Plato's Closet is a secondhand retail store that buys and sells men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. This resale shop advertises itself as geared towards teenage and young adult styles, however there’s truly something for everyone!
Since the business model runs off of buying inventory from customers, items are priced at a deep discount. So, if you’re selling items at Plato’s Closet, how do you get the most bang for your buck?
In this blog post, we’ll go over all of the insider details from a former Plato’s Closet employee.
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Accepted Items
Do you have old clothes taking up space in your closet? If so, it’s time for a refresh. Instead of taking the items straight to Goodwill or another donation store, stop by your local Plato’s Closet to see if you could make some extra cash instead.
With that being said, take some time to evaluate your clothing before you take it to Plato’s. Check to see if there are any stains, rips, or holes. If so, toss those pieces into the donation pile.
Also make sure the items are freshly laundered. Plato’s Closet does not wash the clothing items they accept, so they make sure the items are fresh and clean when they come in.
Next, evaluate the style of the item. The store states it accepts recent trendy items and brands, popular within the past 2 years. Now, this can be subjective on a person by person basis. So if the item is in good condition, give it a go!
One style caveat is the fact that Plato’s Closet typically doesn’t accept plain items or super dressy items. This includes solid color tops and dresses, but also formal items like dress shirts or formal gowns.
The items that typically have the most success when selling to the store are activewear brands. This is because these pieces are usually timeless. Let’s be real, a nice pair of athletic leggings will never go out of style!
Surprisingly, seasonality doesn’t always matter. That’s right - go ahead and bring your winter coat in the heat of summer!
The biggest indicator for accepting items is the current stock the store already has. For example, on a store by store basis, they can decide to stop buying a certain type of item (for example, dresses) for a time being.
Just give your store a quick call, or check them out on social media to see if any rules like that apply.
The Buying Process
Once you have your clean and in good condition items bagged up, take a trip to Plato’s Closet to sell! Some stores require you to stay in the store while they process your buy. And no, this isn’t just to have you shop around and spend money.
This is actually for the most part a safeguard for your items. Unfortunately, sometimes other people/customers have wandering eyes/hands on your items waiting to be processed...
However, not all locations require you to stay. Some ask that you return by the end of the business day, or within 24 hours. Check with your local store to see.
As a part of the buying process, you agree to the terms that state your items will be donated if you do not pick them up in the specified timeline. Also, make sure you bring your driver’s license, this is required at all locations.
Before you head to the store, it may be wise to give your local Plato’s Closet a call to ensure they are still accepting buys. In recent days, some stores stop accepting new selling customers due to a variety of reasons, mostly staffing difficulties.
You can also check in on this by following the specific store on Instagram or Facebook for updates.
How Much Money Will I Make?
After the employee sorts through your items, they will give you a quote telling you how many items they accepted with the total price. If you are curious, you can ask the reason why they declined certain items.
You can also ask an item by item basis to see how much you made for each item. If you have a bunch of items you sold, you can also ask about one specific item that you are curious about.
Let the employee know if this is an offer you accept, or if you want to make any modifications. For example, if you didn’t get as much as you were wanting for an certain item, you can decline to sell it while still trading the rest of the items.
Or, you can completely decline the offer and take all of your items back.
So, how does pricing work exactly? The employee will utilize their computer system to enter the type of item, brand, and condition of the item. From there, the computer computes two prices: one for the cost of the item, and another price that tells them how much to pay the customer selling.
As an average, you are offered around 30% of the ticket price that Plato’s will put on the item. The one exception is you typically get a little bit more money for those athletic clothing items.
Plato’s Closet offers options to cash out or take store credit. Unfortunately cashing out and store credit offers the same amount of money. Some stores offer extra money for store credit, however most Plato’s Closets have not followed suit.
Insider Tip: Read A Plato’s Closet Tag
Now, here’s a real insider tip into how Plato’s Closet’s pricing works. This involves reading the price tag. For example, let’s take this Wild Fable dress seen in the center of this pile of tags.
If you look below the barcode, you will see a series of numbers and letters. It reads "0270520002KB0097". To read this tag, pay close attention to the ending sequence. Specifically, we’re going to look at the last 7 characters.
In this scenario, the last 7 are "2KB0097". So, take the number right before the initials and the last 2 numbers, and this will tell you how much Plato’s Closet paid the customer for the item.
As you can see, Plato’s Closet is selling this dress for $9.00, and paid the customer $2.97. In this case, that tracks with the trend of Plato’s paying out around 30% of the cost they’re trying to sell it at.
In summary, there are many benefits to both shopping and selling clothes at Plato’s Closet. Most importantly, Plato’s Closet gives perfectly good clothing items a second life- all while you can make a little extra cash!
FAQ
The amount you will get from Plato's Closet varies widely depending on the brand, condition, and type of item. Typically you can expect anywhere between $1-$70 per item.
Platos Closet pays you approximately 30% of what the store sets as their asking price. For example, if they price an item at $10, you will receive around $3. You can expect to make a little extra cash from Plato's Closet, which is better than dropping off the items at Goodwill and receiving nothing!
Call your local store to see if there is an item or bag limit. Some stores only allow one bag per day per person. Otherwise, you are able to bring as many items as you have to sell at the store.
Plato's Closet only accepts items that are clean and in near perfect condition. Items that have not been laundered or have rips, holes, or stains will not be accepted by the store.
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