Top 10 Places for Secondhand Baby Gear, Clothes & Toys

Whoa! I can’t believe our baby girl is almost 4 months old today. Time surely is flying. Every day I see something new in her eyes. She’s learning fast and growing fast. As of today, she is now wearing 6-9 months clothing size so I am so glad I didn’t invest too much on her clothing. She is off the charts for height which she probably gets from her dad so many of the long-sleeved sleep and plays that I got her a tad snug. The past few months I’ve learned where to find the best secondhand baby clothes and I’ve listed them below. Buying secondhand is a great way to save money and save resources in the end. Reusing clothing, toys and furniture also allows other kids to enjoy them. From my experience and probably from every other parent out there, children go through clothing quickly so spending a lot of money on clothes that rarely get worn is not worth it. Think about the COST PER WEAR/USE when buying an item. How much use will you get out of it for the price that you pay?

Top 10 Places for Secondhand Baby Gear, Clothes & Toys

First, the best place for secondhand baby items are friends and family. Seriously. Ask around. Someone, somewhere has things they want to pass down. Some people may feel weird asking but doing so allows you to save a whole bunch of resources, time and money and allows you to create your own circular economy. Plus, many people are very willing to hand down baby stuff to people they know.

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Update 2022

Our baby girl is now 3 years old and so far this list of places to buy secondhand kid’s clothing, toys and gear are still my top places to go to. I’ve posted a new video, linked below, which provides a bit more context about why I continue to shop or source from these various place to save money, stay on budget, and reuse things.

#1 MyUnique Thrift Stores

My first suggestion are MyUnique Thrift Stores which are local to New York and New Jersey. There’s a store a few miles from where we live. It’s a fairly large size thrift store with many items for sale. It’s also pretty neat and laid out. They have a large staff to keep things organized and are constantly adding inventory to the floor. They have a very large section for clothing, sorted by size and categories: men/women/kids/baby and toys. Occassionally, you’ll find strollers, high chairs and kid’s rockers there too. I’ve come across a lot of Radio Flyer wagons there, but alas it’s too early for us to get one of those I think. They don’t necessarily carry high end items, though on occasion you may find that gem. In terms of baby clothes, I bought most of our baby’s onesies from here. Most of the onesies started at $1.99 and if you come on a day where they offer 50% off, you can get an even better discount on these items. Check out their locations in NY and NJ. Download their app to get even more discounts and notifications for last minute sales.

Latest MyUnique finds. The pajamas or sleep-n-plays are around $4 each and on a 50% day was $2 each. Most are Carter’s, one still has the tag on and retailed for $20, two are Gap.

#2 Just Between Friends Sale

I heard about the Just Between Friends Sale from my sister. I wrote about my first time experience over here. They just had one recently, however, I felt like I already had what I needed so I skipped the last event. I think the JBF Sale is good to attend once a year for large buys and can be especially good for a large family with active children as they carry sports equipment, plenty of toys and lots of toddler clothing. I think this may be a once a year thing for me to get a bunch of items all at once at a fairly decent price. Check to see if there’s one local to you. These are run locally so it’s nice to create that hyper local economy. Since you have to attend a sale in person, you’ll probably be more apt to buy larger items at this sale and take it home with you.

#3 Poshmark

I actually didn’t realize Poshmark had a Kids section and it’s pretty large. I had used it for browsing name brand women’s clothing which I’ve had great success with. It’s a great place for maternity clothing too! For kids stuff, I recommend using their Bundle feature to bundle a few items from one seller. If you like a particular item, browse the seller’s closet to see what else they’ve got that you can use. This allows you to save money by buying multiple items at once and saves on shipping too. I’ve found that sellers are happy to bundle items more often than not because it also saves them time. When bundling, consider offering a fair price for everything. You can get some steep discounts doing so. I recently was able to find Melissa & Doug toys, a couple of long sleeve onesies and fall/winter buntings from someone’s closet all for a fairly decent price. Here’s an example of a recent bundle I got for $21.

• The Melissa and Doug Bowling Set originally sells for $22 on Amazon.

• The Carter’s Sherpa Hooded Bunting is also around $23 on Amazon.

• The Rashti & Rashti Magic Years 5 Finger Puppet is $15 on Amazon.

Sign up with my code CATGAM10 to get $10 off your first order.

