ThredUp has added a peer-to-peer selling option to its online thrift shop.
The company, which was founded by James Reinhart in 2009, has primarily operated as a managed marketplace for secondhand clothing up until now. People mail bags of clothes to the company’s warehouses where the clothing is sorted. Anything that meets ThredUp’s standards for resale is photographed and listed. If an item doesn’t meet the resale criteria, it’s reused or recycled. If the item sells, the original owner gets a cut.
Until now, peer-to-peer selling has been owned primarily by platforms like Poshmark, Depop, or eBay. By adding a peer-to-peer selling option to its shop, ThredUp aims to add more high-value items to its inventory.
Here’s how it works: People list their own items for sale on ThredUp from home. The listing is included on ThredUp’s platform of 4 million items. If someone buys it, the original owner is responsible for shipping it, but they get to keep the profit. To start, ThredUp isn’t charging a seller’s fee.
“Over the last 16 years, […] we’ve learned that customers don’t always want to sell the same way,” Kristen Brophy, svp and head of marketing for ThredUp, told ADWEEK.
Sometimes people want to get rid of unwanted items without worrying they’ll end up in a landfill while earning a little extra cash, she explained. Other times, they have a couple high-value items that they want to sell immediately.
“[Maybe] they bought a dress for a wedding they went to that they’re never planning to wear again,” Brophy said. “By introducing Direct Listing, which is what we’re calling our the peer-to-peer side of our marketplace, we can serve both needs in one platform.”
AI-driven shopping
While ThredUp’s main business has been the online thrift store, it also powers resale shops for brands like American Eagle, Athleta, J.Crew, Madewell, Reformation, and Tommy Hilfiger. ThredUp handles the logistics to allow brands to sell secondhand products within a dedicated shop, adding an additional revenue stream and giving shoppers a low-budget alternative to buying new.
