TheRealReal Review | How Trustworthy is TheRealReal?

Hey guys, here again with another site review to help you figure out if you should channel your energy into this seemingly perfect consignment experience:

  • Is TheRealReal legit? Yes.

  • Is TheRealReal fake? No, far from it.

  • Is TheRealReal authentic? Yes.

I recently took a course and had a woman in the group who worked at TheRealReal.  I can attest to the fact that the company and the service is very much real, with some really smart people behind their product.  They have invested quite a bit into the overall ‘white glove’ consignment experience, starting from the moment that you try to schedule an appointment for them.

Things to note
– Best for those who live in urban/suburban coastal cities where they have many sales reps to help assist
– Efficient for those who have a surplus of designer and luxury items from previous gifts or collecting dust from buyer’s remorse that aren’t being utilized
– Fun for those who are looking to buy things at a discounted price

My experience
How it started:
I went to have brunch with a girlfriend who recently quit her job and told me that she’s been selling her designer goods on TheRealReal to keep her lifestyle going.  There was a lot of Chanel just collecting dust in her closet, so she felt like it was a good time to purge.  I looked up TheRealReal and figured that I’d give it a shot, considering all of the times I’ve consigned, Crossroads or Black & Brown have always given me garbage returns for my investments (~$5-10 per item with a value they price over $100 in store).

What it was like
From beginning to end, the entire experience was superb.  My rep, Jenni, arrived promptly at the time scheduled (in fact, she arrived on time and I was running behind with a remote meeting so I let her in to assess items while I wrapped up my conference call).  She was dressed to the 9’s and looked like a super chic boutique employee, here to collect the remains of my designer obsessions.

She was incredibly professional, debriefing me on how each one of the items would be assessed by their team of copywriters, who write blurbs for each item, and by appraisers, who receive the item and check for imperfections, markings, etc.  She then proceeded to take individual photos with her iPad of the items that I had laid out for her on the coffee table.

She ended up taking all buy two pieces (quantity: 19) and immediately the contract I signed sent me an automated copy of all of the items, including the prices of each individual item.  She also reminded me that their site does well because of the breadth of different types of site visitors.  Because of their global reach and shortage of menswear, she assured me that my items would likely be all gobbled up in the first two months.  I was skeptical because I was thinking that no one would want to buy tacky Louis Vuitton ties that were given to me for Christmas, but I decided to have a leap of faith because they would have continued to sit in my storage containers otherwise.  To comfort me, she showed me a list of brands they do not accept so that I knew in the future if I had any of these I wanted to consign.  Fortunately, there was nothing on the Do Not Accept list that I had, so the only things that weren’t accepted were because it had been a little too loved and wouldn’t sell well in its condition.

She wrapped them all up gently in her oversized TRR shopping totes and gave me a hug goodbye.  Within the next couple of weeks, I saw that items were appearing under ‘My Account’ and it was off to the races to see how well my gently-used, second-hand items would fare.  I was seriously blown away by the professionalism of the whole thing from the moment I made an appointment to the follow-up emails I was getting about the progress they were making.  I would say that this should be the gold standard for consigning because I never once felt like my things were undervalued or that I was wasting anyone’s time.

Total output
Jenni didn’t lie to me — with the exception of maybe two items, most items were sold within the first 30-40 days from the moment that she took them.  I totally geeked out and loved the fact that everyday I checked there would be something new that happened: an item sold, commission was being paid, my commission bracket increased because I reached a sales threshold that merited a higher return rate.  It became a morning ritual after I woke up to brush my teeth and simultaneously open up the site on my phone to see if there was any movement on the items I was selling in queue.

In total, I’ve sold $2,242, which is incredible, considering every time I walked into a consignment store like Crossroads I walked out with maybe $120 for the same number of items in perfect condition.  I would totally do this again, and I’ll probably try at the end of the Fall when I want to get rid of some more things that I’m not utilizing.  My favorite part about this is that they make it very transparent; I can see month-by-month and item-by-item what does well, which sells the best and what I tend to get rid of.  It makes me a more informed shopper because every time I go out now I think to myself: do I really plan on loving this or will it end up in my pile for TRR one day?  Limiting myself has been the best learning experience with TRR.  I’m a fan.

If you want to give it a try, you can buy a hidden gem with $25 off with this referral link: http://fbuy.me/kFXhc.  Let me know if you give it a go and whether you fall in love with the process, too! 

Dustin Nguyen