Advice for Selling A Ballgown

[chachagirlie]

Hi Everyone,

I have been out of touch with the dance community for a while now and need a little help. I have a Gosia designed American Ballgown I would like to sell. Can anyone direct me to the correct place to list it for sale?

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Smiles,
chachagirlie

 

[Laura]

I like the classified ads on ballroomdancers.com Note that if the gown is out of style that you might want to rework it before you sell it.

 

[Ithink]

You can try this site too, under "Dance Ads"...

Also, danceplaza.com and dancedress24.de (a german site).

 

[tanya_the_dancer]

So, when you decide to trade the dress, what is the best course of action? Get the new dress first and then try to sell the older one? Or try to consign it with the dressmaker and use the credit towards the new dress?

 

[skwiggy]

I would never sell a dress without a suitable replacement or backup in hand. Wouldn't want to be caught with nothing to wear!

 

[dansa]

i have a question, lets say i sell my dress for like 1,000 dollars and i sell to someone who lives too faraway to pick it up himself.. how do you do with payment and stuff? because 1,000 usd to pay in advance /for a buyer/ is alot of money, in case the gown never shows up... but then again paying it after the item is being sent is too risky for the seller... how do you people manage this when it comes to buyers who you sell to by post?

 

[Standarddancer]

I agree with Skwiggy, not great idea to sell a dress without suitable replacement. Even though you could rent from someone, but still takes extra time to try and you won't even allowed to make modification on rented dress.

last minute purchase or custom-making new dress could be time-consuming too, could be adding extra stress if cut too close to a major comp.

 

[Ithink]

However, if you have two dresses that you can wear, I would sell one to pay for the next new one because it may be hard to come up with funds before obtaining money for a dress you plan to get rid of... That's why it's always better to have two dresses at your disposal

 

[Standarddancer]

However, if you have two dresses that you can wear, I would sell one to pay for the next new one because it may be hard to come up with funds before obtaining money for a dress you plan to get rid of... That's why it's always better to have two dresses at your disposal

absolutely! I think for whoever compete often, it's much safer to have at least 2 dresses at your disposal. you should always have a spare dress for a comp or show

 

[danceronice]

i have a question, lets say i sell my dress for like 1,000 dollars and i sell to someone who lives too faraway to pick it up himself.. how do you do with payment and stuff? because 1,000 usd to pay in advance /for a buyer/ is alot of money, in case the gown never shows up... but then again paying it after the item is being sent is too risky for the seller... how do you people manage this when it comes to buyers who you sell to by post?

The same way I deal with selling on ebay--they pay, I ship. Paypal's probably the easiest way to go (and IIRC is required now to sell on eBay). There's a certain degree of trust in any long-distance transaction.

Personally--I just went the consignment route and consigned my old dress to the person I bought a new dress from.

 

[tanya_the_dancer]

absolutely! I think for whoever compete often, it's much safer to have at least 2 dresses at your disposal. you should always have a spare dress for a comp or show

I have 2 right now (both in my album) - I do smooth and showcases in the pink one and standard in the green one. I could use pink for standard, too, but green will not work for smooth or a showcase with open work unless I have floats removed. I'm not quite ready to replace it yet (and definitely cannot afford to have a brand-new high-end dress made this year). But eventually I will get to a point when I will be getting a new dress.

 

[Yanou]

(and IIRC is required now to sell on eBay). There's a certain degree of trust in any long-distance transaction.

What is an IIRC?

Personally--I just went the consignment route and consigned my old dress to the person I bought a new dress from.

I inquired about this but the quoated consignment fee was very high, so I gave it up.

 

[Ithink]

IIRC=If I Recall Correctly

 

[tanya_the_dancer]

I inquired about this but the quoated consignment fee was very high, so I gave it up.

Here is an interesting point, though. All the resale gowns I've seen at the comps are priced really high. I doubt that if I ran an ad for my dress myself, I could get that much for it. So, even if their consignment split is a close to 50-50, it still might be more than you can get out of it if you ran an ad or tried e-bay route (and the split is better if you have them make your next dress, but then again, the other dress has to sell BEFORE the new one is finished).

 

[chocobebe]

when you're selling online, ie. from ballroom dancers. what form of payment is usually used? paypal? mailed cheque? direct money transfer?