I had a lot of clothes that I didn’t wear. They were sitting in the closet and taking space. In late May 2021, I decided to send 3 boxes of clothes to thredUP to sell them.
What is thredUP?
thredUP is essentially an online consignment where you buy and sell gently used secondhand clothes.
How can I sell on thredUP?
To get started, you need to first request a “Clean Out Kit.”
You have to option to sell or donate to support a charity. If want to sell, select sell.
Currently, there’s not an option to get a bag mailed to you. Only option is to have a label emailed to you. You can then print the label and tape it to any box you plan to use to mail out the clothes.
You have the option to select whether or not to recycle or return your items if they don’t accept your items. If you choose to return your items, it will cost you $10.99.
The standard processing time is up to 12 weeks. However, if you want a quicker processing time of 3 weeks, it will cost you $16.
How long did it for me?
I chose the standard processing time. The 3 boxes of clothes were mailed out in late May. The first box thredUP did not accept any of the items. The second box thredUP accepted 21 items. The third box thredUP accepted 5 items.
It took thredUP 3 months to process the 3 boxes of clothes. Although they accepted a total of 26 items, 17 items were sold and 9 items expired.
An important note is items are only listed for 60–90 days, depending on the brand. Value and mall brands such as Old Navy, Forever 21, Gap, and Nike will be listed for up to 60 days while premium and designer brands such as J.Crew, Lululemon, or Gucci will be listed for up to 90 days. After the listing window expires, you have an additional 14 days to reclaim your item. If you don’t reclaim with that 14 days, the item becomes property of thredUP.
In total, it took 6 months to process and sell most of the accepted items.
How much did I make?
I made $22.29 for 26 items. If you do the math, that’s less than $1 per item.
