gumdropswap

Review: GumDropSwap.com online kids clothing resale shop

I had the opportunity to try out a children’s clothing swap company recently and wanted to report my experience, because I think it could be a valuable service for many parents.

Gabby, owner of GumdropSwap.com worked with me every step of the way to make sure my questions were answered and the process went smoothly. I had quite a few questions going in, and throughout the process as well. So, Gabby got a workout from me.

To begin with I asked if she could work with specific clothing requests like no zippers or buttons. My youngest daughter, at age 8, can’t button or zip very well so she wears pull on elastic pants and mostly pull over shirts. Gabby said she absolutely could work with that and when I got to the part of the process where I bought the new (to us) clothes, to just leave a note about the type of pants we needed.

So, the basic premise of the company is that when your kids outgrow their clothing, you can send it in to GumdropSwap if it’s in pretty good or new condition. When Gabby receives your box of clothing, she awards credits to your account which she calls gum drops.
You then use those credits to buy clothing from the site. All the clothing is in the same good or new condition and there is no restriction on brand names. You don’t have to send in only certain brands in order to get credit. Your credit is based on the condition of the clothing that you do send, regardless of brand.

If you don’t have clothing to send in, or you simply don’t want to send it in, you can also just plain shopf rom the site with your real money – no gumdrop credits needed. When you shop, there are not photos of individual pieces. You have to trust Gabby to send you a mix of styles and colors. You do order by category though, like pull on pants, dresses, button down shirts, socks and shoes.

Let me tell you about my personal experience.
When I first started, Gabby was still working on the site a little bit, and she did ask me to remember that while she knew what she was doing, the website was still pretty new to her. So, I sent in a box of clothing with a variety of used clothing from our household. I really didn’t know what to expect in credits from what I sent in even though there is a general credit rating for each type of item you can send in.
Some of the clothes I sent were pretty well used, and some were new, just tried on once. I also printed off the shipping list, marked what I was sending in, and mailed it off to Gabby.  (I did have trouble finding the mailing address, but one email to Gabby had it sorted out and my suggestion of putting the address right on the shipping list was taken into account)

A couple days later, my account had been credited with gumdrop credits. I went shopping and was a little bit confused, but quickly figured out what to do. I didn’t use all my credits on this shopping trip but was also able to use my credits towards my return shipping! So, technically the clothing I got back only cost me the price of shipping my old clothing to Gumdropswap, and the price of a membership. (my trial membership was actually free in order to test and review this service and company)

I was able to put in a note about needing non zipper and button pants. I also ordered a dress because my daughter has a couple concerts a year that she has to dress for. A week later, still did not have my return clothing, so I sent Gabby an email to ask if I had not gotten the order submitted correctly or if there were some other problem. She wrote back quickly explaining that the site wasn’t forwarding orders to her so she wasn’t aware I had placed my order! She then got my order to me within a day and also included socks for my trouble.

Now, here’s the cool thing. It looked like NEW clothing, and it was really cute! Gabby also included a nice handwritten note thanking me, and mentioned how she understands now what it must be like to try and find clothing appropriate for kids like my daughter with autism and sensory integration issues.

In addition to on-line shopping, Gumdropswap has a boutique in in downtown Bridgeport, CT.
They also offer a referral program, sales representative program and customer of the month contest!
If you decide to sign up, or even just try it out, please let them know that I sent you.