Everyone knows: we’re in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. Apparently a pandemic, an older generation obsessed with owning all the goods, and more catastrophic crises are not great for the economy.
We’ve heard this constantly over the past year: The cost of living is rising while wages are stagnant. The news feeds our anxiety: Fuel is more expensive. Food is more expensive. The rent is more expensive.
Hell, we know!
For the past six months to a year – after paying my rent and bills, buying my food (honestly, at this point I wish I didn’t have to eat to survive) – I don’t have much left in my account other than some change for a drink with which to cry my pity and a dodgy party to make me forget everything.
So I started thinking: How can I make more money? Or more specifically, how to make more money without leaving my room, talking or physically interacting with people (years of working in horeca made small talk with people enemy number one) or adding dozens more extra hours to my 38 hour work week.
The first thing that crossed my mind was to sell my underwear online. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while.
In the end I took the step because of a TikTok . In fact, some viral videos on TikTok made by this guy named Pilipili, who has made a habit of interviewing beautiful girls and asking them how much money they have in their account.
It always goes something like this:
“How much money do you have in your account?”
“Three hundred thousand dollars.”
“Three hundred thousand dollars?! How come you have so much money?”
“Selling Sofia Gray my knickers.”
Being impulsive and (slightly) stupid, I didn’t realize it was most likely a hidden ad for Sofia Gray – “the #1 global marketplace to buy and sell used panties”. I should have read the comments: “This is obviously an ad.” I didn’t research at all how hard it would be or what I would have to do. I signed up for $40 (for three months) in five minutes.
Set-up
At this point I started doing a little research, starting with the most logical place: Google. “How to Sell Panties Online”.
The first thing I found was that my dreams of making three hundred thousand dollars had little chance of coming true. Most first-time sellers were making maybe two hundred dollars a month (if they even made those) and it would have been a slow start. In fact, sellers who already had a loyal and avid following on sites like OnlyFans or Instagram were most likely to find success. I didn’t have any.
I also discovered that Sofia Gray is neither listed in the top panty selling sites nor did it have good reviews.
“70% of SG buyers were spammers and scammers, 20% of them were wasting your time, and the rest were nice customers that I enjoyed talking to…but not worth dealing with all that shit,” one review read.
“This is not the site if you really want to sell your used clothes,” wrote another.
Damn it. But I already paid for the subscription, so I ventured out.
To create a Sofia Gray account, you first need to choose a name for your store, answer a Q&A (which involves some “naughty or cute” questions), verify your identity (this part is optional) and start uploading either free or premium content.
Buyers can access your premium content for a price – which you set. They can also unlock the option to text you for seven days, also at a price you set.
The name of my shop was – and when I think about it I shake my head in disgust – “Golden skin island girl”. Damn, Ugh. Yes, I fetishized and no, it didn’t feel good to do so. That’s the point though. To work to your strengths and stand out in the already oversaturated market.
I posted a picture of my ass in red lace underwear. If you’re going to look, you won’t find it, because (spoiler) I deleted the account after I didn’t sell anything. I put the price at $30 (which seemed to be the average according to other stores) and wrote an extremely direct description.
Throughout this process, anonymity was very important to me. One problem though was that I had tattoos all over my chest. It limited the positions in which I could photograph myself. Anyway, I climbed into my first pair of panties.
THE WAITING GAME
And then I waited. I waited for the people to come. After a few days of not getting any messages (and feeling demoralized), I started doing online documentaries again.
After reading various articles, one thing became clear: selling panties is not a waiting game. You have to be proactive. It really takes WORK. Oh God.
There is an option where you can search for buyers, message them and bring them to you on your profile. On Sofia Gray, there is a daily limit of ten messages. I found the most active buyers and sent them a copy-paste message.
“What are you doing? I’m new to this app and looking for new friends. Would you like to talk? Go to my profile and see what you think :)” I wrote. In case you haven’t caught on, I was pretending to be innocent and naive.
I’ve also read that reddit has a large community of people looking to buy, so I made an account with a name similar to the store’s “Golden Skin Island Girl” (ugh) and posted a link to my profile in a few subreddits. I’ve included: r/usedpanties/ and r/panties, both of which have hundreds of thousands of members.
At this point I began to wonder if it would require more work than I originally thought. I was investing hours after my job from 9am to 5pm, posting on forums, messaging people and taking pictures.
It’s really worth it? Was it as easy as I thought it would be? I had my doubts. Despite this, I carried on, texted, searched the net, worked on marketing. Again, I waited.
SUCCESS?
After another week I got my first message from a user named “carlos”: Hey, do you sell panties + masturbation ampoules or socks?”
In my innocence I asked what a “masturbation ampoule” was.
“A vial you pee or spit in.”
I won’t go into the details of this conversation, but basically we agreed on a few things, put a price, and then…it was gone.
Apparently it’s a common experience on Sofia Gray. In fact, rumor has it that most shoppers on the app aren’t even there to buy. When looking at buyer profiles it’s not uncommon to see bios that aim to redirect sellers to third-party apps – like Kik, Whatsapp or Signal – to avoid the messaging fee you can set on your profile.
Mine was a bitter dollar for seven days. Apparently many shoppers were looking for free sexting sessions rather than lingerie. It happened to me a few times and it was an incredible waste of time.
About a month and a half had already passed. I was bored, disturbed and disappointed. I decided to quit. I didn’t have time to waste on something that didn’t bring me anything. I stopped putting hours into it. I was losing interest.
I have learned many things in my process to a profitable side job (this was not one).
First of all, selling your panties online (in my experience) isn’t as easy as some people – or the internet – make it out to be, especially when you’re a beginner like me. You have to work hard and it ends up being a second job on top of your main job. You have to invest just as many hours reaching out, promoting, and messaging as you would working a 9 to 5 job. However, I would say that if you already have a successful OnlyFans account or a lot of followers on Instagram would be easier. So give it a try.
Second, I’ve learned that the key is to do your research before buying any kind of subscription. Sofia Gray, while promoting itself as one of the largest marketplaces for used panties on the internet, would not be the first place I would go. Sniffrs, I’ve read, bring a bit more success to buyers, as does Etsy (which I’ve read is the best place to sell).
The $40 subscription for three months is also a steep price considering most people don’t recoup their investment. The site also charges you for further promotion (which is almost necessary considering the oversaturation of sellers). Buyers are unlikely to find you without it. They certainly didn’t find me. The site won’t even let you cash out until you reach $50, which I didn’t even come close to.
Lastly, and this is what I need to be better at: you need consistency, patience, building relationships and yes, a lot of time. I quickly lose interest in things if they are not favorable to me. This experience was one of them. A month and a half was most likely not enough time to build a loyal fan base or a diverse store.
In the end, my goal was to make quick money, but it was an illusion, a business that became a mirage of hope. Now I understand that. If you’re of the same mindset as me, selling your panties is not an easy way to make money. You have to work. Work I’m not ready to do.
If you do, then good luck. I hope you will do better than me.