Women always ask me for what their wedding dress is worth. The best way to determine that is to start with a few factors: the designer, the age, the condition and the original price.
The more popular the designer/style, the more you can charge. The same goes for the age and condition.
Here are some guidelines we suggest:
• New with tags gowns should be priced starting at least 25% of the original price. These are gowns that were ordered and never worn. They may not have even been tried on.
• New without tags wedding dresses should be priced at 30-50% from the original price paid.
•Sample gowns can be sold anywhere from 100% of the sample price (assuming the dress wasn’t worn/altered and is truly still a sample).
•Used gowns (in excellent condition) should be priced starting at least 50% of the original price. Extremely popular styles could start at 40% of the original price.
Other guidelines:
• Age of the gown is extremely important. The guidelines above are for gowns no more than 2 ½ years old. If your dress is older, your price should reflect it.
• If the dress has been discontinued, the price should reflect this.
• If the dress has stains, tears or other defects the price reduction should be in accordance with the imperfection.
• Dress alterations (such as adding a bustle) can add value to your gown since a buyer would have to pay additional for it at retail.
Here’s an example of what I think is a beautiful, well priced used wedding dress. http://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/dresses/5751/Monique-Lhuillier-Claire-Size-4.html
The dress is just over 50% off of the original retail price, has been properly cleaned and preserved and has room to re-alter it. And selling it enables another bride to wear her dream dress….and both brides save a little bit of money. Perfect.
