I still remember the first Louis Vuitton bag I ever bought. I was in Hawaii visiting a girlfriend, I had just gotten my first bonus at my marketing job, and one afternoon I went shopping by myself at the mall in Lahaina. I don’t think I had ever even been inside a Louis Vuitton store before. I walked in, saw the bag I wanted, and bought it. I remember staring at it on the plane and feeling so proud I could buy it myself.
It was the Louis Vuitton Batignolles Horizontal, which had actually debuted that same year, in 2005. I paid $750 for it at the time, plus hawaii tax, which felt like a LOT of money to me. Louis Vuitton eventually discontinued the style around 2012. I carried mine for years and sold it about six years later for around $1,000. Today, you’ll see examples listed anywhere from around $1,200 to $1,600+ depending on condition.
That is still one of my favorite things about luxury handbags. You can actually use them, love them, travel with them, carry them to work for years, and the right bags can still retain a surprising amount of their value. Some even become more desirable after they’re discontinued. Not every designer bag appreciates, of course, but a beautifully made bag from the right fashion house can have a very long life.
Which brings me to our September Handbag Month at Consign Couture!
If there is a designer bag sitting in your closet that you keep meaning to do something with, this is your month to pull it out of the dust bag. Timing matters in resale. October through December are consistently some of our busiest months of the year, and handbags are a huge part of that. People are holiday shopping. They’re texting screenshots to their partners. They’re putting bags on hold. They’re finally buying the bag they’ve been stalking for months, or deciding they deserve the gift themselves. Bringing your bag to us in September means we have time to get it completely ready and onto the floor before those shoppers start looking. And there is a lot more involved than tying on a price tag.
Luxury handbags are one of the most research-heavy categories we take in. We spend time identifying the exact style and production era, researching the current resale market, authenticating, cleaning, photographing, and pricing each piece. We also have two team members double-check our luxury handbag pricing before it hits the floor. After 15 years of building our consignor base and selling designer pieces in Portland, one of the things I care about most is setting realistic expectations about what a bag can actually sell for on consignment.
We can’t always give you a reliable number the second you walk through the door because sometimes we need to sit down and do the research. If you make an appointment, though, we’re happy to look at your bag and give you our best estimate of its resale range before you decide whether to consign it. This September has an extra fun reason to bring us your bags. We’re collecting all month for our October 2 Handbag Drop.
We’ve already brought in some really beautiful pieces, I’ve been sourcing specifically for the event, and we’ve been paying close attention to the designers, styles and colors our customers keep asking us for. Some bags will make their way onto the floor throughout September, and some surprises are being saved for the drop. So if you’ve been on the fence about consigning, now is the time to show us what has been hiding in your closet. Our handbag consignment splits are below, including our higher payout percentages as the selling price increases.
And if you’re curious about your bag but you’re not quite ready to break up with it, come see me on September 26 from 1 to 3 PM for our complimentary Handbag Pricing + Authentication Sunday. Bring your bag, ask me what I think it could realistically sell for, learn a little about what you have, and receive a complimentary authentication while you’re here. No appointment is necessary. It will be first come, first serve. This is the part of resale I love. A bag someone bought on vacation in 2005, carried for six years, tucked away in a closet, or received for a milestone birthday can walk through our doors and suddenly become someone else’s dream bag.
