Guide to Selling on thredUP

2022-01-19

thredUP is the world’s largest online thrift store, with more than 100,000 products processed and uploaded daily. So, how can you sell your clothing on the platform, and where can you source these items in bulk at low enough prices to sell on thredUP for profit? Here is our complete guide to selling on thredUP

What is thredUP?

thredUP, an online consignment shop that specializes in kids’ and women’s apparel, brings together 1.24 million buyers with half a million sellers in the United States and Canada. Most products sold at the website are second-hand, attracting customers looking to save some money and interested in reducing fashion waste. Besides kids’ and women’s clothing, the website also has other fashion categories such as sleepwear. However, the website does not list men’s clothing, jewelry, or any other non-clothing items.

The items sold through thredUP are carefully sanitized and inspected. Sellers who wish to list on the website will need to use the clean-out kit provided by thredUP and put their cleaned items in a clean-out bag. Alternatively, they will be sent a prepaid shipping label. The items are then inspected and sorted by the platform, which may lead to some of the items sent by sellers not qualifying. More on this later.

thredUP offers convenience to sellers in the sense that they will process your clothes for you until your items get listed on the platform. However, keep in mind that thredUP has its own strict quality standards, and not all items that sellers include in their bags get listed and sold.

In this guide to selling on thredUP, we will explain how the platform works, what fees you will be paying, and how to set up your account.

thredUP in Numbers

Source: The Fast Company, 2021.

thredUP is the world’s largest online thrift store (2021):

1.24 million active buyers
428,000 active sellers
thredUP’s warehouses hold 5.5 million items.
More than 100,000 products processed and uploaded daily.
Items from 35,000 brands across 100 categories.

How thredUP Works

thredUP is very convenient to use. The only thing you need to do is send your items in the kit provided (together with the shipping label). No listings or photographs are required. Once the platform receives your items, they go through a thorough 12-point inspection to make sure they comply with the platform’s quality standards. They are then priced and listed.

The listing (starting) prices can be listed within a 12-hour window, with bidding lasting 12 hours from that point. After this live bidding period, minimum prices can be adjusted again.

What you do with your earnings is up to you: you can either use them to buy apparel from thredUP or you can cash them out through Stripe or PayPal. thredUP is free to use, although some fees may be charged in certain circumstances.

Reclaim your items within 7 days; you will be charged $5.99 for shipping. If you chose to list at a price 50% higher than thredUP’s suggested listing price, you will be charged an additional reclaim fee of $5.99. Unsold and unreclaimed items become the property of the platform.
The optional return assurance ($10.99), will guarantee that items thredUP chose not to list will be sent back to you. Otherwise, unsold items will be recycled.

Source: The Fast Company, 2021.

Guide to Selling on thredUP: Fees

The commission and payout structure varies depending on the value of the item. Commission fees can go from 20% to 90%, while seller payout will increase with the value of the item:

Sellers can opt for return insurance ($10.99) to cover for when an item is not sold. This guarantees that items will be sent back to the seller instead of being donated or recycled.
For $16.00 per bag, sellers can benefit from expedited processing.
Sellers have two options for using their earnings: either use them on thredUP or cash them out through PayPal or Stripe. PayPal charges a 2% transfer fee, while Stripe deducts $0.25 in addition to a 1.5% transfer fee.

Guide to Selling on thredUP: Creating an Account

You can create an account with an email address and create a password. Alternatively, you can use your Facebook or Amazon account to log in; you will receive a prompt to verify the associated account. Once you have an account, you can use the platform. To browse, click the ‘Shop’ tab; to sell items, click the ‘Sell’ tab.

Source: thredUP, 2021.

Preparing Items with a Clean Out Kit

After clicking on the ‘Sell’ tab, scroll down and click the ‘Get a Clean Out Kit’ button. This will give you two options: you can either donate or sell your clothes through thredUP. You will be able to sell clothes that meet the platform’s quality standards. The donation option will allow you to support a charity of your choice.

After you click ‘Get My Kit’, you get to choose how you want to send your clothes. Depending on your choice, thredUP will either email you a label or send you a bag.

Label. thredUP will send you a free shipping label via email. This is the quickest option. Just attach the label to any box or bag you used to package your clothes.
Bag-up. thredUP will send you a bag for your clothes. This can take up to two weeks to arrive.
Choose the processing time. Once the clothes have been received, the whole process of getting to your items and sorting through them can take a maximum of eight weeks. You can pay $16.00 to cut down the processing time to three weeks.

Carefully check thredUP’s quality standards so that you are sure that the clothes you are sending can be sold. On average, just around half of the items sent can be consigned. Examine your items carefully to ensure that they aren’t dirty, stained or damaged.

