Editor’s Note: Since publishing this article, one of these buyback stores, Twice, has gone out of business. ThredUP remains in business and continues to buy your high quality used clothing. 

If you would like to cut to the chase and order a ThredUP bag now, request it HERE. (You will get a $10 credit and I will get a $10 credit!) 

I have been steadily cleaning out clutter from our home over the past few years. After three yard sales, two kids’ consignment sales, and several ebay sales, I have found that I can get the most money for my time when I consign online. Consigning online takes about an hour or less, including your trip to the post office to drop off the postage-paid bag.

It’s extremely easy.




The payout is less than selling on ebay or at a kids’ consignment sale, but if you are strapped for time and just want your old clothes out, online consignment is the way to go.

Last year, I consigned clothes with Twice.  I grabbed some of my least favorite clothes, that I hadn’t worn in years, made sure that they were brands that Twice accepts, put them in a pre-paid bag, and dropped them off at the post office. It took me an hour, at the most. They didn’t accept all 16 items, but for those they accepted, they gave me $28. That’s not an awful hourly rate. Although, it was only about $2 per item.

This year, I wanted to try out the online consignment shop ThredUp, because it sells maternity clothes and children’s clothes. I requested a pre-paid bag, sorted out the clothes I wanted to consign, and looked them up on the ThredUp website.

ThredUp Estimates How Much They Will Pay For Your Unwanted Clothes Before You Mail Them.

In the end, I put the following 24 items in my ThredUp bag:

• 5 Ann Taylor LOFT tops
• 4 Ann Taylor LOFT sweaters
• 2 Ann Taylor LOFT skirts
• 1 Ann Taylor shirt
• 1 Victoria’s Secret top
• 1 Lands’ End dress
• 1 The Limited skirt
• 1 Old Navy shirt
• 1 Banana Republic t-shirt
• 1 Lauren by Ralph Lauren tank top
• 1 INC International Concepts shirt
• 1 Apt 9 top
• 1 Apt 9 skirt
• 1 Carole Little shirt
• 1 Heart-n-Crush sweater
• 1 Mossimo sweater

I had a big pile of clothes that were brands ThredUp doesn’t accept:

• Tommy Hilfiger*
• Eddie Bauer*
• Liz Claiborne
• Alfani
• Charter Club

* Twice does accept these brands!

So, I looked those brands up on the Twice website, and found that they accept a few of them. I had an extra pre-paid bag for Twice, so I popped them in and hoped for the best.

How Much Did Twice Offer Me For My Unwanted Clothes?

Twice offered me $13 for them! This is half of what they offered me last year, but last year I sent in 16 items and this year I sent in only 7. Not too bad for clothes that ThredUp wouldn’t take, but still about $2 per item. Twice also emailed me my offer within a week of me sending them the package — before ThredUp had even acknowledged that that they received my bag.

With Twice, you get a 25% bonus if you’re paid in store credit, or you could take the original offer as a paper check, PayPal, or Venmo (I have no idea what that is). I already have some credit at Twice, and I don’t know when I’ll feel like buying clothes again, so I took the cash — via PayPal. 

How Much Did ThredUp Offer Me For My Unwanted Clothes?

Ten days later, I heard from ThredUp. They accepted 15 of my items and offered me $42.60 in “up front” payments. That’s almost $3 per accepted item — a better payout than Twice.

 

What is an “up front” payment? It’s the amount that ThredUp will pay you for your item — like Twice would do. For those items that will be listed for sale at or above $20, ThredUp follows the more traditional consignment model, where you get paid a percentage of the sales price only after the item sells. There is more information on the ThredUp site here. You can use the full “up front” payment amount to purchase ThredUp items immediately, or you have to wait 14 days to get a cash payout via PayPal.

Here are the 16 (of 24) items ThredUp accepted:

Unlike Twice, ThredUp doesn’t tell you what items they rejected or why. Based on what I know I sent in, I figured out that they didn’t accept:

• 2 Ann Taylor LOFT skirts
• 1 Ann Taylor LOFT shirt
• 1 Ann Taylor shirt
• 1 Ann Taylor sweater
• 1 The Limited skirt
• 1 Carole Little shirt
• 1 Mossimo sweater
• 1 Lauren by Ralph Lauren tank top

End result: $55.60 and one-third of a closet!  

In the end, there are things I liked about each experience and things I didn’t like. With ThredUp, they take a long time to process your bag, you don’t know why they rejected your items, and you have to wait 14 days for a payout. On the plus side, ThredUp did pay me more — almost $1 per item more. With Twice, you get a much quicker response and an immediate payout, plus they tell you what they rejected and why. But, they paid less than ThredUp. I know the payout amounts aren’t perfect, because I didn’t send in the exact same item, but it’s a useful guideline for me. In the end, I’m more more likely to consign again with ThredUp because they will accept my maternity clothes and pay me more for my non-maternity items, even if I have to wait three more weeks to cash out.

Ready to get some cash to clean out your closet? If you use my referral links (below), you will get $10 off your first purchase. Request your online consignment bags here:

Request a ThredUp bag HERE

Request a Twice bag HERE

For more ways to sell things you don’t use anymore check out these great articles.

How to Get Rid of Used Books (And Make Some Money Doing it!)
How to Make Money Selling at Consignment Sales
Get Free Shipping at ThredUp – The Ultimate Clothing Resale Store