Fascinating business model, that even bricks-&-mortar stores can learn from. For example:

You can’t shop unless you divulge your contact information.*

(I think you might get one little peek, but after that, “Sign up on our mailing list before you can look any farther.”) Wow. Imagine barring the door of your shop until folks show ID and sign up to receive email from you.

They charge for “early admission”:

With First Look, members will get the first pick on The RealReal’s curated collection of runway favorites and limited edition pieces For just $5 a month, browse a fully stocked site of our hand-selected steals 24 hours before our ‘doors’ officially open.

Actually, I think this is a marvelous idea. Most consignment, resale and thrift shops by now have lovingly maintain “New Arrivals” racks, and some have even taken to heart my recommendation of a Premier Customer Card for early viewing of seasonal clearance sales, special discount events  and “grand unveilings” of the new season’s goods. But $60 a year? Yeh.

And as for the other side of the coin, consigning?

It pays to consign. You receive 60% of the sales price (minus sales commissions and/or special coupons) if you consign with us. Typical consignment stores give you 50%. We also offer an annual incentive for consignors. Once you reach sales of $1,500 per year, your rate increases to 70% for the remainder of that calendar year.

Interesting. I couldn’t see what they call “sales commissions” so 60% of what? And I’ve never been fond of allowing consignees to take dollars off my consigned goods arbitrarily through “special coupons”, but that’s just me. Lots of B&M stores have the same policy.

The interesting thing here is the uptick in percentage for higher-paid consignors. A pretty exciting idea that would be SO easy to implement, and certainly make YOUR shop stand out in the Sea of Sameness that’s resale nowadays. I like it!

Shipping is free. You will receive a shipping credit once your item has sold.

Which means, possibly, that you only get your shipping back as a credit, and only if your item sells. Hmmm. Obfuscation at its best.

With 2 items (yes, you read right, TWO) in “XL” in the “Contemporary Designer Resale” (their code for not-quite-as-up-to-snuff-as-we’d-wish, snobwise) on the whole site,

there’s a whole lotta realreal customers out there for YOU to nab.

Other interesting stuff we could learn:

Notice how mannequins showing tops wear a plain bottom, designed to blend in with the background? Good thought to keep in mind.

Another good lesson: They have a “Designer Directory” that does nothing but list names. Great technique for upping your shop site’s SEO. See it here.

They got pakaways!

What happens to items if they are not sold?
You can expect items that did not sell to reappear under a different theme sometime in the next three to four weeks. Pricing may vary each time the item is on the site. In most cases, the prices will stay the same, however, in some cases, the prices will increase.

* It’s all in how you (want people to) look at it:

Listen to how the site owner “spins” this aspect in a media article. I think it’s (unintentionally) hilarious… like people looking at photos on a computer screen might possibly devalue a piece of merchandise!

To access the site, one must first sign up as a member, although there is no fee and no obligation, which Green says has become fairly routine practice with similar sites.

“To maintain the quality they like to know who’s looking at the site,” she explained.