As you may have gathered, I like to shop.  A lot.  Which means I end up with some things that don’t quite fit, that I wear once and am like, meh.  Not feeling it.  Most of these notquiteright items are new / nearly new and nice enough brands that I don’t want to just chuck them in the Goodwill bin.  If I can make a few dollars then I can BUY MORE STUFF.  It’s the circle of life people.

I have a local higher-end consignment store that’s great but only a few people ever see the items and some don’t sell.  There’s also the pain in the ass of the schlepping, the retrieving, and the painful, painful Judgement of your clothes by beautiful 22 year olds at Buffalo Exchange who tell you your clothes are a little “mature.”  Kill me now. And Ebay is exhausting.

Selling

Thredup.com seemed like a great alternative.  They send you a giant bag, you fill it with your nicer items, ship it back, and they pay you for it.  High end pieces are sold as consignment (you get paid when it sells and for a higher percentage) and more “mall” items get you an immediate payment but with Thredup keeping more of the sale price.

Caveat 1:  items they don’t take are thrown away (they say recycled but I’m dubious) and if you want them back, you have to pay.

Caveat 2:  unknown system of evaluation means you have no idea what they will take.

The first time I sent in a bag, it was sorta my “B” list.  Nothing that would retail for over $200, mall stuff.  Things I wasn’t really that into.  I was pleasantly surprised that they took almost everything I sent and paid out way more than I anticipated.  Yes!  So easy!

So I sent in a second bag with some “A” things.  A brand new w/ tags J. Crew dress.  A new with tags Betsy Johnson maxi.  A very lightly worn Marcus Lupfer sweater that I’m just too old for.  Ecco boots that I wore once and fit my mutant feet poorly.   They were going to loooove it.

They took a shitty Old Navy dress.  That’s it.  All the rest– literally $2000 worth of stuff– was thrown away and there was nothing I could do about it.  I emailed them and received a reply that there was “damage” to items and they couldn’t take them.  Um, no.

I vowed NEVER again.

But as with the moron boyfriends of my 20’s,  I caved.  The thing that got me was a J.Crew Collection leather jacket that was super cool but looked ridiculous on me.  Still has tags.  $495.  I researched how much leather jackets sell for on the site and determined I would get a decent return– better than Ebay or my local store. I foolishly sent it in, along with some other choice things (this time I paid for them to return unwanted items because duh.)

I’m soooo sorry I missed your birthday, I love you your so pretty, please give me another chance, look at my sexy tattoos…

Yea, I’m an idiot.

The “professional” at Thredup who looked at my bag determined that my jacket was 1) polyester and 2) worth $32.  Um, HELL NO.

I demanded that they return every single fucking thing immediately– even the things they accepted.  After an email that they just can’t do that, I think they realized I was about to lose it and gave in.

Best fact:  the silk DVF dress I sent was returned with a big thread pull.  It was brand new and never worn.

Needless to say, never again.  Not even with your sexy tattoos. I mean, really.  If you can’t tell the difference between leather and poly, you have no business doing anything with clothes.  Or anything ever– how effing stupid are they?

Buying. 

While I would not recommend selling your things to those dummies, it’s worth checking out for purchases. I scored a MBMJ silk dress for $60, a D&G dress for about the same, several nice sweaters and blouses.

The best way to find what you actually want (i.e. nice shit) is to filter your size and item type and sort by high-to-low price.  You don’t really want an $8 tank from Hollister.  You want a $80 tank from Marni.  Just skip over the dregs.

My next quest will be to try selling at Tradsy and Poshmark– maybe having control over the listing will prevent leather/poly confusion?

Please share your online consignment horror/love stories with me.  The struggle is real y’all.