My thredUP Clean Out Kit Review

I’ve been using thredUP for a long time now. I think I made my first purchase in the summer of 2016 and sent in my first clean-out kit a few months later. If you read my blog frequently, you know that I love shopping on the site. But what about selling? Since I’ve now sent in two clean-out kits, and felt that now was the perfect time to share my honest review on the process as well as what to expect.

No clue what I’m talking about? Read more about thredUP HERE and join thredUP (and get free credit!) HERE!

Disclosure: I was not paid by thredUP to write this post. While I am a thredUP partner, I genuinely love using their site and have continued to use the site on my own. All opinions in this post are my own.

I am a hoarder. I will admit it. I never get rid of any clothes because I “never know when I’ll need them.” Let’s be honest: I will never need them. I’ve read about all the hacks in the book and still can’t seem to clean out my closet.

Let me start by saying that I’m pretty lazy. I have a lot of things going on in my life, so I feel like selling things on Poshmark, Ebay, or another type of resale site takes up too much of my time. I’ve used Poshmark and had plenty of success, it was just too much work. I felt pressured to be on the app all the time and share my products to the right parties and continually put my items on sale… I mean, how am I supposed to run a blog, work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, finish my grad school program, and run an online shop on the side?

It just wasn’t feasible.

So, I ordered my thredUP clean-out kit. As I mentioned earlier, this is the 2nd clean-out kit I’d done. I was a bit disappointed by my first bag, but thredUP has changed and I learned a few more secrets to getting a higher payout.

You can shop my thredUP items HERE!

My Payout History

Bag Payout 1: Upfront: $13.40 Consignment: $1.00
Bag Payout 2: Upfront: $54.76 Consignment: Pending
Bag Payout 3: Pending
Bag Payout 4: Pending

How does payout work?

I won’t lie, I was a bit confused by all their wording and how they described certain things on the site. Your upfront payout is determined by thredUP and all they items they take ‘upfront.’ If they don’t take it upfront, your items may go on consignment, meaning you’ll get paid when they sell. Basically, if you send in really current items, i.e. shorts in the summertime, you’ll get a higher upfront payout. Say, for example, you send in a winter coat in May. People aren’t really looking for a coat in May, so your item is more likely to be sold on consignment.

How much do they take?

I read on their site that they only take about 40% of every single bag. They took 79% of my last bag. The more high-quality, name brand items you send in, the more they take. It’s pretty simple. In my first bag, I sent in a lot of boutique stuff, which honestly just took up space in the bag. In my most current bag, I packed a lot more name-brand items that people would recognize. This time, they took way more.

For a quick list of brands that I sent in that were accepted:

  • Sakroots
  • Free People
  • Tobi
  • Moon River
  • Forever 21
  • Lush
  • J. Crew
  • SheIn
  • Missguided
  • Steve Madden
  • Sara Boo
  • WYLDR
  • Helmut Lang
  • Liz Clairborne
  • American Eagle
  • Charlotte Russe
  • Alice + Olivia

So, overall, I did pretty well with this bag. With my consignment earnings, I could make over $100, which is pretty good for taking up about 20 minutes of my time and then leaving the bag on my front porch.

How long does it take?

Ah, the real downside. It takes a long time to get everything processed. I sent in the bag the day after I got it and it took about two weeks to get to the warehouse and 2-3 weeks for everything to be processed and paid.

Would I do it again?

I’m filling up another bag as I write this. It’s so easy and helps me clean out and save time. They also offer donation bags, which are great for clean, good items that may not be of a brand name. I plan on using it to send out a few of my old tee shirts.

If you feel that the earnings aren’t enough to justify sending in a bag to thredUP or maybe you have off-brand items to sell, consider selling on Poshmark.  Read my Poshmark review 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!

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