How does Swoondle compare to ThredUp?
When many people think of buying and selling clothes online, they think of ThredUp. While ThredUp has been a pioneer in online thrifting, you should consider if their consignment model is right for you. ThredUp is a great option if you are looking for a cash payout and if you are comfortable with the estimated payout percent for your items, while Swoondle provides a unique solution if your main goal is to size up your child’s clothing for the next size or season. Read on to see how they compare.
How the models compare:
Both ThredUp and Swoondle provide pre-paid shipping bags to send in good-condition clothing and they both screen, value, and list your items for you. The key difference is what happens next in exchange for those items.
When you send items to ThredUp, the items they accept (which is 40% of all items sent in) get listed for sale on consignment. If those accepted items sell within 60-90 days, you get a cash payout of as little as 5% in return.
When you send items to Swoondle, Swoondle will accept everything that adheres to their posted guidelines. Swoondle assesses each item (based on the brand, condition, size, item type, and demand) and gives you trade balances in levels 1-5 in return. You can then trade out anything you want on Swoondle’s site within your trade levels. Your Swoondle membership covers your trading fees, and Swoondle doesn’t take a cut of the value of your items.
How it plays out: Swoondle v. ThredUp
Say you have 5 pieces of good-condition clothing that your children have outgrown:
- Ralph Lauren Shirt
- Nike Track Jacket
- Baby Gap Cardigan
- Hanna Andersson Dress
- Janie and Jack Skirt
We pulled real listings of these items (same quality level and size range) from both Swoondle and ThredUp.
If you sent these to ThredUp….
For this example let’s assume they accept all of these items because they’re from top brands and in good condition (but keep in mind they only accept 40% of all items they receive).
I don’t have any data on how often items sell within their 60-90 day window, so let’s be optimistic in this example and assume that everything sells. We’ll also assume you opt out of their Return Assurance option to send back clothing they don’t accept. Unless you’re sending in high-end designer women’s clothing, it just doesn’t make sense to spend that $10.99 when you can’t even expect that much in your payout.
For these 5 items, ThredUp would list them for a total of $71.95, and when they sell you’d get an estimated payout of $5.60.
If you were to then buy comparable items of the same value for your children, you would pay $71.95.
Factoring in your $15.69 in “earnings”, your total net cost would be $66.35, while ThedUp earns 92% of the value of your items.
Again, that math is: [$71.95 worth of equal-value items] - [$5.60 payout] = [$66.35 net cost]
If you sent these to Swoondle…
Assume you join Swoondle’s Standard Plan for $10 a month, which includes 5 trades.
As soon as Swoondle received and assessed your 5 items, they’d load your account with 5 trade balances based on the value of the items. In this case, you’d get 1 Level-2s and 4 Level-3s. You don’t have to wait for the items to sell. Those balances are yours right away.
Then you can shop Swoondle’s assortment of over 10,000 items and choose items to order in the same Levels. In this case, you trade out 1 Level-2 and 4 Level-3s.
One month on the Standard Plan costs $10 and includes 5 free trades. That means your total cost to trade in 5 items and trade out 5 items of the same value with Swoondle is just $10.
(Side note- to keep the math simple here I didn’t factor in shipping, but in this example, Swoondle’s shipping price would cost less than ThredUp’s).
The Bottom Line:
In this example, if you sent in 5 good-condition kid’s clothing items to ThredUp and purchased items of the same value, you’d be down $66.35. If you sent in those same items to Swoondle and traded out items of the same value while on the Standard Plan, you’d be down $10.00. Selling and buying from ThredUp would cost 6x more than trading on Swoondle.