The Online Boutique that Specializes in the Vintage, Rare, Unique and Unusual

If you’re an avid shopper chances are you’ve clicked over to a consignment store or two in search of some vintage, rare or unusual pieces. And you’re not alone. With the growth of reliable online resellers andluxury consignment stores, it seems that almost everyone is skimming the pages of sites like SnobSwap, The RealReal and Vestiaire looking for something unique and special. We all have our favorite shopping destinations, but for popular bags, jewelry and accessories, we love to shopPortero. The site specializes in authentic pre-owned luxury, which means Chanel, Hermès, Celine and Dior are all mainstays at this online boutique. With over a decade in luxury consignment, the site offers a stellar authentication process, on-call stylists to help you pick and choose the best bag, and an international shopping service that can track down the rarest and most coveted of pieces.

Since its inception in 2004, the site has reinvented and refined itself, most recently at the hands of Alexis Clarbour, the Executive Director of Portero who came on board in 2013. With a background in finances, Clarbour was originally a NASDAQ trader on Wall Street before realizing her calling in the world of luxury. She spent five years at Waterworks, partnering with top architects and interior decorators before working with the Metropolitan Opera, redesigning their retail space, both in-store and online. She spent only a short time at Circa Jewels before they purchased Portero in 2013. “Because I had experience in all realms of luxury goods and e-commerce experience they asked me to run Portero,” she toldJustLuxe. “It’s been a really rewarding experience, it’s really amazing to have a brand basically be put in your hands in that way. We’ve done a lot of work since then in terms of the type of merchandise that’s on the site, the way the site looks and the experience, the customer service experience.”

And it didn’t take long for Clarbour to clean house. She cut categories she felt weren’t relevant to their niche customers, took i…

For both Clarbour and her customers, quality, exclusivity and authenticity are top priorities. “At Portero, for us, we are a highly-curated site. Everything that’s on our site has been vetted by our team to deem whether it’s worthy or not. And when I say worthy I don’t mean to sound snobbish, it’s just our average dollar transaction is $2,000; that’s really high in any realm,” she said. “But that tells you something about our customer and what they’re really looking for in Portero. And what they want is to know, first of all, when we say something is pristine or excellent that they can trust that. Obviously authenticity is the number one priority at Portero … We wouldn’t be in business this long if we didn’t take that to the highest degree of seriousness.”

To source the best and most trusted products, they receive their pre-owned pieces from two major outlets: Portero clients and vetted resellers around the world. “We have a direct consignment business so if a client or customer has some items that they no longer wear or use they can absolutely consign them directly with us, we have a department to do that,” she explained. “That being said we also recognize there are other bags that are out there that are just as good and we want to give the best selection to our clients. As such we work with vetted resellers all over the world. Most of these relationships are longstanding and they love Portero because they sell on Portero. And they understand that if we trust them, they’re worthy of that trust as well. But that also goes into authenticity, you need to work with the best people out there.”

Those looking to clear their closets, only need to fill out a quick form to sell with Portero. Products are sent into their New York offices where an on-site team of authenticators inspect accessories and prep them for resale. “All of the items that are consigned with us do go through this office [for authentication], but we do have offices and people we work with around the world,” Clarbour explained. To make sure that both seller and shoppers are getting not only the best value, but also the best product, they offer the Portero Promise, a guarantee of both the authenticity and condition of each product they sell. “If the authenticity ever comes into question that’s where the Portero Promise comes into play,” she said. “If a client thinks an item isn’t correct for some reason we’ll send a label, have it sent in here, and then have it authenticated by our in-house staff. If that’s not good enough, if for some reason they’re not confident, we can also get a third-party authenticator.”