Preloved shopping online

We are fortunate to live in an era where etymologists and grammarians are collaborating to come up with new words or phrases that are politically appropriate.  So that, as we now often hear, the physically disabled is now called differently abled. Those who are mentally retarded are now referred to as mentally-challenged. Those who are not blessed with height are now called vertically challenged. 

There are phrases too that have been coined because some words were perceived to have negative connotations. For instance, the phrase “thoughts showering” is now widely used instead of the word “brainstorming.” They go for it because storming or forcing the brain to come out with great ideas does not do anything good at all, etymologists say.  “Thoughts showering” on the other hand, encourages one’s mind to think and come up with great ideas freely. 

Maybe, as fashion lovers, trendsetters or fashionistas are running out of spaces in their closets and are wanting to create  more room for new trends, they must have gathered and had countless of thoughts showering sessions to come up with  more politically appropriate words for it too. So that, they are able to come up with words like “preowned” or “preloved”.

 Undeniably, unless you opt to dump them in a trash bin, using the words “preowned or preloved” are better than “second hand” or “used” when referring to any old items that you wish to sell or dispose.  In doing so, not only that you can recoup a portion of what you’ve spent  in buying them, the buyer will  be delighted on the fact that those items were once in the hands of a person who loved them, thus, took care of them. 

Obviously, a good number of buyers will go for preowned or preloved items. For one, it could mean buying a branded item and spending just a fraction of the price if it were brand new. Therefore, huge savings that can be used to buy other necessities. Also, it will be a good feeling for the buyer (especially if an environmentalist) to be able to support the green initiatives by avoiding further drain of our natural resources (for raw materials) in manufacturing new products. Not to mention, the consequential pollution during production. 

True enough, we are now in an era of fast fashion. So, if you are a trendsetter or a shopaholic, your closets must be awash with garments by this time. Your racks must be filled with shoes and bags to the max.  So, instead of just letting those rats and termites feast on them, you can either give them to charity (or to their beneficiaries) for their use or sell them and recover a few pesos for your next buys.   

You don’t need to have a garage sale. That’s antiquated. You can always sell your old items online. Apart from Shopee or Shopify, there is another online marketplace that really deals with preloved or preowned items, Carousell. It is as simple as taking a photo of your item, uploading it, tagging it with the appropriate category, give a brief description and set your price. That easy, and you can do that in any of these platforms. Simply put, in just a few minutes, you are off and running.

More importantly, though the motivation in selling old items is cleaning out your closet, still, it is worth knowing what items really sell fast and how? Curtsy (the fastest growing app that deals with preloved items in the USA), supports “most types of women’s clothing that are in new, like-new, or excellent condition with no stains or damage.” They recommend “selling what you would still want to buy.” Notably, “items that were purchased in the last few years from recognizable brands sell best.”

In their experience, the “fastest selling items include those with photos of the item on a person: either the stock photos from the retailer's website, or the seller modeling it.” However, to sell really fast, good photos will not be enough, the price is still a very strong determinant. After all, buyers prefer preloved items because of that. So, the lower your price is, the faster it will sell.

Undeniably, you need to do both.