Can A Handbag Be An Investment?
Retail therapy has changed a lot in the past year. The splurge has been replaced by the investment with the bag of the moment being released by the bag to last a lifetime. But is a handbag really a good investment? Lesley M. M. Blume of The Big Money crunches the numbers when it comes purchasing with an eye toward selling later. When it comes to jewelry, unless you are talking about highly collectible pieces or rare stones that possess certain qualities of color and size, you probably aren't going to be able to sell for what you purchased for in a retail store. And what about the Holy Grail of investment purses, the Hermes Birkin bag? We've seen Birkins make big numbers at auctions and they are hot sellers at consignment stores. Victoria Beckham reportedly owns more than 100 of the hard-to-obtain bags. And the recent book "Bringing Home The Birkin" tells the story of a man who made a living obtaining the hard-to-get bags and then selling them to customers interesting in jumping the famous waiting list.
Blume says that if you bought a bag, one of the more modest models, for around $7,000 in 2007 you could likely resell it at a resale boutique for around $8,300 but you would then have to pay a cut to the shop leaving you with about $6,000. The article doesn't mention that you could sell the way "Bringing Home the Birkin" author Michael Tonello did and put your bag on up for sale online. Tonello used eBay which charges a smaller percentage. You could also try Portero.com but they take a whopping 30 percent of your haul so you'd have to mark up accordingly.
Other bags sell well in some places especially if the bag is vintage and rare but usually nothing beats a Birkin. Calling the bag an investment may be a bit of a stretch since you'd still be better off socking that money away somewhere where it would earn modest and stable interest but the article does make a good point for value. In the long run, whether you are looking with an eye toward resale or not, it is perhaps better to buy one more expensive and high quality item than several of lesser value. This viewpoint provides a bit of retooling the shopping strategy. The quick retail fix, the "must-have-it-now" era has been replaced by mulling, considering, evaluating and then finally purchasing.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dianne May 7th 2009 10:47PM
I sold upper end retail before, I had a customer who had a 'real' Birkin which she treated abominably - it was stuffed full of business items, make up kits, the works. I think she even had a pair of shoes in there. It looked like a swollen tic.
I have never had any interest in a handbag the price of a small car, but I certainly wouldn't have treated it like a backpack.
Anne May 7th 2009 11:05PM
Sometimes perhaps, but what value is the star and star-related, and the relationship is not a great product.
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LFisch May 8th 2009 10:25AM
Actually there's more to this. Hermes, for the past ten years or more, has had a price increase once or twice a year on their handbags (including Birkins). Now, if you purchased a Birkin, say back in 2000, it would have cost approximately $4500. In 2005, approximately $6500. Today that same bag is approximately $9000. There are a lot of women that would be happy with a gently-used Birkin, and would be happy to pay $5000 for it (rather than $9000 for a new one). So, you could sell that bag you paid $4500 for for $5000. (or possible more). If you sold it yourself on eBay the $500 profit would pay all of your fees/commissions to eBay. You'd have carried the bag for about nine years for free and you'd have your $4500 back.
just me May 8th 2009 12:26PM
Being a man, well, I don't have bags. But a good lady friend of mine always purchased Chanel bags--good, but not quite the Hermes Birkin or Kelly. She used those bags until they were ready to fall apart, and she had maybe a dozen. They never really fall apart though, even if used as a backpack, they just keep on going. And that's what you're buying when you buy top quality. Of course with Birkins, it's all about getting the right one--they all are not a covetable as others. Hard-sided are more difficult to obtain than the soft-sided bags, for example. Skins too make a big difference and color.