My Best Tips for Shopping at thredUP

It started with a brand collaboration. Years ago, when I was first starting to build my brand, an email from thredUP arrived in my inbox. ‘I’m a Poshmark user,’ I said. ‘Try it.’ It was tempting. One of my first brand collaboration offers was sitting in my inbox for $50, more than I’d ever been offered before. I only had a few thousand followers and influencer marketing was still a baby.

I caved. I used my 40% new user discount and bought a pair of Steve Madden booties and Hudson jeans. I did my post and moved on.

I didn’t think about thredUP again until months later. That’s when I saw it – a beautiful like-new Rebecca Minkoff Quilted crossbody in the exact colorway I wanted. It was like a dream. That’s when I was hooked.

Read my full clean-out kit review here!

I was on thredUP almost every day, finding new items from brands I loved. I was overwhelmed with how many great quality and brand-name items I could find from Louis Vuitton bags to Manolo Blahnik heels to Loft tops for work. I could find just about everything from all of my favorite brands, including items I’d loved when they were in store but didn’t buy at the time!

Now, I’ve written about thredUP a lot in the past, but after years of shopping there, I’m sharing all my best tips for snagging the best finds!

Check out some of my best thredUP finds here!

Filter by Size

The first and easiest thing to do is filtering the entire site by your size. I have a pretty wide range of sizes selected since I can fit into so many different sizes depending on the brand. However, I am well aware I will never fit in anything smaller than a size medium or larger than an extra-large (mostly on top) so I filter out the tail-end of the sizes.

Don’t forget to check out other people’s carts

By default, thredUP only shows you the items that are available. However, you can turn off this filter and shop items that are currently in other people’s carts. Which brings me to my next point…

Auto-Buy Your Favorites

If you have a saved payment method on the site, you can auto-buy items when they drop out of other carts. Some of my favorite purchases have been auto-purchased including a gorgeous silk Madewell dress, a few Reformation items, and a lot of items from other popular or trending brands.

Don’t just shop your home warehouse (or do)!

If you want to save a bit of money, items shipped from your home warehouse (whichever one is closest to you) are a bit cheaper. If you want more variety, you can shop from all the warehouses. The home warehouse items also ship a lot faster!

Set Saved Searches for your Favorite Brands

Some of my best finds have come because I have saved searches. At the end of the day, I get a little summary email from my saved searches and some are even sent straight to my phone. Generally, I have these set for something specific I’m looking for. I set one to find the perfect vintage Levi’s jacket and, in the past, I’ve used them to find black summer sandals or work dresses.

Do you use thredUP? Do you have any tips I’m missing?

Get up to 50% off your first order and an extra $10 to spend when you sign up using my link here!

Hi - my name is Kirsten! I am currently based in Chicago after a long cross-country move from Arizona. What will you find here? I love sharing all things sustainability and slow fashion, any of my day-to-day shenanigans, the latest new hobbies I picked up, and whatever concert or music festival I can find. Welcome and thanks for popping in to my little corner of the world wide web!