Haute Trader review
Hi loves!
I started this blog to share my love of fashion, as well as how I find amazing designer deals. I've always loved a good deal, and once I discovered several online consignment buying/selling sites, my obsession kind of took off.
Today I wanted to chat about a designer trading site I happened to stumble across online- I couldn't find many reviews, but decided to try it out anyways and hope for the best! It's called
, and the concept is great - you list items you are willing to trade in your "closet", and the website approves them before listing them as available. There are select designers they approve, and each one has a trade number(value) assigned based only on designer, not item type. You can browse items other people have listed, and send trade offers when you see something you want. They can either accept or decline the trade. You can also use haute points to purchase an item listed, if it is tier 1-3 of the 4 tiers(Tier 4 is mostly high end bags, which are not available for haute points, just trade). When you do trade, both parties pay a $25 trade fee and mail their items within a week - that covers shipping and fees for the site, since it is free to use. I you trade a tier 4 item, it is a $50 fee, and you both ship to the headquarters where they authenticate and then ship to the recipient. You have to sign for packages, which adds to the safety of shipping high value items.
So now for my experience... I signed up and earned 100 haute points for signing up. I added 5 items to my trader closet, and within a week I traded a mini Tory Burch purse for a Herve Leger dress. I earned 100 points for my trade since TB is a tier 1, and excitedly shipped out my purse right away. Almost a week went by before the other girl shipped the dress, and I started to wonder how legit this site was, and thought I had given away a free purse. But it did arrive and was in excellent condition! Since you both pay the fee and approve the trade, I would think normally there would not be a problem with someone not sending the item.
I used my 100 haute points from signing up to "purchase" a Tory Burch purse, and it arrived in excellent condition. Since I only paid the $25 trade fee it was basically free!
I then had another 100 points from my completed trade, and used those to "purchase" another Tory Burch purse - which is my new favorite purse for Summer! To keep things fair, you also have to accept haute points purchases from other members. High end purses are all exempt though.
I LOVE the concept of this site, but I think there are definitely things that could be improved. The tiers are based off of brand, and do not take into consideration the item type. So you can spend 100 haute points on a Tory Burch purse, but a Marni tank top would be 300. From what I've seen, most people want to trade purses, and clothes are harder to move. I know I would be more hesitant to spend the expensive trade fee for a top, but totally fine with spending it on a purse. My other complaint is that it is hard to see who is active on there. You rate people after trades, so I figured out that unless someone has ratings they most likely are not active - there also seems to be only a small group of people who are active, so there is not a ton of "inventory" to trade with.
Overall I would say it was a fun experience, and I ended up with a dress and two purses, while I only traded one purse. I do still have available trade listings, and if someone initiates a trade I would totally trade again. It's a super cool concept that seems to still be in it's baby stages and not well known yet.
I would love to hear what you think about it! Would you trade designer items to refresh your closet basically for free? Sign up
if you want to check it out! You get 100 free haute points for signing up, and you can use them to "try out" the site. :)
Liz