Little Black Bag: From Start to Finish

I thought it might be interesting to chronicle my trading in Little Black Bag.

This is a site where you can buy a starting item at a discount, then "bundle" it, meaning you will receive a few other stylist picks.  You then have 1 week to trade your items for other items that people have.  This post will go through my trading process for the most recent bag that I opened.

This will be quite image heavy!!

I opened with these shoes, for a cost of $49.95, plus about $5 shipping.  The promotion going on was that for every VIP purchase of $49.95 or more, you would have a purse as one of your stylist picks.  Being a VIP means you a charged $10 every month, which can go toward a bag that month, or can accumulate to be spent all at once later on down the road.  Basically, as long as you sign up and don't do the one-time purchase option, you will be a VIP.

Photo from LBB: This is my opening pick.

Once I confirmed my billing and shipping information, I was able to see the other (in this case, 3) items in my bag:

View 1 of opening

The 4th item when I opened

Total "retail" value $213

I use the word, "retail," loosely, as LBB tends to overestimate the worth of their items.  When you are trading, a good guideline is to offer on items within a few dollars of what you are trying to trade away.

I accepted some trades right off the bat:

I accepted the bag on the left for my bag on the right, which I think is ugly.
Total "retail" value $214

I accepted the earrings on the left for the earrings on the right.
Total "retail" value $215

I accepted the earrings for the hair ties.
Total "retail" value $218

So far, so good.  I've moved up $5 in value.  A good strategy is to trade as far up in value for an item as you can, then trade down at the end for a nicer item that you really like.

Here is what your offer page looks like:

Hmm this looks like a good trade

There is a bright green "Accept Trade" button in the bottom right.  This will let you execute that particular trade.  If there is more than one identical offer, you can pick which user's trade to accept (if you have negotiated with a friend or someone on the chat).

You can also see what offers you have made with an item:

If you click an item and scroll to the bottom of the screen, you would see something like the image above.  It will tell you how many people have received the offer for the item you want, as well as how many people have passed on it.  You can also pass on any offers you think are too ridiculous or low in value.

The rest of my trades went like this:

Total "retail" value now $221

Earrings for earrings.

Total "retail" value $225

Two trades in here, for both of my previous pairs of earrings. $18 -> $20, $24 -> $26

This was a 2-for-1 trade.  Also included was a pair of $25 pyramid earrings.
Total "retail" value $229

I skipped the aquisition of the necklace, sorry :( Traded my 2 lower-value earrings for the necklace
After necklace, total "retail" $231
After clutch trade, total "retail" $233

Total "retail" value $233 at this point

Here's where things started to go wrong.  It doesn't help that i went on vacation.

Total "retail" value $221

Total "retail" value $217

I liked the fedora better, so I traded down, again.

I didn't like the backpack, so I traded down.
Total "retail" value $215

Bringing the total "retail" value back up to $224

Traded the fedora and the pyramid earrings for the tote. Value is back up, but nobody wanted the tote or the clutch.  *I think I'm missing a step in there, I'm off by $6?*

Traded the tote for three pairs of earrings.
Total "retail" value $216.  A loss, but a necessary one in that case.

Better to break up the big item for smaller ones that can easily be traded up in value. Somebody in the chat took pity on me.

$216 still.  Sideways trade, but the new ones were less ugly.

Loss.  $215.

Sideways, $215.

Loss. $211.

I think I'm missing steps somewhere?

Traded the leaf clutch for the Steve Madden.
Total "retail" value $217.

Slight gain, $217.

Sideways, $217

a

Slightly up, $219.

Ending trading, only a few hours left!

Overall ending total "retail" $217.

Final items.

I'm only up a few dollars, but I am happy with the things I ended up with.  I think there were some smaller trades here and there that I forgot to document, which is why I seem to be a few dollars off here and there.

Hopefully it's enough to get the idea!  You put offers on items you want, and accept offers on items you have to get the best and most satisfying bag you can.

Here is my referral link.

This post contains items purchased with my own money.  No compensation was received for this post and all opinions are my own.  There is a referral link included in this post; If you sign up using my LBB link, you will get 25% off your first order and I will receive a free item in my next one.