Tradesy Review: Is The Site & App Safe or A Scam?

Let's face it, some of us have some expensive ass taste but not necessarily the budget to back it up.  Some companies like like Tradesy claim to help people buy and sell original designer women’s items at a discount. You've probably already heard of this and it's why you're going through a couple of Tradesy reviews.

Fortunately for you we have everything you need to know about Tradesy including the good, the bad and the ugly. So, let’s get cracking, shall we?

What is Tradesy?

Tradesy found online at www.tradesy.com is a buy-and-sell website for women’s fashion items and accessories, with special focus on new and used designer items. The Santa-Monica, CA-based start-up was founded by internet entrepreneurs John Hall, Sash Catanzarite and Tracy DiNunzio in 2012.

How Does Tradesy App Work?

Tradesy is free to download and use for both buyers and sellers within the United States. You can download the app on Google’s Play Store or Apple’s Appstore. You can also use their website.

Either way, you’ll have to create an account with your email and a password or Facebook account. Once you’re through with that you can now start buying or selling.

Here’s how you do either, or both.

Selling

Selling on Tradesy basically involves you taking a photo of the item you want to sell, setting a price based on a list of suggestions, and post it, that’s it! Tradesy claims to take care of the rest. They’ll clean up the photo to make it more appealing to buyers.

Once your item sells, they’ll send you a shipping kit that you’ll use to package and ship the item to the customer that bought it.  They’ll then pay you via PayPal, check or a direct deposit to your debit card once the customer approves the purchase.

They also claim to handle returns. Any designer item can be sold at Tradesy, as long as it’s authentic and in good condition. You might have to wait up to 21 days to get your money though.

Buying

Tradesy claims you can buy all sorts of women’s original designer fashion and accessories from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Givenchy, Cartier, etc. Once you pick an item you’re interested in, you can add it to your cart and pay with PayPal, Affirm or a debit card.

When you confirm your purchase via email, they’ll specify the approximate shipping time for you. They primarily ship using USPS although they don’t offer expedited shipping at the time of this review.

They’ll send you tracking information within 72 hours, and you can check the status of your order in your profile. Once you get the item and everything’s okay, you’ll verify the purchase on your account so that the seller gets paid.

Tradesy Seller Fees

Tradesy takes 9% commission on any item sold. They claim the 9% makes it easier to process your PayPal payments and returns from customers.it also covers the pre-paid shipping kits and wrappings you’ll get from them.

Tradesy Features

Filters

You can filter your search based on color, size, brand, price, item condition and discount percentage. The feature comes in handy when you are looking for something very specific.

Authenticity check

Tradesy claims to use some fancy technology meant to lock out knock-offs. The technology guarantees 99% accuracy. But are these items truly authentic? We’ll find out at the complaints section later on in this review.

What Can’t I Sell on The Tradesy App?

You can’t sell anything that’s not women’s fashion-related. The item has to pass the authenticity test before it’s listed, so no knock-offs.

What We Like About Tradesy

They do the hard work for you

Unlike most buy-and-sell apps like 5Miles, Vinted, Varagesale and the like, Tradesy has simplified the selling process. You don’t have to describe the item or mind about the quality of the photo. They’ll do that for you. More so, you don’t even have to worry about packaging. They’ll send you a shipping kit.

Positive BBB

If you rely on a company’s BBB status as your stamp of approval, you’ll be glad to know that at the time of this review, Tradesy has a B rating on the Better Business Bureau website.

Tradesy App Complaints

I know this is the part of the review you are most interested in. Well, there are a few damn red flags you should know about before you even consider using Tradesy.

Selling is no piece of cake

There are all sorts of customers you’ll have to deal with while selling on Tradesy. Some will blow up your email with all sorts of questions you can’t answer like when the item should arrive, where you got the item from, why you are not responding to their emails and such.

One seller got fed up with the pointless back and forth, and turned a cold shoulder on the nagging customer. The customer filed a complaint against the seller and that of course didn’t sit well with the seller’s reputation on the app.

My Account’s Blocked, Please Help!

According to some users, Tradesy shuts down accounts for no reason, with no prior notification. They’ll use a generic autoreply service to basically tell you that you violated their terms. It would be nice to notify people first, you know? If you try and follow up on the case, the customer service is equally pathetic, which actually brings us to the next most common complaint.

Pathetic customer service

It seems another thing you’ll have to stand for is an unresponsive and inefficient customer service. They’ll steer clear of cases involving closed accounts, refunds as most emails go unanswered. According to users, you’ll have to dedicate hours on the phone to be served, and chances are you’ll still not be happy in the end.

Inflated shipping cost

We don’t know whether they hike the shipping cost for security reasons, or to turn a profit. All in all, the cost of shipping doesn’t make sense according to some users. A seller had to pay $132 to ship a $1,700 handbag locally.

This will of course eat into the profit, and we all know it doesn’t cost that much to ship the normal way with USPS. We tried to get to the bottom of this claim, and actually something looks fishy. They don’t explain the shipping costs or how they arrive to such high figures anywhere on the website or app.

Tradesy App Alternatives

With so many complaints, you don’t have to explain to anyone why you’d look elsewhere. But, worry not. You can get amazing offers and discounts from some of these designer stores at SwagBucks.com. It gets even better, you’ll be raking in some real money and gift cards while shopping, using the search engine or even watching videos.

Again, there are other buy and sell apps like OfferUp and Shpock you can try out if you are looking to buy used items near you.

Is The Tradesy App Legit?

The app sure is legit, but I would not recommend it. Here’s why, there are so many negative complaints, mostly related to what you’ve just read. The biggest concerns relate to blocked accounts and the customer service. If they can shut down your account without giving you a heads up, and your follow-up turns out to be a dead end, why the hell bother?

Again, they also set their own shipping costs, never minding how much you’re actually making off the sale. They also won’t tell you how they arrived at such outrageous figures. They may be selling authentic designer items all day but it seems the ride is rough especially for sellers.

Buyers also find the prices of the items almost similar and sometimes higher than what you’d find from other sites like Amazon.com. Did you know Amazon offers FREE Guaranteed 1-2 Day Delivery? Well, now you do.

Bottom line, I would only recommend Tradesy if you can’t find what you’re looking for elsewhere. They have a few editor’s picks that seem to be the rare, limited edition designer items. But the fact is, chances are you’ll get a cheaper, brand new version of the same used item that’s listed on Tradesy.

Well, that’s about it from me today. Do you have an experience with Tradesy you’d want us to know about? Feel free to chime in your thoughts on the comments section below.

Until next time

Eddy ‘’with a Y’’