Deal helps Arvada used baby product reseller boost inventory

Good Buy Gear has landed what it hopes will be a key new source of used strollers and the like.

The Arvada-based startup, which buys and resells used baby products, announced last week that it has established a trade-in program with Buybuy Baby, the infant retailer owned by Bed Bath & Beyond.

“We’ve always been supply-constrained as a marketplace, so finding ways to connect with more sellers and, ultimately, partnering with a brand like Buybuy Baby with such a big reach and distribution is the real gain for us,” co-founder Kristin Langenfeld said.

Good Buy Gear, founded in 2016 by Langenfeld and friend Jessica Crothers, has a list of loungers, strollers, carriers, sleepers, bouncers and high chairs that it accepts. Brands include Baby Bjorn, Halo and Dockatot.

Through the partnership, Buybuy Baby’s online and in-store customers can now mail in or drop off used items at 26 stores in California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Georgia. They are paid with up to $400 in gift cards to spend at the retailer, depending on the item and condition.

Good Buy Gear, meanwhile, then buys the recycled items from Buybuy Baby and lists them for sale online.

“There are a lot of big-box retailers that just want to pretend like the secondhand market doesn’t exist. But having a big name like Buybuy Baby embracing the circular economy is a big step for us,” Langenfeld said.

The setup is different from Good Buy Gear’s typical consignment model, in which it resells used items and gives the seller a cut that varies depending on how expensive the item is. For items more than $250, for example, the company takes 20%, while for items less than $15, it’s 80%.

Up to this point, the company has only operated in the Denver and Dallas areas. Individuals with an item to sell can either drop it off at the company’s local warehouse or pay Good Buy Gear to pick it up.

In 2019, Good Buy Gear moved down the street from a 3,300-square-foot office into a 10,000-square-foot warehouse at 6561 W. 56th Ave. in Arvada. The company opened a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Dallas in January 2020.

In October, Good Buy Gear raised $6 million in capital, bringing its fundraising total to $8.75 million, after a $2 million raise in 2018 and a $750,000 raise in 2017, according to SEC filings.