The Real Real Shopping Tips
Recent TRR Scores: Cara Cara Mini Dress/ Horror Vacui Maxi Dress/ Zimmerman Sweater Dress/ Cara Cara Peplum Top
Most of my experience shopping on The Real Real stems from buying for Sweet & Spark. I would keep tabs on the accessories sections regularly. What I learned was how much variation there is with quality, especially within bags, scarves and belts. I would buy and return A LOT. I remember once buying a $4,000 Chanel bag and the quality was so disappointing that I had to put in a special request in order to return it. Thankfully they took it back but they don’t do that with bags any more unless you purchase return insurance with the initial bag order.
I never gave much attention to the clothing section on TRR until I started to feel uninspired by traditional retailers fashion offerings earlier this year. My intuition would take me on random deep dives into specific brands and styles on their consignment platform. Over the past few months, I’ve found so many gems that now I’m completely hooked! And from a quality standpoint, I’ve found the clothing to have far less variation than accessories. A few of the pieces I’ve purchased have come with their original tags on them!
When shopping for myself on TRR, I keep my eye on special fashion pieces like dresses, skirts or tops in fun prints or colors. I also keep tabs on blazers, outerwear and footwear. On my shopping list is a pair of Chanel flats, some fun going out shoes and black sandals. I’m also looking for a chic dress for the conference I’m speaking at next month in Nashville. For my shop, I keep a few saved searches for certain accessories that are hard to find. However, I’m incredibly particular about quality so if I ever have any doubts about something, I pass. Overall I find that they could provide more information in their descriptions and photos. Especially with belts, man the sizing is such a crap shoot!
These are the 5 tips that have helped me navigate the overwhelming site, find the gems and have fun hunting. If you have any other good ones, please leave in the comments below!
1. Drop Times
I recently discovered that they add new items to the website twice a day at 7am and 4pm PST. I try to check my saved searches daily as close as I can to those times!
2. Saved Searches
I take full advantage of this feature. I have about 10 saved searches going all the time. Some are broad for a category like belts and others are a bit more zoomed in on a particular brand/designer or item. And a few are seasonal so I switch them out like suede bags or raffia totes.
I also save more obscure brands like Lisa Yang, Horror Vacui & CeliaB because they’re aren’t listed in the main brands search box. You can score more obscure brands by keeping your eye on them like this! There’s just not as much competition.
Also make sure you have your saved sizes set up for shoes and clothing! That helps to filter out a ton and really customize your searches.
3. Saved Items
I save everything and anything that catches my eye with the little heart function that have on every item. That way I can go into my saved folder and see the larger themes I’m unconsciously gravitating towards. This is a really helpful strategy for getting clarity on the product direction for my vintage shop (and my closet too)!
Another way this feature helps me with my shop curation is that it’s like a big roldex of items you’ve ever liked. It keeps track of all the hearted items even after they’ve sold. Anytime you’re needing some inspiration, you can easily go into your saved items and search by a particular category or brand. This is really helpful for getting search ideas for my shop! Sometimes if I need a creative starting point, I will search in my saved items for a designer like Louis Vuitton just to see all of my favorite styles.
I also find that this feature helps me prioritize purchases. If I’m not a 100% yes on something I wait it out because they often offer 10% or 20% off on items that have been around for a bit.
4. Quality & Return Policy
I touched upon this a little in my intro but I’ve really round that the quality can vary significantly on the consignment site. My biggest complaint about TRR is that I’m not always sure what to expect and that keeps me away from buying more. Since this bothers me so much, I’ve made a huge effort in my shop to stand behind mint to excellent condition items only. I want my customers to know and trust that.
When shopping for accessories in particular, make sure to look at all photos and use the zoom function to really inspect all angles. For scarves you want to make sure there’s no stains or loose threads and on bags make sure to check the corners and inside lining for stains.
With the exception of bags, you can return most items for a $14.95 fee which is nice. Although you do want to double check this on sale items because some are final sale. They recently implemented an insurance policy that you can choose to purchase with any bag in order to return it. The cost to purchase the insurance for a bag is 10% of the selling price which can add up quickly especially on a few thousand dollar designer one.
5. Search By Price
I don’t do this that often but it comes in handy when I have a specific idea I’m searching for but am open on designer and style. Like “block heel sandals” or “stripe tank”. I’ll type in the search term and then sort by price to find some hidden gems. This strategy also works for high end designers that you want to score a good deal on but are open on the style like “Chanel blazer” or “Chanel scarf”. Type that in and stay open to what you discover!
Curious if anyone has used the waitlist function? I have a couple items on my list but have never received notification of another one coming in yet. I absolutely love the idea of it and wondering if it’s worth my time to go back in and broaden my waitlist.
Okay, happy shopping! Wish I could share my hearts with you. Would you enjoy seeing a few of my favorite hearts each week in IG stories?
