Your Complete Guide to Selling & Buying on Tradesy.com

MCR has been selling on  Tradesy.com for four years now and have witnessed the platform grow and change. We’ve had our successes and frustrations with the company and if you’re thinking of selling on Tradesy yourself, there are some things that you need to know as well as figuring out if it’s the right fit for you to sell on. Below are the pros and cons to the platform including the commission cost and some tips to create successful listings:

Selling fee: There is a flat commission fee of $7.50 for sold items less than $50. On items $50 or more, there is a rate of 19.8%. You can withdraw earnings using Paypal, a debit card, or an ACH transfer - they charge 2.9% transfer fee. This is NOT mentioned in their description on their How Tradesy Works Page. It’s important to keep in mind when you look at your sales page, Tradesy will show you how much you earned from sale TO USE AS CREDIT ON THEIR SITE. You manually have to calculate your cash earnings by deducting 2.9% from this or refer to the email you receive once and item sells.

Taxes: You will be unable to get an earnings report from them unless you have sold processed more than $20,000 in sales and had more than 200 transfers in a calendar year.

If you've met both requirements, you qualify for reporting and our payment processor, Stripe, will send you a copy of Form 1099-K. This form used to report to the IRS is a purely informational form designed to assist you in reporting your taxes.

Pricing: Tradesy will recommend a sale price based on past sales of items and the retail price of your item. I rarely use their recommendations since they are usually way too low. It’s up to you to find out the right price for your item. Do your research which can be easily done on Google or just on Tradesy. Make sure to take account of the condition of your item as it’s not going to sell for as much as a new one.

Pro Tip: To be competitive, look at a couple different platforms and check out eBay for the lowest prices to compare your item to.

Shipping: Shipping is always included in the sale price of your item. You have 3 options for shipping:

 

1. Shipping Box Kit ($30): This includes a box, shipping polybag, prepaid shipping label, Tradesy brand hang tag. You will have to wait for this to be shipped to you which makes you have to wait even longer for your earnings.

 

1. Shipping Bag Kit ($14): This includes a shipping polybag, prepaid shipping label, tissue paper, and Tradesy brand hang tag.

 

1. Prepaid Label ($10.50): prepaid Priority USPS shipping label. For a box ANY size under 10 lbs (I had to contact them to get these parameters). This is my preferred method as I always have boxes available and priority boxes are free at any USPS Office. This way you don’t have to wait for a box to be shipped and you don’t have to spend $19.50 for a Tradesy branded box and bag.

Pro Shipping Tip: ALWAYS get a receipt from the post office when you drop off your package. If your item doesn’t get scanned and is lost or stolen in transit (this has happened to me many times), there is no way to get reimbursed or get insurance money from USPS. If you have a receipt, you can prove that they were in possession and therefor, responsible for your package. If you ship yourself, always insure it for what it cost you and include a signature confirmation for more expensive items. Package thievery is all the rage and if an insured package is left on someone’s doorstep, marked as delivered, and stolen, it will not be eligible for a claim.

Contact: There is a Tradesy phone number that is available select times during the day.

No online chat.

Email support - replies within 48 hours - usually 24 hours.

Returns: You can return most items to Tradesy for site credit if something doesn’t fit or if you’ve changed your mind. I love this about Tradesy and it gives buyers peace of mind which is good for both sellers and buyers. However, you can’t return wedding dresses, swim, bodysuits, or final sale items.

If buyer decides to return something, it always goes back to Tradesy first. Regardless of the reason, it’s authenticated and inspected to see if it matches the description. For example, if someone returns a bag because they don’t like it, but Tradesy finds a stained interior that wasn’t in the photos or description, they will return it to you and your funds will not be released. If they find it to match the description, they will keep it and list it themselves under one of their own closets.

Listing: You are allowed 13 photos total which is more than most platforms. There is also no character limit to the description. Take advantage of this and photograph any signs of wear to your item in detail as well as a clear picture of any serial numbers or engravings. This will ensure a quick sale and a lesser chance of getting a return. They will also photoshop the background out of your main image within approx. 48 hours.

One of my favorite features on Tradesy is the listing copying ability. It’s a major time saver. Let’s save you have Louis Vuitton Damier MM Neverfull you want to sell. All you have to do is search for “Louis Vuitton MM Damier Neverfull” in the search bar and take a look at the results. See a bag that looks identical to yours? Click on it, and scroll down to the “Shipping and Returns” section and under that there will be a red link that says “Sell Yours”. Click this and a new listing will pop up for you to add your own photos, description, and condition. The measurements, style, brand, and item type will already be filled out for you - just make sure to double check the measurements as they can sometimes be incorrect.

