ThredUp Mixed Clothing Rescue Box Review

Earlier this month I purchased a ThredUp 25-piece mixed clothing rescue box. It had been a long while since I shared my experience of purchasing a 50-piece mystery box, so I decided to give the mystery box another try. Take a look at what I received in this unboxing and my thoughts on the items.

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Why the 25-piece mystery box?

The clothing box wasn’t my first choice, but it was the best of what was available. I’ve seen, heard, and read from other resellers that the best ones are the handbag and shoe boxes. Those have the potential to give you the biggest return on your money.

If you get a Tory Burch bag, then you’ll definitely make your money back and then some. But it’s like playing the lottery. You don’t know if you’re going to get a hit or miss.

My impression is that the clothing rescue boxes don’t have the same potential return. They also tend to be the items that ThredUp could get sell themselves, so not the best brands and pieces.

Nonetheless, I had credits that were about to expire in a few days, so I took a gamble and bought the box.

A few of the thredUP rescue boxes for sale

How much did it cost?

The 25-piece box is normally $60. With my credits, I paid $25.38 including shipping.

I had earned a coupon for free shipping, but you can’t use them on rescue boxes. Shipping is $5.99.

I happened to receive 26 items.

$25.38 /26 = approximately $0.98 per item

What did I receive?

These are the brands and items I received and their sizes. Some of the items are pictured below.

NWT Nike sports bra L
Banana Republic tank S
Adrianna Papell tank S
UltraCool by Fabletics leggings size?
Ashley 26 International jacket XS or S
Calvin Klein tank XS
Willow Smith jacket M
Copper Key denim shorts 5
NWT Her Velvet Vase denim dress size?
The Limited button-down shirt XS
Express tank S
Philosophy black skirt 8
Crown & Ivy elephant print blouse L
BCBGeneration kimono size?
NWT Pretty Little Thing sweater M/L
Loft tank XSP
Under Armour tank size?
Gap tank S
Time and Tru raincoat XL
Old Navy shorts 6
DR 2 kimono/wrap size?
H&M blouse 6
A New Day shorts 10
Chico’s blouse 1 (equivalent to M)
Bergdorf Goodman vintage blazer size?
Allegri jacket size?

Things I liked about this box

1 | Items were in good condition

The items were nicely packaged and mostly in good condition. Out of the 26 items, one had stains that I will try to wash out.

The new with tag Pretty Little Thing sweater had a hole that might be fixable. I’ll try to sell that low priced. Two items were not in good enough condition to resell.

I think this kind of thing is to be expected because items are second-hand. I sometimes miss defects in items I purchase from the thrift store and try to make the best of it.

2 | The Nike sports bra

The new with tag Nike sports bra retails for $55. It’s for sale on various websites around the web for about $40-55. This one item has the potential to cover the cost of the whole box.

3 | Better brands this time around

I received better brands in this box than I did in my first ThredUp box. I liked Nike, Ultracool by Fabletics, Pretty Little Thing, and Allegri.

Things I didn’t like about this box

1 | Mostly tops

I received 18 tops, sweaters, or jackets out of the 26 items. Several of them were tanks. I’d prefer fewer tanks (low resale value) and more dresses, but that’s just my wishful thinking.

2 | Typical brands

There were lots of typical mall and department store brands that don’t cost that much at retail and I wouldn’t normally source.

A New Day is sold at Target. Time and Tru is from Walmart. Old Navy is Old Navy.

While I know this is to be expected from a rescue box, I was hoping for better brands.

3 | Several unknown sizes

Almost 27% or 7/26 items did not have sizes on them. One was a dress from an Asian country. Another was a vintage item. I think the lack of sizes is why they ended up in a rescue box.

First of all, thredUP states that it not accept items without a size tag. These items must’ve slipped through during processing or their size tags fell off.

Items without sizes are hard to sell. I only do it if the item is a very desirable brand, and I think people will take the risk to buy it without a guarantee that it will fit.

ThredUp has a different method. They have their own general size chart. If they don’t know the size of an item, they compare the item to their size chart and use that size. It’s basically their best guesstimate.

This is not a perfect solution, and most people just don’t want to buy items without a size tag. These might be hard for me to resell. We’ll see.

Is this box worth it & would I buy it again?

I do think this box was worth purchasing, but only because I paid only $25 for it bringing down the cost per item to less than $1.

If I had to pay $60 plus $5.99 for shipping, I wouldn’t purchase it. I didn’t know the contents beforehand. I could end up with a lot of great items or more likely a lot of duds.

