How to Sell Dancewear Online

Dance competition season is upon us, which means lots of dance moms are looking for ways to raise money for dance and pay those competition fees! Have you thought about reselling your dance clothes online? Now is a great time to clean out the dancewear drawer and turn those too small or rarely-worn pieces into cash! Here are my best tips on how to sell dancewear online in dancewear resale groups!

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Selling old dancewear online is easier than you think! Over the past few years, I’ve sold several of my daughter Blair’s old dance outfits online. There are several options for selling, each with their own pros and cons. Below, I will list some of my best spots for how to sell dancewear online.

Facebook Dancewear Resale Groups: Dancewear resale groups are where I’ve sold most of Blair’s name brand dancewear. Brands like Tiger Friday, Five, Kandi Kouture, and others are highly sought after. I have my own Facebook group, Dance and Gymnastics Mom Deals, where I regularly post dance deals and you are also welcome to list your items for sale. I also list in several other groups, like this one and this one. You can find lots of these groups by simply searching dancewear resale on Facebook. Keep in mind that these groups are nationwide (or even worldwide), so you need to be comfortable shipping your items in order to sell in them (don’t worry, I’ll cover shipping how-to’s later in this post!).

Facebook Marketplace: I’ve had the most success on Marketplace with the non “name brand” dancewear. In my experience, a lot of Marketplace buyers are looking for a deal, so you’ll have better luck with bundling dancewear originally from Amazon, Target, Walmart, or various lesser-known brands/retailers. Check out my post on how to sell on Facebook Marketplace fast for more Marketplace tips! Plus, if you decide you aren’t comfortable with shipping items, you can set your listings for local pickup only on Marketplace.

eBay: A classic for a reason, eBay is a great way to sell dancewear online. It may take some time to get hits on your listings, but you can list items for a premium and wait for someone who is searching for exactly what you have.

Poshmark: Similarly, Poshmark buyers are often willing to pay a premium for the exact item they’re looking for. Make sure to use very specific wording in your title and descriptions to draw in those buyers.

Nextdoor: The Nextdoor app is popular in my neighborhood and surrounding area, and it is a great place to sell items for local pickup. Like Marketplace, however, the buyers are generally not in the market for name brand dancewear, but rather looking for a deal. It can be a great way to sell cheaper dancewear, used dance shoes, etc. quickly, so long as the price is right.

Tiger Friday (re)Purpose Program: Don’t want to deal with the hassle of selling dancewear online? The Tiger Friday (re)Purpose Program might be right for you. Simply mail your items to Tiger Friday and receive a Tiger Friday gift card that you can use to purchase new dancewear! You will get a higher gift card value for Tiger Friday items, but you are welcome to send in non-TF items as well. There’s a handy chart here that tells you what value to expect for your items.

Deciding What–and Where–to Sell

Because I have a younger daughter, I actually save a lot of Blair’s dance outfits in case Alexis ever wants to wear them. However, I am cognizant of the fact that my girls are 5 years apart and much of what is trendy now will not necessarily be what Alexis will want to wear 5 years from now. Plus, no one wants a wardrobe that consists solely of hand-me-downs, if it can be avoided.

How do I decide which dance outfits to sell vs. keep? Before you think about how to sell dancewear online, you need to decide which pieces you actually want to part with! As a general rule, I typically hold on to solid pieces and sell patterns. Solids are more timeless and can always be paired with something new to keep the look fresh. Patterned pieces tend to look dated sooner, so I sell them while they’re still trendy. There are, of course, exceptions to this–if it’s something that Blair or I specifically loved, I’ll hold onto it regardless of how on-trend the item is.

If you aren’t saving dancewear for a younger sibling, you can probably sell pretty much everything–although you may want to hold onto a special piece or two for sentimental reasons.

When thinking about how to sell dancewear online, deciding where to sell your dancewear in order to maximize profit is also important. I covered several options of where to sell dancewear online above, and I often use a combination of these. Remember, the more people you get your items in front of, the better chance they will sell! Just make sure to delete your post on all platforms once it is sold. As a general rule, I typically list my nicer pieces in the Facebook dancewear resale groups and my cheaper items on FB Marketplace. I’ve saved all of Blair’s Tiger Friday pieces for Alexis to have in the future, but I plan on sending them into the Tiger Friday re(purpose) program once we are done with them.

What do I need to sell dancewear online?

When you’re thinking of how to sell dancewear online, you’re probably wondering about the shipping component. You’ll open yourself up to a much larger market if you are able to offer shipping for your items. Thankfully, shipping is easier than you think!

My biggest tip for shipping is to get one of these scales. It will save you so much time from waiting in line at the post office–plus, the online shipping rates are cheaper than the in-person ones at the post office. You’re much better off weighing and packaging your own packages at home.

If you are selling on FB Marketplace, they will automatically calculate the shipping for you. Otherwise, I typically assume around $6 for shipping for a single item, then charge an additional $1 per extra item to account for the additional weight. Have the buyers pay you through PayPal and their shipping info will automatically populate, then you can purchase a shipping label right through their system. PayPal will even automatically send the buyer tracking info on their package. Very easy and seamless for both buyer and seller!

Price is Key to Selling Dancewear Online

As I’ve alluded to above, when considering how to sell dancewear online, price is key to having your items move quickly. Keep your pricing fair and your items will sell fast! For name brand items (brands like Tiger Friday, Five, Kandi Kouture, etc.), I typically start at 50% of the MSRP. I see a lot of other sellers pricing around 75% of MSRP, which you can certainly have success with if you have the right brand/item. However, I usually use the 50% rule because I want to get the items out of my house quickly!

For non-name brand items, I find it’s best to create a bundle by size and do one price for all of the items. It can be hard to sell a single Target leotard or one Amazon ballet skirt, for example. Instead, create a group of items in the same size and sell it to a parent who has a child starting out in dance! I usually only do a couple dollars per item for off-brand dancewear.

How to Sell Dancewear Online

I hope this post has helped to explain how to sell dancewear online! If you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me a message on Instagram.