Tips for Buyers

Be realistic: Buying a secondhand wedding dress is a fantastic way to save some money. However, you need to realise that a secondhand dress may not fit you as well as one that is made specifically for you and will probably need to be altered to fit you properly. Dresses, even though only worn once, may also have slight blemishes - make sure that you ask the Seller about these.

Altering a dress: Before you buy a secondhand dress, we recommend that you check with whoever you intend to use to alter it. Some dresses are designed in such a way that makes them difficult to alter. Your dressmaker should be able to tell from photos how easy it is likely to be to alter the dress. The cost to alter a dress will also affect the amount that you will want to spend buying it.

Photos: If you aren't able to see the dress in person, try to get the Seller to send you as many photos of the dress as possible. As well as pictures of the dress as a whole, it is likely to be useful for your dressmaker if you can get some photos that show the seams and any other unusual details.

Is the dress right for you: Make sure that the style of dress that you are looking at is the right style for you. A dress might look fantastic in a picture and seem like an absolute bargain, but if it doesn't suit your body type, you may end up disappointed.

Shipping: Make sure that you come to an agreement with the Seller regarding who is going to pay for the shipping and how it is going to be shipped. You want to make sure that it gets to you safely. If you use a service such as SafeTrader, they have specified approved shipping methods.

Returns: In most cases, if you agree to buy the dress and then you decide you don't like it, you are stuck. To avoid this, it pays to see if the Seller is willing to let you return it within a specified period (eg 3 days) (provided that the dress isn't damaged and provided that you pay the return shipping charges). Services such as SafeTrader also give, in certain circumstances, a right to "inspect and reject".

Ask questions: Make sure that you ask the Seller lots of questions - don't be shy! You will want to know things such as what the dress is made of (including lining etc), whether it has any blemishes, and who it was made by.

Use an Escrow Service: If you don't want to hand over any money until you get the item you should consider using a service such as SafeTrader. SafeTrader acts as an escrow agent. Basically, you pay the purchase price to SafeTrader and they instruct the Seller to send the item to you. Once you receive the item, SafeTrader releases the money to the Seller.