My Experience Selling Bags In-Person At The RealReal

I talked about my experience consigning with the RealReal online here (and here for part 2). But I recently decided to try selling in-person at one of their stores because I was curious to see what that was like (and if they didn’t consign at my set price point, it would be easy for me to decline). I decided to go to the one in Marin Country Mart because of 1) their ample parking and 2) the chance to eat some Hog Island Oysters afterwards lol.

So what did I think of the experience?

It was great and now it’s my preferred way to sell handbags on the RealReal. I 100% believe you will get a better price when selling in person, especially if you’re friendly to the their valuation expert (and it probably doesn’t hurt to dress up a bit and carry one of your nicer bags). I decided to sell my Mansur Gavriel balloon bag (which I bought on TRR for $396-- 20% off their $495 list price) and the valuation expert took it for a $595 consignment. Of course it probably won’t sell at that price with all their discounts and I still only get 60% of the list price. But still that’s a more than generous list price.

The other bag I sold was my Ree Projects mini Helene bag. I decided to sell it because I hardly used the bag. It’s so deep that I have a hard time finding things in it. Also I bought another Ree Projects bag (a smaller crossbody this time, which I hope I will use more) as bday present for myself (one bag in and one bag out). The valuation expert wasn’t familiar with the brand but still gave me a $395 consignment price, which I also thought was fair, especially since it’s a relatively unknown brand. {And P.S. I bought my second Ree Projects bag from Saks which has some great discount on some of their stuff. With some gift cards I had, I only had to pay about $70 out of pocket for my mini Ann bag.}

I definitely think I got a better price for my bags because I went into their store. As a long time TRR stalker, I have seen some items priced way above similarly listed things, and I’ve always wondered what made them so much more. Well I think I found the answer: the seller went to sell in-person. Right now there’s only a handful of brick and mortar shops in California and NYC so I know it’s not an option for everyone. But if there’s one near-ish you, I highly recommend booking a valuation session. They also do valuation sessions for jewelry, which I think I’m going to try next time.