A couple of thoughts crossing my mind today . . .
I shopped at an online consignment store recently, ThredUp. They offer a ton of gently used clothing, mostly casual stuff from the likes of GAP, Loft and Target. The prices are a little high, imo, but I got a 25% discount and free shipping on my first order.
My package arrived today, and I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the clothing. I got this very cute Ideology skirt for under $10:
This Old Navy blouse:
Old Navy sweater:
And a couple of pretty summer scarves. Grand total for all the pieces was just over $30! Good deal. Now the flip side: ThredUp invites you to send in your gently loved clothing to sell on their site. They offer to pay you up-front, before it sells, up to 40% of the determined sales price.
But the Internets are full of complaints about this side of ThredUp’s operations. Most complaints revolve around being “cheated” out of perfectly good clothing, and getting only “pennies” for nearly-new items. I have not done the sell-end yet, so I have no personal testimony. I plan to send in a few pieces as my experiment (the company pays for shipping) and I’ll let you know.
Any of you have experience with reselling through this company? Love to hear about it. I can say the shopping experience at ThredUp was very satisfactory!
Top of my head blowing off department: Did you read this story about televangelist Pat Robertson today? In response to a woman whose husband had an affair, Robertson said that the woman should focus on making “the home as wonderful as possible” so that her husband “doesn’t want to wander.”
“Give him honor instead of trying to worry about it,” he continued. “But recognize also, like it or not, males have a tendency to wander a little bit.”
No messy Seventh Commandment issues for Robertson. And naturally, it’s our fault if our men-folk “wander.” Grrrrrr. Does anyone still pay attention to this guy?
On a brighter, more life-affirming note, Visible Monday starts early, on Sunday! Everyone is welcome to participate ☺. Have a wonderful weekend, all.
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I've used Poshmark to buy and sell some items. There's always Threadflip that I have not used. The prices are pretty high and I could probably find better deals in clearance sections. And of course, there's always ebay.
Alice
http://www.happinessatmidlife.com
Some men even think that Pat (who?) is talking c**p, let alone us!
You can count on me to have a different opinion! I agree with 95% of what Robertson is saying. First – the woman asked him for advice on how to move past the cheating and forgive. If she wanted to divorce him, she should have. But she wants to forgive.
His advice is spot on for moving past a problem – focus on the positive. Why do you love him?
I would have phrased the 'men stray' part differently. I would have said – we are all sinners. America IS a culture where women are objectified and sexuality is used to sell. his cheating has nothing to do with HER, it was his own sin. I think his admission that many men stray is very powerful. He doesn't hold men up as the ideal and women as inferior, exactly the opposite. Men can be morally weak and sin against God by betraying their marriage vows.
I think the important thing is to realize he is not saying in this video that all women should forgive their husbands when they cheat, he is offering advice on how to forgive to a woman who asked for it.
Great skirt Patti! I don't listen to this man but I can see the good in everything. There is some truth about when women give their man a certain honor, the man will feel a particular completeness (for lack of a better word). But I will never buy into the theory that all men just "wander" and can't help themselves. That is a crock. There are 2 types of men in the world according to my experience. There are men that LOOK at other women consistently (aka DOGS) and there are the few gentlemen that are focused on the woman in front of them (aka HUMAN BEINGS with control). 😀
Pat Robertson is an indeterminable tool, and always has been. Clearly he belongs to the school of There's No Such Thing As Bad Publicity…….WRONG.
Never heard of online consignment stores, seemed like a good idea, and I love your skirt too. Sounds as though there are definite teething issues with the selling side of things, will be interested in hearing your selling views once tested. I don't know who Pat Robertson is, and definitely don't want to know now that I've read what he has to say! Grrr
That skirt is really pretty. You really got some good deals.
I've heard quite a bit of his lecture via the media, and beyond his tone-deaf and antediluvian content, his * tone * was beyond condescending. He delivered his decidedly non-sage advice as if he were addressing a recalcitrant five-year-old. My first response is dismay. Why on earth are men like this given air-time or print space. The up side is that we now have solid evidence that Neanderthal man is still extant. Exhausting.
