Since I’m moving back home next April, I thought it’d be a good idea to start getting rid of some things that I don’t need and don’t want to take back home with me.
I have a lot of clothes. A lot. A lot of clothes I don’t need and a lot of clothes I don’t wear at all. It’ll be cold for most of my remaining time in Japan, so now would be a good time to downsize my wardrobe and get rid of some of my summer clothes. I am going back to Hawaii, though, so I don’t want to get rid of everything—just things I know I won’t want to take back to Hawaii with me.
Since I’m unfamiliar with the clothing resale scene in Japan and didn’t want the hassle of putting clothes for sale online then having to ship them, I decided on finding a consignment store that’ll just take all of my clothes at one time.
After looking around and doing some research, I found Kinji, a used clothing store, located in BIG STEP in Amerikamura/Amemura (アメリカ村／アメ村; literally means “American Village”). When I went to check it out, they had every type of clothing you could possibly think of, so I was sure they’d take anything I’d bring in to sell.
The buying time is from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm and their base buying price is ¥200 per kg of “A rank” items and ¥20 per kg of “B rank” items. Or 400 Kinji points for “A rank” and 20 points for “B rank,” which you can use to make purchases within the store (1 point = ¥1). Sounds like quite the rip-off, right? Well, it does to me, anyway. But, I guess they have to make a profit somehow. Just for some perspective, while I was browsing the store, I noticed how much they sell things for and I saw some tops I’d assume was “A rank” for around ¥500 and pencil skirts for around ¥900. (Don’t quote me on this, but I’m pretty sure). That’s a pretty good profit margin!
The list of brands are examples of brands they are most likely to buy. But, I didn’t have any of those brands, nor did I see any of those brands when I was browsing the store. I may have missed them though. Maybe those are the brands they are hoping to buy (and make a killing on). ¥200 per kg for Comme des Garçons?! You must be freaking kidding me. Hopefully, they buy designer items of that caliber on an item by item basis. I assume they do, or no one would want to sell it to them.
Despite the extremely low buying price, I gathered a bunch of my clothes—a large shopping bag worth, maybe about 15 items of clothing. And many of them were brand new with the tags still on! I’ve made so many stupid purchases that I never returned. Even though I was aware of their buying price, I was hopeful that they’d give me more money because there were so many brand new items.
In the store, the buying counter is in the back, you ring the bell for an employee to come and take your items from you, they give you a number, and you wait for your number to be called. When your number is called, you fill out a form with information like your name, birthdate, and address (I think you have to be at least 18 to sell things in Japan). Then, you sign the form and collect your money.
Guess how much I got. ¥280… Yup. That’s it. 1.4 kg. That didn’t even cover my transportation cost to get there! It costs ¥330 to get to Namba from Amagasaki! So, a round trip is ¥660! I lost money doing this! I was really irritated since a lot of my items were tops that weighed almost nothing at all. And brand new! It’s safe to say I won’t be doing that again, unless I really just want to get rid of things and don’t care about making any money. Lesson learned.
Details for Kinji:
Address:
BIG STEP Shinsaibashi 〒542-0086 Nishishinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi 1-6-14, 2F 〒542-0086 大阪市中央区西心斎橋1丁目6番14号
Phone: 06-6281-1515 Hours: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
Buying hours: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Kinji Official Website: http://www.kinji.jp/
BIG STEP Website (Kinji Page): http://big-step.co.jp/shop/detail/25/
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