Best Thrifting and Secondhand Shopping Apps of 2024
Buying and selling pre-loved clothes is easier with resale apps like Poshmark.
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Thrifting -- or shopping resale, secondhand, preowned or whatever you want to call it -- has become a popular way to shop. In 2022, 85% of shoppers had bought or sold secondhand goods, 27% of them for the first time, according to a 2023 report from mobile marketplace OfferUp. And online resale is only expected to grow in the future, potentially nine times faster than the broader apparel retail market, according to a 2023 industry report from ThredUp.
Online platforms like Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark and Depop help you find the best deals and shop more eco-friendly. While individual retailers like Patagonia and H&M are opening their own secondhand programs, thrifting apps have thousands of users selling everything from luxury handbags to sneakers and vintage tees.
During my research and using these apps, I looked at specific things that would make or break my shopping experience: how easy the app and website were to navigate, how diverse the product listings were, what the return policy is and what hidden fees the service charged.
Based on my research and experience using them, here are the best online secondhand thrifting apps.
One of the best-known and highest-rated apps among online thrifting apps, Poshmark claims the "best overall" title because it has the most robust product offerings, a generous return program and easiest user experience. You can buy or list pretty much any item of clothing on Poshmark. It includes sections for women, men, children and pets, along with electronics, home goods, beauty and wellness and, bonus points, a dedicated section for plus sizes going up to 5X.
Poshmark has the highest fee split of the bunch, collecting 20% of all total sales over $15. Other apps usually average between 10% and 15%. That said, Poshmark doesn't add on other fees like its competitors. Sellers are guaranteed prepaid and filled-out shipping labels, and they don't have to worry about payment processing fees, an extra seller fee online shopping apps like to tack on to cover the cost of credit card transactions. These perks for sellers are unique for a platform as big as Poshmark, and they help alleviate the bigger bite Poshmark takes out of a seller's earnings.
For buyers, PoshProtect's return policy is the most thorough and generous of the apps I tested. After you purchase an item, your payment is securely withheld from the seller until you confirm that the item appears the same as what was promised. If something is amiss, you have three days to report an issue, and Poshmark will investigate. Three days is enough time for buyers to find any potential issues while not unnecessarily delaying a seller's payment. Other apps have a range of return windows, from no policy at all to 21 days. If Poshmark finds your claim to be true, it will send you a shipping label to return the item and refund your payment. PoshProtect covers a wide range of potential issues with your purchases -- the only two things it doesn't cover are if you change your mind or an item doesn't fit. After the three-day window, sales are final and no refunds can be provided. Another perk: Poshmark covers the costs of lost packages, for sellers and for buyers.
Poshmark makes it easy to find what you're looking for, with a clean user interface letting you follow, like and sort to your heart's content. When you sign up, Poshmark will ask you to select some of your favorite brands and save your sizes, which will make your browsing experience much better. Poshmark will also make your account follow a select set of Poshmark ambassadors based on those preferences, which will help curate your feed. Other points in its favor include fairly detailed help pages, an expressed set of community guidelines and a long history in this industry going back to its launch in 2011. Poshmark, although not perfect, continues to be a reliable industry leader in apparel resale and beyond.
You can download Poshmark in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Best for sellers
Vinted
As the biggest online international consumer-to-consumer platform in Europe, Vinted flips the script when it comes to fees and shipping. The majority of the fees that Vinted collects to keep the app running are primarily placed on buyers, making it a great option for potential sellers.
Vinted's fees come in the form of its Buyer Protection program, which adds an additional fee and the ability to return items to every sale. It is a flat rate of 70 cents plus 5% of the item's price in every purchase. You can see the total cost of an item, including the protection program fee, at the bottom of each listing in green. Shipping costs are also incurred by the buyers, not the sellers.
In terms of making a return, Vinted's return policy seems to prefer that buyers and sellers work out any issues themselves. Buyers have two days from delivery to alert sellers of an issue, during which time payment is withheld from sellers. Issues that make purchases eligible for a refund are only those specifically covered under Buyer Protection, which are if (1) a delivery never arrives (2) it arrives damaged or (3) is "significantly" not as described. If no resolution can be reached between the buyer and seller -- either by keeping the item or arranging a return -- buyers and sellers can request that Vinted investigate. If no issue is reported after two days, payments are released.
For buyers, Vinted is still a good option, even if you're not reaping the same benefits as sellers. Vinted has a fairly large catalog of items for sale, including women's, men's, children's and pet sections, along with catch-all home and entertainment sections. Make sure you know what your European sizes are; you can double-check them here before you start shopping.
You can download Vinted in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Best eco-friendly consignment
ThredUp
Easily the most eco-friendly online secondhand apparel company, ThredUp is perfect for sellers and buyers whose main concern is keeping their thrifting green. Overall, the main attraction to using ThredUp, especially for sellers, is knowing that any clothing you send in will be put to use somehow, either through resale on the app or donated to textile partners. Out of all the resale and consignment apps evaluated, none come close to ThredUp's commitment to sustainability and its work to make the whole fashion industry improve its environmental impact.
