Is Thredup For You? A Full Review!
Is Thredup For You? A FULL Review!
What to Make of Thredup’s Policy Changes and My Top Tips for the Platform
Happy new year, everyone! It’s a new year and we’re turning over a new leaf, which for many of you means clearing out closets and looking to maybe make a little money from clothes you no longer need. And Thredup has long been a great place to do just that. However, does it work for resellers and is it still a good place to make a profit in light of its new policy changes?
Follow along while I give you a detailed ThredUp Review!
First of all, let’s recap how Thredup works.
For a long time, Thredup has marketed itself as the “largest online thrift store” – it’s a simple platform where you can send in a box of stuff and get it sold at bargain prices. The great things about Thredup are:
- You don’t need to list your own items
- No need to even price them – they’ll do it for you
- No hassle / buyer interactions
- A couple of bolt-on options you can pay for:
- Return assurance i.e. they will send you back whatever doesn’t sell
- Expedited shipping
And the rules? Send in however many items you can fit into a 30 lb box, as long as it’s women’s or kids’ clothing (no jewelry, no men’s clothing).
It sounds great, doesn’t it? If you get the prices right, it’s an easy way to make some money for the regular person clearing out their closet. It used to also be a good way for resellers to add an extra source of income to their business.
However, there is no guarantee that your items will sell on Thredup… and it’s not great money either. I recently only made $9 after paying for expedited shipping and return assurance.
Why is Thredup not as great as it seems? Two reasons:
- You have no control over the sales
Once you send your items to Thredup, you cannot control when they sell, how long unsold items take to come back to you, or a large part of the pricing. In fact, to retain some control, you need to do a lot of extra work. And, when you balance out the work vs the profit, it doesn’t quite add up.
Finally, Thredup’s payout terms are not the best, from their sliding scale table of how much they take for every item you sell, to additional processing fees on top of your already-paid return assurance and expedited shipping costs.
2. There are lots of changes to how Thredup works
These changes came in on Nov. 9, 2020, and will affect a lot of Thredup’s interactions with resellers. In a nutshell, Thredup are introducing pricing caps and restrictions on how quickly you can reclaim back your items, as well as a discount cap.
I go into more detail in my video below about what this means, but let’s just say they’ve become wise to some of the ways resellers took advantage of the platform’s Ts&Cs previously and have now made changes to protect themselves.
As a business, I can understand why these changes make sense for Thredup. But, as a reseller, I am not sure that this continues to be a great place to sell. For the amount of work needed to make a profit on what you send to Thredup, I think you’re better off selling yourself.
However, if you still want to send stuff to Thredup, here are my tips for how to make the most of this platform:
- Track everything you send to them
Once it’s with Thredup, they’ll use their pricing algorithm to determine what your item can sell for and you may get stung. I tell you my method for tracking boxes in the video below, but at the very least make sure you take photos of every item and its price tag.
- If you paid for expedited shipping, contact them as soon as the period ends
Thredup commit to get your bag processed within a week but they have been overwhelmed during the pandemic, with more people sending them bags. So, make sure you contact them when they’ve fallen behind and they’ll return your money. For $16 per bag, that can add up to a lot!
- Check for “sale” tags
Whatever you do, don’t send any item to Thredup with a “sale” tag still on it. Thredup will always price your item based on the “sale” price and not the full price. Leave the full-price tag on and take photos of it to have proof later.
- Have patience
It takes very long to get paid on Thredup, from the time they take to list your items, to the actual sale, then the return window and potentially having to wait for the item to be sold again if it’s returned, to them finally processing your payout.
So, do I think Thredup is worth the hassle? I’ve seen thousands of items being taken off the platform since they’ve changed their Ts&Cs, and I personally will prefer to sell my stuff myself. But, if you’re looking to do minimal work and are happy to accept whatever price your items sell at, it’s still a good deal.
While Thredup is not a lucrative way to make money for those of us running a business, it could work for you if you’re just clearing out your closet.
Check out my video to get more details on the policy changes and on how Thredup’s process and payouts can impact you as a reseller. And make sure you subscribe to the channel for more tips on running your reselling business.
This ThredUp Review and information is current as of 1/13/2021. They change their terms on a dime so it’s important to verify the information.
Till next time,
Rebecca
Bexa Boss Lady
