When re-sale values disappoint

ClaireL

Member
Dec 3, 2008
815
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Ah, Mulberry ladies, I've made some expensive mistakes.
I'm only learning this now. I mean, after a while it's pretty easy to tell a handbag is a mistake - you don't use it, something about it annoys you. But learning it's an expensive mistake comes much later when you realise you can really not recover most of what you paid for it like you thought you could.

I'm feeling pretty bad about this because:
1. I feel I may have been a sucker and may have paid too much for a secondhand bag when I compare what I paid to what my buyer paid.

2. Ouch. Big hole in the pocket, even after using my cost-per-wear rationale.

3. It makes me feel I have bad judgement and I'm not so good at picking things I'll love forever, in fact, sometimes I sure do suck at that.

Do you get sore too if a bag you thought would get a good price gets a lousy one?
 
Hi Claire sorry to hear you feel disappointed. In my case I've won so
e and I've lost some. I've definitely made some errors of judgment and lost money but I try not to think about it other than make much more reasoned choices now.
 
Hi ClaireL - sorry to hear you were disappointed by the resale value of a bag.
I think a lot of it can be down to timing and luck. You may try to sell when a couple of people really want that particular bag and the price you get is good or sometimes it may the exact opposite.
Was it a "classic" bag or more of a personal choice?
 
Noted, Lescoy, I'll be good.
Lola - not a 'classic', no. One thing I'm fairly sure I had working against me is that these bags actually seem to go pretty cheaply on Ebay and I had bought mine for a fair bit more from a secondhand dealer - lovehandbags.
Timing and luck ... hopefully I'll have better timing and more luck the next time. :smile:
 
I think you hit the nail on the head! When you buy from a reseller/consigner - you will pay more - BUT - you know the item will be authentic - well providing the reseller/consigner is bona fide - and that IMO means a lot.

The number of fakes on EBay is increasing - and there are so many girls being scammed - I think that I'd rather pay more in the first instance - which is what you did - and its a real PITA that when you do re-sell you get less and in truth might even get less than some ass selling a fake.:nuts:
 
I agree with Lescoy - even if you do pay a bit more at least you know it is real. There must be nothing worse than paying possibly hundreds of pounds/dollars for a fake.
The problem is that the high number of fakes out there do drive down the price of the real bags.
 
I have always resold at a loss neaarly always 50% of original purchase price but assume that the joy I had of the ownership of the bag which I craved so much in the first place was where the loss went..... (also I'm not very patient so tend to put a low bin price on bags I wish to sell on). So that is my strange but comforting rational....
 
Yes, Claire I know how you feel!

I bought a gorgeous, hardly used plum glace Blenheim from Lovehandbags for £295 back in October 2008. This was not long after I joined the Forum and I was operating on a see-it-now-must-have-it basis. I didn't realise how small the bag was and, while it was stunning to look at, I never even used it - but stupidly went past the return time. So, it went on ebay and I took a loss of almost half the original price. :shocked:

Yes, I was pretty annoyed about it for a while. Lesson learned, I can assure you. Interestingly, LH's price have become more realistic since New Year.
 
Yup, I know how you feel. I'd never really sold a bag before (not counting my Spy, which I 'sold' to my sis for a whopping 80% less than what I'd paid) until I wanted to part with my mini Mabel, a Miu Miu and some small leather goods (mostly Mulberry). Some brands just have lousy resale value, especially Mulberry (not counting the classic bays/roxy). As you might expect none of them were sold (I part exchanged the Mabel with lovehandbags, but as it is now 'lost' in the mail I'm not sure what will happen) because of the dissapointing offers. I do think long and hard now before I buy a new bag.
 
Lescoy: I'd have to agree that knowing for sure my bag is authentic is worth the higher prices. These days, I'm gravitating towards new bags from Mulberry itself, or Net-a-porter or some such place, sometimes even for full price if it means the bag is exactly what I want.

Lola: I never thought of it that way, but I'm sure you're right - fakes to devalue the real thing. I've always felt this way with LV - the monogram is copied so much that I'm sure were I to carry the real thing, it would be presumed to be fake!

Piglet: When you sell at 50 per cent of what you paid, is this after getting loads of use out of the bag, or not really? I'm happier to sell for less if I used it lots. If I barely touched it, the small sum of money I get hurts more.

Klp: Why, hello! Sorry to hear you took such a loss on your Blenheim. But, hearing other TPFers have had the same problem does make me feel a bit better. Did lovehandbags adjust all its prices, or just some? It did always seem to be on the amazingly steep side.

Kelly: Thanks for your sympathy - big hugs to you, too.

I wonder if anyone here call tell me of a time they've managed to sell on a pre-loved bag for MORE than they paid?
 
Graciella: Mulberry has lousy resale value in general? Gee, that's bad news. I mean, I went through a phase when I bought Mulberry like there was no tomorrow, now, I've had to rethink this approach. I suppose extra caution when shopping is a useful side effect of these experiences.
 
I wonder if anyone here call tell me of a time they've managed to sell on a pre-loved bag for MORE than they paid?

I have managed that with a few of my bags. I bought lots of preloved when I first got into Mulberry .. but in reality, Im a clean-freak & realised I cant use preloved no matter how hard I try!

I guess I was pretty lucky though.

I guess that, as Lescoy says, that is the price you pay for buying from resellers/trusted sellers. You will pay a premium & it can be hard to get that back!

I only buy brand new now .. so no way would I get my money back, but then I use my bags a lot & dont have any plans to sell at the moment. Maybe in the future, when they will have had some use, but not now.