Did you know that ThredUp offers a premium consignment service in addition to their standard processing kit? According to ThredUp, this service is one way that they will be experimenting with their new fee structure and encouraging people to send in better items that will sell at higher price points. Today, I wanted to share with you my experience with using ThredUp’s premium consignment service to hopefully help you to decide whether or not this service is right for you and your business.
ThredUp’s Standard Kit vs. Premium Kit
Let’s start by discussing the basic differences between ThredUp’s standard kit and their premium kit. Below is a chart provided by ThredUp on their website that explains their differences:
To summarize:
(1) The premium kit deducts a higher amount from your earnings (which covers the processing and shipping costs of sending in the kit and the cost to have any unaccepted items returned back to you)
(2) The processing time is only 2 weeks compared to 6-7 weeks with the standard kit
(3) Items can only be discounted 20% off of their listed prices compared to no discount cap with the standard kit
(4)Items are listed on the platform for 60-90 days instead of 30-45 days
(5) On average, earnings with the premium kit are generally higher than the earnings received from the standard kit
An Example of ThredUp’s Premium Consignment Service
In order to help you to better understand how a premium consignment kit works, I thought that it would be helpful to show you what an actual premium consignment kit looks like. I’m hoping that this will help you to make a more informed decision about whether or not a premium kit is the right decision for you. Below, I am going to walk you through the first premium kit that I ever sent to ThredUp and my overall thoughts on it:
Earnings Summary- This chart is a summary of earnings based on what items have sold and which items are still available for sale. It shows the $35 fee deduction taken by ThredUp, in addition to, my $513.49 in earnings from the items that I have sold. Additionally, it shows that I still have the potential to earn $344.84 from the items that are still listed and pending sale.
Item Summary- This chart provides an overview of the items provided in this kit. At the time that I pulled this data, I still had 16 items available for purchase, 5 items that sold but may still be returned by the buyer, and 12 items that sold.
Your Items (Listed)- This is a list of the items that are still available for purchase on ThredUp. Here you will find the name of the item, the status of the item, how many days that the item has remaining in its’ consignment period, and what the potential payout would be if the item sold at the price listed.
Your Items (Pending Sale)– This is a list of items that have sold on the site but may be returned. Here you will find the name of the item, the status of the item, and what the payout will be once the item’s return window has passed.
Your Items (Sold)– This is a list of items that have sold on the ThredUp site and have been paid to the seller. Here you can find the name of the item, when it sold, and how much the payout was on each item.
Pricing Items and Filling In Additional Details on Items
Once an item has been processed by ThredUp, sellers have the option to edit the item’s details. This section allows the seller to see ThredUp’s pictures for your item and edit many details about your item such as color, fit, and pattern. Sellers can also adjust an item’s price if I don’t believe that it is accurately reflects the market value of the item. By filling out this information, sellers will be able to enhance the listing and hopefully reach more potential buyers.
My Overall Thoughts on ThredUp’s Premium Consignment Kit
Overall, I really like ThredUp’s premium consignment kit as a whole. Although it is taking out a greater fee than the standard kit, if you send in a greater number of designer items, then the larger payout makes the larger fee worth it. For example, in the kit that I sent in, I received a $513.49 payout for the items that sold and still had the potential to make another $344.84 on the remaining items. Considering that my cost of goods on the entire box was less than $125, the $35 fee was very minimal when you look at my numbers overall.
One of the biggest perks of the premium kits is that they are processed much quicker than the standard kits. I have sent in 3 premium kits as of when I am writing this post and not one has taken longer than 2 weeks to be processed. It is really nice to not only have my items on the platform quickly but to see them listed for a longer time period than the standard kit, giving them a better chance of selling.
Having a buyer discount cap is also an added bonus. I never have to worry about my items being discounted below 20% of my listed price. With the standard kits, there is no buyer discount cap so items can be discounted very heavily if ThredUp decides to run promotions. [Note: When ThredUp runs promotions on items, a seller’s payout is reflective of that discount. For example, if a buyer uses a discount code that takes off 70% of the listed price, then the seller’s payout will be based on the discounted price and not the listed price.]
I really think that when it comes to deciding whether or not ThredUp’s premium consignment kit is for you, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of each kit. If you are selling many higher end items and have a relatively low cost of goods, then I do believe that the premium consignment kit may be a good option for you for either liquidation or pursuing a passive reselling income. If you are looking to sell items from non-premium brands and don’t mind a little bit of a longer processing time, then I would probably use the standard kit. The larger fee may not be justified when the value of your items is lower.
I hope that you find this post helpful! If you have any questions or just want to chat, please reach out!
If you don’t already, be sure to check out my Instagram for more Reselling Tips at @ RecycledRosesGuide (Click HERE) and my Facebook page HERE.
You can instantly shop all of my looks by following me on the LIKEtoKNOW.it shopping app HERE.
To get email notifications for my next blog post and to receive my monthly Reseller Recap (with freebies), sign up for my emails below:
Baci,
[…] learn more about each of these kits, be sure to visit THIS blog […]