Online consignment store gets mixed reviews

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Thred Up is growing really fast. It's an online consignment store with thousands of items at a fraction of the retail price. Top brands, good quality, great if you are looking to buy. However, if you are looking to sell, you need to read the fine print and know up front what they typically pay or you could end disappointed.

The video on their site explains it all. Go to the website and order a 'clean out bag.' That's where you start, so that's what we did. The bag came a couple of weeks ago and I checked the site for the brands they accept, then loaded it with some of my clothes, plus, stuff my son has outgrown.

Once the bag was full, I sealed it and put it in the mail. Around nine days later, I got my offer online. They would buy about half of what I sent in and give me 28 dollars and change. Much lower than I expected! Especially with unworn, expensive dresses that had tags attached. Plus, brand new kids Ugg boots. I wasn't happy and I wasn't alone.

Vicky Lane is one of the founders of Jacksonville Mom's Blog. She said, "I sent in all my daughters stuff, some of my son's. Basically name brand stuff I spent a good chunk of change on."

So, when Vicky received her offer...

"They were showing 12 items out of about a bag of 30 items. They only took 12, and then in my cart they gave me $11.95. Basically, a dollar an item," Vicky said. "I was really disappointed."

Then Vicky got an email from an employee at ThredUp asking about her experience. She let them know it wasn't positive. She never heard back.

"He never responded, but then I got an email telling me, 'look your items are now for sale.' I saw one of the dresses they gave me a dollar for was selling for $25. And it sold for $25. So, I felt a little ripped off," Vicky said.

While ThredUp buys anything under 60 dollars outright, if they don't accept an item, they tell you on the website that they will sell it to a third party and you don't get anything in return. For example, those new Ugg boots, they declined to sell them and planned to give me nothing for them. However, I sent multiple emails and let them know I was doing a news story. Only then did they find the boots in their warehouse and re-examine why they were not accepted. Then they gave me 50 dollars.

As for the rest of my items that they accepted, they gave me about 20 percent of what they made. For Vicky, she showed us, she got much less.

Vicky said, "I was excited about it for the convenience factor. They sent me a bag and all I had to do was fill it, send it in and wait for my money to come and I thought this is going to be awesome. But is the convenience worth it? I feel like I lost out on potential sales that I could have made at other consignment stores."

ThredUp does have a list on its website of the average price it will pay for items. There is also an option where they will return what they don't accept, but you have to pay the shipping cost.

I did talk to a few people locally who love the site and use it all of the time to get great deals on designer clothes. However, if you're looking to make some money, consider local consignment shops. I checked with Plato's Closet here in Jacksonville and they will pay you 30 to 40 percent of the sale price and they also buy clothes outright.