ThredUp

ThredUp Review:

Thred Up purports to buy your lightly-used brand-name clothing and accessories for thrift-store prices. But sellers say they get less — often much less — than the clothes are worth. And the acceptance process is arbitrary.

The site says it’s doing good by recycling clothing. But if your clothing is worth something, this is not the place to sell it. Seller reviews (below) say it all. The site charges you to send them goods, that they’ll undervalue. If your goods sell, they take a whopping commission.

If you think you might not like the way they value your clothing and want your bag back, you have to make that determination in advance and pay $11 for “Return Assurance.”

How it works

Let’s back up a little. People who want to use ThredUp to sell their clothing on consignment, must register on the site and “order” a bag or a mailing label. If you get a mailing label, the site says the service is free. But, later, it says that you’ll actually have $14.95 deducted from your sales proceeds with any option here.

So, you’re paying them to send them your clothes. if you want to have them evaluate what you send them in less than 11 weeks, you’ll need to pay for “expedited” processing. That costs $23.

You don’t get to set prices here. The site does that. If you’re not certain that they’ll ask enough for the things you want to sell, you need to buy “return assurance” for $11.

Do that and you’re out $26 before you even start.

Fees and commissions

Let’s say you do have them list your clothing and accessories for sale. If an item sells for less than $20, the site will impose a commission ranging from 85% to $97% on that item. So you get $3 for an item that sold for $20. The commission rate declines as the value of goods rises, so, you might only pay a 70% commission on a $50 sale and a 20% commission on something that sold for $200.

But, of course, you also had to pay for the bag and their processing fees. So, if you paid for expedited processing, you’d end up with $122 on a $200 sale. That’s $200 – 20% ($40) – $14.95 for the mailing label – $23 for processing.

If your items don’t sell at all — and you didn’t prepay for “return assurance” — they’ll donate your stuff to charity. It’s unclear whether you get to claim a deduction for the clothing’s value, given that you won’t get a receipt.

Great for them/bad for you

The way we see it, ThredUp’s structure guarantees that they win — at your expense. This is a terrible place to sell used clothing and accessories. We give them a Husl$core of $ because that’s as low as we go.

Recommendations

There are a lot of better places to sell used clothing, shoes, purses, belts and other accessories. Our top pick in this category is Poshmark, where sellers set up a “closet” that they can market on social media, as well as the site. These closets tend to get regular buyers, which can lead to brisk sales.

eBay is also a good choice for those who don’t sell regularly or who are listing items so precious that they want a truly national audience for their sales. And, if you just want to sell locally and in cash, Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp also function far better for sellers than ThredUp.

What their sellers say (from influenster)

I had an experience where I sent a dress from a well-known brand – worth about $400 – and they didn’t list it. They kept it. You can’t reach anyone to inquire about this, and you can’t ask for something to be returned if you don’t specify — and by the way, PAY — for that at the beginning. I would never, and will never, trust this company again.

From SiteJabber

It takes months for a clean-out kit to be processed and if they take any of the items the payout is pennies. NOW, they want to charge for a clean-out kit! It would cost to sell based on the rates. If you don’t pay to have the items returned they get to write off the donations which continue to benefit them not you as a seller. You are better off selling on Poshmark if you want to see any money from the sale of your items

Pay to donate?

I used to love thred up until they started charging $14.99 + for me to donate my clothes to them. No thanks I would rather donate to a local thrift store. Not to mention my Louis Vuitton bag I sent them mysteriously disappeared and when I questioned them about it, they said it was too damaged. It was in pristine condition. Mysteriously they had listed at least a dozen Louis Vuitton bags for sale not too long after that and one looked all too familiar. I received no credit for it and I can think of plenty other suspicious missing unlisted items as well.

I have sold to Thredup for years. You never know what they’re going to accept or reject. You get pathetic pay outs. I just sold a pair of athletic pants yesterday and they paid me $0.30! And now they want to charge you &14.99 for every bag you send. Half the time, with their piddly pay outs I don’t even make $14.99 per bag. Considering what they pay out they’re making plenty of money. $14.99 on top of that is pure greed! I sold my first item on Poshmark today and I can’t believe how easy they make it. Plus I got to charge what I thought was fair ($25 for a pair of cow print Hey Dude’s only tried on) and get to keep 90% of that money. Thredup used to be great, but it’s turned into a total scam.

Still processing…

Do not use Thredup to sell your items. Sent my box in May 2022, they claim it takes up to 8 weeks to process, but nothing has been listed to this date (October 2022). I’ve bought a few things from them, pretty hit or miss, but the description they post is definitely not always accurate. I may consider buying from them again, but will never send another box for them to sell for me.

It’s going on 5 months since I sent my clean out closet bag! Every 2 months the date is delayed. Come on already! Hire more people or something? Plus, the clothes are over priced and disappointing. I will never send or buy clothes from this site again! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! You are better off selling your own clothes on ebay or Poshmark.

Scammed

Don’t waste your time if you think you’re going to make any money.
I honestly feel like I should’ve just thrown my stuff away instead of Thred Up insulting me with a ridiculous payout of $0 for a brand new (never used) Coach wristlet (which they had listed as gently used)! Then charging $10 to return clothing they don’t like, so I end up making ZERO dollars. I could’ve thrown it in the garbage and felt better about it – rather than feeling like I got scammed!

Updated 1/27/2023