#6: How your items *really* get sold
A behind the scenes look at everything Future Reference does to manage resale across platforms
In this issue:
Behind the Scenes: How we manage your closet to create the most value
Community Spotlight: The closet as a commodity conundrum
Team F|R Loves: What we’re coveting in our community’s closet
Behind the Scenes with F|R
If you’re reading this, chances are high that you’ve participated in the resale economy before, either in the Peer to Peer (P2P) marketplace (think Poshmark or Vestiaire Collective) or managed resale (think The RealReal or ThredUp). There are pros and cons to each type of platform:
Managed platforms do all the work for you, but that comes at the cost of sky-high platform commissions and no control over how your item is priced or presented. Case in point:
P2P marketplaces give you control over pricing and presentation, but at the expense of (too much) of your time listing and promoting whether you’re using one or three platforms.
We’d love to hear about your biggest pain points from navigating the resale market, whether it’s time, commission, or something that we can help make better.
When our founder
was building Future Reference she wanted to make resale easier so that more people participated and more high-quality clothes made their way back into the circular economy instead of sitting in the back of closets.“As a decades long amateur reseller, and someone who also wants to make some money back on the things I buy to reinvest in my closet, I knew the time intensive nature of listing, pricing, and promoting my own things. I also realized we have such a wealth of valuable data that sits in our inboxes, that could be useful. The idea was that by giving you visibility into what you own, and transparency around pricing and demand, we could make listing one click and prompt more people to participate.
Then in launching and talking to more users, we kept hearing the same things - yes, listing is easy but my stuff is still not selling. The two levers you can pull for that are pricing (and we added our pricing insights) and getting maximum visibility for your items so they are likely to be seen by the right people and thus sold - this is where cross-listing and AI-management comes in.”
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What We Do, So You Don’t Have To
We created Future Reference to do all of the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. Our resale-trained AI makes listing 90% faster and gives you control of the price, so we can help maximize your reach and earnings. Not only that, but you can earn up to 40% more on average than selling via consignment and we only charge a 10% service fee when your sale is finalized.
So what is it that we do?
Pricing guidance: The number one variable of whether or not something sells is the price. We track available and sold listings to help you gauge the real value of your items without having to do extensive online research.
Cross-list: Your item is listed on Future Reference’s profiles across all of the best P2P marketplaces - Depop, eBay, Grailed, Poshmark, and Vestiaire Collective.
Optimize Listings: We curate your listings to each platform’s unique backend, from images to keywords to make sure your item is maximized from the beginning (more on this below).
Promotion: We promote your items to get them in front of the right buyers to get the most value out of your closet.
Ignore Lowball Offers: We automatically screen out the lowball offers (like the person that offered $200 for a pristine Loewe Puzzle Bag) to ensure you’re only getting quality bids.
Negotiation: If you select “sell it quickly” we’ll take on all of the negotiations on your behalf to close the deal on offers.
Spam Busting: We get rid of any spam clogging up your item’s comments to make it easier to sell.
Handle Simple Comments: We’ll take care of the “Is this authentic?” or “Is this NWT?” questions that are already answered in your product description.
Emailed Shipping Labels: Less time and hassle to streamline the shipping process.
The Resale Platforms We Use
If you’ve tried different resale marketplaces before, you’ve probably learned the hard way that every platform operates differently, especially when it comes to P2P selling. What’s a boom on one platform is a bust on another, translating into hours of time to cross-list just one item in your closet. That’s why there are expensive resale management tools built for professional sellers, and we’ve built these features into Future Reference for the everyday fashion fan.
While we can’t give away all of our secrets, we’re breaking down how we optimize each platform to get the best ROI for your preloved items.
Poshmark
Poshmark is the most “social” of the P2P resale platforms, and it can mean dedicating serious time to throwing Posh Parties and interacting with the community to sell one item. We’ve built AI that’s akin to the tools that professional sellers use (we’re talking Crosslist, List Perfectly, and Vendoo that can cost up to $200 a month) to automate this process, pushing your items to the coveted homepage spot and optimizing the algorithm so your pieces appear in listings and shopping parties.
Vestiaire Collective
Vestiaire is a timeline-based platform where newly listed items typically show first, and users tend to browse by brand or saved search. If listings are up for a long period of time they get buried in the search timeline, which means manually delisting and relisting items to bring them back to the top. Future Reference works to create product visibility so your item is always top of mind for buyers.
Depop & eBay
Depop and eBay have a similar vibe in that listings are keyword centric. They both have strong recommendation systems that use quality images and keywords to understand the intent of the searcher. We do the work of finding the right additional images and the right keywords to help your items sell faster.
Grailed
Grailed is a specialized resale marketplace where archival and highly curated designer pieces thrive - think Adidas x Wales Bonner Sambas. Grailed cares deeply about authenticity and has its own internal digital authentication system. This platform works best for specific fashion insider brands, with listings that feature multiple photos so the user can see every detail. Our team’s resale industry expertise means that we understand the brands that sell best on Grailed and how to present each piece for max value.
The Bottom Line
You shouldn’t have to be a professional to make money on your quality pieces. If you haven’t tried it out yet, sync your wardrobe to get a resale valuation and see for yourself how easy listing can be.
Community Spotlight: Sogole Kane
When we came across
of ’s post Why Are We Buying to Sell? it struck a chord with us. As a self-professed fan of shopping resale (same), Sogole’s nuanced take on this topic immediately put this to the top of our Community Spotlight as a must-read. Her exploration of how fashion is viewed as a future resale vehicle instead of the joy of wearing your wardrobe is especially timely.The current mix of economic forces, consumption culture, and fast fashion have shaped consumer attitudes towards clothing as a commodity instead of something we genuinely love to wear. We’re team buying with a “whole body yes” instead adding to your wardrobe for the resale value alone. Thanks to Sogole for the reminder to embrace the joy in our closets. I, for one, am off to take my less-than-pristine Stella McCartney camera bag out for a matcha latte.
Our community has shared that they’re using Future Reference as a way to level up their closets, whether it’s due to an exciting life change (new mothers), a professional opportunity (new careers), or a big move (new city = new climate). Our users are also navigating different life stages that might mean a much-loved piece is no longer right for their everyday life. If this sounds like you, we’re here to help.
Team F|R Loves
| Founder: As temperatures warm I’m looking to revamp my summer sandal game. Historically, living in New York I don’t believe in open toed shoes but I feel like these Dior Act Platform Sandals would give some height from the ground. I’m also still into fisherman styles, which means I can finally invest and feel good, and have been eying these from The Row for a splurge or these from All Saints if I’m being reasonable.
| Marketing: To know me is to know that I love jewelry and that I wear a minimum of five rings on the reg. Catbird is one of my favorite jewelry brands and this 14K gold baby signet ring is the perfect piece for anyone with an “A” name since it’s already engraved. I also love a cropped jacket for spring and this Jeanerica denim jacket is the just the right amount of cropped and boxy, plus it’s made with 50% recycled materials, a total win/win.
Any resale pain points that we can help address? Future Reference questions that we can answer? Drop us a line in the comments to let us know how we can help.
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Omg thank you for this incredible shout out!! I am excited to dive deeper in FR and what you guys offer!!
Also truly love the community spotlight, not everything needs to be a hustle. Thanks for sharing.