What are the Best Online Resale shops?? Our Handy Guide is here!
Updated: Mar 22
In a trend only highlighted and increased by the pandemic, the apparel resale market has exploded in recent years. According to a 2020 Resale Report by thredUp, the total secondhand market is projected to grow to almost twice the size of fast fashion by 2029! What’s driving this success? There are more secondhand shoppers than ever before, with Gen Z adopting secondhand fashion faster than any other age group. Gone is the stigma of buying “used.” These days consumers feel good about eliminating waste and reducing their fashion footprint.
We love the sustainability and creative reuse of resale fashion, and we’ve created a guide to online resale shops and their unique characteristics. Did we miss your very favorite? Please tell us, we want to know!
Sellers like eBay for their reasonable commission rate (10%), so even though eBay is one of the oldest in the game, there is plenty of new stuff to find. Consider ebay if you’re looking for something really specific, vintage, or elusive, and pay attention to sellers app
The RealReal launched in 2011 as an online platform for selling pre-owned luxury goods. Vendors love/hate The RealReal: they love how well their items sell (most items sell within 90 days) and hate the high commission rate (55%!). Part of that commission goes toward employing experts who authenticate items before they go up for sale, offering peace of mind to buyers and sellers alike. Head to The Real Real when you want the real deal on luxury, but note that you’ll have to sign up before you can shop
Every sale made at Luxanthropy supports a charity making a difference. You can see their list of charity partners here then shop luxury items and celebrity collections.
With a stream-lined app and funky aesthetic, resale site Depop has big appeal for Gen Z. Teenagers are making good money flipping unwanted clothes and becoming stylists and young entrepreneurs as they do. If you’re looking for thrift store finds turned everyday streetwear Depop is for you.
While Poshmark does welcome higher end brands, it’s really where fast fashion goes to buy and sell. Zara, American Eagle, Forever 21, J Crew—if you’re looking to scoop up secondhand deals on any of these, start here.
Folks who don’t want to fiddle with posting their own items online might opt for using one of thredUP’s clean-out kits. Put everything you don’t want in the bag and thredUP sells what they can and responsibly recycles what they can’t. Their deeply discounted “Rescue Boxes” are unique packages of items that took too long to sell or that
Vintage fashion reigns supreme on Etsy. Stores are generally single-vendor owners so you can feel good supporting someone’s livelihood, and you can shop by custom filtering for location if you only shop local. Favorite shops include Poorly Curated, Iverlee, MAWSUPPLY, and Persephone Vintage. Special shoutout to Trans-owned and LGBTQIA+-inclusive Downhouse which is based in IFD’s hometown of Portland, OR.
Instagram & Facebook
One small silver lining in the pandemic is it has pushed more indie and boutique resale shops into blasting their wares far and wide during Instagram and Facebook Live sales. This is especially impactful for plus size shoppers, for whom representative body types aren’t the norm on most online platforms. Catching a person whose body looks like yours modeling a garment in real time during a sale gives you a great impression of what your online purchase might look like on you. We’ve been watching live sales from Portland local Fat Fancy, and from LA’s The Plus Bus, which often sells items from celebrity closets — they recently hosted a sale on Lizzo’s wardrobe!
Give 2nd hand shopping a try from the comfort of your own home! Have fun and enjoy exploring ways you can make a difference for people & planet! Thanks for reading today…have a favorite online shop? Send it our way!
