Oh, sigh. Where do I begin? As a huge advocate of Poshmark.com I was super excited about the lazy version ThredUp.com. If you aren't familiar with Poshmark
click here because I wrote about it on a previous post (and I still adore the site). Poshmark is a free iPhone/iPad app that allows you to shop the closets of women across the country and also sell your own clothes. I've had a bunch of successful sales on the site and if you are interested here is a link to my closet
click here. At first I was thrilled with the idea of ThredUp because it seemed a lot easier than Poshmark. You'd simply ship the company your clothes and they would sell them for you! One of the most difficult aspects of Poshmark is keeping track of your items and convincing people to purchase them. It can take weeks to months to make a sale especially if you aren't consistently pushing the items out. You also have to take the time to take photos of the items or model them to grab the attention of the buyer.
Here is my first big tip when dealing with sites like these, always research beforehand. If I had researched ThredUp prior to working with them I would have found the
negative reviews that they have received online from other sellers. What amazes me is that they acknowledged how many scam complaints they've received and wrote about it on a blog last year
click here. In the blog entry they wrote "We can’t stay in business unless we keep buying items from you." Oh really? Now, let's jump into my nightmare ..
The Nightmare:
A few weeks ago I sent ThredUp a variety of items in a bag, one of these items was a practically new Marc by Marc Jacobs blazer (photograph below) that I barely wore. After a year of seeing it in my closet I decided to try and sell it. Although, I could of sold it on Poshmark I decided to see how much money I could get for selling it through Thred Up. When you sign up for the service ThredUp sends you a large bag with a shipping label and a note card with instructions. For the purpose of this blog entry I am going to focus on the prize item - the jacket and nothing else. It was a freshly laundered, brand name, no signs of wear and tear blazer so I thought I was good to go!
According to their Quality Standards thredUP's #1 objective is for the customer to have a great time using their Clean Out service. Unfortunately, I had a horrible time. I reached out to the company immediately when they emailed and said that the jacket could not be sold on the site. What? Why? I followed every rule they listed. This is the response I got back from Brandie:
I went to this website page she directed me to and scrolled to the bottom of the page and saw a random note ***Please note we are currently limiting our intake of dress pants, blazers, and work wear. Please contact our team at support@thredup.com with any questions*** The problem with this language is that it still doesn't explain why my blazer couldn't be accepted. Using the word "limiting" doesn't mean "do not send us" and if this was so important to the company, why wouldn't they make sure that people saw this information by placing it at the very top of the page and/or including a separate note when they send out cleaning bags. I expressed my concerns and Brandie responded back.
You know why I didn't opt for insurance? Because I thought my jacket would be chosen, why? because it was exactly what they wanted the items to be. Freshly laundered, a well known brand in top condition, and according to the blog entry there is absolutely zero reason why they'd try and not buy items from me. When was that "limiting" note added? Let's say I was a frequent customer who often sold items before the note was posted and I was already familiar with the quality standards, how would I know about their new "limiting of items" policy? I wouldn't. To expect customers to read that page each and every time for notifications is absurd. All notices that important should be included on the top of the page or provided with the clean out bag. I asked Brandie why they don't just write "We do not accept" instead of using the word "limiting." It's very confusing to the seller, how would one know which items to send and not send? Here is the response I got ...
So ... how am I supposed to know when they've reached their limit? I immediately went to the website to see the Marc by Marc Jacobs that passed the test and weren't tossed away like mine. Surely, they must be amazing if they decided to keep them.
Well, not really. Don't they look as good as the one I was trying to sell them? Doesn't my jacket perhaps look better than some of these options? Needless to say I'm very disappointed. My only hope is that it was donated to a charity, and a ThreadUp employee isn't wearing the jacket to work every day. If I had one piece of advice for the company it would be to change the language and communicate more effectively with sellers. If you really can't sell certain items and are "limiting" certain items you should notify sellers immediately by placing the note at the top of the page, not at the bottom where they are unlikely to see it. You should also include the information with the clean out bags. You should also tweet the information to remind people. It looks like I'm sticking with Poshmark for now.
Do you know of an effective way to sell clothing? Share below.
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