How To Sell Your Clothes On Instagram

If there's one question I get asked all the time, it's how to make money on your clothes after simplifying your closet. 

While donating your pre-loved threads to thrift stores or consignment shops is great, sometimes it's nice to make a little extra $$ (maybe to fund your brand spankin' new capsule wardrobe, yes?).  There are obviously lots of ways to sell your clothes online but Instagram is where I've had the most experience. Instagram is an amazing tool, obviously for connecting and networking, but there's also a growing world of Instagram shops where people sell gently used clothes or other items. 

Several pieces from my Spring capsule wardrobe were found on IG, and most of the money to buy my new pieces came from my personal closet shop, where I've sold items from previous capsules that I changed my mind about or items from before I started using capsules. 

Setting up your own shop is relatively simple and I recommend it to anyone who's up to doing a little side hustle. 

Here are the steps I used to set up mine: 

1. Decide Which Clothes To Sell: 

Whether you're looking to create a capsule wardrobe or are just wanting to purge what you don't wear anymore, you have to decide which clothes you want to sell first. I've created an easy guide to help you do just that, and you can get it for free here.  

Any clothes you sell on Instagram should be in good condition (preferably like new with no holes, stains, or noticeable flaws). Anything else can be donated or sold at a garage sale!

2. Create A New Instagram Account:

Some people choose to use their personal account to sell their clothes, but more often than not, their closets aren't very successful because people aren't interested or get overwhelmed with the amount of clothes in their feed. 

Creating a separate closet account is awesome to market separately than your main account. I follow different people through my closet account than my blog account and my followers aren't sorting through a bunch of different photos trying to find clothes they like. 

3. Promote Your Closet Sale:

I occasionally promote my closet sale on my personal Instagram, but I try not to too often. Other great ways to promote are by sharing on your Facebook (either your fan page or personal page), Tweeting about your closet sales, and following people under relevant hashtags (#shopmycloset, #closetsale...etc.). 

4. Add Clothes To Your Sale:

After you've gotten the word out, it's time to add clothes! Some people choose to do a "flash sale" where they add lots of clothes at once, let their followers bid and then close the closet at a set time. Others choose to keep their closet open all the time and have non-negotiable prices on their clothes. Both options work really well, you just have to decide which works best for your schedule. 

I recommend pricing your clothes reasonably, but not overly cheap. If you decide to include shipping in your prices, up it by about $6 - $7. If not, look into how much shipping generally costs and add a reasonable shipping price in your bio. 

5. Make That Money:

I use PayPal to collect all of the funds from my shop (as do most other shops out there). It's free, only requires an email address, and basically without risk.  

Have you ever sold your clothes through Instagram (or another site like Poshmark)? What are your thoughts?