thredUP Review: Is This Site & App A Scam?

I always feel guilty throwing away clothes I may not being using any more. Fortunately you can trade-in what you don't use for things you actually want with apps like thredUP. You are probably wondering it's safe to buy and sell on thredUP, and that's why you are going through a couple of thredUP reviews.

Well, you can end your search here, because we have everything you need to know about this app and website including the good, the bad and the ugly. So, let's get cracking, shall we?

What is thredUP?

thredUP is an online resale store selling women's and kids secondhand fashion items and accessories. According to Wikipedia, thredUP was co-founded by businessmen James Reinhart, Chris Homer and Oliver Lubin on January, 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The headquarters are currently in San Francisco, California, 94104-5411.

How Does thredUP Work?

You can either buy or sell at thredUP, on your smartphone or through the website. The thredUP app is available for free on Google’s PlayStore or Apple’s AppStore. You can use the same account to either buy or sell. Let's discuss how buying and selling works.

Buying

The buying process is pretty much the same as what you would do on other online websites. Pick what you want, add to cart, and check out. We’ll discuss the prices, shipping, returns and refund policy later on in this review.

Selling

Selling on thredUP is a little bit different. They have something called a ‘’Cleanout Bag’’ which is basically the items you want to sell on the site. If you want to clean out your closet, you’ll apply for a ‘’Cleanout Kit’’ delivered to you.

The cleanout kit includes a pre-paid, pre-addressed shipping label that you’ll use while sending back your cleanout bag to thredUP.

Once you get the kit, fill it up with all whatever you want to sell. Remember, you can’t sell just about anything on thredUP. You can know more about that here.

They will then review your items and pick what’s sellable and then send the rest back to you at a fee. They’ll email you how much you expect to make from these items, after deducting all the seller fees.

According to the website, once you send them the clothes and stuff, you don’t have a say as to how much you expect from the sale. They’ll value your items and tell you via email how much they are worth, according to their own assessment. That can take up to within 3 weeks.

You’ll get your money via PayPal or a thredUP Prepaid Debit card. When? That’s up to them to decide. If you are curious about how much you expect, check out this page.

thredUP seller fees

Unlike peer-to-peer reseller apps like OfferUp where you list and sell the items yourself, thredUP buys the clothes from you in bulk and does all the selling. But that convenience doesn’t come cheap.

They’ll charge you shipping and processing fees. They don’t reveal the amount up until you ask for their Cleanout Bag through the website.

If you want some sort of assurance that the items they reject will be sent back to you, they charge an extra $10.99. Otherwise, don’t expect any returns from them. But they have a charity and donations program, so that’s probably where they’ll end up, I don’t know.

thredUP Prices

You’re probably curious how much these clothes sell for. Here are a few examples.

You’ll hardly find women’s clothing including dresses, tops, bottoms, sweaters and coats above $30. Most of them sell under $10. Most women’s shoes go for anywhere between $20 and $40. Although prices can go as high as $150 and as low as $10, or even lower depending on size and brand.

Women’s accessories including scarves, belts, tights, glasses, hats and bags sell from $5 with a few other items selling above the $100 mark. Boys’ clothing including tops, jeans, shirts and so on sell from $3 to upwards of $50. Girls’ clothing also priced within the same price range, give or take.

Women’s jewelry including bracelets, earrings, necklaces and watches barely cross the $50 mark. You can find some for as little as $6. Designer items are the most expensive, with the most popular labels like Gucci and Givenchy selling for nothing lower than a couple of Benjamins.

They don't sell men's clothing, but you can easily find awesome deals on Amazon.com and use the FREE Guaranteed Amazon Prime 1-2 Day Delivery to get your items faster.

thredUP Refund & Return Policy

It’s always good to know where you stand if there’s an issue with your order once you fork out a couple of your hard earned money.

Handbags from thredUP are non-refundable, OUCH! That said, if you ordered anything else from the United States, you can either ask for a refund or store credit. Promotions and discounts are also non-refundable. All refunds take up to 8 working days to reflect on your account.

