A woman said that she recently took eight trash bags full of clothes to a consignment store—and only left with a little over $100.
In her TikTok, Sammy (@skzzolno) stood in front of her car, which was full of trash bags filled with clothes. She planned to donate them to Plato’s Closet, a consignment shop that buys and sells gently used items.
At Plato’s, workers are tasked with sorting through customer’s clothes and deciding what they’re willing to take. Afterwards, they’ll offer the customer either money or store credit. Since Plato’s sells their clothes for up to 70% off the original retail price, they offer sellers one-third of that in order to make a profit.
Common complaints about consignment stores like Plato’s and Buffalo Exchange are that the amount they offer customers for their clothes is too low. There also doesn’t seem to be a set standard for what they will and won’t take.
“They gave me $2 for a $150 dress with the tags on it,” one commenter shared.
Sammy guessed that she’d earn $180 for the eight bags; a friend who came with her guessed $200.
They were both wrong. Sammy said that she made $100.82.
“Definitely did not take as [many] things as I thought, which is completely fine because a lot of my clothes I thrift,” she said. “I’m happy. Thank you Plato’s.”
As of Tuesday morning, Sammy’s video had over 405,000 views, with a number of viewers offering tips for how to potentially earn more money at consignment shops.
“If you bring too many clothes, the employees get lazy and just skip most of it!” one person said.
“Never take trash bags,” another wrote. “Always organize and fold it all pretty I always get the most money of my friends from doing this.”
“I just know those minimum wage employees were CRYING having to go through all that,” a third user quipped.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sammy and Plato’s for comment via email.
