Selling From My Collection to Fund New Purchases

Fare thee well, my beloved bags.

This won’t come as a surprise, but I love to buy handbags. That spark I feel when I see a bag that I need to have is something I have come to love and hate. On one hand, it is always thrilling to see a new and interesting design in a bag that I want to buy. On the other, I often become fixated until said bag is in my possession. Patience has never been my strong suit and I suffer from obsessive “must have now” syndrome.

When I see a bag I want, all senses fly out the window. I don’t ask myself questions like “Do I need this? Is this practical for my lifestyle? Do I already have one like it?”. Instead I choose to focus on the important things, like why the bag is so beautiful, how cute it would look with my new booties or dress, and how I can get it in my hands fastest. Often the price tag of my desires will exceed the amount of money I have budgeted for, which poses a problem with actually being able to make a purchase.

This has led me down a treacherous path of selling what’s in my closet to buy something new. It’s a topic I’ve seen discussed often on TPF. Some of us will sell to buy, while others don’t. I have sold numerous bags that I still loved in order to buy a new bag, which has often been rewarding. Other times I have regretted it so deeply that I am still haunted by bags I’ve sold off. It is around a 50/50 chance that I will regret it, which aren’t great odds, yet I continue to do it regularly.

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When selling a beloved bag to fund a new one, I know I’m running the risk of being disappointed with my new purchase–but once the obsession kicks in, I will do anything to buy what I’m lusting after. I have a process in place when this happens. I start by taking inventory of the bags in my current collection, how often I wear said bag, and what the approximate resale value is. I am a lot more likely to sell a contemporary bag than a premier bag even though I know I won’t get as much money for it. I usually take a pretty big hit with resale prices for premier bags, so I try to avoid selling them all together. I once sold a beautiful Marc Jacobs Blake for an unfortunately low amount and I still regret it immensely.

As someone who not only sells bags but also shops the preowned market, it does ease the pain of selling something I love to think about its new owner. I hope it will make them as happy as it once made me. When I purchase a preowned bag, I like to that I am giving it new life and I hope that can be said for all the bags I’ve sent off to new homes.

Below are the top bags I am currently lusting after…to sell or not to sell is the question? Have you ever sold a bag to fund a new purchase?