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If you’re looking for thredUP reviews, then maybe you’re wondering whether buying from thredUP is worth it to save money on clothes. Or perhaps you want to make some extra money, so are looking into whether it’s worth selling clothes on thredUP.

Or maybe you want to do both!

Whichever it is, we’ve got you covered. We’ve gone through as many thredUP reviews as we can to let you know how thredUP works and if it really is worth it, whether you’re looking to save or make money.

And as a starting bonus…if you’re brand new to shopping on thredUP, click here to get $10 of credit for free!

Summary of thredUP reviews

Buying from thredUP

Pros:

  • Massive range of good quality women’s and children’s clothes
  • Great prices, especially compared to buying new
  • Much easier to find second hand clothing than going in-person to a consignment store
  • Buying second hand is more sustainable!
  • Free $10 shopping credit for new customers – to get this, create your thredUP account here

Cons:

  • Shipping starts at $5.99, which is more than a lot of sites that offer free shipping
  • They only ship to the US and Canada and thredUP international shipping isn’t planned to other countries
  • Packages don’t arrive super fast

Selling on thredUP

Pros:

  • A quick, simple, convenient way to clean out unwanted items from your closet
  • Free to send clothing in for thredUP to review

Cons:

  • You’ll almost certainly get more money by selling your clothes yourself on other sites
  • ThredUP only accepts 40% of what’s sent to them and you have to either pay to get non-accepted items back to you or they’re donated
  • The thredUP review process takes upwards of two months for them to determine which of your items they want to sell

What is thredUP?

ThredUP is the largest consignment store on the internet. It resells second hand clothes from over 35,000 brands, discounted to up to 90% off retail prices.

The clothes it sells are sent in by people looking to clean out their closets and thredUP says that it adds 40,000 new items of clothing to the site every day.

This means that thredUP can be an option for people looking to make money from their unused clothes, as well as a way to save money for those looking for new second hand additions to their Wardrobe.

Is thredUP legit?

ThredUP is definitely a legit option when it comes to the various consignment stores you can find online. With hundreds of thousands of second hand pieces for sale, you’re almost guaranteed to find something you like that’s good quality. Similarly, selling through thredUP is a legit way to make some extra money.

At the same time, there are questions to be asked as to just how much you can really make from selling on thredUP. We’ll go through these below but, spoiler alert, thredUP reviews aren’t universally positive about this.

How does thredUP work?

The way thredUP works is very straightforward. If you’re looking to get rid of some clothes, the first step is to order a thredUP clean out kit. When it’s famed polkadot bag arrives on your doorstep, you simply have to fill it with your unused clothes and send it back to thredUP for free.

woman with her thredup clean out bag for thredup reviews
Source: thredUp

From there, thredUP will take a look at what you sent, pick out what it thinks it can sell and estimate a price to you for these items. Those pieces are then advertised on the thredUP website. You’ll then receive a percentage of the actual selling price as your payment.

In terms of buying from thredUP, the process is very straightforward and similar to other clothing sites. That is, simply take a look at what’s been advertised online, pick out what you want and go from there.

Is buying from thredUP worth it?

Buying from thredUP is definitely worth considering. It has a massive range of clothes, so you’re bound to find something similar to what you’re looking for, and the prices are far more reasonable than buying new. You also have the added bonus of knowing that buying second hand is the much more sustainable choice.

→ If you’re a new thredUP customer, click here to get $10 of credit for free!

The best part is how thoroughly thredUP reviews everything. For those selling on thredUP, this is actually a common complaint seen in many thredUP reviews. But if you’re buying, this process means that it’s a pretty safe bet that what you’re getting is high-quality. 

This makes it better than your local consignment store, which often advertises every single piece of clothing they get, no matter what condition it’s actually in.

ThredUP also has a really good search function, making it much easier than having to force your way through racks of clothing at your local thrift shop. By using all the search filters, you can quickly and easily see what’s on offer in your size and the style you want.

And, of course, we shouldn’t ignore the benefit of being able to buy all the stuff from the comfort of your own home!

Just don’t expect anything to arrive too quickly. For anyone who’s been spoiled by Amazon Prime, two day shipping isn’t really a thing with thredUP. Instead, you’re more likely to get your package in the next two weeks, which may be irritating for some people.

(Speaking of Amazon Prime, don’t forget that you can get a 30-day free trial here!)

Are thredUP clothes used?

All thredUP clothes are used. In fact, that’s what sets thredUP apart from other online clothing stores, most of which only focus on brand new items.

That said, thredUP reviews every piece of clothing that’s sent to it and won’t accept things that are poor quality. They actually report that they only accept less than 40% of what’s sent to them, meaning that while thredUP clothes are used, this absolutely doesn’t mean that they’re unwearable. If anything, it’s the exact opposite.

