How To Sell: Send us your CLEAN gear to make more money and sell it fast

Here at Geartrade, we’re over the moon with excitement about how psyched everyone is about our new Consignment selling option. Send it and forget about it—that is, till your item sells and you get a nice little deposit of $. People are sending nice gear to us in droves, and we’re listing it quick and selling it to the eager masses. An amazing amount of excellent, perfectly usable gear is coming in. But sometimes we get an item from someone who didn’t know everything needs to be nice and clean. While we’re a (tip top!) gear selling service, we unfortunately aren’t a laundry service or gear repair shop yet. So we need folks to send things in squeaky-clean, tidied up, and ready to list. Nobody wants to buy a smelly pair of shoes or jacket with last season’s coffee spilled down the front! Ew. The biggest reason to clean your gear- you can make more money and sell your gear faster. Spending 5 minutes cleaning your gear can translate to an increase in price by 10-15%. Here’s your easy guide for prepping your gear to send in. In just a few simple steps, you can make sure your gear is in tip-top shape.

How to prep your gear to send in:

Whatever your item is, clean it as best as you can. Sadly smelly and unwashed gear can’t be sold, so make this your first order of business. The good news is most of you are already doing this as our rejection rate is under 10%!

Softgoods like shirts, jackets, and pants

• Give the items a careful inspection for any tears or stains, and when you wash, pay special attention to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Special treatments like Nikwax can be a great idea to give waterproof goods a nice refresh.

Footwear like running shoes, hiking boots, and climbing shoes

• Rinse the shoes and use a light brush to remove any dirt.
• If the insoles can be removed, give them a wash in soapy water and dry.
• Make sure to de-stink them—smelly items can’t be sold, so make sure they come to us fresh! Antibacterial spray can help, and you can put baking powder inside while drying them.

Hiking and camping equipment like tents, sleeping bags, and pads

• Make sure all parts are in working order, and replace or fix anything that isn’t.
• If needed, set up the tent to make sure you have everything (and to air it out). Brush off any dirt or sand.
• Don’t forget to include stuff sacks.

Helmets for biking, climbing, and skiing/boarding

• After cleaning, inspect to make sure there aren’t any cracks or substantial dents.

Winter hardgoods like skis, snowboards, boots, and bindings

• Make sure bindings are in good working order, and if you’re selling the bindings alone, make sure every part needed for mounting is included.
• Fix damage like scratches to your ski bases. (We can’t accept items with catastrophic damage like blown edges, topsheet delamination, etc.)
• Buckle ski/board boots before shipping—and make sure they aren’t smelly. (See tips under “Footwear” for de-smelling.) Also be sure to check toe and heel wear on ski/ board boots before shipping.

Bikes and bike parts

• Make sure all bikes/bike parts are clean and in working order.
• For components, make sure all parts are sent

Paddle, wake, and surf

• Note, we aren’t accepting boats/watercraft currently. (Shipping’s a bugger.)
• We are accepting clean, fully functional wetsuits, drytops, life jackets, paddle clothing, water shoes, and accessories.

That’s it … don’t be a smelly gear submitter! But do send in all your nice, clean things. We know exactly how to find a home for them. Beth Lopez is a seasoned writer and creative director who loves to tell tales of adventure and discovery—and finds writing a powerful way to give a voice to people, causes, and places. Beth runs amok in the Wasatch mountains when untethered from her computer. She believes there’s no such thing as a bad ski day and considers animals her favorite people. Don’t tell her mother about her Instagram mountaineering photos.

Have Fall gear to sell? Get cracking.

It is now easier than ever to sell your gear on Geartrade. With our new Consignment Selling option you can finally reclaim your gear closet. Send it in. We take care of the rest.