So, You Want to Shop Secondhand? A Thrift Guide: Part 3
The digital paths I take to discover hidden gems online
Read Part 1 and Part 2 of So, You Want to Shop Secondhand?
Dear Reader,
For the amount of time I spend online shopping, I rarely ever buy anything.
It’s so much easier for me to purchase in person, with an item right in front of me.
I enjoy the sense of happenstance that happens in the aisles of Goodwill; the moment you realize you’ve stumbled on a treasure, the feel of the fabric, the color against your skin, the little leap of your heart when you hold something special in your hands.
That feeling is so much harder for me to access online, where it’s easier to find exactly what you want. Where “the hunt” is often less about stumbling upon something unexpected and more about tracking down something valuable. (Both can be true.)
Some people prefer that. This week, I read a great guide to online secondhand shopping by Sophie of Acquired Style, in which she raves about how much easier it is to find what you want digitally — you have unlimited options, you don’t have to sort through endless bins, and you can use digital features to find specific items for less.
All of this is true, but it’s funny. What I love about shopping IRL is what this writer finds overwhelming, and what she loves about shopping online is what I find distressing.
Still, I love clothes. And for how little I buy, I do know how to search. I know how to find the look for less, and how to throw myself down an Etsy rabbit hole and land on a pile of the platform’s hidden gems.
So, that’s what you’ll find in this part of my guide to secondhand shopping:
My preferred platforms and their IRL equivalents
Tips for creating better search terms (and a few of my favorites)
The three paths I take to make secondhand shopping online more art than science
If you haven’t read Part 1 and Part 2 of So, You Want to Shop Secondhand?, check those out first.
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The platforms I love
In Part 1 of this guide, I shared a matrix that broke down thrift and vintage stores by two factors: price and ease. Online shopping isn’t so simple. Unlike IRL secondhand stores, digital secondhand marketplaces can hold tens of thousands of pieces of inventory, and prices and offerings aren’t so neatly organized.
This can largely be attributed to the fact that much of the inventory online is owner-listed — what one seller considers a $40 t-shirt, another might price at $200. However, once you start using these platforms regularly, you’ll come to understand their nuances.
The Real Real
The Real Real (TRR) is the closest you’ll get to an online consignment warehouse. TRR’s stock is 99% designer — they have a list of accepted brands they resell — and 1% “unbranded vintage”, which makes it easy to find specific designer items for less.
TRR also offers modern shopping features: you can heart an item, save a search, and earn credit for reselling. And for some random but wonderful reason, they’re always offering 20% off.
I have my beef with TRR. Items are occasionally mislabeled or overpriced. I have a hard time translating their soulless product photography into the wardrobe of my imagination. And I don’t like their use of the word “obsessions” to describe items I’ve marked as favorites. (Overstated importance is my #1 copywriting pet peeve.)
But I think it’s a strong platform for shopping and discovery. I like their curated collections, and sometimes they way underprice things — like the Araks slip dress, aka the Zoe Kravitz dress, which they were selling boatloads of for ~$50 back in 2021.
There are hacks to shopping TRR, like creating saved searches and visiting the site during “drop times” — the latter of which I’m too lazy to follow. This guide from a former employee is a good resource if you want to optimize your TRR shopping experience.
Etsy
Etsy is my queen. She might even be THE queen. But I feel like in the world of online shopping, she rarely gets her flowers. She is a bit more nebulous than TRR: a collection of shops vs. one curated marketplace, but that’s why she’s my favorite.
Browsing on Etsy feels like the closest thing to wandering around an antique market with an iced coffee in your hand. There’s a lot of random crap, but sometimes you stumble into a booth that seems to be auto-generated from your most niche vintage desires.
I’ve been shopping on Etsy for nearly a decade now. While some people claim the platform has gone downhill (they’ve pivoted from a handmade online marketplace only to a platform where you can find a lot of AI-generated junk for your bachelorette party), I think you just have to know where and how to look.
I’ve also found that sellers on Etsy are highly knowledgeable about their products, and their listings are a great place for learning about vintage clothing (as in styles, fabrics, and eras). This information is super valuable for curating a list of your most-loved search terms. More on that later.
Poshmark
If TRR is a consignment store and Etsy is an antique mall, Poshmark is the biggest suburban yard sale on the planet. In my opinion, it’s a bit messy, a bit chaotic, but undoubtedly an excellent place to find secondhand fashion, both from mass retailers and designer brands.
Poshmark is the most social media-like platform. Shoppers can favorite items, ask questions in the comments, and even barter with sellers, which I’ve never tried. (Blame my WASP/Catholic upbringing for that.) Many of the sellers are cleaning out their closets, but others seem to be running entire enterprises. It’s the platform I have the least amount of experience with, but it’s a total gold mine.
Other platforms
ThredUp: Good for finding everyday basics (jeans, t-shirts, purses) of higher quality for less.
eBay: The OG. Great if you know what you’re looking for. The “watch list” feature feels competitive in a way I know a lot of secondhand shoppers find exciting.