You might be doing the mental math thinking that I’ll make over $60 on this box. That’s enough to at least break even.

The problem is that that doesn’t account for all the time required to inspect items, take pictures, list them, share listings, negotiate with buyers, and package and ship items when they sell.

I also have other options for sourcing like going to thrift stores and discount retail stores. I may feel differently if online sourcing were my only option.

When all is said and done, this box would not be worth it. If you calculate the amount of time and effort required to sell this box against the profits, you’d probably make pennies or at most a few dollars an hour for your work.

How did the box sell?

It’s now late March, and it’s been over 2 months since I started selling this box.

While my goal is for items to sell within 3 months, I felt that the results of this box would be evident sooner because the items are common and low priced.

People are generally more likely to buy low-priced items. They’ll take a chance or make an impulse purchase on a $10 pair of jeans, but they might wait a few months to purchase a $300 purse.

That’s why high-end items often take longer to sell. You have to wait for the right buyer to come along. That wasn’t the case with this box.

I listed items to Poshmark, eBay, Mercari, and Facebook Marketplace.

Sold: 10/26 items or 38%
Highest priced sale: $25 (Nike sports bra)
Lowest priced sale: $5 (multiple items). Most items sold for $5-8.
Total sales: $78
Profit (after fees): $60.61
Net profit: $35.23
Most sales: Facebook Marketplace

I made $35.23 after two months. I consider that too little considering all the work I put into selling the box. I also have to pay taxes on the credits I received and the profit here.

This definitely wouldn’t be worth it if I paid the original price of $60 for this box plus shipping. I’d still be trying to make my money back.

I will probably earn a little more as time goes on and a few more of the items sell. They’ll likely sell for $5-8 at best given the brands and items.

I threw away two items when I received the box. They were too worn to sell. I have 2-3 more items I’m thinking about throwing away soon because they’re in rough shape or have holes and not selling well.

That would mean I have anywhere from 21 to 22 items from the original box to sell.

Rescue box tips

Every thredUP rescue box is a gamble. That’s why they’re also known as mystery boxes.

Some people have had great success with rescue boxes. They love them and continue to buy them. Other people have received duds and look to spend their money elsewhere.

Use these tips to increase the chance of getting a box you like.

1 | Get familiar with the types of boxes available

There are many types of boxes available for sale. Some of them are more popular than others so they sell out quickly.

You have to check the website regularly to change when they are restocked and hope to get one.

Some of the more popular boxes:

Name brand handbags
Shoes
DIY designer
Fun box

Some of the less popular boxes:

Mixed clothing
Scarves
Kid’s shoes

This is no surprise. The most popular boxes have the best chance for scoring high-end items that will bring a great return when resold.

The thredUP mixed clothing rescue box is known for having a poor return compared to the other rescue boxes.

2 | Review other buyers’ unboxings

This is probably the best way to get an idea of if you will like a box or not. You can find many unboxings online:

YouTube videos
Blog posts like this one
Facebook groups for thredUP and resellers.

I highly recommend the Facebook groups if you’re interested in buying rescue boxes or selling on thredUP.

People post the latest news and their experiences with thredUP. You can search for unboxings as well.

You’ll get a good idea of the risk involved and whether or not you want to buy a box for yourself after seeing so many of them.

3 | Calculate the average price per item

Based on what you see in prior unboxings, you can get an idea if you think the cost is worth it per item.

Note also that thredUP recently raised the price of some of their rescue boxes making it less profitable for sellers to resell the items in them.

Some examples:

Mixed clothing box: $60/25 items = $2.40 per piece

Coach handbags: $100/5 items = $20 per bag

Kids’ shoes: $44/10 pairs = $4.40 per pair

It’s harder to determine the price per item for boxes like the DIY Denim box that sell by weight.

4 | Know why you’re buying

Are you buying to resell for a profit or for fun?

If you’re buying to resell, then know that there’s a fair chance you will be happy or disappointed with your box.

I’d give a rough estimate of 50/50 chance to each based on what I’ve seen of many unboxings online.

If you’re buying for fun, do you or your business have the extra money for it? I’d take the boxes at their entertainment value, much like buying a scratcher or lottery ticket.

I like to have an idea of what to do with the items before I purchase a box. I plan to sell what is resellable and donate or throw away what’s not. This year, I hope to have a yard sale with the leftover contents of my box.

Have you purchased a ThredUp rescue box? What did you receive and did you like it? How did it sell for you?

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