Sell Your Used Hat — 0% Fees

A used hat typically sells for £5 to £30, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Hats are sold on head circumference, not on small, medium or large — measure the inside of the band and you will answer the only question that matters.

The short version

Typical range: £5 – £30 — see the full hat value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Clothing

Before you photograph it

Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.

Measure the internal circumference of the band in centimetres.
Check the sweatband inside for staining and the brim for loss of shape, which is what ages a hat.
Brush felt with a soft brush in one direction and reshape gently with steam if it has flattened.

The photographs that sell a hat

Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.

The hat from the front and the side, on a stand or upright
The inside band, showing the size marking and sweatband
The brim edge all the way round
Any maker’s label, plus every stain, dent, fray or misshapen area

Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.

Writing the title and description

Style, material and size: “Wool Fedora, 58cm, Charcoal” or “Panama Hat, Size L, 57cm”. Circumference in centimetres is the search that actually works. Name the style precisely — fedora, trilby, flat cap and bucket hat are all separate searches.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Internal circumference in centimetres, plus any letter size
Material and whether it is blocked felt, straw or fabric
Brim width, and whether the brim is stiff or floppy
Sweatband condition and any stain, dent or fray

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a hat. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.

“What size is it?”

Give the internal circumference in centimetres. Letter sizes vary wildly between makers and heads do not.

“Is the sweatband stained?”

Photograph the inside honestly. It is the part that touches the skin and buyers of used hats always look.

“Has it kept its shape?”

Photograph from the side. A collapsed crown or wavy brim is what makes a hat look finished, and it is not always fixable.

Pricing it so it actually sells

Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.

The hat value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.

What you keep, compared

On a £17 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a hat — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:

Where you sell it	Fee	You keep
WishThrift	£0	£17
Poshmark	−£3	£14
eBay	−£2	£15
Mercari	−£2	£15
Etsy	−£1	£16

Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.

Timing and getting it to the buyer

Straw and summer hats lift April to July; felt and wool hats October to February. Occasion hats lift before wedding season.

Post in a rigid box, stuffed with paper to hold the crown. A hat in a padded bag arrives crushed and there is no recovering a blocked felt crown.

WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.

Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

What is a used hat worth?

Typically £5 to £30, with quality felt, panama and designer hats well above. See the hat value guide for the condition bands.

How do I measure hat size?

Measure the inside of the band all the way round in centimetres. That number is what buyers compare against their own head measurement, and it is far more reliable than S/M/L.

Can a crushed hat be reshaped?

Felt often responds to steam and careful blocking; straw usually does not. Say honestly what condition it is in rather than steaming it for one photograph.