Swapping...

I've recently begun a journey in the world of clothing swaps.  Through one of my favorite daily deal websites (ecobabybuys.com), I found out about ThredUp.  EBB was offering half off their PRO membership, $20 for one year.  Turns out you don't need to pay anything to participate in the swap, but I figured I'd go all in and see what the full experience would entail.

In addition to the membership, the deal gave me the chance to order one box for free.  Each box is $5 plus you pay shipping (approx. $10.95).  You choose the age group, and the type of items you're looking for and you can browse what seemed like hundreds of boxes.  I ultimately chose a box of girl clothing, 3-6 month sizes, of mixed tops and bottoms.  The website itself does not show pictures of the items, and only in a few cases did the "senders" include links to web albums where you could see the actual items.  I basically ordered this box sight unseen.  It took a day or so for the "sender" to acknowledge my order and then perhaps another day for the shipping to be arranged.  I was so excited while I waited for it to arrive.

The general process is that ThredUp never handles the actual shipments themselves.  They handle the shipping logistics, but all postings, shipments, and reviews are handled by the users of the service themselves.  You are sent 10 USPS flat rate boxes to help you send out shipments (they want all boxes to be of standard size).  I'm still waiting for mine to arrive, however, you can also just go to the Post Office and pick up boxes yourself.  Since I ship things out so rarely, I didn't realize that picking up a flat rate box is free!  Anyway, you fill your box (which I'll have to post about separately since I haven't done this part yet) and you post it to the website.  Once someone chooses your box you are notified.  You then accept the order and are emailed the shipping label and instructions from ThredUp.  Then you just leave the box on your doorstep for pick-up.

As a recipient you are required to review the box.  You answer a brief questionnaire ranking the quality and the style of the items you received.  This feedback is added to the sender's profile where other potential shoppers can access historical shipment information.  There are also rankings and awards to be earned for being a good sender.  You can keep tabs of your favorite senders as well so you can keep your eye out for their future boxes.

I received my box and was so excited to tear into it!  Again, I didn't know what was inside since I went completely off the descriptions.  In all there were 16 items, including a pink robe (the main reason I chose this box in the first place).

Essentially I paid $1 per item of clothing I received.  There were only one or two items that I plan to pass on (and probably donate, but perhaps stock up for a future box of my own) so it turned out to be a tremendous deal!

I'll add another post when I finally get around to sending out my first set of boxes.  I feel a lot of pressure to have a good box cause I want a good rating too, and I just gave a bunch of newborn boy clothing to my sister for her little one due in April.  I didn't know about the swap until I'd already given a lot of our items away, but I still want her to have first choice.