What I Received in My thredUP Men’s Rescue Box #2

Earlier this month, I received my second thredUP men’s rescue box. My available listings had dwindled since I sold, donated, or cleared much of my inventory in other ways late last year. It was time for me to restock my closet. Read on to see why I chose the thredUP men’s rescue box, what I received, and other thoughts to see if this box is good for you too.

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***If you don’t have a thredUP account, you can sign up for a thredUP account and receive $10 to spend towards inventory to resell or something for yourself.

Why purchase a thredUP men’s rescue box?

thredUP does not sell men’s clothes, but people send them in because they don’t know this. If those people don’t pay for their items to be returned to them, the items then belong to thredUP and are sold in rescue boxes.

That’s not a guarantee of getting resellable clothes. The clothes may not be in good condition, from desirable brands, or in sizes that sell well.

But I figured they may be better than women’s items because they are not thredUP’s rejects. They’re not items that thredUP tried to sell and couldn’t. So I was willing to take my chances on the box.

How much does the men’s rescue box cost?

The men’s rescue box is $50 for a 10 lb box. Sometimes larger quantities are offered such as 50 lb or 100 lb boxes. Those are offered at a cheaper price per pound because you buy more at once.

Here’s the cost breakdown:

Price: $50
Shipping: $5.99
Credit: $30
Tax: $4.94

Total cost: $30.93

I received 12 items so the cost was $2.58 per item.

That’s a pretty good deal for me because most of the resellable clothes I find at the thrift store are $7-12.

If I didn’t use credits to pay, the cost would have probably been a little over $5 per item.

What did I receive in my men’s rescue box?

These are the 12 items I received:

NWT Everlane The Japanese Slim Fit Oxford L
NWT Visconi Uomo shirt S
NWT PatPat swim trunks L
O’Lico jean shorts 32
Puma pants 34x34
Geoffrey Bean pants 36x32
Alfani blazer 44L
John Clarendon suit jacket size?
American Eagle sweater M
Tommy Bahama button-down shirt L
Calvin Klein long-sleeve shirt 16/34/36
O’Neil Santa Cruz t-shirt

Thoughts about my rescue box

1) Box contents

This box is similar to the first men’s rescue box I received. It contains a few good items, mostly average items, and some worn items.

I have heard of some people receiving mostly worn items or very small sizes in a jeans box. Those are difficult or undesirable to resell.

Remember that these boxes are meant as a way for thredUP to make money while getting rid of items. They’re not meant to be reseller boxes. But I suspect men’s boxes to be somewhat curated to provide items of various quality.

2) New with tag items

I was happy to receive a few good items that are new with tags and hope that they will cover the cost of the box and then some.

The Everlane shirt retails for $75 and is a popular size (large) and color (slate gray). The Visconti Uomo shirt retails for $99 and may resell for $30-40 from the sold prices I viewed.

In the past, I’d received some items from thredUP that were new with tags but pretty much unsellable because they didn’t have a size, were from unknown Asian brands, and/or were an odd style.

3) Unsellable items

I removed three items that I felt were not in good enough condition to sell, or I just didn’t want to sell them.

The John Clarendon suit jacket appeared old and didn’t have a size tag.
The American Eagle sweater had pilling and was too worn for my liking.
The O’Neil Santa Cruz shirt

4) Likely to make a profit

Although there are no guarantees when it comes to selling these clothes, I think it’s likely that I will make a profit from selling them.

For most of my selling, I prefer quicker sales at a lower price versus waiting for a higher-priced sale to come along. The exception to this is for items I know are in high demand and will lead to competitive offers.

That isn’t the case here and hasn’t been with any of the thredUP boxes I’ve received. The clothes and other items may take months to sell.

Sometimes I lower the price to get quicker sales, so it’s hard for me to estimate how much profit I might make from this box. A $50 profit would be reasonable after covering the cost of goods.

Should you buy the men’s rescue box?

You can probably see that there’s not much room to make a profit with this box if I had paid full price for it. I guesstimate a $50 profit on a box that I got with a $30 discount.

Still, there are some things to consider:

How else do you get inventory? If you aren’t able to get out of the house and source inventory from stores or want to source online in small batches, then this might be a good option for you. If you have access to better inventory for cheaper, that might be a better way to go.
Do you like mystery boxes? You don’t know what you’re going to get in rescue boxes. You could find a gem and make a good profit, break even, or lose money on a box. I’ve heard of each of those scenarios many times over, so it’s good to know any of those could happen to you.
What is the value of your time? It takes time to sort through a box, clean or repair anything that needs it, photograph and list items, promote or crosslist your listings, and then pack and ship sales.
Calculate how much you expect to earn per hour. If I expected to make $50 on this box and give myself a $10/hr rate, I have 5 hours to handle the items in this box.
It took me less than five hours to sort, photograph, and prepare listings for these items, so the box was worth it in that sense.

Frequently asked questions

1) What is a rescue box?

A thredUP rescue box is a box filled with items that the company receives but don’t qualify for listing on the site whether due to quality (overly worn), not sold on the site (menswear), missing requirements (size tag), too many of an item or brand, lack of demand, or something else.

The boxes vary depending on what category you choose such as children’s shoes, handbags, or DIY rental retirees. The offerings change from time to time.

2) How do I get a thredUP rescue box?

Go to thredUP’s rescue box page and select the box you want. They often stock on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, and the popular boxes sell out the fastest. You might find some of the less popular boxes still available several days later.

3) What’s the best thredUP rescue box?

The best or most popular rescue boxes tend to be any of the handbags, fun boxes, and women’s shoes. Remember that there are no guarantees for a good rescue box though.

I’ve heard of some people getting great jeans and jewelry boxes, while others got junk items.

The least popular boxes are the women’s mixed clothing, children’s clothes and shoes, scarves, and t-shirt boxes.

Note that DIY boxes mean that the items are of lower quality. They are not in good enough shape to be worn. They’re meant for repurposing into other clothing or projects.

4) How much is a thredUP box?

thredUP boxes vary in price based on weight, number of items, or type of item. I’ve seen boxes as low as $22 for a fun box filled with accessories to $450 for 200 lb of clothing. thredUP has pricier boxes such as $140 for 4 items of designer men’s clothing and a few hundred dollars for luxury handbags.

5) What does thredUP do with rejected clothes?

Rejected clothes are returned to the seller if the seller paid the $10.99 return fee. Otherwise thredUP takes ownership of the items and sells them such as in rescue boxes or responsibly recycles them.

Have you tried thredUP’s rescue boxes? What did you receive and how did you like it?

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