Does thredUP wash the clothes?

ThredUP does not wash the clothes it sells, but it also claims that they only accept clothes that are clean and freshly washed.

This means that when you order from thredUP, bed bugs or anything similar are unlikely to be a bonus addition to your package. That said, if you have sensitive skin to any detergents or are worried about the cleanliness of the clothes, there’s no harm in giving them a wash yourself once you receive your thredUP delivery.

Is there thredUP shipping to Canada, the UK, EU, Australia etc.?

There is shipping to the US and Canada only, although with no reported plans to expand thredUp international shipping to other countries like the UK, the EU and Australia.

This also means that people accessing the thredUP website from outside the US and Canada may not actually be able to see the site at all or, at best, will be restricted from accessing certain pages.

Is there thredUP clothing for men?

While thredUP originally launched in 2009 as a company for swapping men’s shirts, today it only sells women and kids clothes.

This means that you shouldn’t send any men’s clothing in your thredUP clean out kit as not only will thredUP not sell it, but you’ll be charged to get them back.

The only reason you may want to do this is if you’re looking to donate a pile of these clothes at once, as that’s how thredUP will deal with them. That said, it may be easier just to donate them in-person to a consignment store near you.

Is it worth selling clothes on thredUP?

There are definitely mixed reviews on whether it’s worth selling clothes on thredUP. Specifically, there are a number of complaints on how long thredUP takes to review what you send in, as well as the fact that it pays sellers next to nothing for their items.

While buying clothes on thredUP can be a good idea to save yourself some money, I’d think twice before considering selling on thredUP as a way to make some extra cash. This is especially the case when there were so many other sites that actually offer legitimate money making opportunities from selling your clothes.

You may also be interested in: 29 Quick Tips on How to Make $300 Fast

Frequent comments in thredUP selling reviews

Most thredUP selling reviews have a few consistent complaints that appear again and again. All you have to do is look at the thredUP reviews on Reddit to get a feel for this.

These can all basically be summarised by the following:

1. Low acceptance rate

ThredUP states that it only accepts around 40% of clothes sent to them. This means that even if you send something in that you think is in good quality and that they’re likely to sell, the odds aren’t in your favor.

And what can make this worse is that thredUP doesn’t automatically send back to you the clothes it doesn’t accept. Instead, if you want these back, you’ll have to pay thredUP $10.99.

If you choose not to do this, the clothes are either given to other companies that sell clothes as part of their reuse and recycle program, or put into thredUP Rescue Boxes (we’ve explained what these are a bit further on in this article).

2. Low payments

It used to be a bit of a gamble as to how much you get from thredUP for your clothes. Now, however, there’s a thredUP estimator which serves as a calculator for how much you might get for your stuff.

This may not be particularly reassuring though. As you’ll see below, we put some examples into the thredUP estimator to see how much we could get for some random items. And the results weren’t particularly inspiring… 

thredup estimator results for thredup reviews
thredup estimator results for thredup reviews
thredup estimator results
thredup estimator results

Sure, thredUP has to make a profit too. But if you’re looking to use thredUP to sell clothes to make money, you’ll easily make more by selling these yourself somewhere like Poshmark.

You may also be interested in: 41 Ways to Make $1,000 Fast (That Actually Work)

3. Slow thredUP review of clean out bags

One other complaint appears consistently in all thredUP reviews: they take forever to process what you send.

At the moment, the processing times are around two months, meaning this is how long they take simply to figure out if they want to pay you for anything you’ve sent in. That’s ignoring the extra time it will take to actually get you your money.

There is an option to pay $16 as a premium fee to have your cleanup kit processed in only a week. However, seeing the prices above on how much you’ll get for this stuff, the gamble may not be worth it as you might not make any money in the end.

What about the thredUP reviews on BBB?

The Better Business Bureau gives thredUP an A, which is pretty good. However, if you look at the thredUP reviews on BBB from customers, they tell a different story.

Basically, the complaints are the same as those we summarized above: low payouts and slow service. While thredUP customer service does respond to each of the thredUP reviews on BBB, it looks like these aren’t always well received.

It’s worth mentioning that there were barely any complaints related to buying from thredUP. The one exception is that, apparently, there were some difficulties at some point receiving refunds. It looks like that’s been fixed now though, with an update having been done to their Return and Refund Policy to clarify this further for customers.

Does thredUP pay well?

ThredUP does not actually pay that well for people looking to sell their clothes. In fact, this is probably the biggest complaint seen in most thredUP selling reviews.

You can check the thredUP estimator to get a better idea of what you might receive for your things. But as examples above show, this probably isn’t going to be that much money.

