ThredUp
I sold 450 clothing items and earned $5,688.91 in 10 months by identifying an inefficiency in ThredUP’s business model.
Backstory
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, ThredUp saw a surge in Clean Out Kit submissions as people cleared out their closets while staying at home.
At the time, the standard process allowed users to request up to four physical Clean Out bags at once, with no strict time limit for returning them. In addition, users could generate prepaid shipping labels to send in their own boxes. This combination effectively enabled people to send in large volumes of clothing at no upfront cost, often using the service as a convenient way to dispose of or donate unwanted items—particularly through donation mode, where unsold items didn’t incur processing fees.
This wasn’t an official “loophole,” but rather an operational gap that became heavily stressed during lockdown. As submission volume spiked, ThredUp experienced major processing delays, in some cases stretching beyond seven weeks by late 2020, due to both demand overload and reduced staffing from COVID-related constraints.
By 2022, the company began introducing fees for certain services, including printed labels, and updated policies to better manage volume and reduce strain on operations.