Depop: Good phone browsing, but also the easiest place to find “vintage Forever21” for $200. Higher likelihood of getting scammed.
Noihsaf Bazaar: A curated peer-to-peer platform. The collections are fun to sort through, and it reminds me of Anna Gray’s former vintage app. (R.I.P. Object Limited!!)
Making smarter searches
One of the hardest parts about shopping secondhand online is the sheer volume of items available. A recent search for a black tank top on The Real Real, even with filters applied, netted over 2,800 options.
For an easier, more rewarding experience, focus on finding and using the right search terms to narrow down your results. Make note of everything you want in an item before searching, and as you browse, take special note of the details resellers include in their listings. Consider factors like:
Decade/period
Fabric and weave
Brand (even if it’s one you aren’t familiar with/feels random)
Country of origin
Here are a few searches I revisit again and again:
Single-stitch cotton vintage t-shirt
Vintage virgin wool coat
Edwardian cotton dress or blouse
Vintage Austrian Tyrolean sweater
Any favorites you’re willing to share?
Creating exploration with apps and algorithms
You don’t have to know exactly what you’re looking for every time you shop online. There are many paths to getting what you want: from the straight and narrow—ending at a slightly less expensive version of a specific item you’ve always wanted—to the winding and poorly lit but maybe slightly more magical, with pit stops for odd treasures and detours for shiny fabrics.
I’ve found that online secondhand shopping favors the first type of path (and the person who prefers it) while the second has to be sought out.
Luckily, we have the power of apps and algorithms to help us. Below you’ll find a few secondhand shopping scenarios and the paths I use to replicate the sense of discovery that makes secondhand shopping fun for me.
Sourcing the look for less
Many people use secondhand shopping platforms to find an exact item at a cheaper price. But it’s not always possible to find what you’re looking for at the right time, size, or cost. Instead, I like to start with high-ticket items as inspiration and break them down into their relevant search terms to expand my options.
For example, these $390 Simone Rocha Earrings:
Search terms: pearl bow cluster earrings
Platform: Poshmark
The results might not get you the exact item, but they’ll get you close enough, or sometimes, show you something even better.
I also like using Beni for this purpose. I just drop in a link in their search bar, and the platform pulls up both exact matches and look-alikes from across secondhand sites.
Getting specific on what you want
Is there a woman on earth who believes they have an adequate amount of “going out tops?” If there is, she’s not me. The other night, I was on the hunt for a “black top” — maybe one of the vaguest shopping search terms in existence. I knew a little bit about what I wanted: sleeveless, visually interesting, trendy but stylish, and under $100.
I started on The Real Real, with a basic search for a black tank top. From there, I narrowed it down with TRR’s filters: Sleeveless, Black, and Neutrals (you have to select the color even if it’s in your search terms — trust me), under $200 (to save items that might dip below $100 in the future), sort by: Most obsessed.
I sorted through the first 3 pages of what mostly amounted to black tank tops and found 4 tops that piqued my interest.
What I’m drawn to from this broad search helps me narrow down my next searches. I love the black halter from Staud. Can I find it in a better material?
The lace detail on the Blue Marine top and the sheer fabric on the Oscar de la Renta blouse really speak to me. Maybe I want something that feels equal parts dressy and sexy.
And the Brandon Maxwell top reminds me of a black Reformation tank I already have in my closet, a good reminder that I do indeed have a going-out top already.
The goal of a search like this is to leverage the abundance of online vintage stock to narrow down your desires from something ambiguous to something concrete, enabling you to make more informed purchases. When you know your options, it’s easier to make an informed choice—one that won’t end up in your “to donate” bag a month from now.
Having fun on your phone while “watching” TV
We’re all trying to get off our phones and strengthen our attention spans (I also own a Brick), but there’s something to be said for sitting on your couch, digesting an e*ible, and scrolling through Etsy with an Amazon Prime mini series playing in the background.
This is one of my favorite ways to shop online, special gummy or not. The paths my digital adventures take are amorphous and mystical. I always find something: a new item to covet, a new search term to save, a new styling technique hidden among product photography. These hours-long scroll sessions have been instrumental in shaping my style and discovering pieces I didn’t know existed in the first place.
All you need is a starting point. My preferred point of access is an item in my Etsy favorites, but you can also start with any item that piques your interest. The key is to let your mouse wander — tap on related items, explore the associated shop, and find a new search term to dive into. Rinse and repeat, saving items as you go, to Etsy, Pinterest, or wherever.
The other day, I watched a TikTok video where the creator was wearing a vintage Playboy tee. It led me to a store with a collection of deadstock, vintage t-shirts, which led me to another local vintage seller.
Here are all the other gems I found based on that one search:
And the associated shops - new favorites of mine.
How do you feel about secondhand shopping online? Do you prefer it? I’m so interested to hear if there’s anyone else who feels the way I do.
And stay tuned for Part 4 — the final part So, You Want to Shop Secondhand?