Found on Poshmark

Found on Poshmark

Found on Poshmark

#4 Facebook Marketplace

I think Facebook Marketplace is a great place for furniture and toys. I’ve not had much luck with baby clothes, but have found plenty of options for secondhand strollers, play gyms, toys and other baby gear. We bought a secondhand Uppababy Cruz stroller, which retails for over $500 for $200. It has some minor scratches, but overall, great condition. We just pop our brand new UPPAbaby Mesa Infant Car Seat without needing any extra adapters. We’ve probably used this stroller every weekend since the baby has been born so it’s cost per use has been very good. Side note: I opted to purchase a new car seat because I just felt better knowing it was brand new with no previous accidents. With the UPPAbaby Cruz, we will be able to use the toddler seat when the baby is big enough so it has plenty of life and uses left.

My advice when it comes to buying baby stuff on Facebook Marketplace is to look for items in towns that have a growing family population. These will mostly likely be small cities where there’s not enough room to keep things (no garages or attics/basements) and families are more likely to want to sell an item to reclaim space and money. This also means that there will be a nice amount of inventory there so it will be easy to find what you really need. Don’t forget to negotiate on there too. Be reasonable, but agree to a price before you meet in public to pick up.

#5 eBay

I love eBay for the wide range of things you can buy there. I do think eBay is good for name brand stuff because its easily searchable and the ability to make an offer can get you good prices on many things. eBay has been my source for hard to find things, mostly items that I know I wouldn’t be able to find at local thrift stores. Sometimes, eBay and Poshmark will compete on prices, so it’s a good idea to check on both and see which one will have a better price for you.

#6 Once Upon A Child

Once Upon a Child is a store that buys and sells gently used clothing and toys. They have many locations around the US and Canada. To be honest, I didn’t know this store existed until I got pregnant. Apparently, this store has existed for a while in this strip mall area that I frequent, but it just wasn’t on my radar until very recently. They have a ton of kids clothes, toys and gear - decently priced. I’ve been to the store a few times, but have actually not bought anything yet. I do plan to go back for 12 months and over gear. I’m also in the market for an activity center and found many good ones over there. This is also very local to me. Since it’s a consignment shop, it also keeps a local economy going and provides money back to families.

#7 Goodwill

I’ve not had a chance to shop baby stuff at Goodwill, partly because there’s none close to me. My mother on the other hand has one close to her and has bought a good amount of toys from there. I’ve also noticed she’s been able to get a lot of items still in their packages. All decently priced. She also goes on Sundays and is a senior so she gets a steep discount on what she finds. I’ve been trying to curtail what she buys because we are already starting to feel overrun by toys and our baby is only 4 months, but that’s grandma for you, right?!

#8 ThredUP

If you’ve been sending those bags of clothing to ThredUp, as I have, there’s probably credit in your account that you can use to get some kid’s items. They have a decent collection of various brands and if you can grab one of the discount codes they offer to entice you to purchase, you can score even better deals on great clothing clothes. Get $10 to spend on ThredUp when you sign-up.

#9 Kids on 45th

#10 Kidizen

I had heard of Kidizen and Kids on 45th from a friend on Instagram. I’ve not used them before, partly because I have just enough for the baby at this time. I have browsed to see what Kidizen has to offer and have found some of their items to be a bit expensive. They do carry more name brands, which can be a plus. Kids on 45th uses a Build-a-Box concept where you choose what you need/want in your box and they select it for you and send it off. Again, I’ve not used them, but I may try to when baby is older. The items seem decently priced, but if you have the time, can probably find the same items at a lower cost at the other places I mentioned above. There is an element of surprise I guess that comes with each box which can be exciting for some since you select the category of clothing you want. I’ve actually never ordered from a clothing subscription service before so I can’t comment on how on the mark they are when choosing what you will like.

Top 10 Places for Secondhand Baby Gear, Clothes & Toys

What do you think? Do you shop secondhand stores for baby/kids clothing and toys? What are your favorites? What has been your best find to date?

Before having the baby, I did enjoy going to thrift stores and spending some time browsing the racks, but after baby, I find that going online has been by far the easiest way to find items for her. With some of the items she has outgrown, I’m passing them to a friend who had a baby 6 weeks after me, a girl too! so it can be reused. For other items, I’m keeping in case we have a second child soon. I have items in small boxes and they are labeled so it’s easier for me to find them.