Is It Worth Selling Secondhand Kids' Clothes? The Money vs Time Question

If you've got bags, tubs or drawers full of clothes your children have outgrown, there's an obvious question:

How much could I get for all this?

But there's another question that's just as important:

How much work am I prepared to do to get it?

After processing more than 150,000 pieces of baby and children's clothing at Daisy Chain Clothing, we've learned that these are two very different questions.

A pile of outgrown clothing may contain plenty of resale value. But turning that value into money can mean sorting, photographing, listing, answering messages, negotiating prices, packing orders and arranging postage or collection.

So, is selling secondhand kids' clothing worth it?

The answer depends on both the value of the clothes and the value of your time.

First, work out what deserves your attention

Not all children's clothing has the same secondhand value.

Brand matters, but so do garment type, condition, materials and, sometimes, rarity or collectability. A substantial wool coat may deserve more attention than a basic T-shirt from the same brand. Specialist baby sleeping bags can retain useful resale value. Some distinctive vintage children's clothing can also be worth checking before it's added to an ordinary bundle.

If you're not sure what to look for, we've taken a detailed look at how much secondhand kids' clothes are worth and the items that deserve a second look.

Once you have some idea what your clothes could be worth, though, the more interesting calculation begins.

Selling a $10 item takes more than the time required to list it

It's easy to think about selling time in terms of creating the listing.

Take a few photos, write a description and choose a price.

But you haven't actually sold anything yet.

Depending on how and where you're selling, the complete process might involve checking the garment, researching a price, photographing and listing it, answering questions, responding to offers, arranging payment or collection, packing it and posting it.

And then there's fulfilment.

If you don't want Marketplace buyers coming to your home, you may need to travel somewhere to meet them. If you're posting orders, there may be trips to the post office or parcel drop-off point. An item that doesn't sell still consumed some of your time even though it produced no return at all.

Not every sale requires every step, and experienced sellers can make the process considerably more efficient.

But when deciding whether selling is worthwhile, count the whole transaction—not just the listing.

What does your time do to a $5–$50 sale?

There isn't a meaningful "average" amount of time it takes to sell a piece of children's clothing. Instead, consider how the numbers change depending on the active time involved.

These aren't wages or profit figures. They're simply the selling price divided by the amount of active time involved. They don't account for packaging, petrol, selling costs or time spent on items that never sell.

They also assume you receive the advertised price.

On Facebook Marketplace and Buy/Swap/Sell groups, buyers may make lower offers or haggle over the price. A garment advertised for $30 that eventually sells for $20 has generated $20, not $30—and the negotiation itself may have consumed more time.

Travel can change the calculation again. If a $10 local sale involves a ten-minute drive each way to meet the buyer, that's another 20 minutes attributable to the transaction.

The same applies to postage. Taking five parcels to the post office in one trip is quite efficient. Making five separate trips because the items sold on different days is something else entirely.

This leads to one of the simplest ways to make selling more worthwhile:

Batch as much of the work as you can.

Ten $5 garments aren't necessarily the same as one $50 garment

On paper:

10 × $5 = $50

and:

1 × $50 = $50

But they're potentially very different selling jobs.

One $50 garment might mean one listing, one buyer, one payment and one parcel.

Ten $5 garments sold separately could mean ten listings, multiple buyer conversations, ten transactions and ten separate fulfilments.

Some may never sell.

So the total potential value of your clothes isn't the only thing that matters.

The number of selling jobs matters too.

Bundling can completely change the equation

Suppose ten garments could potentially sell individually for $5 each.

That's $50 if every item sells at the price you want.

Now suppose somebody buys all ten as a size bundle for $30.

You've accepted $20 less than the maximum theoretical return—but you may also have replaced ten selling jobs with one.

One listing. One buyer. One payment. One collection or parcel.

For one parent, doing the additional work to pursue the extra $20 will be worthwhile. For somebody else, getting the entire pile dealt with in one transaction will be worth considerably more.

Neither decision is wrong.

Where you sell changes the workload too

Different selling platforms remove—or add—different parts of the work.

Facebook Marketplace and Buy/Swap/Sell groups can work particularly well for local sales, bundles and specialist brand communities. But sellers may also deal with questions, price negotiation, collection arrangements and buyers who don't ultimately purchase.

eBay provides a large searchable marketplace, which can be particularly useful when buyers might be looking for a specific brand or garment. But the seller still creates the listing, stores the clothing and fulfils the order.

Vinted, which launched in Australia in 2026, provides another way to sell secondhand clothing, while Depop can suit fashionable, branded or distinctive pieces and Gumtree provides another option for local sales and bundles.

There are also brand-specific resale marketplaces. Brands such as Bonds and Purebaby now have dedicated marketplaces where customers can list their used clothing for other customers to buy.

These can put an item in front of people already interested in that particular brand and provide some of the infrastructure around the transaction. But they don't necessarily solve the workload problem.

