Monday, March 2, 2015

Review: Selling Clothes on Thredup

I sent more items to Thredup than I did to Twice. With all of these items, the bag was only half full.

Edited 3/11 - I didn't realize that they charge a 2% fee to cash out to Paypal until today.

Edited 3/25 - You can see the payout for my second bag here. I am a little less pleased with the payout here, though it is, of course, understandable because I sent lower-value and fewer items. The only thing they rejected was a pair of like-new shoes from Nordstrom that might, admittedly, not be on their approved brands list. This time around, Thredup was also much faster, and processed my bag in about a week.

Edited 5/19 - It looks like Thredup is changing their payout structure, which will likely result in lower payouts for sellers.

Edit 2016 - Twice is now defunct, so the comparison between them and Thredup is no longer useful. I've also found over time, with more recent Thredup bags, that they are pickier now (which is understandable, given all the items that they're sent) and payouts do indeed tend to be lower.

Thredup finally got back to me with their offer late last week, which means that I can actually compare my Thredup and Twice experiences with fuller knowledge of both. There are definite pros and cons selling on either site. My post on the Twice selling experience can be found here. I can't say for sure that I would strongly prefer one resale place over the other, but because Thredup accepts more types of items and brands overall, I am much more likely to try Thredup again in the near future. 

$54.58, with a 2% fee if you choose Paypal rather than store credit. You can check out my bag here.

I was initially very concerned that Thredup would have extremely strict quality guidelines (both from their stated policy and anecdotes from some classmates) that would result in many of my items being rejected. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by how many things they took. Everything I sent was in very good, like new, or new condition, but given my experience with Twice, I expected at least a bit of arbitrariness to the quality control process. Thredup rejected an Ann Taylor pencil skirt (worn more often than the other items), the faux-fur H&M scarf/collar (kind of dated), and a polka dot Forever 21 top (kind of old). 

The things I liked about Thredup:
  • The accept more brands. I have many H&M items that I never got around to wearing and it feels like a pity to just donate everything when there might be a little bit of resale value left. Twice doesn't accept H&M or Forever 21.
  • They accept more accessories. Twice accepts handbags (and shoes), but not scarves or belts. 
  • Their quality control might well be less arbitrary than Twice. This is surprising because it is the opposite from what one expects when reading their respective policies. I was shocked by some of the items Twice rejected, while I can see where Thredup is coming from with each of their rejections. 
  • Anecdotally, though I can't verify this personally because I sent more expensive items to Twice than Thredup, payouts might also be a little higher on Thredup
The things I liked less about Thredup: 
  • They're so much slower. I understand that Thredup is the much bigger website and that it handles a much wider selection. However, I initiated the process with Twice almost a week after I initiated the process with Thredup. It might take another 10 days before my Paypal payout goes through, while I got my payout from Twice last week.
  • Relatedly, Paypal is the only option for a money payout on Thredup, which adds to the processing time. 
  • They charge a 2% fee to cash out to Paypal

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