Sell Your Used Kimono — 0% Fees

A used kimono typically sells for £10 to £50, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Two quite different things are sold as kimono — a traditional Japanese garment and a modern layering piece — and being clear which you have is the whole listing.

The short version

Typical range: £10 – £50 — see the full kimono 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.

Establish which you have. A traditional kimono has distinctive construction, straight seams and often a silk lining and hand-stitching.
For anything traditional, photograph the lining, seams and any maker’s or family mark rather than guessing at age.
Check silk for splitting along fold lines, which is where old silk fails.

The photographs that sell a kimono

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 garment laid flat, whole, sleeves spread
The lining and inner seams
Any mark, label, or hand-stitched detail
The fabric close up, plus any split, stain or fade

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Type, fabric and size: “Vintage Silk Kimono, Hand Stitched, One Size” or “Floral Kimono Jacket, Size M, Lightweight”. Say plainly whether it is a traditional garment or a kimono-style jacket — they attract different buyers at very different prices.

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

Whether traditional or kimono-style, with your evidence
Fabric composition, and whether it is lined
Width across sleeves and length
Condition of the silk or fabric, including any split or fade

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a kimono. 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.

“Is it a real Japanese kimono?”

Describe the construction and photograph the seams and lining, and say what you actually know about where it came from. Honest uncertainty is respected; a wrong claim is not.

“Is the silk split anywhere?”

Check along the fold lines and shoulders. Aged silk splits there first and it is not economically repairable.

“What are the measurements?”

Give the sleeve span and length. Traditional garments are not sized conventionally, so measurements are the only useful guide.

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 kimono 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 £30 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a kimono — 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	£30
Poshmark	−£6	£24
eBay	−£4	£26
Mercari	−£3	£27
Etsy	−£2	£28

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 to a collector and fashion audience, with a lift in spring for lightweight layering pieces. Genuine vintage silk sells to a patient specialist market.

Fold with acid-free tissue at every fold for silk, and post flat in a box rather than a bag. Old silk creases permanently under pressure.

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 kimono worth?

Typically £10 to £50 for kimono-style jackets, with genuine vintage silk garments considerably above. See the kimono value guide for the bands.

How do I tell a real kimono from a kimono-style jacket?

Look at the construction: traditional garments use straight seams, a distinctive collar and often hand-stitching and a silk lining. Photograph the seams and lining and let buyers assess it themselves.

Should I have an old kimono cleaned?

Not conventionally — traditional garments need specialist care and ordinary dry cleaning can damage the silk and dyes. Sell it as it is and let the buyer decide.