Recent thoughts on standard gowns on eBay?

[smile_a_bit]

Hi, has anyone had a recent experience purchasing a standard gown from ebay - one of the <$300. or seeing one up close? For amateur competition, prechamp to champ level.

stoning in happy to do myself so that's not an issue. Also there seems to be practice skirts and tops and dresses that are very low priced- anyone tried these, and can comment on quality , material, and/or fit? Looking to diversity my practice wear.


Thanks!

 

[SwingingAlong]

check the length - sometimes the ballroom skirts are a bit short for taller dancers.

 

[bia]

I have a dress from Star Dance Shop (though bought through their website, where they list more of their designs, rather than their ebay store) and am very happy with it for syllabus amateur competition. However, I'd be less comfortable with it at the prechamp/champ level; I don't know whether it's the fabric quality or the design or what, but there is a visible difference for all of the budget dressmakers from the designer gowns that dancers at that level typically wear. I suppose that if you choose well and stone heavily and skillfully you could make it work if you had to, but if you can find a higher quality used gown, that's a much better bet for your money.

 

[s2k]

Something I'd like to caution you on is the potential for design theft when purchasing dresses on EBay. Many times, unscrupulous overseas vendors steal images from the designer's websites or ballroom competition photographs, recreate the dress in the image using plastic beads and cheap, thin fabric, and then sell it on EBay - Seavex, Sea Hunter - they're notorious for this.

Search DF with those two names and you'll see other posters who have had issues with those two.

There are Facebook groups that sell gently used dresses - I'd look there before I'd buy anything from EBay. Good luck!

 

[TakeTwo]

Something I'd like to caution you on is the potential for design theft when purchasing dresses on EBay. Many times, unscrupulous overseas vendors steal images from the designer's websites or ballroom competition photographs, recreate the dress in the image using plastic beads and cheap, thin fabric, and then sell it on EBay - Seavex, Sea Hunter - they're notorious for this.

I was about to recommend an eBay seller I worked with (and liked) during my collegiate Standard days only to learn they are no longer in business... whomp. (Still trying to figure out if I should bother trying to sell that dress or just donate it to a collegiate team...)

There are Facebook groups that sell gently used dresses - I'd look there before I'd buy anything from EBay. Good luck!

And the classified ads thread on DF!

 

[danceronice]

Problem I've found with FB dress groups--unless you're a size 0-4, there are rarely any options.

 

[raindance]

Quality used dresses do show up on Ebay from time to time as well. Selection varies, it can take a lot of looking and searching to find what you like, but sometimes the right thing shows up.

 

[bia]

Problem I've found with FB dress groups--unless you're a size 0-4, there are rarely any options.

True, based on the ads posted, although I've also noticed that sometimes buyers post a request, typically for a non-tiny size or for a particular price range, and they tend to get lots of responses from people who have things to sell. So that's another possible strategy for someone who's looking seriously.