If you want to sell on ThredUp, all you have to do is buy a Clean Out kit and pack it full of your rejects. ThredUp does the rest: Its staff will evaluate, photograph and price your items to create and manage listings for you. This process, similar to selling in person to consignment or secondhand stores, has pros and cons for both sellers and buyers. For sellers, it takes out a lot of the work of creating listings, but it also takes away your ability to manage your listings as you see fit. ThredUp also has pretty specific guidelines about what is acceptable clothing, so you might not have much accepted. Anything ThredUp deems not sale-worthy is kept out of landfills and is sent to upcycle/recycle companies.
For buyers, a major perk is that every piece of clothing you see has been vetted and professionally photographed, making for a clearer and more reliable shopping experience. More than other apps, what you see is likely what you'll get. There's no opportunity to talk directly to sellers, negotiate prices or ask follow-up questions.
The fees sellers pay are included in the cost of the required Clean Out kits, currently $15 plus shipping, payment for which comes directly out of your earnings. Because of this and the picky selection guidelines, you should be prepared for the possibility you won't make much. Fees that buyers will encounter are mainly in the event of returns -- the 14-day window for returns is nice, but it also comes with shipping costs and a $4 restocking fee, which can increase with the number of returns you make. On the plus side, the frequent sales and discounts might entice buyers to continue shopping.
You can download ThredUp in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Best for luxury products
Vestiaire Collective
While secondhand luxury shopping is its own market entirely, here is one good app to start with if you're looking to buy (or sell) the finer things in life.
For trustworthy luxury resale, go with Vestiaire Collective. It boasts a 99.9% accuracy rate in counterfeit detection, thanks to its experts' intense training in the art of verifying designer goods in the Vestiaire Collective Trust academy. Its highly detailed authentication process is done in two parts: an initial screening before a listing is published and then an in-person inspection after a sale is made. This is done on all products that sellers want to list, including designer purses, shoes and clothing for women, men and children.
In terms of fees, the price of the item is the main factor that will determine the fees for buyers and sellers. Because Vestiaire Collective deals in luxury products, the more expensive an item is, the more expensive the seller fees and shipping will be. For sellers, your exact fees will depend on your location and the item's price; but generally, Vestiaire Collective charges a 15% seller fee and a roaming payment processing fee between a flat rate of $3 and 3% of the item's price.
For buyers, the majority of your fees come from paying for shipping, which is dependent on the seller's location -- not yours -- and whether the item is more or less than $1,000. If you're shopping for designer items, secondhand or new, you're likely expecting to pay more than usual, but make sure to account for this fee when deciding whether to buy.
The most noteworthy ding on Vestiaire Collective is that it doesn't allow for returns. Instead, unhappy buyers can relist an item for sale, for free in the first 72 hours after receiving an item and for an incremental fee after 72 hours. The only instance where a return may be processed is if you buy something and discover it is inauthentic -- then Vestiaire Collective will refund your money and punish the seller. Vestiaire Collective also awards sellers badges that are displayed while browsing, like "Trusted seller" and "Reliable seller," which may help you feel more confident before entering an offer.
You can download Vestiaire Collective in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
Other apps we tested
In finding the best, we also researched and tested several other popular thrifting apps. Here's a quick rundown on each.
Depop and Mercari are both very popular online resale sites, with wide product ranges and millions of users each. Mercari recently dropped its seller fees, while Depop collects 10% of each sale plus a payment processing fee. For buyers, the ability to chat directly with sellers is a perk, along with wide product availability and standard return policies. Overall, both are good, but there isn't anything outstanding about them compared with our top picks.
Fashionphile is an online luxury consignment/resale company. Neiman Marcus launched a partnership with Fashionphile in 2019, making Neiman Marcus' brick-and-mortar stores helpful drop-off/pick-up spots. Sellers make money by selling their products to Fashionphile based on non-negotiable online quotes. Perks for buyers include strong authentication processes and decent product availability.
The RealReal is another online luxury consignment/resale company. It's had a rough couple of years, internally and externally, most notably an ongoing legal battle with Chanel concerning fake products. For buyers, it's a straightforward platform with decent product availability and standard return policies. Sellers have several options: to consign items, trade them or sell directly, all of which come with different payout schedules.
eBay, the original resale site, wasn't included on this list because it's more of a general resale site, not primarily focused on apparel like the others. It also requires listing fees, or payments to post an item for sale, but it does give sellers an allotment of 250 free listings before those payments kick in. For interested buyers, the major platform might offer unique finds in all categories.
How CNET tests thrifting apps
I tested nine different thrifting apps to determine which were the best. There are lots of thrifting apps available on the market, so there was a set of exclusion criteria in order to make this list as useful as possible. All apps eligible for review had to be resale (not wholesale), have both app and web services, be available on the Apple and Google Play app stores, and must only offer resale services, nothing additional like rental services. These criteria were created in order to ensure the apps included are accessible for users and operate under comparable business models.
