Used wedding gown

[Nanu57v]

I heard the general rule fl yard sales is 25 percent of new price and if I were to sell mine that's where I would start but considering mine is 16 years old I would ask much less.

I agree 25%. I had a new dress I didn't wear with tags, and I couldn't even sell that for half what I paid! I wonder how many sellers are actually successful.

 

[Pigeon]

I would also expect a used dress to be much less. The thing with CL though is that since it costs nothing to advertise, people often start with crazy prices to see what sticks. And many are in no real hurry to sell the items, they just repost for ages.

I've been looking for end tables for my family room. Since the dog hangs out there and accidentally scratches things while she's playing, I'd rather get used furniture. Some of the prices on CL make me laugh. If it's seven years old and banged up, no, if you paid $1000, it's not a steal at $925.

 

[mrsklamc]

There's basic supply/demand in play with a wedding dress too. There are lots of women with used wedding dresses, and fewer women who are willing to wear a used dress.

 

[pediatric-rnp]

We have been happily marrried almost 30 yrs (this Sept), have 2 sons in their 20's, and have been going thru the process of down-sizing. Just want to make life a bit simpler and not have so much "stuff". It took a few years, but I finally made the decision last year to donate my wedding gown to a thrift store. Practicality eventually won out - it was from 1982, is out of style, I don't have daughters and I doubt any future DIL will want it. It was stored in a box that took up quite a bit of space. I don't even want to know what happened to it from there - I donated it in the fall, so it may have even been purchased to be someone's Halloween costume!

I do, however, have a large album full of wedding photos of me wearing the gown, which I will always cherish. It's the memories that are important to me at this point in my life. In all the years the gown was boxed, I never once took it of the shelf to look at it. So, I hope that someone did buy it to enjoy it - in whatever event/occasion they wanted! It was a lovely, simple dress, and I know if someone did buy it for a wedding, they got a great deal, which would make me very happy. I paid for it myself, so I remember the sacrifices, and in this economy I can hope that some resourceful bride-to-be was able to buy it and make alterations to up-date it!!

 

[EKW]

I agree with the 25-33% of original cost line-of-thought. You might be better of donating to charity. I know there are places that accept dresses for prom...I'd guess you could find a group that collects wedding dresses. It might work out in your favor to use it as a tax deduction instead of selling it for next to nothing.

An idea for those who want to repurpose a dress: Use it to make padded photo albums for your children or future grandchildren. I did this with the dress I wore as a bridesmaid in my sister's wedding. I made photo albums for her kids.

You can also have a dress turned into teddy bears for your children or grandchildren.

 

[Theginster55]

I purchased a Dress from Ebay for my Wedding. I paid $32.00. It was beautiful with lots and lots of beading. Originally a 1200 dress. My dry cleaning before I wore it cost around 150.00. So for less than $200.00 I had a beautiful beautiful dress.

 

[debbiedana]

This thread made me wonder...
I just found my grandma's wedding dress and headpiece from the 40's as we were cleaning out her estate. It's in startlingly good condition for a garment pushing 70 years old. I wonder if there's a market for that kind of thing...

Thanks for this thread, I have some research to do!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

This thread made me wonder...
I just found my grandma's wedding dress and headpiece from the 40's as we were cleaning out her estate. It's in startlingly good condition for a garment pushing 70 years old. I wonder if there's a market for that kind of thing...

Thanks for this thread, I have some research to do!

Oh, I am positive there is a market for that sort of thing! Dresses from the 40's never seemed to go out of style. Good luck!

 

[leight]

When I was getting married to dh#2 8 yrs ago I really didn't want to spend much or wear a big white gown-but my dds wanted me to . I found a company selling new custom wedding dresses on ebay made in hong kong. I provided my measurements and $125 via paypal and my dress was delivered 4 days later on a sunday by usps!
The alterations were a minimum- only $90 and I bought a crinoline and a veil on ebay too. I sold the whole thing for $50 on ebay- I figured it was cheaper than trying to get it cleaned and I didn't see my dd's wanting to wear moms' gown. Hopefully, the bride who bought it had a great wedding day!

 

[pixiewings71]

Happily the bride in the OP from the CB found a dress, the EXACT one she had before the "seamstress" ruined it. She drove across 2 states to get it and it had champagne stains and smelled of cigarette smoke, the seller wanted $700, the buyer offered $400 and was refused, she left and then 30 minutes the seller called her to accept the $400. The OP has it at the cleaners now. Just so everyone knows.

 

[java]

My Mom sold my sister's dress after she cancelled her wedding- so never worn. It was $1000 dress she sold it for $50!