I recently tried selling on ThredUp for the first time and am not sure I would do it again. The best part is that it is very easy to send everything in, but the worst part is that it takes forever, and it doesn’t pay off very well. Read on for my ThredUp review after trying it, and if it’s really worth it.

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ThredUp Review: The Selling Experience

I had a big box of clothes that I wanted to sell online and didn’t feel like taking all the photos and listing them myself. My Poshmark and eBay sales have been down for a while, and it didn’t feel like the effect was worth the minuscular payout. ThredUp seemed like a time-efficient alternative.

I got started by ordering a clean-out bag and label, which is sent free, but then $15 will be taken out of your earnings. So, you get started $15 in the hole. The ThredUp review is not off to a good start!

The bag fits an impressive amount of stuff. I filled it all the way with my clothes, my son’s clothes and shoes. ThredUp only accepts women’s and children’s clothes and accessories like hats and purses. If I had done the photos and sold them myself, it would have amounted to at least a couple hundred dollars. But of course, that’s only if it all sold.

I took a gamble and sent it all off to see what ThredUp would give me. They made it very easy as the bag comes with a label and USPS will pick it up for free.

The Waiting Game

Once the items are sent in, it takes 3+ weeks to process the items and get them listed. They warn you that they are picky and don’t take a lot of items. Anything missing inner tags and anything with holes or stains won’t be accepted. You can choose to have the rejected items sent back to you or donated.

There’s an additional charge to have them returned so I chose to donate what wasn’t accepted. Luckily pretty much my whole bag was processed. I did have a lot of new looking items, some even still had tags attached.

You get a notification that your kit was delivered and can refer back to your Clean Outs page to see what they’ve processed with the description and price.

You can request to change the description or price, but I just went with their suggestions. As you can see from the picture above, I’m not getting much per item, and that’s if it sells at all. I would get way more than that selling on Poshmark.

But then I’d have to deal with taking photos, listing it and shipping it. So, you have to weigh what’s more important. ThredUp is a great option if you just want to get it out the door and maybe get a little cash with minimal effort.

Is ThredUp Worth It?

After a couple weeks of having my items listed, so far I have earned $0. If every single thing I sent does sell, then I’ll get $51.74. This is not a lot compared to the worth of the items I put in the bag.

I would only send items to ThredUp that you absolutely don’t want anymore and would have given away if you kept them. If you have something you think would sell quickly for a good price, then take the 5 minutes to list it on Poshmark or eBay. You could make in one sale on your own what you would make for an entire bag of clothes on ThredUp.

I am happy to have emptied at least one storage box of stuff, and there’s the possibility of money showing up, so I’m glad I tried it.

There are some things they don’t accept that I’ll have to still try selling myself, like costumes, formal dresses and my husband’s clothes.

So now my closet clean-out will be separated into three piles:

1. Clothing I know will sell easily and fast on Poshmark. Usually this is something name brand and current.
   
2. Clothing that is in great condition, but I know won’t sell for much and really want to get rid of. This will be the ThredUp pile. Also, if I list something on Poshmark and it doesn’t sell after a few months, it gets moved to the ThredUp pile.
   
3. Clothing that is in decent condition but missing tags or shows a bit of wear. These items go to Goodwill.

I’m really hoping to see a few dollars come in from ThredUp. I will come back and update the post with the final sale amount, because if it does end up being $0 then I might not want to try it again.

But in the end…at least it’s all out of my storage area so now I can fill it with more stuff!

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The ThredUp Update:

My final sale amount was $31.64. That’s terrible! A lot of good, name brand clothing didn’t even sell. I really should have saved that stuff for Poshmark.

About the Author

Candy Keane is a digital content creator and long-time cosplayer, most well-known for being on the cover of the Star Wars documentary Jedi Junkies. After making costumes professionally for over a decade, she now writes about geek culture and mom life, and continues to cosplay for fun, while sharing her love of costumes on Instagram @SewGeekMama. Her first children’s book, I’m Going to My First Comic Convention, was published in 2020 and won a Story Monsters Approved award for Excellence in Literature.

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