Sell Your Used Dance Shoes — 0% Fees

Used dance shoes typically sell for £12 to £55, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Dance shoes are bought for a specific discipline, and a shoe made for one style is genuinely unusable for another — so name the discipline before anything else.

The short version

Typical range: £12 – £55 — see the full dance shoes value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Shoes & Footwear

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.

Identify the discipline precisely: ballroom, Latin, jazz, tap, ballet or character.
Check the suede sole if it has one, and note whether it needs brushing or has worn through to the base.
Check the heel attachment and any strap, buckle or elastic, and measure the heel height.

The photographs that sell dance shoes

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 pair side on, standing
Both soles, showing suede or leather condition
The straps, fastenings or ribbons
The size marking and heel, plus any wear or damage

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Discipline, brand and size: “Latin Dance Shoes, 2.5in Heel, UK 5, Suede Sole”. The discipline is the search and the heel height is the second filter. Suede sole is worth stating because it determines which floors the shoe can be used on.

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

Discipline the shoe is made for
Size as marked with equivalents, and insole length
Heel height and shape
Sole material and condition, and any strap or fastening wear

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about dance shoes. 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 style are they for?”

Name the discipline. Ballroom, Latin and jazz shoes differ in sole, heel and flexibility and are not interchangeable.

“Is the suede sole worn through?”

Photograph the sole. Suede wears down with use and can be brushed, but once it is through to the base the shoe is finished for dancing.

“How high is the heel?”

Measure it. Dancers buy a specific heel height they can work in and will not compromise on it.

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 dance shoes 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 £33 sale — roughly the middle of the range for dance shoes — 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	£33
Poshmark	−£7	£26
eBay	−£4	£29
Mercari	−£3	£30
Etsy	−£2	£31

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

Steady year round with lifts before competition and show seasons. Specialist brands sell quickly to a small, knowledgeable audience.

Light and cheap to post. Box them with the soles protected so the suede does not pick up dirt in transit, which is annoying to remove.

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 are used dance shoes worth?

Typically £12 to £55, with specialist competition brands above. See the dance shoes value guide for the bands.

Can suede soles be restored?

They can be brushed back up with a wire dance brush, which lifts the nap and restores grip. Once worn through to the backing, though, the sole needs replacing by a specialist.

Are dance shoes worth buying used?

Very much so, since they are often bought for a single show or season and barely worn. Say how much use yours have had and photograph the soles, which show it honestly.