I’m always looking for ways to save money and to reduce, reuse and recycle. Last week I received an invitation to become a founding member of thredUP kids, and wanted to extend the invitation to all of my readers.
What is thredUP kids? It’s a convenient and affordable way to exchange children’s clothing online. The community is still in pre-launch and will be live this month.
If you’re looking for an easy way to trade the gently worn clothes your child has outgrown for clothes in their new size, check out thredUP kids. You can even enter for a chance to swap your first box of kids’ clothes for free (a $20 value). Click here to enter.
Here’s how the thredUP kids community works:
- Similar to Netflix, thredUP allows you to browse and choose boxes of clothes you’d like to receive. For example, you may be looking for a box of summer clothes for your 3 year old, some cute dresses for your infant or a range of clothes for your 7 year old.
- Then like eBay, you can build and upload virtual boxes of clothes (10+ items per box) that you are looking to swap with other members. You don’t need to upload pictures or a detailed description… just provide a simple overview of your box of gently worn items (e.g. Size 2T, Boys, Pants & Jeans, Children’s Place, Gymboree & Gap).
- Finally, like StubHub, thredUP enables and manages the exchange. Their marketplace facilitates exact matches, ensures quality and remedies the lack of coordination that is often a challenge in offline clothing swaps. They never take possession of the clothing, as thredUP is strictly peer-to-peer. All you have to do is pay for your swap online and thredUP will send you empty boxes to ship off your items. You never even have to take a trip to the post office.
Not interested in swapping? You can also simply buy or sell children’s clothing on thredUP as well.
Have you participated in a clothing swap before? How did it work out for you?
{ 3 comments }
This is an interesting idea. Definitely earth friendly!
As a customer though, couple of things I would be concerned about:
1. if threadUp doesn’t get to check out the clothes (peer-to-peer exchange), how would anyone know that they actually are gently used and color coordinated?
2. $20 for 10 used pieces of clothing seems kind of on a high side. Does it include shipping fees? You can almost get the same deal on new clothes from Target or Wal-Mart.
But definitely interesting concept, let us know how it’s going!
Thanks for the post! Just wanted to take a minute to respond to Malika’s questions…
1. When you browse boxes of kids clothes on thredUP you’ll be able to see brands, sizes, colors and seasons. We ask all members to abide by the “Golden thredUP rule: Send only what you’d be willing to receive.” In addition to our random quality assurance checks, we have each recipient review boxes of clothes ASAP upon receiving them. If you receive “dead-threds” (ripped, stained, torn or outdated items) or clothes that do not match the description on the site, we will credit you for new items. Your sender will be warned and repeat offenders are banned from thredUP.
2. $20 includes shipping, insurance and delivery confirmation for 10 plus kids clothing items. thredUP will save you money and time. No more digging through clothing racks or bidding on eBay. Not to mention, you’ll reduce waste and consumption…green is in!
Hope this helps and thanks for your interest!
Your blog is great! Based on this post, it looks like you folks offer great services. Keep it up!
-mikee