Woman Backed Online for Making Profit Off of Clothes From Thrift Store

The internet has backed a Mumsnet user who made a profit selling a secondhand dress at double the price she bought it after the woman who sold it to her alerted the buyer.

In a post shared earlier in October, the woman, under the username Thealarmhasgoneoffagain, wrote that she bought a secondhand designer dress at a thrift shop, for which she paid £60 ($69.57). She decided to get rid of the item when it didn't fit.

In 2019, the secondhand clothing market was worth $28 billion, and it is projected to grow to $80 billion by 2029, according to business magazine Fast Company.

Since the woman didn't want to get a return from a charity shop but also didn't want to re-donate the item, as it was quite expensive for her, she decided to advertise the dress on the Facebook marketplace, accepting offers, instead of giving a set price.

Very quickly, a woman offered £100 ($115.94) for the clothing, but after the transaction was done, an employee of the thrift shop where the seller originally bought the dress revealed that the item's original price was £50 ($57.97) instead.

The buyer reacted to a comment with an angry face only, but other users left "nasty comments" on her post, making her feel guilty for making a profit.

Dr. Courtney Conley, a therapist from Colorado, told Newsweek that people collect, refurbish and buy things with the intent to resell them all the time, especially those hot items that are so hard to get your hands on, so it seems that people are weighing in more on the moral side of things.

"The real issue is the dress's perceived value and her moral obligation when it comes to the profit. A situation simply is what it is until we filter it through our belief system and assign a value to it... it's either good or bad... right or wrong.

"She bought a dress from a charity shop, and someone was willing to pay her double for it," Conley said.

"Did the woman get scammed? She offered the price based on what she perceived the value to be. The charity shop would have never gotten that money since they never listed the dress at that price. Therefore, I think it's completely up to the seller how she uses the money."

Conley also added that she personally wouldn't compromise someone's integrity for $50, so, if it doesn't feel right and she's questioning it still, then she suggests just letting go of the money: "It's not worth carrying the mental and emotional weight if it will continue to bother you."

Eighty-four percent of the 2,707 votes on the poll said the woman was not being unreasonable, and so did most of the 429 Mumsnet users who commented in the thread.

RewildingAmbridge wrote: "Why didn't you just advertise it for the price you paid if you just wanted your money back? Technically you've done nothing wrong. Not something I would do though."

AnApparitionQuipped commented: "The charity should have priced it at £100 ($115.94) if they wanted £100 for it. If it was £60 ($69.57) to start with, they clearly recognized it was a designer label of some kind because £60 is not on the charity shop scale for non-branded garments."

Fireballxl5 wrote: "OP charities don't pay helpers, they don't pay business rates and yet they run their shops like businesses. Their stock is mostly donations.

"They are often competing with small businesses [that] have to pay wages and proper rates. They made £60 without any costs to them. And I can guarantee if you'd found a tear in that dress they wouldn't have refunded your money. Enjoy your £40 ($46.39)."

Cigarettesaftersex1 commented: "Just remove the post, it'll be forgotten about soon."

Newsweek was not able to verify the details of the case.