When looking at the eligible apps, user experience was key to creating evaluations and rankings. I took the pain points from my own secondhand shopping experience -- in real life and online -- and evaluated how these apps either alleviated or exacerbated these things. This boiled down to looking at four major areas:
- Fees: For sellers, buyers, listings and any other hidden ones that might be a nasty surprise at checkout.
- Ease of return: How easy is it to return something you bought online?
- Ease of use: How user-friendly is the app, the website? What features do the top apps have that make browsing a pleasant experience?
- Product availability and inclusivity: Do apps who say they have plus sizes actually have them? How many categories and listings do they have?
To get a real sense of the user experience for each app, I made accounts for all the apps included on this list and played around with the personalization options, read help pages and browsed for hours on end. After using them on my own, I also lurked on Reddit threads, read blogs and watched video reviews to get some outside idea of what the known perks and drawbacks are for many of these apps. Due to my own financial limitations, I didn't purchase anything from these apps, so I wanted to make sure I was understanding the customer experience as well as I could.
There wasn't a straightforward way to compare the general prices of items across these apps. Instead, I looked at the things that may cause sellers to raise their prices, like fees and shipping costs, and I took note of how frequently sales or discounts were offered -- and how you can get your money back in the event of a return. While this doesn't mean there won't be an occasional outrageous price tag on any of these apps, this seemed to be a good way to see the clearest comparisons across all the various market factors that determine an item's price.
Why is thrifting so popular?
There are three general motivations behind thrifting: environmental, social and financial.
Thrifting is an attractive option for eco-conscious shoppers as it can be a more environmentally friendly practice compared with shopping new. The fashion industry is a major polluter, causing global concerns -- in 2018, the industry's total greenhouse gas emissions were equivalent to all of France's, Germany's and the UK's combined. The industry's water usage and carbon emissions via global shipping are two major concerns.
Thrifting is one way to extend the lives of existing clothing, creating what advocates call a "circular economy." The basic idea of this cycle is that when clothes are passed on to other consumers, they stay out of landfills and help reduce demand for new clothes -- two things that help alleviate fashion's environmental footprint.
From a social perspective, research has shown that there's been a significant decline in the stigma surrounding resale in recent years, up to 76% of Americans surveyed in one study. In fact, thanks in large part to Gen Z, thrifting has become a social media trend. Thrifting took off on social media in 2021 as a TikTok trend, with users making trendy #ThriftFlip videos of their best thrift store finds and transformations. As of September 2023, the tag "thrifting" had over 11 billion views on TikTok.
And, for shoppers, thrifting is a great way to save you money. One report estimates you can save nearly $1,800 a year by shopping secondhand.
There have been concerns about the ethical impact the rise of thrifting has had. The increased popularity of thrift stores can lead to increased prices, potentially making these products out of reach for the communities they were originally meant to serve.
Sellers have similar motivations: cleaning out your closet can make room for current trendy pieces; donations or resales can be a more environmentally friendly practice and keep clothing out of landfills; and it can be a great way to make some cash.
Breaking down the fees for each thrifting app
Listing, seller, buyer and shipping fees by app
This chart breaks down the main costs associated with buying and selling using thrifting apps.
| APP | LISTING FEE* | SELLER FEES** | BUYER FEES*** | WHO PAYS FOR SHIPPING? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| POSHMARK | NONE | Sales over $15: Deducts 20%. Sales under $15: $2.95 | NONE | BUYER |
| VINTED | NONE | NONE | Buyer Protection: Each sale = $0.70 + 5% of item price | BUYER |
| THREDUP | Included in Clean Out Kit service fee | $14.99 + shipping for Clean Out Kit or $25.98 for expedited. | For returns, $3.99 restocking fee + shipping (exceptions apply) | BUYER for sold items, SELLER for submitted items |
| VESTIAIRE COLLECTIVE | NONE | Incremental depending on item price | Only in event of needing to relist an item | BUYER |
| MERCARI | NONE | NONE | NONE | DEPENDS -- Sellers can print labels themselves or have Mercari do it and charge buyers |
| DEPOP | NONE | 10% of item price plus payment transaction fee of $0.45 + 3.3% of item price | NONE | DEPENDS -- Sellers can cover shipping or have the buyer incur the cost |
| THE REALREAL | Depends on method of sale | Depends on method of sale | NONE | BUYER |
| FASHIONPHILE | NONE | NONE | NONE | SELLERS for submitted items, BUYERS for purchased items |
| EBAY | YES after 250 listings | Incremental percentage from 13.25-15% + $0.30 | NONE | BUYER |
* A listing fee is a one-time amount that a seller must pay in order to post an item for sale.
** Seller fees refer to the costs that sellers will incur once a sale is completed -- this does not include any potential shipping costs.
*** Buyer fees refer to any costs buyers incur in addition to an item's price and shipping.