Thredup
Complaint 87467 Details

When I joined ThredUp in 12/2010 it was strictly a clothing swap site where you send in a full box (USPS medium flat rate only) of your child's gently used or new clothing. In return for each box sent, you received a "pick" to have the ability to choose another member's box of clothing sent to you for $5 + shipping. ThredUp announced on 3/8/12 that they are shutting down the swapping service on 3/21/12 and have now become an online consignment store only. Those of us with unused "picks", who sent in boxes without enough time left to receive one in return, will POSSIBLY receive a coupon (33% off was mentioned by the CEO in a facebook page response, where he said it will "give us" $40 to make up for the lost box- but that means we will have to spend at least $80 out of pocket after the discount for the savings to reach $40- and the website disclaimer states the picks are worth $100- not $40- and it's true in my experience since they had us stuffing 20+ EUC items in the box!) ThredUp has the ability to reimburse our "picks" with the full box of clothes they represent using clothing from their warehouse, but they would rather use these "picks" as a way to make money off of us. We had no way to prepare for this- when ThredUp launched the beta phase of the store about a month ago, they promised that swapping would NOT end and even promised improvements for the swapping part of the site (uploading photos, phone apps), so we continued listing boxes. My reason for the "bait and switch" complaint- here is what played out while I was a member, and it screams SCAM: First, ThredUp offered a "PRO Membership" that we paid for in order to view and pick a box 24 hours before it was viewable to the rest of the members, since the best ones went quickly. Even as a PRO member, it was hard to catch these boxes before they were picked. Boxes were time released, giving ThredUp the chance to review them before listing for "quality control". Many poor quality boxes still made their way through, which is what non-paying members were left with to choose from, and in hindsight, this concept gave ThredUp the chance to weed through and pick the best boxes in preparation for their secret consignment store. They cancelled PRO memberships and time released boxes last year (and it seemed strange to me that there were amazing boxes listed for a week or more before getting picked, even though more members had access to them immediately), and they increased the price of a box from $5 + shipping to either $9 or $16 + shipping, and began giving members credits of $5-$10 depending on the price they listed at. (A "Super Thredder" is a member with a '3-4 out of 4' star rating and were given the ability to list at the higher price- most veterans did not unless it was for something of high value, such as electronics). This is when ThredUp started to take on more of a "selling" concept, and through promotions, began attracting a new class of members (sellers vs. traders) and boxes were no longer required to be "stuffed". Next (and all of these changes are happening very quickly) they introduced the "Concierge Service" which was originally for members who didn't have time to make listings themselves. They sent the member a very LARGE bag and the member was required to COMPLETELY FILL IT with their best quality items and send it back, then ThredUp employees were supposed to make swapping boxes out of them and list them on the site. Not many of these boxes made it to the website (we all searched), and those that did were priced higher as "Certified Items", had very vague descriptions with no given brands, and actually contained lower quality items (for example "1 pair jeans, 1 red sweat pants, 2 pairs of pajamas, 3 t-shirts" in an over-priced box). A few members that picked them out of curiosity were not pleased with the quality or value, and ThredUp stopped listing them. Suddenly, (SURPRISE!) there's a consignment store, and the members that sent in their items to concierge saw them listed for up to $12 a piece in the store, and were never compensated nor were they ever listed in a swap box as the member intended them to be, and ThredUp refused to return them to the members who wanted them back. After a flood of complaints the CEO gave these members a $5 credit for the very large bags they sent in. At the same time, the Concierge program became bags that you filled with only high-end brands (a specific list was given),of 'like-new or new condition only' items for the store, but they couldn't provide anything more than a promise of "the better they are, the larger the pay-out" and whatever doesn't meet their standards will be donated, never returned. The fine print stated that there was a $20 limit per LARGE bag (which was recently removed), but the members that chanced it received much less than that, and were denied access to an inventory slip of what was kept and how much credit was given for it, what was rejected, and the reasons why it was rejected. Everyone felt taken advantage of and ripped off. ThredUp had a full warehouse, and swapping was no longer needed for them to collect their free start-up inventory. Military families that they publicly took pride in helping with the swap boxes have now been removed from the equation completely, they can't even purchase from the store. The whole concept that we signed up for: families helping each other financially through swapping, helping the environment by recycling clothes, helping military families by giving them extra "picks"...was all replaced with the concept they advertised to be against- the overpriced re-selling of companies such as ebay and amazon (company examples that ThredUp used). They left those of us who believed in their original concept and gave away our belongings (which could have been swapped or sold elsewhere) with nothing more than a promise of a coupon to use in their overpriced store. They are scammers and thieves who preyed on those who are kind hearted givers and on the tightest budget, and won't even respond to our emails or allow us to comment on the facebook page. We've been used and thrown away.