The process
What happens between reservation and release.
Encore is a marketplace, not a consignment shop. Sellers keep ownership of their pieces and set their own prices. We verify who is selling, hold the money through our payment provider until the buyer has the dress, and take a published commission only when an order completes.
Step by step
From listing to payout
01
Sellers apply and are reviewed
Anyone listing on Encore applies first. We review the account, the pitch, and the payout details before a single dress becomes visible. Only approved, published sellers appear in the shop, and a verified badge is applied by our team, never self assigned.
02
Listings are complete before they go live
Each dress carries photographs, designer, size, colour, silhouette, condition, city, and the tax that will be applied. Price, deposit, and remaining balance are shown together, so nothing about the cost is discovered at checkout.
03
A deposit reserves the dress
A buyer pays twenty five percent of the total, on every listing, to take the dress off the rail. That payment is held by Encore through Stripe rather than passed to the seller, and the listing is unpublished immediately so nobody else can reserve the same dress.
04
The balance is paid before handover
The remaining amount is settled before the dress changes hands, either by local pickup with a handover code or by shipping. Both payments sit together on the payment platform until the order is confirmed.
05
Inspection, then release
Once the courier confirms delivery, the buyer has 24 hours to confirm the dress matches or open a case. If nothing is raised, the funds release to the seller, Encore's eighteen percent commission on the dress price is deducted, and the payout is transferred to the seller's connected account. Sellers have twelve hours from the balance payment to hand the dress to the courier, or the buyer is refunded in full.
06
A verified review closes the order
Only a buyer with a completed order can write a review, and the review stays attached to that order. This is why our reviews section is honest about being new rather than filled with invented testimonials.
Selling with Encore
What a seller can expect
You keep control
You set the price, describe the condition, and choose whether the dress ships or is handed over locally. You can unpublish a listing at any time before it is reserved.
You are paid after the buyer is satisfied
Funds release to your connected payout account once the buyer confirms, or 24 hours after the courier confirms delivery. Encore's commission is eighteen percent of the dress price, and it is shown on every payout.
Your reputation is earned
Verification is granted by our team, and every rating on your profile traces back to a completed order. Nothing on your seller page can be bought or written by us.
Trust
Buying a dress from a stranger should not feel like a gamble
So we built the unglamorous part properly: reviewed sellers, required photographs, payments held until the dress is in your hands, time to inspect it, and a refund process with real rules. And when something does go wrong, a person at Encore reads both sides and makes the call. Not a bot, not a form letter.
Encore is not a bank and does not operate a regulated escrow service. Money is held on the payment platform and released according to the milestones below.