The first things to be drained by my new-found time at home was my bank account. In my boredom, I turned to one of my favorite hobbies: online shopping. Except, this time when I took to the computer with clothes in mind, I decided to buy from somewhere I had never tried before. I heard about thredUP last summer when my mom brought it to my attention. She knew I loved thrift shopping, and she thought the online version would be yet another place I could find cute and affordable clothing. Since then, I had looked over thredUP several times in the last year. I would spend hours on the site and putting things in my cart, but I would never actually buy them. About two weeks ago, I decided to commit. After finding five clothing items that were too good to pass up, I completed my purchase totaling $32.46.
The $32.46 was not the original price of my order, but what I’ve noticed after numerous visits to thredUP site is that they often have additional sales. When I made my purchase, there was a coupon available for up to 40% off of certain items. I ended up taking $20 off the original price of $46.95. My final price included the $6 shipping fee.
If you’ve never been on thredUP, then you’re missing a lot. The amount of clothing, shoes and accessories they have on their site could keep someone shopping for days if they had the time. I spent the better half of my evening flipping through the clothes and searching for different pieces to see what my options were. Luckily, after you add an item to your cart, it remains reserved for you for 24 hours. This way, you can keep shopping without fear that someone else is going to purchase your finds before you do.
To make the entire shopping experience easier, thredUP offers several filtering options so that all of their products don’t bombard you at once. While I was shopping, I had put in my waist, dress and shirt size so that only items that would fit me came up. You can also sort items by their condition. I had activated the filter so that only items with tags and practically new items came through.
I also suggest searching for specific items so that it is less overwhelming. I knew that I wanted some new summer dresses, so that was one of the first things I looked for. I ended up finding two that I was excited about. One dress still had the tags on it and retailed for $53, but I ended up getting it for $7. The second dress I chose was more daring than I usually go for because of its bright pink color and open back, but I decided to go for it. The dress was estimated to retail for $95, and I purchased it for $14.
The next item I knew I wanted to look for were shorts. I had recently cleaned out my closet and gotten rid of my old denim shorts, and I was on the hunt for replacements. I knew I wanted them to be high-waisted, so I made sure that the filter for fit was set properly. After a few minutes of searching, I came across a pair of Altar’d State light-wash cut-off shorts that I was willing to try. thredUP estimated the retail price to be $89, and I got them for $7.
By the time I finished looking for dresses and shorts, I was finding such great deals that I wasn’t ready to stop shopping yet. I decided to give the tank tops a go. I didn’t spend as much time looking through the tops because I knew that I didn’t need them, but I still ended up putting two in my cart. The first tank top was black with lace trim. It cost me $11. The second top was white with red stripes and a lace-up back. It was priced at $8.
Once I had everything placed in my cart, I mulled over whether or not I was sure I wanted to buy it. My sister reminded me what great deals I had found, and that was enough to get me to put in the credit card information. It occurred to me after the fact that my order might take a long time to arrive because of the pandemic. But, I was pleasantly surprised that everything still came within a week of me ordering it. My order was split into three different shipments and came from three different states, which I found interesting.
Two of the shipments arrived on the same day. My two dresses and the shorts arrived at the same time. I was anxious when they got there to see how everything would fit and what it would look like. I am glad to report that thredUP did not let me down. Both dresses and the shorts fit perfectly and were in pretty good condition. The dress that came with the original tags was perfect, and the shorts did feel like new. The only issue I found was with the pink dress I had ordered. After trying it on and looking it over in the mirror, I found a small stain near the bottom that looked like blue ink. My sister assured me though that unless you were studying the dress closely, it wasn’t visible. When the two shirts arrived a few days later, I was again impressed by their condition and fit.
Overall, I was extremely happy that I had finally decided to give thredUP a chance, and I look forward to shopping with them again in the future. While the amount of clothes that you have to sort through can be overwhelming, I think the prices make it worth it. With a little patience and the right filters, you could find some gems without having to break the bank.