Selling

The True Cost of Consignment: Why You're Losing 30-40% on Every Sale

You consign a bag worth $8,000. It sells. You get a check for $5,200. Where did the other $2,800 go? If you've never looked closely at consignment fee structures, the answer might make you reconsider where you sell.

What consignment platforms actually charge

Most people know consignment takes a cut. What most people don't realize is how large that cut actually is, and how it varies dramatically by platform, item value, and your account history.

Fee ranges and payouts are rough estimates as of writing and vary by platform, item value, condition, and seller history.

Why consignment is so expensive

Consignment platforms have real costs: authentication teams, photography studios, warehousing, customer service, return handling, and marketing. The RealReal employs large authentication and processing teams. That overhead has to come from somewhere, and it comes from you.

There's also a pricing problem. When you consign, the platform sets the price — and they're incentivized to sell fast, not sell high. A lower price means a quicker sale, which means faster inventory turnover. Your bag might sell for $7,500 when the market would have paid $8,200. You'll never know.

The case for peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer selling flips the model. You set the price. You keep more of it. You're dealing directly with a buyer who actually wants your specific bag.

The trade-off has historically been effort. You had to photograph the bag, write a listing, handle inquiries, ship it yourself, and deal with payment. That's why consignment existed: to handle the work for you, at a steep markup.

But that trade-off is shrinking. Modern platforms can automate most of it: auto-generated descriptions, pre-filled pricing based on market data, integrated shipping labels, escrow payment protection. The convenience gap between consignment and peer-to-peer is closing. The fee gap isn't.

When consignment still makes sense

To be fair, consignment isn't always the wrong choice. If you have 20 bags to sell and zero time to list them individually, the convenience of dropping everything off at a consignment shop has real value. If you're selling lower-value items (under $1,000), the absolute dollar difference is smaller and may not justify the effort.

But for anything worth $3,000+, the math strongly favors selling directly. On a $10,000 Chanel, you're leaving $2,400-$3,400 on the table with consignment. That's not convenience. That's a luxury tax on selling luxury.

Know your number before you hand over 40%

Every fee conversation starts in the wrong place. Before you decide who takes a cut, you need to know what your bag is actually worth. Scan it on Purr and you get an instant resale estimate built from real market data, so you can see exactly what the market says it's worth right now. No guessing, no accepting the first quote a consignment shop hands you.

That number is your leverage. It tells you whether a consignment payout is fair, whether a buyout lowballs you, and what to ask for if you sell it yourself. Informed sellers, the ones who know what they own and what it's worth, keep more of what's theirs.

Instant resale estimates built from real market data.

Any values, ranges, trends, or rankings shown are based on public resale listings and sale data we observe, presented as broad, approximate estimates of the general resale market as of 2026. They are not real-time data, appraisals, or guarantees of value, and not financial, investment, or purchasing advice. Purr does not guarantee the accuracy of any estimate or observation and is not responsible for pricing inaccuracies. Actual prices and trends vary widely with condition, timing, and demand, and change over time; past performance does not guarantee future results. See our Terms for details.