Product Idea for Reselling Used Clothes & Accessories

Hiyya! 👋 How are you doing?

While clearing up my stack on Google docs, I found two product ideas that I had written down last year but had never got the chance to polish them up for publishing. As time ticked by, dust started gathering on them (well, if digital dust is possible) until it sank to almost the bottom of the stack.

But, thankfully, they have been revived, and I’d like to present before you one of these. There’s some work still left for it; I hope to complete that part soon enough! So, shall we take a tour of the product? Idea! Product idea. 🙂

Introducing…

RIVENDO!!

A website & mobile app to sell & buy used clothes & accessories online

Image courtesy: Unsplash

THE PROBLEM

While the market is filled with eCommerce applications where people can buy new clothes and accessories, there are only a handful of those where people can sell or buy old or used products.

The ones that exist have problems related to either

• availability of products, or
• ease of use, or
• commissions

And these are in the global market only. In India, there are no such apps yet. Well, none that I found on the internet.

Here’s an insight into the problems of the topmost of the existing products:

Existing Products In The Market & Related Problems

Poshmark

Website | Play Store | App Store

Browsing Poshmark’s website shows that the products that are uploaded there are of good quality but are expensive. Now, this financial barricade chops off a large block of the target audience. Also, the reviews on Play Store highlight problems related to

• taking pictures, writing descriptions
• uploading products
• high fees
• annoying notifications

ThredUp

Website | App Store | Play Store

This site has good reviews on the App Store but none on Play Store.

As found on their website:

Pros:

• ThredUp sends kit bags, along with address labels, to customers who want to upload their used clothes & accessories to ThredUp’s platform. No hassle of shipping or packaging.
• “ They auto-set prices so they up-charge pieces often more than they’re worth, but you can go in and edit the price to what you want. It also takes SO LONG for them to sort through your items, get them listed, and to actually see the credit on your account — like months and months. I sent in some items in February 2022. I didn’t see my items posted until July 2022,” one review said.
• Good for buyers as they get good clothes at reasonable prices.

Cons:

As found on Tough Nickel:

• The amount that users get in hand is very less compared to the efforts that they have to put in to sort the clothes as per ThredUp’s guidelines.
• Sometimes ThredUp discards clothes and does not put them up online “for no reason at all”.
• These discarded clothes are not returned to customers but are apparently sold to third-party sellers or are recycled. If one wants to get these clothes back, they have to pay $10.99 before sending the clean-out bag.
• Usually the expensive clothes/brands are listed on their website.
• If an item is not sold past a determined date, the items “expire” on the website and are removed.
• ThredUp sends mail when a product approaches expiry date, in case the user would like to reduce the price. But one has to keep an eye on the inbox, which is not always feasible.
• Doesn’t accept male clothing or clothing without brand names.

Here are screenshots of the reviews of ThredUp, as of February 2023:

These ratings are from Site Jabber. As we can see, the rating has been going down drastically lately. As you can see, it didn’t go quite “up”ward for ThredUp.

eBay

eBay needs no introduction.

Cons:

• Taking pictures, writing descriptions
• Uploading products
• Have to work hard to sell the products (detailed descriptions, professional look etc.)
• The marketplace is already filled with lots and lots of sellers

Pros:

• Long established platform

Depop

Website | App Store | Play Store

This site has, unfortunately, lots of negative reviews on the App Store and on Play Store, from both buyers and sellers. Some of these include:

• lack of email notifications regarding sale of uploaded items
• deletion of established account for fake reasons
• lack of option for buyers to place product reviews
• poor filtering of products (buyers’ perspective)
• issues with receiving payments (seller)
• poor customer service
• seller has no rush to ship item; there’s no rule about this (buyers’ perspective)

Flyp

Website | App Store | Play Store

Pros:

• The platform connects sellers with pro sellers who arrange for proper photos, description etc. of the products, thus relieving users of the hassle.
• Flat 10% commission on all items.

Cons:

• Flat 10% commission on all items regardless of the low resale value of the product.
• Allows super high-end brands only.
• Poor customer service.
• Poor experience on Android.

Tradesy

Website | Is closing soon.

• Super super high-end products only!

Vinted

Website | Play Store | The website is blocked for us.

Cons:

• Not user-friendly
• Glitches in app
• Poor customer service

The RealReal

Website | App Store | Play Store

Pros:

• High-end luxury items only (but that is a pro only for a small section of the buyers)

Cons:

• Only premium items and niche audiences make selling for everyone impossible
• High commission (55%)
• Items sell for much less price than deserving, according to users
• Glitches in app sometimes results in loss of user data
• Poor customer service

Here are some ratings found on Site Jabber:

As obvious from Sitejabber’s data, the platform has been doing not-so-good lately.

Similar Products on Themeforest

As of date (February 2023), there are no products on Themeforest — app or website — that provide the facility of selling used (or new) clothes and accessories. The existing products only focus on the buyer.

Proposed Product: RIVENDO

Image courtesy: Unsplash and Unsplash only!

“Rivendo”, when literally translated, means “I resell” in Italian.

As per Google, of course! My Italian isn’t that good. Yet.

What Inspired Rivendo?

Well, it’s my own wardrobe that switched the light bulb on. I used to have a tendency to buy clothes and accessories as a way to cure my loneliness or depression or anything grey. I know it’s unhealthy but it is what it is.

