A guide for parents
Where to buy secondhand children's clothes in the UK
Every option, what each is good for, what to check before you buy, and the three things you shouldn't buy used at all.
What's in here
- First, the bag in the loft
- The options at a glance
- Vinted
- Facebook Marketplace and local groups
- Charity shops
- NCT nearly new sales
- Preloved specialist shops
- What to check before you buy
- The three things not to buy secondhand
- Or stop buying them altogether
Children's clothes are the single best thing to buy secondhand, and it isn't close. Four in five get replaced because a child grew out of them, not because they wore out. So most of what you'll find has barely been worn.
Where to look depends on whether you want it cheap, quick, or without the trawling.
First, the bag in the loft
You're about to spend money on children's clothes. And upstairs, there's a bag of children's clothes you've finished with.
Nobody ever points this out and it's the odd bit about buying secondhand. Every option below has you paying for one lot while the other sits in the loft.
If your child is growing, you're a buyer and a seller at the same time, permanently. Treating those as two separate jobs is what makes the whole thing expensive and annoying.
What everyone does
Pay for clothes coming in. Leave the bag of clothes going out in the loft, where it does nothing for anybody.
What actually makes sense
Use one to pay for the other. It's the same problem twice and it only feels like two because nobody joins them up.
Keep that in mind for the rest of this.
The options at a glance
| Where | Best for | Price | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinted | Bundles by size, branded pieces | 60-80% off new | Waiting, postage, trawling |
| Facebook Marketplace | Big local bundles, no postage | Free to a few pounds | Messages, meeting someone |
| Charity shops | Browsing, one-offs | Very cheap | Pot luck on sizes |
| NCT nearly new sales | A whole size in one go | Cheap | Two or three dates a year |
| Preloved shops | Curated, checked stock | Higher | You pay for the sorting |
| Local swap groups | Passing things round informally | Free | Only if one exists near you |
| Swapaboo | The clothes you need, all year, chosen by you | Clothes free, from £1.99 to move them | You list what you have first, invitation only |
Vinted
The default, and it has the most stock by a distance. For children's clothes the thing to know is that bundles beat single items. Search for a size and a bundle rather than an individual top, and you'll pay far less per item and post once instead of five times.
Sort by newest rather than relevance, since good bundles go quickly. And message a seller about combining several of their listings, which most are happy to do and which saves you postage.
Facebook Marketplace and local groups
Often free or a few pounds, and no postage. Local parent groups in particular are where whole wardrobes get passed on for very little, because the alternative for the seller is a trip to the tip.
The trade is the admin. Messages that go nowhere, arranging a time, driving somewhere. Fine for a big bundle, not for one coat.
Charity shops
If cost is the pressing thing, there are genuinely free routes too. Charity shops are cheap, immediate, and much better in some areas than others. Shops near affluent postcodes get better donations. Not subtle, but it holds.
You can't search a charity shop. You go, and there either is or isn't anything in the size you need. Good for a browse, useless when you need 2-3y jumpers this week.
NCT nearly new sales
The best way to buy a whole size in one go. A hall full of children's clothes sorted by age, priced to sell, a few pounds an item.
Get there early. Members enter before the public and volunteers before members, and at a busy sale the first half hour is where the good stock goes. Our full guide to nearly new sales covers how they work.
The catch is that they run two or three times a year. Which solves March if the sale is in March.
Preloved specialist shops
Online shops that buy, sort, check and resell children's clothing. You pay more than on Vinted, and what you're paying for is that someone has already done the sorting and rejected anything marked.
Good when you want something specific and don't fancy spending an evening looking for it.
What to check before you buy
Ask for a photo of any wear. A seller who has one has actually looked. Bobbling on knees and elbows, the inside of cuffs, and the neckline are where children's clothes go first.
Look at the light in the photos. Most stains don't show under a warm kitchen light. A photo taken by a window tells you more.
Check the size against height rather than age, since brands differ by up to a whole size. Our size guide has the height ranges.
The one thing a photo can't tell you
Ask whether it's from a smoke-free home if that matters to you. Most sellers say so without being asked, and smell is the single thing you cannot check from a picture.
The three things not to buy secondhand
Clothes are fine. These three aren't, and it's worth knowing why rather than just being told.
Car seats
You can't see whether one has been in a crash, and a seat that's been in even a minor collision may be compromised in ways that leave no mark at all.
Cot mattresses from another home
The Lullaby Trust says there's some evidence that a mattress brought in from another household might very slightly raise the risk of sudden infant death, and they advise a new one for each baby where possible.
Anything with a safety job you can't inspect
Helmets that might have been dropped, harnesses of unknown age, anything that's meant to protect and might have already done so once.
Or stop buying them altogether
Back to that bag in the loft. If your child is growing, clothes are leaving your house at roughly the rate they're needed. That's what a swap uses.
You photograph what they've outgrown, we check and value each piece, and that value becomes credits you spend on the next size from another family. No selling first, no buying separately. The bag in the loft becomes the clothes you were about to pay for.
Bundles, always. One listing, one postage, ten things that fit. I do not know why anyone buys them one at a time.
🌱 Against everything above
The clothes cost nothing. Not less, nothing. You've already paid for them with the ones you passed on. The only money that changes hands is the delivery or collection, from £1.99.
You know the condition before you claim. Every item is photographed individually, checked for holes, stains and heavy wear, and graded. That grade is shown before you take it. No judging a stain from someone else's kitchen-light photograph, and if something arrives not as described your credits come straight back.
You pick every piece. Any size, any style, from the whole catalogue. Never a mystery bag, never pot luck.
It runs all year. Not two dates in a hall, not whenever a bundle happens to be listed near you.
And there's no admin. One photo per item, about a minute a bundle. Nothing to write, no price to agree, no messages, nobody to meet.
Two honest conditions. You need clothes going out as well as coming in, so it doesn't suit a first-time parent with nothing to list yet. And we're opening in small batches, invitation only, so you may have to wait.
Common questions
Where is the cheapest place to buy secondhand children's clothes?
Local swap groups are free where one exists near you. Facebook groups and Marketplace come next, where whole bundles often go for a few pounds or nothing since the seller's alternative is disposing of them. Charity shops and nearly new sales are cheap, and Vinted has the most choice but adds postage. A swap costs nothing for the clothes themselves, only the fee to move them, provided you have clothes to list.
Is it safe to buy secondhand baby clothes?
Yes. Wash them before use as you would anything new, and check for damage in the photos. Clothes carry no safety history in the way equipment does. Car seats, cot mattresses and anything with a safety function you cannot inspect are the things to buy new.
What should you not buy secondhand for a baby?
Car seats, because crash damage is invisible and a seat in even a minor collision may be compromised. Cot mattresses, since the Lullaby Trust recommends a new one for each baby where possible. And anything whose failure would matter and whose condition you cannot inspect.
How do you buy children's clothes on Vinted?
Search by size and look for bundles rather than single items, since you will pay far less per piece and post once. Sort by newest, because good bundles go quickly, and ask sellers to combine several listings to save on postage.
What is the best way to get children's clothes secondhand?
It depends whether you also have clothes to pass on. If you do, swapping costs nothing for the clothes themselves and removes the selling and the buying entirely. If you do not, a local swap group is free where one exists, and Facebook Marketplace or a nearly new sale is usually cheapest after that.
How much cheaper are secondhand children's clothes?
Typically 60 to 80% below new for the same items, and often more from local groups or charity shops. The saving is large because most children's clothes are outgrown rather than worn out, so they are sold in good condition at a fraction of the original price.