Will read anything you find about Thredup with interest. Am having my first adventure in consignment, and not happy so far. I realize my experience is not indicative of how the growing consignment world operates, but I was hoping for better. We'll see … the experience is not yet complete.
Love your skirt, its wonderful 🙂
The items you bought are lovely, Patti, especially the skirt which will fit just perfectly with your feminine style. I am guessing that in order to keep their prices lower and cover the free postage, this company will be unlikely to pay much for their stock. It will be interesting to hear about your experience of selling as well as buying.
Pat? Never heard of him. But of course he is completely right; nothing is more likely to force a man to have sex with another woman than shoddy housewifery and below par cooking. Hahaha! xxxxx
Agreed that voting with our business is better than griping! Well said.
Nice finds, Patti. I especially like the skirt.
I have no experience with ThreadsUp, but as an online seller, I can imagine that their low ball offers on used clothing take into account the high price of shipping that they have to pay; it's really gotten pricey. I would imagine that those getting that 40% for their items are offering high end, designer pieces that would sell quickly and at a good profit. With used clothing in general, you have to buy cheap and sell cheap. I don't bother with selling used clothes online anymore unless I can make a decent profit because it's just way too much work.
Oh, Pat Robertson; making excuses for adultery. I just can't take him seriously. I'm sure a man doesn't wander away from his wife because his mistress has a nicer place. And it's hard to honor a man for whom one has lost respect for and has been betrayed by. Bet I know what Pat would say if the offender was female.
Pat's comments often seem to be not necessarily Christian based, but a reflection of a Victorian mindset that faded away with the 1950s. Making the home beautiful was regarded as one of the highest priorities of the Victorian housewife and women were expected to look the other way at their husband's indiscretions. We are not Victorian housewives.
Love the skirt and don't get me started on Pat Robertson… He is a role model and is failing miserable in that. Men who cheat need to take responsibility and be held accountable for turning outside the marriage instead of working to fix things. If men aren't happy with their sex lives, try treating your wife well…
I say, if you think the percent is too low don't use that vendor. Why waste words griping when you can vote with your business.
I think cheating on your spouse is hurtful. If you aren't happy then leave. If for whatever reason you don't want to leave then look within yourself, which I feel includes God, for an answer. I would rather see a marriage honored by dissolving it than damaged by abuse.
Hi Patti, like everyone else…the skirt was a great find. My only concern with the thrift issue is that now that you have blogged about it, I would think these people would give you a great deal in order to get a great review. You might get a more honest evaluation if they did not know you were testing them…on the Internet everyone seems to know what is going on.
Everyone knows I am a Christian. But, if Pat Robertson did say this, it is foolish and ignorant. It also gives some men a license for abuse. Legalism causes so much harm in the church and statements such as this have nothing to do with Jesus and the Bible. I only hope that women will not judge all Christians by such a statement. Jesus was completely pro-woman and would have grieved over this being said. He is about love and the Bible is about women of strength… I hope no one will hang Pat Robertson's comment on Christianity…has nothing to do with it. He has needed to retire for a long, long time.
His views may be archaic and grossly conservative, and his predictions and explanations of world events outrageous, but, sadly, he's a hugely influential figure (not in my world, of course).
The site looks interesting and your skirt is so lovely, but I agree: like consignment stores, it's def pricier than thrift shops. And if the seller gets 50 percent of an already-reduced rate so that buyers can get great deals, it stands to reason that they're not going to make that much cash. Here in Annecy, where retail prices are high, I can get pretty good dosh when I consign my clothing at a local store, even after the 50 percent take from the shop owner.
Omg. About the fabulous skirt and the not-so-fabulous arse who I really don't know and who is sprouting pre-Friedan silliness. I can't believe there would be an audience for that. The world is silly. Hope the buy-back experiment works out for you.
It's just that sort of profound disrespect for women that is killing the church.
Some gorgeous finds Patti!
Even considering the discount you got, those pieces wouldn't have been priced very high. Forty percent to the sellers would likewise not be very much – especially in their minds (the ones making the complaints). You know the thought process – *her* second hand stuff is low quality, but *my* stuff is really good 🙂
Love the skirt.
