My experience having an appointment at The Real Real and my thoughts after.

I recently appointment at The Real Real, a resale clothing store that buys designer items and sells them in their stores and on their website. I had about 30 items ranging from Hermès silk scarves to Louis Vuitton bags to mostly unused Dr. Dennis Skincare products. I had appointment yesterday and was really excited because The Real Real was very communicative on making sure we follow all COVID guidelines so I felt very comfortable going in. <br><br>I got there and was greeted at the door by an employee who was very nice and let me in. I was offered water or a glass of champagne (fun touch) and was introduced to my sales associate who would be looking over my items. I gave her my Hermès silk scarves, Louis Vuitton Neverfull, and Louis Vuitton Speedy right away, as I assumed she would be most excited about those. She began inspecting every corner of each item and writing in her book, and then she said that she was very excited about my items and that she would give me a very good offer on them. <br><br>Well, I was kind of expecting her to give me an offer on the three items right away, but she didn't. She took my very expensive, very good condition designer handbags worth thousands of dollars and put them in the back room for about 45 minutes. I was not thrilled about this as I don't know where my items were or who was looking at them back there but I understood this was company policy and that the items are insured so I let it go. <br><br>After that she told me that she was going to give me an offer on the bags. She offered me $2300 for the Louis Vuitton Neverfull and $1900 for the Louis Vuitton Speedy. These were both bought for over $3k each. I was not pleased with the offer and she saw that I was not pleased. I asked her if she could throw in a few extra hundred dollars for the two bags together but she was unwilling. <br><br>She then took the rest of my items to the back room for about an hour. She only ended up accepting about 4 of 30 items, which was not surprising, and gave me an offer that was much higher than I was expecting. She was very easy to talk to and was very receptive about feedback so I told her that I was a little unhappy with the offer on the bags and she was very receptive and kind about it. I know that I wasn't going to get back the full price of the bags so I was expecting to get around 70-80% of the price I paid for the bags (even though they were in almost new condition) but I was a very far cry from that. I ended up counter-offering on the two Louis Vuitton bags alone, asking for $3200 for the two, which still was below 70% of what I paid for them. <br><br>She then went to the back room for another 45 minutes or so and came back out and said that she was unable to offer me that price but offered me $2500 for the two. She said that the person in the back room was unwilling to give me that price and that she had to get approval from that person, so I kind of understood where she was coming from. <br><br>I had made up my mind that I was going to sell the bags whether it was to The Real Real, eBay, Poshmark, or Craigslist, and so I thought I would be done very quickly and wouldn't have to spend a lot of time there. The whole appointment took about 3 hours, partly because of COVID social distancing protocol but also partly because they took my items to the back room and held onto them for almost 2 hours. <br><br>It was a bit of a weird feeling not knowing where my items were but overall I really liked my sales associate and had a great experience at The Real Real. <br><br>After I agreed on a price for all the items, I signed a consignment agreement which was very easy and straightforward. The nice thing about The Real Real is that you can choose to hold out for a higher offer, they call you when the items sell and you can accept the final price or reject it and have the items returned to you. You can also call them at any time and ask them to return your items. My sales associate said that I would likely hear back about the Louis Vuitton bags in about 3 days, the Hermès silk scarves in about 5 days, and the rest of the items in about a week or so. It takes them a few days to inspect the items because they are third-party authenticated. Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Chanel items are authenticated by an employee at Hermès, Louis Vuitton or Chanel, which is a really nice touch in my opinion. <br><br>I was overall happy with my experience at The Real Real and would definitely go back there. I think their stores are beautifully merchandised and the people who work there are very nice. The only part that was kind of strange was them holding my items for a while, but I understood that was part of the deal. <br><br>Overall, it was a great experience, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to buy or sell luxury or vintage items. They really do have the best selection of luxury and resale items as far as I can see. <br><br>**TL;DR:** I had an appointment at The Real Real to sell luxury items. I had a very nice time and the employees were extremely receptive to my questions and concerns. I wish I had done more research on their pricing beforehand, but I overall really liked my experience and would recommend The Real Real to anyone who wants to buy or sell luxury resale items.