Online marketplace helps parents sell used kids’ goods

In today’s consumer society, raising children seems to go hand in hand with acquiring and then later divesting oneself of mountains of kids’ goods. That’s why we’ve already seen contenders such as Hand-me-downs step in to help with the challenge, and it’s also why there’s StorkBrokers today. Now in beta, US-based StorkBrokers is an online marketplace and community dedicated to helping parents buy and sell used kids’ goods. There is no fee for parents to join ad-supported StorkBrokers, or to list products on the site. To list an item for sale, parents simply create a user profile, upload a picture and description of the item, and list it in the appropriate section. If the item does not sell, there is nothing lost. If it does sell, the site charges 6 percent of the item’s final sale price. Either way, StorkBrokers also strives to offer a sense of community through a forum for online chat and areas with original content from experts and parents. Between the financial benefits for parental sellsumers — not to mention those in search of a bargain — and the eco-minded benefits of reuse for the environment, it seems likely there will always be a need for ways to resell kids’ goods. Throw in StorkBrokers’ community focus, however, and you may just have an offering that can set itself above the rest. One to emulate in your neck of the woods? (Related: Marketplace creates ‘trade rings’ for group swaps — One-of-a-kind kids’ clothes, locally made from reclaimed discards — A social marketplace for clothes hounds.)