I see more and more online shops where you have to sign up before you can enter and have a look around and check out their style, offers and prices. Same here. I really don't like that.
I don't know Robertson (I am from Germany) but this is a weird 1950s attitude… unfortunately you still hear these kind of thoughts in very traditional areas every now and then!
Annette
Lady of Style
The skirt is amazing, so bright print and so interesting! I think if a man wants to wander he will, no matter what wonderful home his wife created for them both (not for HIM)
How old is Pat Robertson now anyway? I'd say he's a dinosaur with a fossilized mind.
I love that skirt! I hadn't heard about ThredUp yet, so it will be interesting to see how your experiment turns out.
Oh, I LOVE the skirt! What a cool pattern!
As far as the Pat thing, honestly, I don't know who he is, but I still want to slug him. I've known too many wonderful people whose marriages have ended because spouses have 'wandered'. While it's never completely all one person's fault when a marriage fails, I believe it has more to do with the lack of character of the person who cheats than the lack of effort on the part of the person who's been cheated on. "Give him honor"? Please.
Lovely pieces you got.
Admittedly, I'm learning exactly how consigning works. However we stick to a very strong mission to help as many people as humanly possible. We offer a very fair 50/50 when an item sells, if it goes past a certain time, we send it to clearance – still maintaining 50/50. Unless the customer demands it back or it is a specialty item (ie wedding), it goes onto another donation based center after our time with it is up. In our case, our town's local needy.
But on the money part of things, the sellers have to pay to hang onto the stuff. To house it, to sell it, to keep track of it. The fact that some people are getting "ripped off" by only receiving a little bit, isn't much farther from actual consigning. We don't sell target/forever21/etc stuff for much, new or not. In fact, if it isn't in good shape – we probably won't take it in the first place. But nicer stuff does go for more.
However we do sort everything while taking it in. Something hard/impossible to do when consigning via internet. I think trying to support or find local consignment shops would be more ethical and practical if they are available to you. Some places aren't and I can understand that, but it's what I would opt for.
As for your rant – Of course people are responsible for their actions. I'm very boggled by the idea that people can cheat "on accident". I watched the season finale of Grey's and am APPALLED to see the one good lesbian relationship I can name on television going to shit because "she couldn't help herself" – and that show is followed by a show called "Scandal" that is all about people who "can't help themselves".
The person who is committing the action has responsibility. It doesn't matter how perfect someone's life is, there are still perfectly happy people who cheat. Every one from the rich to the poor. It happens. It's certainly not moral to do so, but it is not on the spouse to "keep" their spouse from cheating. It is the responsibility of both parties to remain faithful to their commitments.
Really nice! I think you should wear the skirt with the stripey sweater.
I'm with the others on "Pat who"?
Sell cheap/buy cheap… You never know, might find what you're looking for! As for Pat, ughhhhh!! I hate the fact that there are still people who DO take him seriously 🙁
Becky
Oh wow. I think it makes a home wonderful when both parties respect each other and the home! Good grief. On another notes, I love your skirt! That's very pretty. I don't know anything about the site you are talking about, but look forward to hearing more about it as more and more people try it out.
xoxo
Lynn
I have this skirt! I pay for it FULL PRICE, in late Filene's store, and never ever regretted it.
Actually, I started to think about selling some of my clothes through ThreadsUp.
That skirt is gorgeous, Patti!
I will be all ears on any updates on Thred Up. Great concept! I found that places where you can get great deals, often buy for cheap. My Buffalo Exchange is similar- I sell for pennies but I do find great bargains- there's a correlation.
As for Pat. WE need to stop listening to an old dinosaur, he is irrelevant and is just headline bait.
Um, still pay attention? Like Connie, let's not even acknowledge a person with such archaic thoughts.
Some good finds Patti. I haven't yet ventured towards online clothing shopping. I must do the try on first.
Sue xo
First of all. I really love that skirt. Well done, you!! And secondly I voted who's Pat even tho I know exactly who he is. He doesn't even deserve recognition. We should make our homes wonderful for OURSELVES!!!!! Rant on, Patti. I love ya!