You're still selling the garment yourself, and most children's wardrobes contain clothing from many different brands. Using several brand-specific marketplaces could mean managing listings across multiple platforms rather than simplifying the clear-out.

And while these marketplaces operate under the brand's name and listings are reviewed before publication, the garments are generally being sold peer-to-peer by individual owners rather than being physically received and condition-graded by the brand before they're offered for sale.

We've compared the main selling options in more detail in our guide to the best places to sell secondhand baby and children's clothes in Australia.

The important point isn't that one marketplace is universally better.

It's that where and how you sell can materially change how much work is required to turn your clothes into money.

How to make selling kids' clothes more efficient

If you enjoy selling and want to maximise your potential return, a few changes can make the process much more efficient.

Photograph several garments in one session rather than setting everything up repeatedly. Create listings in batches. Group inexpensive basics into sensible size or season bundles while giving more valuable pieces individual attention.

Batch postage where possible and keep packaging ready. For local sales, decide in advance where you're prepared to meet buyers and how flexible you're willing to be on price.

You might also set your own minimum value below which you simply won't create an individual listing.

There's no universally correct amount.

The question is:

At what point is the potential additional return no longer worth the additional work to you?

So, is it worth selling secondhand kids' clothes?

It certainly can be.

If you have desirable clothing, you're efficient at photographing and listing it, can batch much of the work and don't mind dealing with buyers and fulfilment, selling it yourself can be an effective way to recover some of what you originally spent.

It also gives you the greatest control over your prices and how your clothes are sold.

But the same pile of clothing could look quite different to someone who dislikes selling, has very little spare time or doesn't want to spend evenings answering messages and weekends arranging collections.

That's why there isn't a dollar amount at which children's clothing suddenly becomes "worth selling."

There are really two questions:

What are the clothes worth?

How much work are you willing to do to realise that value?

What if the clothes are worth selling—but you don't want to sell them?

There's another option between selling everything yourself and simply giving everything away.

You can trade some of the potential return for convenience by using a children's clothing resale service.

That's the idea behind the Daisy Chain Clothing Outgrown Kit.

You order a prepaid satchel, fill it with suitable outgrown baby and children's clothing and send it to us. We assess the garments and calculate your payout according to our published payout structure.

You can choose cash or a higher-value Daisy Chain Clothing credit payout, and you don't have to wait for each individual garment to sell.

Daisy Chain Clothing then takes responsibility for processing, storing and selling the accepted clothing.

The trade-off is important to understand: successfully selling desirable clothing yourself may produce a higher return.

With the Outgrown Kit, you're accepting some of that potential return in exchange for somebody else doing the work required to turn a pile of outgrown clothes into individual sales.

For some parents, maximising the return is worth the effort.

For others, getting that time back is worth more.

See how the Daisy Chain Clothing Outgrown Kit works →

A simple way to decide

When you're staring at a pile of outgrown clothes, ask yourself:

• What might these clothes realistically sell for?
• Which pieces deserve to be sold individually?
• Could the lower-value pieces be bundled?
• How many separate selling jobs will that create?
• How much of the work can I batch?
• Would I rather maximise my potential return or reduce the amount of work?

Your answer might be to sell everything yourself. It might be to sell a few valuable pieces individually and bundle the rest. You might use a resale service, or decide you'd simply rather donate the clothes and be finished with them.

The right answer isn't necessarily the option that produces the highest possible selling price.

It's the option that makes sense for both the value of your clothes and the value of your time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it worth selling old baby clothes?

It can be. Some baby clothing has relatively little individual resale value, while specialist sleeping bags, premium brands, better outerwear, natural-fibre knitwear and other desirable pieces can be worth more. The amount of work involved in selling is just as important as the potential selling price.

How much should I sell used kids' clothes for?

There isn't a reliable percentage of the original retail price that applies to all children's clothing. Brand, garment type, condition, materials and demand can all affect secondhand value. See our guide to how much secondhand kids' clothes are worth for a more detailed look.

Is it better to sell kids' clothes individually or in bundles?

Individual sales can potentially generate a higher total return, particularly for desirable garments, but they also create more transactions. Bundling usually trades some potential return for fewer listings, buyers and fulfilments.

Where is the best place to sell secondhand kids' clothes?

It depends on what you're selling and how much work you're prepared to do. Facebook Marketplace, Buy/Swap/Sell groups, eBay, Vinted, Depop, Gumtree, brand-specific marketplaces and specialist resale services all work differently. See our guide to selling secondhand kids' clothes in Australia for a detailed comparison.

What's the easiest way to sell a large amount of children's clothing?

Selling in bundles can substantially reduce the number of individual transactions. A children's clothing resale service can reduce the work further by handling some or most of the selling process for you. The best option depends on how much control and potential return you're prepared to exchange for convenience.