Think someone else is getting cozy in the like-new sweater you just donated? Think again. Only 15% of clothing in the U.S. is recycled at all; the vast majority is just thrown away. So what happens to the clothing you donate? Unfortunately, most clothing donated to Goodwill, Salvation Army and other charities doesn’t end up on the backs of needy children in your community. They get sold to textile recyclers. Sure, that’s better than a landfill, but if your clothing isn’t picked up in a few weeks, it can end up as carpet padding, insulation or rags — or even sold overseas. An alternative is to sell your clothes online. Here are a few sites that do just that:
- • Facebook Marketplace is a resale business that’s free to anyone with a Facebook account. You can even target buyers within a specific radius of your home.
- • eBay is a long-running online marketplace. eBay charges a percentage of the total sale price, including shipping. For clothing, the website charges 15% if the sale is $2,000 or less; 9% if the sale is over $2,000.
- • Poshmark does the work of finding a buyer and provides you with a prepaid, pre-addressed shipping label to mail the item. Poshmark takes a flat commission of $2.95 for sales under $15 and 20% on items over $15.
- • ThredUp is unique in that you don’t set the price — the platform does, based on past sales, brand and quality. You can either mail your clothing to ThredUp using a free shipping label, or receive an empty bag in the mail to fill with the items you want to sell. They do all the work of taking photographs, posting pictures, pricing the items, and selling the item. ThredUp uses a sliding scale where your payout percentage increases as the item's listing price increases. Items selling for $5-$19.99 earn 3%-15%; $20-$49.99 earn 15%-30%; $50-$99.99 earn 30%-60%; $100-$199.99 earn 60%-80%, and $200 and up earn 80%.