But all that won’t be possible if you don’t return an item in the same condition as you got it. All the labels and tags have to be intact to qualify for a refund.

thredUP Shipping

If you order outside the United States, they give you a returns pre-paid shipping label to cover your return shipping cost. All other customers have to pay for shipping while returning an item. Returns can be mailed to 5050 Louise Dr, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.

At the time of writing this review, thredUP only ships to a few selected countries which you can view here.

thredUP Customer Service

Got a bone to pick with them? You can reach out to customer service via email on support@thredup.com, via LiveChat on the website or direct messaging through the thredUP App. Lines are open on Monday to Friday from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST.

thredUP Coupons or Promo Codes

It seems gift cards or coupons are not allowed on thredUP. Just a few promo codes here and there. But worry not, you can always use sites like SwagBucks.com to earn free coupons and gift cards and even real money doing the things you basically do online like watching videos and using the search engine. You can then use the gift cards to shop on Amazon.com and several other online stores.

What We Like About ThredUP

You don’t have to sell anything yourself

As a seller, unlike peer-to-peer apps and websites like OfferUp where you list, sell and ship the product to customers yourself, thredUP does all the hard work for you. That wipes out chances of running into scams. We all know that is every person’s nightmare when it comes to doing business online.

Positive BBB

For those of you who consider the Better Business Bureau as your last line of defense against scams, you’ll be happy to know that thredUP scores an A+ BBB rating at the time of this review.

thredUP Complaints

Well now it's time for your favorite part of the review. It's the bad and ugly. Chances are as you were reading the details above there were a few red flags that popped up for you. Well let's dive into them and some others we found.

They pay sellers peanuts

Based on the user feedback it looks like thredUP pays significantly less than what sellers could sell their items for on sites like ebay or craiglist on their own. To make matters worst, if you decide that you want your items back because they valued them to low, they'll make you pay for the shipping back. Ahh hell nah!

Don’t take their word for it

They have a ‘’Like New’’ section where you would expect to find, like-new clothes. But don’t take their word for it. We came across numerous complaints from customers who ordered from this section and even paid extra. It turned out the clothes were nowhere near new.

Again, they say their clothes, especially designer items are authentic. Well, not so much. Chances of getting a knock-off handbag is quite high, especially since thredUP doesn’t accept returns or refunds on handbags. Feeling duped already? Hold that thought for the next complaint.

Awful customer service

You would think that you can take up your grief with the customer service, when the payout is too low or the Coach bag you ordered turns out to be a knock-off. Tough luck, buddy. Their customer service platforms are never online especially LiveChat on the website. Even the direct messaging through the app won't help.

This is common among sellers and customers alike, where even emails go unanswered. Even if you get a hold of them, chances are they’ll not be of any help anyway.

thredUP Alternatives

You don’t have to tell me if you choose to look elsewhere. With these damn red flags, maybe you are better off using neighborhood peer-to-peer reseller apps like Vinted, VarageSale and 5Miles.

If you are a buyer, you can check out SwagBucks.com that has offers from several online stores that you can take up. You’ll also be earning real money, coupons and gift cards while shopping and doing other things like watching videos and using the search engine.

Is thredUP Safe?

For buyers, it can be worth it to some extent. For sellers, don’t bother. There are tons of cheap stuff in there so if you are a buyer, chances are you’ll shop on the cheap effortlessly. But just a heads up, the customer service is non-existent and they might piss you off. They also are misleading about the quality of some clothes, so I would not take their word for it.

If you are a seller, they’ll take your stuff and tell you how much they are worth, which may actually be zero. Don’t bother kicking up a fuss about it, they make it clear that you ‘’forfeit the right’’ to have a say on that. So, your precious little ‘’like new’’ clothes will be bought for cents and sold for tens or even hundreds of dollars.

All in all, you don’t have to worry about tired ass customer service with Amazon.com . With the FREE Guaranteed Amazon Prime 1-2 Day Delivery, you’ll be rest assured you can shop on the cheap and still get your items fast.

Well, that’s about it from me today. Feel free to chime in your thoughts or comments down below! If you have any questions about Thredup, click here.

Until next time

Eddy ‘’with a Y’’