After you get your bag or label, you just need to pack your clothes and send them to thredUP via FedEx or USPS.

Listing on thredUP

Your next step is to set listing prices. After processing, thredUP will tell you which items can be listed on the platform.

For the items to be listed on the platform, there is a 12-hour window to set the start price of your item.
The other items that cannot be listed can either be returned to you or recycled, according to your initial choice.

Source: thredUP, 2021.

thredUP’s payout timeline is as follows:

Bidding on an item is open for 12 hours, and the listing start price can not be edited during this period.
If the item fails to sell during the bidding period, the listing remains open for 60 to 90 days (depending on value or brand). The price can be adjusted during this time.
Buyers can return items within 14 days.
Your cashout is available If the item is not returned.
If not sold, your item can be reclaimed during the last 7 days of the consignment period. If not claimed, the item will be the property of thredUP after the consignment window closes

Managing Your Payouts

How high the payout is varied by brand and is directly dependent on the value of the items.

Your Payout is the percentage of the sale price that you receive. The higher the value of the item, the higher the percentage of the total price you will receive.
Premium and designer brands are more valuable, and your payout could reach 80% of the buying price.
For other brands, the Payout may vary depending on selling price; it can be anywhere up to 60%.

Not all brands are eligible for Payouts. If you send in items from ineligible brands, you will not get money in return.

These brands are ineligible for payouts.

You can estimate how much money you’ll get by using thredUP’s estimation tool. Choose brand and category to find out how much you’ll get from your items.

Receiving Your Earnings

There are multiple ways you can receive your earnings. In any of these, you can claim your earnings within one year. Otherwise, you can only receive them in the form of a thredUP gift card.

thredUP Credit: use your earnings to purchase from thredUP.
Use a Stripe account (1.5% plus $0.25 transaction fee).
Use a PayPal account (2% transaction fee).

Source: thredUP, 2021.

Where to Buy Clothing to Sell on thredUP for Profit

Due to the higher fees associated with thredUP compared to other online platforms such as eBay, as well as the fact that thredUP sorts and lists clothing on your behalf, the answer to the question of how to source your merchandise is simple: in bulk.

Brand-name products in good order are your best bet, but how can you source large quantities of clothing for the minimum cost? There are really 3 routes available to you:

Discount and Charity Sales

Charity and other discount stores can be a good source of inexpensive used clothing. Look out for any brand names, or clothing that falls into popular categories on thredUP. Buying items individually, however, is time-consuming, and the prices in these sales are unlikely to leave you with much room for profit.

Garage Sales and Flea Markets

These sales are the favorites of sellers having a clear-out, and selling off their unused apparel usually sitting in the back of wardrobes – as a result, these items are often in good condition. Some sellers are garage sales and flea markets are just looking for a quick sale, although others will want to recover as much of their initial outlay as possible, and will want to haggle. These sales are a great way of finding some vintage clothing, and barely, if ever, worn items. However, these sales are unlikely to be your cheapest method of sourcing merchandise in bulk.

Liquidation Marketplaces

Liquidation marketplaces are platforms through which retailers sell their surplus inventory in bulk, for prices way below what they would normally sell it for individually. When you buy clothing through liquidation sales, you have the opportunity to buy vast quantities at once, with the minimum hassle – up to full truckloads of clothing at heavy discounts, without having to manually scout through local garage sales or charity stores.

Liquidation merchandise can most commonly be found in 3 categories: Customer returns; Overstock; Closeouts.

Customer returned clothing is exactly that – clothing that a customer has returned to the retailer. This can be for a number of reasons, many are returned due to not fitting well, or being an unwanted gift.

As more people buy clothing online, more clothing than ever before is being returned to retailers. Businesses that plan to resell these items individually will have to sort through what condition these items are in, as well as separate any brand-name or specialist items, before listing them for sale. All you need to do to sell this merchandise through thredUP (who sort and list all items themselves) is to make sure you wash the clothing, and make sure nothing is ripped or missing components, and pack them up to ship to thredUP.

Overstock clothing is merchandise that has been over-ordered by the retailer – usually either an ordering mistake or a line that has not sold as well as expected. This clothing is brand-new, and (depending on the liquidation contract) may contain its original retailer tags or packaging. All of this clothing is ready to ship to thredUP without any cleaning required.

Closeouts have come from stores that are closing down. As such, they have also never been sold to the public and will be retail-ready without any further work. This merchandise is also ready to be immediately shipped to thredUP.

Buying Liquidated Clothing in Bulk from Direct Liquidation

Direct Liquidation is a top liquidation marketplace with warehouse locations throughout the US and Canada. Through our platform, you are able to purchase clothing and accessories in bulk from top retailers such as Walmart from pallets to full truckloads.

Take a look at what liquidation clothing listings we have right now.