
What She Sold:
* Mara Hoffman dress price: $75
* Anya Hindmarch glitter clutch price: $200
* Chanel pumps price: $500
Total Haul (including the profits from other designer loot): $3000
What She Bought:
Ippolita silver necklaces price: $2000
Gucci Soho satchel price: $700