Post contains affiliate links. “Forget Silver, I’m Investing in Applecheeks.” Words that actually came out of my mouth. By nature, I am not a collector. I don’t like “things” and joke that our house would be practically empty if it were up to me. 😉 I love to admire other people’s collections, and watching shows like Oddities, I ooh and aah at all the incredible things people have. However, it would just stress me out to have a bunch of stuff in my house! The closest I’ve gotten to “collecting” is the handful of books I purchased used as a teen. I don’t even recall their titles, but whenever we visited the used book store, I hunted the shelves for the oldest books I could find, and opened them looking for inscriptions.
Over the 4 years I’ve been cloth diapering, I’ve seen “collectible” diapers go for crazy prices. Some people get upset that sellers ask so much for these rare diapers, but I don’t fault them. If someone wants the diaper & is willing to pay for it, why not? While I could personally not bring myself to pay big bucks for a used diaper, I understand the compulsion to complete a collection!
I’ve regularly cleaned out my cloth diaper stash, donating items received for review, as well as anything that would be the last left on wash day (i.e., not my favorites.) Although I never regret giving diapers away, I have kicked myself now & again when I’ve seen that something I gave away is now discontinued and valuable to collectors!
Most recently, I gave away many that were my favorites, but needed repairs that I didn’t have the time/resources to accomplish. This gave me the perfect reason to take advantage of Black Friday cloth diaper sales to replace some of those colors! I also grabbed the Applecheeks Joy, and participated in the fun Kelly’s Closet Tots Bots Gingerbread diaper hunt. Incredibly, I found the first one! Even though it wasn’t high on my wish list, and was a pricey diaper even retail, I couldn’t resist buying it since I was lucky enough to find it.
Here’s where my dilemma begins. I initially felt guilty for buying the gingerbread since it wasn’t a big want of mine (I loved the Tini Fit, but don’t so much love the new version Easy Fit w/minky), and I know other people were desperately seeking it. So, should I sell it to someone for what I paid just to be nice? Should I sell it & make a buck or hang on to it and hope it gains value? For me, it was a definite no on the latter. Though we could definitely use the money, I would feel guilty making money on a diaper, and would be hurt by the comments calling such sellers greedy. I know this comparison is a stretch, but we’ve all seen collectors who have toys or the like, 20+ years old and new in packages. No one is calling them greedy for buying & hanging on to these items. I suppose people feel that hoarding collectible diapers just further reduces the supply & increases the demand, like people who buy video game systems on Black Friday to sell on Ebay.
If you do decide to buy diapers solely for the purpose of eventual resale, how do you decide what will be collectible & what won’t? Do you just buy all the limited edition/discontinued colors & hope they won’t be re-released? I’m sure some people selling Bumgenius’s Chelsea Perry artist series were kicking themselves a few weeks ago! Worse, what if they were re-released in a newer style/version, and yours lost value?
I’ll be honest that something about the Bumgenius rainbow gets my heart all a-flutter. When we were expecting our youngest, I got a great deal on blossom and zinnia, the only 2 colors I didn’t have. I had a zinnia elemental I purchased to do my Bumgenius new style elementals compared to old, since I’d passed mine on already. I passed that along as well when I was finished, and I kicked myself a little bit on that once I realized that they were much desired and selling for a good bit. Particularly since mine had only been used a few times! When we ended up having another boy, I passed the blossom & zinnia 4.0s along to a friend who had boy/girl twins. I could have and would have used them – I have no problem with “girly” diapers on boys (we use Lovelace and Dazzle regularly!) but I knew that pink diapers would probably be the last I grabbed, so better that someone else use them.
When Bumgenius discontinued a bunch of colors, I went ahead and bought blossom and zinnia again, not for the purpose of resale, but just so my rainbow was complete (sad, right?) and bought Maathai too. Those 3 girly diapers are put away as my “you never, know, maybe we’ll have a 4th baby” insurance policy, ha.
So for now, I’m just loving my limited edition and/or discontinued diapers, and I’m only buying what I will actually use. I of course pre-ordered the 4 new Bumgenius prints, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of Picadilly Circus & Top Hat. I didn’t love the first artist series when they were released, but once I had them I loved them. I jokingly say that I can’t resist a new Bumgenius color/print, but in reality, I don’t have a huge stash, and many have been used for more than 4 years. I think I can justify the purchase of a few more. 🙂
The real question will be when we’re finished with cloth diapers. Do I just donate them all as usual, or do I pull out any “collectible” diapers first? Would selling them make me a terrible person?
Are there any brands that you like to collect? Have you ever bought or sold a collectible diaper?
Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 18, 14 and 11-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. 
BTW if you do sell a diaper for over retail I do not think you are doing anything wrong. If people don’t like it then they should just not buy it.
I think that you are wonderful for donating diapers. I have donated some but I mostly sell my used diapers. Even if they were ones I win. I enter diaper giveaways b/c I want to try a diaper out or b/c i know I love that diaper. Sometimes I just don’t love the diaper I won after using it and I end up selling it. I use the money towards a diaper I do like. I think there is nothing wrong with that. Usually my cloth diapering friends buy my used and I give them great deals! Maybe you should try auctioning your collectable diapers. That way you aren’t asking for more than it is worth but people can pay what it is worth to them (even if it is over retail) then u wouldn’t feel bad. I have never sold a diaper for over retail. I have a few applecheeks but I don’t even know how I would go about selling them for so much 🙂 I usually sell to the local diaper store or to friends.
I agree! I sold a Lake Echo (before it was re-released) and a St Lucia 2 both with shot elastic for a lot more than I paid for them. I have two Purple Rain ACs and I’m curious to see what they will be worth when I’m done. I do take resale value into consideration when buying diapers because that lowers my cost overall but those two weren’t bought with resale in mind. I just got lucky 🙂
I have no diapers that are set aside for the purpose of reselling or collecting. I do however really like both the gingerbread and joy diapers. My favorite diapers are fleece lined ones. Just bought the tots bots easy fit and loved it over the tiny fit which leaked. For me functionality is key and then the print or color.
I once won a Ragababe 2 Step and used it a few times and then realized that I could buy a couple new diapers for the cots of a Ragababe. I ended up selling it for less than retail, but since I won it, it was no big deal. Someone else got a heck of a deal on a diaper and I was able to buy more. I don’t have the money laying around to buy up diapers for the sole purpose of reselling later, but I do try to take care of my diapers so I can at least recoup a little bit when we are done with them.
I’ve never sold a collectible diaper, although I have an NIP Applecheeks LE color that I’m hanging on to for now. I have no problem selling diapers when I’m done with them because the money goes into my Paypal account that then gets used for the children’s clothing, etc. I try to pass them on at a reasonable price though so that the buying mama gets a good deal and I get a little something too. Win-win!