I’ve been a member of a baby clothing and gear trading website before. The concept was awesome. The execution…not so much. It is hard to find someone, for example, who is in need of size 3 month baby girl clothes and has size 2T baby girl clothes that she needs to get rid of! If she has a girl, she wants to hang on to those bigger sizes (I know I would!). In my experience, finding clothes that you wanted was easy. Figuring out a trade that worked for both parties was very difficult.
There’s a new site that has launched and that has really streamlined the process of trading clothes, and I want to strongly encourage you to check it out (it’s free to join, after all!). It’s called Baby Clothing Network. This site is, as the name suggests, just for clothes. So this isn’t the place to swap your books, baby gear, or anything else. It’s all clothes, all the time here!
Here’s the basic information you need to know about how Baby Clothes Network (BCN) works.
1. Clothing is shipped in bundles put together by individual members. There are two sizes of bundles, medium and large. A medium bundle has between 10-20 items (you will know exactly how many as the person who made the bundle will specify). A large bundle has 20+ items. Each bundle must be size and gender specific.The shipper is to use a flat rate USPS box which can be picked up from the post office for free.
2. The person requesting the bundle pays the shipping cost ($10.50 for a medium box and $14.50 for a large box) plus a $2.00 transaction fee. The person putting together the bundle is able to print the shipping label that the buyer paid for so that they don’t have to get reimbursed for shipping costs. Very easy!
The idea is that you can get gently used clothing for roughly $1/piece and have it sent to your door. You also don’t have to find someone to do a swap with you, but can simply “buy” from whoever has what you need. When you send away a bundle of clothes, you get 1 point on the network. To request a bundle, you are deducted 1 point. You can send a bundle or request a bundle to start (so you can have a negative balance). But the purpose of the point system is to give the community a sense for who is giving and receiving fairly. In that sense, it sort of monitors itself, as those with high negative numbers will likely be denied by the people whose bundles get requested. Make sense?
The Baby Clothing Network walks you through how to put together a bundle so that you can be sure you do it right and present something that someone else is going to want (no stained clothing, please!).
I am absolutely fascinated by this idea. I have TONS of clothing that got picked over when I tried to put it in a consignment sale. There was nothing at all wrong with the clothes, they just couldn’t beat out the Baby Gap and Gymboree items sitting right next to them. The Baby Clothing Network is the perfect place to go to so that I can find new a new home for this baby clothing. And I can also try to score some great play clothes for Darah to have now or grow into while I’m at it.
The price is also very fair. You are just paying for the shipping plus a $2.00 fee. You’re basically paying garage sale prices for the clothing without having to brave the heat and drive all over town to go to garage sales! It saves time and money. Gotta love that!
Give Baby Clothing Network a try. Browse over the bundles that are currently being offered. I bet you’ll find one (or more!) that you’d like to have. That will inspire you to part ways with some of the stuff your kids have outgrown. Everybody wins! 🙂
Special thanks to Baby Clothing Network for sponsoring this post. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own.
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