Thankfully, I have been able to get rid of it but what do I do about the clothes? Donating to charities isn’t always the complete answer. Sometimes people seek some ROI.

Moreover, certain occasions demand some dress-codes, and you don’t always have the right attire in your wardrobe, right? What if I could get second-hand quality products at better prices than new ones?

I talked to a few of my friends, and they said that they have the same problem, and so do their friends and acquaintances.

So, that’s how Rivendo was inspired: out of necessity!

Who are the Customers?

This app has three sets of customers:

1. Sellers: people who want to clear their closet for new items.
2. Buyers: people who are looking for second-hand, quality products at reasonable prices.
3. Admin: entrepreneurs who plan on managing the entire application.

Demographics of the Target Audiences

Gender: All

Age: 18–40 year olds

Location: U.S., EU, Australia, India but can later be used in other places.

Financial status: Upper middle class

Clothes and accessories for kids, women and men will be available.

How will Rivendo be Different from Existing Competitors?

1. Most existing platforms cater to premium customers. This means that only clothes that are from premium brands, have tags and are almost new are the only ones that make it to the listings. These are the kinds of clothes that people are less likely to give away.
2. Since Rivendo caters to the upper middle class, it does not need only premium, branded clothes. Any clothes or accessories that still have the tag, are unused, almost new, gently used, with minor and unnoticeable damage or stain can be uploaded to the site.
3. With the given criteria of products, the cost and commission also becomes lower. This means that sellers won’t be disappointed when they receive a low payback nor will the commission frustrate them. For buyers, it means that they can avail quality products for daily wear at a reasonable price.
4. Other companies ask sellers to send the clothes first, and then these clothes are filtered. While some make it to the listings, some are discarded and sold to third-party sellers or are recycled.
   Rivendo will ask sellers to send detailed photos of the products first before sending the products.
   There will be a requirement of informing if the product has any damage (checkbox), and to upload clear images showing the said damage.
   If the sent products are different from the information and the photos provided, then then the admin can inform the seller and send the product to third parties or to be recycled. In case the seller wants them back, they can get them against a small fee as set by the admin.
   These will be detailed out in the platform’s rules and regulations.
   This will save both the platform and the sellers the hassle and will leave a transparency which lacks in all the existing products.
5. Of course, with low fees, the admin will earn low per product. But with a wide range of products included, there will be steady earnings.
6. Both notifications and emails will be sent out so that users never miss out on any important information.
7. Products can remain online for as long as the admin decides. In case they do not sell, these can be sent out to third parties or recycled.
8. Prices can be set by admin but can be adjusted by the seller at their own discretion. A minimum price for every product will be set by the admin.
9. Sellers will upload photos and descriptions of their products but the admin will be able to moderate these.
10. Admin will set the time of shipping from when a product is ordered.
11. Buyers can leave product reviews and ratings. These will be visible to both the admin and the seller but not to the public (mainly because the product will be sold).

The Website

Image courtesy: Unsplash

The idea is to have both a website and a mobile application for Rivendo. Here are some thoughts on the website:

Overview

The pages and features listed here are primarily for the website. These may or may not be used for the mobile app.

This website will be used by both buyers and sellers.

Pages

Generic (For All)

1. Home
2. About
3. FAQ
4. Queries
5. Terms of Service
6. Privacy Policy

For Buyers

1. Shop
2. Product categories
3. Product list
4. Product details
5. Sign up/sign in
6. Cart (Bag) & Checkout
7. Payment
8. Wishlist

For Sellers

1. Register as a seller (multiple screens)
2. Sign in
3. Product upload process
4. Product images
5. Product description
6. Price
7. Category
8. Sub-category
9. Gender
10. Filters
11. Statistics
12. Product views (per product & total)
13. Product shares (per product & total)
14. Product purchases (per product & total)
15. Revenues (per product & total)
16. Benefits of being a seller with Rivendo (static page)

Page-wise Sections & Features

The following sections and features are suggested for the different pages of the website. Other features may also be added as necessary.

I. Home

The homepage will be primarily focused on the buyer. So, the sections should be created accordingly.

However, there will be at least one prominent section for the sellers which will have the CTA to go to a page dedicated to the sellers.

Suggested sections include:

1. Sign in/Sign up
2. Top banner (including the CTA to the shop)
3. Latest uploads (latest uploaded products)
4. Most loved products
5. CTA to take to Seller page
6. Reviews on products
7. Benefits of buying from Rivendo
8. How it works (for buyers & for sellers)
9. Newsletter subscription form

II. About

This will be a static page that will have some text about the background of the shop and some word about its future.

III. FAQ

This will list the FAQs in accordion format, as seen on Design Studio’s home page.

IV. Queries

The purpose of this page is to allow end-users to send queries to the admin (company owner) in case of any questions. It will contain a form with the basic form fields (fields marked with * would be mandatory):

1. Full name*
2. Email address*
3. Phone number
4. Your query*

V. Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

Both these pages will contain text in different formats, like paragraphs, bullet points and numbered points.

Notes

A site-visitor will be able to browse the shop and the website without signing in. However, once they try to add an item to the wishlist or want to proceed to checkout, they will be required to sign in (or register, as necessary).

Additionally, adding products to the bag does not require signing in.

I believe these should be enough to start the website design. Further details can be added as necessary.

The mobile app is yet to be mapped out, and I hope to get it done soon!

Until then, take care! And I do appreciate your feedback!! 👋