When I was pregnant with my son I could not afford to buy new baby items. His crib was hand me down, stroller, car seat, and clothing bought at yard sales. There is nothing wrong with this. It didn't mean I loved him less or was incapable of caring for him properly. I just couldn't afford brand new things. Ten years later and better off financially, I wanted new things for my daughter. So off we went to Babies " R" Us to shop. We agreed upon a travel system, swing, and play pen that I loved. I couldn't wait for my baby girl to be born to make use of her things.Growing up poor, it gave my husband and I a great sense of pride to buy Katherine new things.I had the intention of reselling her things when she grew out of them. I made sure they were kept clean and well taken care of. I even kept the instruction manuals. Because I took good care of her things they still look brand new. There are a few marks here and there, but over all they look great.
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Recently I took her swing, travel system, a baby gym toy and a baby monitor with 2 handsets still in it's box with all the pieces to a resale shop. This shop will buy "gently used" items from parents and either give you a check or store credit. I was looking to get a check since most of the things in the store were not my idea of "gently used" and for used things overpriced. Since my things were in such good condition and many of the items in the store had sun damage or stains I thought I would receive a pretty good offer. So I packed up all my stuff and off I went.
Now I am not an unreasonable person. I knew I was not gonna get as much as I spent. I expected at least 140 dollars for the items I took in. They offered me 80. Now I know they are a business and have to make a profit off the things they buy. But 80 dollars for 4 items that combined I paid about 380 for!!!!! Needless to say I was a little miffed. After packing all my stuff up, and waiting around for an hour for them to make me an offer I was less then pleased.
I declined their offer and asked for my things back. They told me they simply couldn't offer me anymore. I was in disbelief. As I had previously mentioned a lot of the things in their store where not in good condition, and overpriced. I felt they were attempting to rip me off! I mean really you want to buy my swing for 20 bucks and sell it for 55? They told me I should try craigslist. I now have my stuff listed on craigslist, and already had offers! Hopefully it sells pretty fast as I don't want it in my garage forever.
This whole experience has been a lesson to me. People are never gonna pay you what you think something is worth. I have my travel system listed for 80 dollars. Because I payed so much for it and it is less then 2 years old I feel it is worth 150. Being as I am sensible I do realize no one is gonna pay that much for it. I wish they would though!!
I am glad that we could buy Kat all new things. Had I known we would have this issue selling her stuff I would have just bought used.
Jamie:
Looking back at when I was pregnant with my first born, I had the idea to buy everything new. But taking one look at the price for a crib I quicky decided that buying new was not an option for me. Being on a military budget does not permit buying a $300 crib and $200 bed set, unless you want to go into debt. So for me I have for the most part bought used, except for things such as socks, underwear, pacis, bottles, and pj's. I don't see the point if your kid is only going to use it for less than a year and you definatly will not get your money back. If you have the money and want to spoil your child Great!
Jenn and I went into Gymboree the other day, and I really hate going in those stores. The clothes are soooo expensive, but oh gosh they're adorable. I do wish that I could afford to buy them, especially because I can find matching outfits for the twins. It's near impossible to do that with boy girl clothes. But alas I can not do it due to the fact that they'll grow out of it in less than a year. Maybe when they're older for like the first day of school or something. Not now, not while Andrew is a pig and ruins all his clothes. My advice is to garage sale go online and look for deals, kids cost enough without buying them the best of the best baby things. Also be sure to have one hell of a babyshower, people love to buy baby things, they're irresistable. And finally keep a level head and ask yourself will it be worth it to my pocket book in the end, do I want my baby to have cute things or straight teeth later when they need braces, which by the way run about $4000 a mouth (that's $12,000 for me!)
The one thing that I have learned is that no matter how good of a condition something is in when used, you're not going to get more than 25-50% of it's original value. It may be clean as if it was brand new, but it's still used and can be worn down some. It may not look it, but every time you use something, you shorten it's life cycle. There fore, it's not nearly as valuable. As far as the resale shop you went to, it is a rip off. They are never going to pay more than 20-25% of what you paid.
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