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The RealReal is an SF-based online retail site that facilitates authenticated, luxury consignment sales. It employs a full-time staff of authenticators, horologists, licensed gemologists, and art curators to process and accept an endless stream of high-end clothing and accessories that files into its SF warehouse each month. And in an effort to help both consignors and buyers alike, the site has released a guide to resale values of a wide spectrum of luxury brands.
The app is called RealBook and it provides the range of expected prices for an item's resale (i.e. Chanel Boy Bag for $3,850). Based on the guide, consignors can know a fair price to ask and buyers can know how much is too much. The app can also be used as a predictive tool for the purchase of new products and to understand their long-term, prospective values.
"Over the last couple years, we've seen our consignors turn into savvy shoppers, calling us on a daily basis from retail stores, asking what designer brands they should buy to get the highest resale value in the future," founder and CEO Julie Wainwright tells us. "We realized this was becoming a trend, and built RealBook to inform and empower consumers with data to help them manage and make smart luxury investments."
And you don't even need to be a buyer or seller to find scanning RealBook useful and enlightening. The app's compiled data reveals that the brands that hold their value the longest are Cartier, Chanel, Christian Louboutin, David Yurman, and Van Cleef & Arpels. And the resale value of David Yurman is 45% off retail while it's 65% off for used Jimmy Choo shoes. Will this completely change the way you shop? Leave it to tech to make our fashion decisions the most optimal, ever.
· RealBook Luxury Resale Guide [iTunes]
· The 14 Best Consignment Shops in San Francisco [Racked SF]