Cash In Your Closet

Chelsea Sloan from Uptown Cheapskate has pointers on how to get the most for your money at this upscale consignment shop.

People who have never brought their things to a resale shop are often nervous about the process. Will it be fair, will they like my things, what will they buy…

• At Uptown Cheapskate, we try to make the process as painless as possible.

• By sorting through your things at home, you’ll improve your experience and your payout.

1. What do we look for? UC buys things that

• Are current styles and trends. (Examples on the table or models).

o Most things that you’ve purchased new in the last 1-3 years will work.

o Some classic styles have a longer fashion life.

o We love brands like Hollister, Express, Bebe, and Forever 21, but it doesn’t have to be a brand name as long as it’s a great style.

• Are freshly laundered, and are stain, tear, and fade free.

o We have to be selective about condition because no one wants to shop a store where things are stained.

• Are high demand.

o Men and Women’s Jeans.

o Cardigans

o Floral Prints

o Cute blouses

o Sneakers

o Graphic teeshirts

o Big clunky jewelry

o Sweaters

o Coats

o Ruffled shirts

2. What do we pay?

• It varies depending on what you bring in. We try to be fair, and reward people who bring in the best stuff.

• UC uses the UC IMAP buyer program to individual appraise each of your items. Our computer helps us to price your items accurately and to give you the best payout.

• We pay more for designer brands like True Religion, and for things we can sell quickly in the store.

• Generally, you can expect to receive between 30 and 40% of what we’ll try to sell your item for.

• A pair of jeans we can sell for $15 in the store would pay you about $5 cash or $7 in trade.

• Note: You’ll never get back what you paid for it. But that’s not the point. By reselling your clothes, you’re helping recycle those styles, and other people will look better because they’re wearing things that would have been just sitting in your closet.

3. Trade out your clothes and make more.

• There are a lot of different resale shops out there but one thing that sets us apart is that we offer an incentive for you when you sell your clothes – by giving you more money when you Trade in your clothes.

• You can get 40% more than the cash amount when you take your payment in store credit.

• This is great for back to school – you can clean out your closet, take out the things that you don’t need, and trade them in for other cute stuff we have in the store. We have 1000 pairs of women’ jeans, thousands of shirts, and tons of cute accessories.

4. So what do I do?

• Sort out the things you’d like to sell, put them in a laundry basket or bag, and bring them to the store.

• We accept buys all day – up until an hour before we close. Our store is open from 11-8 on Mon-Thurs, and 10-9 on Friday and Saturday.

• You don’t need an appointment, and it usually takes less than half an hour. We’ll look through your things, price them out, and make you an offer on the spot. If there is anything we can’t use, we’ll give it back to you or you can donate it.

• Walk out with cash in your pocket, or maybe some cute new outfits.

Uptown Cheapskate is located near the Gateway in SLC.