A Seller's Perspective on The RealReal
The RealReal first entered my radar last year through a YouTube ad. I was just starting out consistently reselling, so I was still building up and navigating my eBay store, plus I’m not bourgeois like that living in my adidas and nerd t-shirts. That’s what I had thought at the time.
Fast forward a year, and an increasing death pile, coupled with too many thredup boxes, and another ad played while going through my YouTube subscriptions.
Maybe I should give it a look.
Their accepted designers list was more extensive than I thought, and I when I saw Stella McCartney by adidas, I almost cried from joy. I have a TON of Stella McCartney by adidas from my time working at adidas that I no longer wear due to not being an XS anymore, and also not being able to wear capri running tights comfortably, from a roller derby injury to my knee in 2011. I actually had listed a few of the pieces from my death pile, and they just SAT on eBay and Posh. I decided those pieces would be perfect to give TRR a shot.
I made an account and clicked the “get started online”. Now because I don’t live in a major metropolitan area like LA or NYC, I had to build my consignment list. There is a drop down menu where you select the designer and item type. You can send a wide variety of designer items from shoes, clothes to watches and jewelry. I selected ten items from my pile to start, and mailed them via a free UPS shipping label. It took four days for them to arrive to TRR’s facility for authenticating and processing and another eight for them to be authenticated and accepted. It then took another eight days for them to actually start listing the items.
Imagine only having to do three photos for something to sell.
Now to be fair, they are check to make sure they are real items, which they were since I bought them from adidas when I worked in one of their performance boutiques, and they have to photograph them all and find and disclose any flaws. They mannequin photograph all clothing items, and from what I have seen on the site they, only take three photos. In the description they list measurements and also disclose any flaws.
I would NOT recommend sending them anything with a stain or even a minor hole in it, because I had two items from my second shipment not be accepted due to that, so if you get a ThredUp DIY Designer box, you either need to clean it to pristine or repair it professionally before considering to send it in.
Now remember how I said I had listed a few items from my death pile and they SAT (they actually sat for a few months), seven of the ten items I sent in from my first consignment sold within ten days of them listing them on the site! That’s huge considering all I had to do was ship it to them, and they do everything else. That being said let’s talk $.
They break everything down so you can easily see your commission rate.
The RealReal sets the prices of all the pieces you send in for consignment. You have no control over that and it clearly states so in the consignment agreement. They also have a rolling tiered commission rate, which I will link here. Anything they deem to be under $145 you earn 40% of the sold price, so if an item is listed for $50, the buyer uses a 20% off coupon, then the final price charged to the buyer is $40. You then get 40% of $40, so you net $16 that will be paid out on the 15th, barring any returns. Buyer has 21 days to return an item bought on TRR, so consignor beware, if you sell pretty dresses around holiday or event times, because I’ve seen more than one consignor complain about people buying something wearing it for a party than returning it (think New Years Eve). Also if you are consigning items you may have paid retail for, this site in my opinion, is not an option for you.
A recurring complaint I have seen is people saying, “I PAID $600 at Gucci for this shirt, and I sent it into TRR and they sold it for $65, I’m only getting $20 for this sale what a rip off.” People that are not resellers, don’t realize that some brands may have a high initial retail valuation, but have a terrible resell value (think Michael Kors). If you bought it from the original retailer and know it’s real, try selling it yourself on Posh or eBay, if you aren’t willing to accept less than your personal mental value. After putting in the work to list and having it sit for a year, you may change your mind.
Speaking of a year, items you send in to TRR, must sell within 365 days. They then will either give you the option to return it at a shipping cost to you, or they will donate it to a charity. Considering how long those pieces sat in my death pile and how fast they have sold, I’m confident I won’t have the issue in the items I sent in.
That being said I would recommend doing some research before sending anything in. I chose to do this experiment because I have an abundance of Stella McCartney by adidas, and the $ I could get for it on eBay and Posh is roughly the same $ I would make in commission on TRR, with the added bonus it sells FAST on TRR vs it sat on eBay and Posh. Just like on eBay and Posh check both the going prices on TRR and the sell through rate to see if the time saving is worth it by sending it to them to list and do all customer service.
I will also be following up this post with buying items on the RealReal to flip on other platforms like Posh and eBay, so make sure to check back or consider joining my discord, where I post article links there as soon as they are up. Overall I am extremely pleased and look forward to my commission check next month.