Pro Listing Tip: Pick the item that has the most favorites to copy as it usually has the most relevant style tags that Tradesy favors! Think of it as your Tradesy SEO. Use ALL FIVE of the style tags allowed in the listing. I usually include a combination of the brand, style name, size, color, material, or bag style. Here’s an example of a tags used in this Saint Laurent Large Grey Lou Lou Monogram Shoulder Bag.

Listing Suggestions: The best thing you can do is get in on the Tradesy sales! You will have the option for Tradesy to automatically discount your items 10%, 15%, or 20%. When they have a sale for a certain brand, they will feature your item in their “showroom.” This WILL increase your sales.

Keep in mind they don’t warn you of a sale and this will be done to your listing automatically so when pricing your listing, account for your sale percentage as well as the Tradesy fees/commission. The sale discount is taken out of your earnings. I opt for the 10% because of the high fees they charge already. This means if my item is on sale with 10% off and is sold, the percentage of the sale taken away is 32.7% (if I chose to transfer my earning to my bank).

When your item is on sale, be careful if you want to update the price, you are unable to make the price higher, ONLY LOWER. If a buyer asks for further discount while your item is on sale, it’s a little hard to calculate your earnings with the sale price since it is NOT reflected in your listing when you go to edit it. In order to get your listing down to the price you want, you will have to calculate the price from your original price minus your chosen discounted percentage. I usually just guess and check - your best friend is the “Preview Listing” link. This will show you the updated price with the sale deduction and won’t update the price until you have the correct price. Very handy if you accidentally go too low and if you save your changes, you can’t go back and make the price higher as it’s not allowed.

Authenticity: Authenticity is “guaranteed” on Tradesy, but unfortunately that’s not always the case. I have received many fake items from Tradesy - while they have gotten better, I still get everything professionally authenticated when I receive it. You also have the option to send the item back to them to authenticate for you if you have any doubts, however, this usually take about a week to complete. Many times, sellers will post incomplete listings without serial numbers and if that’s the case, Tradesy Trust will review the listing before confirming it. If they suspect you used stock photos or stolen photos, they will email you and ask you to photograph the item with a piece of paper that says “Tradesy” on it. This will happen with high priced items as well - for example, if you buy a Birkin bag, they will review for authenticity and will cancel the purchase if they find it to be counterfeit.

Funds Releasing: There is a long waiting period when you sell an item which can be anywhere from 4 days to 21 days. More times than not, your money will available after the four inspection / withholding days in which the buyer will have to make sure they want to keep the item. If they return, it will delay your funds being released as the buyer has to ship it back to Tradesy and they have to inspect it.

Then, when you want to withdraw your money, it takes another approximately 7-10 days for your withdrawals to hit your bank account which is a lot longer than other platforms. You have the option of PayPal or a bank account for your transfers.

Offers: You may make offers to sellers via message, but this doesn't mean they will respond to you or accept your offer and sometimes they take days to respond. Not convenient to buyers in the least, especially when you want to purchase something asap! We wish there was an offer button similar to Poshmark where you're automatically charged if your offer is accepted and the item is yours. Tradesy tested an offer button years ago, but they took it down. 

Tradesy App: I recommend downloading the Tradesy app on your phone as they have fixed many bugs recently, but it’s still not perfect and on my Google Pixel, I have to toggle back and forth between buttons / features in order for the messages feature to update. They also have in app sales so it’s best to take advantage of that!

Buying and selling on Tradesy can be a pain and their commission rate is high.Want to list your item with ease, get your funds sooner, and get a competitive rate for your sale? Sell with us! Just go to  myclosetrocks.com/sell. We will make sure you’re getting the amount you deserve for your item with professional appraisal, photography, and cross-listing.

It’s also still hard to purchase items on Tradesy with confidence knowing most sellers are random people who may be trying to pawn off a fake bag as real. When spending your hard earned money, it’s important to know the item you’re getting is the real deal. That’s why everything on  myclosetrocks.com is pre-authenticated before being listed for sale. 

Shop our latest arrivals on  myclosetrocks.com/shop-all/.