The one exception does appear to be some brand name labels. For example, the amount they’d pay you for this Gucci bag and these Prada sunglasses isn’t far off what they would sell it for.

thredup estimator results for thredup reviews
thredup estimator results for thredup reviews

This is because the payout percentage goes up as the listing price increases. Put simply: the more your item sells for, the higher the percentage of the selling cost you’ll receive.

thredup selling payout percentages
Source: thredUP

Related: 41 Easy Ways to Make an Extra $500 a Month

What sells best on thredUP?

ThredUP reports that its best-selling brands include:

  1. J Crew
  2. Banana Republic
  3. Ann Taylor LOFT
  4. Lululemon Athletica
  5. American Eagle Outfitters
  6. Madewell
  7. Free People
  8. BCBGMAXAZRIA
  9. Theory
  10. GAP

It’s also worth mentioning that the season in which you send your item matters. This means that if you think you have a scarf that will sell amazingly well, perhaps hold off on sending it in until fall or winter.

What brands does thredUP take?

ThredUP accepts clothing from any brand, although the item has to have a size tag on it. The website lists literally thousands of brands but even if you don’t find yours on there, your item can still be accepted as it will simply be listed as “Assorted Brands“.

And even if the item doesn’t have a brand tag anymore, It can still be accepted and listed as “Unbranded“.

What does thredUP do with unaccepted clothes?

As mentioned, thredUP only accepts around 40% of the clothing received in its clean up kits. The remaining 60% is dealt with in several ways:

  • Returned to you. If you pay the $10.99 fee, you can choose to have your unaccepted items returned to you. This is probably only worth it if you’re certain that the clothes you’ll get back are worth that much. 
  • Put into Rescue Boxes. Around 5% of unaccepted items get put into Rescue Boxes, which are basically random packs of clothes that people can buy as a sort of surprise set of clothes.
  • Reused or recycled by textile recyclers. All remaining unaccepted items are reused or recycled by thredUP’s network of textile recyclers. The aim here is to return as many items as possible back into the circular economy to avoid them simply ending up in landfill.

It’s also worth mentioning that these options also apply to any clothes that don’t sell within the listing windows indicated below.

thredup listing windows
Source: thredUp

What’s a thredUP alternative?

There are plenty of thredUP alternatives for people looking to make some money by cleaning out their closet. In fact, while they may be slightly less convenient than thredUP in terms of getting rid of a number of items at once, you’re probably going to get more money from these alternatives in the end.

For some great thredUP alternatives both for buying and selling second hand clothes (which have better comments about them than most thredUP reviews, at least in terms of selling your items), check out our article: Poshmark vs Mercari vs eBay: Where to Make Money Selling Clothes Online?

Which is the best site to sell clothes?

The best site to sell clothes to make as much money as possible is going to depend on the type of clothes you’re selling. That is, if you have some brand-name items, it’s worth checking out Poshmark or Mercari.

Similarly, if your clothes are slightly lower down the scale, Mercari can also work, but even sites like eBay offer a great option.

You may not be able to sell your items as quickly as the time taken to simply send in a thredUP clean out kit, but you’re almost guaranteed to get more money for your clothes. This means that, with some patience, the sites will almost always end up being a better deal for you as a seller.

Related: Make $200 a Day Online: 17 Ways That Are Proven To Work

Is thredUP or Poshmark better?

For selling high-end clothing, Poshmark is going to be better than thredUP for getting you more money. Rather than simply paying you a small portion of how much the item actually sells for, as thredUP does, Poshmark actually lets you control the selling process, including giving you a much higher percentage of the selling price.

That said, Poshmark isn’t as good if your items aren’t necessarily brand names. You also have to do slightly more work in order to sell your things on Poshmark, including taking photos and generally promoting your items more.

There’s also no guarantee that you’ll sell your items any faster on Poshmark compared to the processing time on thredUP. This means that if you need money urgently, you may have to weigh up the pros and cons of each site.

Final thoughts on thredUP reviews

As literally dozens of thredUP reviews online show, thredUP is a great site for people looking to buy reasonably priced, good quality, second hand clothes. You can find some seriously nice pieces on there for a fraction of the price of buying them new in-store – with the added bonus that it’s much more sustainable to buy second hand compared to new. 

(And don’t forget to grab the $10 welcome bonus if you’re shopping on thredUP for the first time.)

For selling your clothes to make money though, it’s probably worth checking out some thredUP alternatives. The complaints are all the same in most thredUP reviews: you don’t get much money and the process is slow.

That said, it may be worth considering this if you have a lot of good quality pieces that you’re reasonably confident thredUP will accept and that you simply can’t be bothered selling individually yourself. In that case, thredUP could be worth it, although check out the thredUP calculator before doing this to get an estimate of how much money you’re likely to get in the end.

This is because you may find that it’s simply easier to donate your clothing to an organization in your local area rather than sending in a thredUP clean out kit and crossing your fingers.

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