Estate planning as a ThredUp account holder

ThredUp is an online consignment and thrift marketplace. Sellers mail in Clean Out bags of used clothing; ThredUp inspects the items, lists and stores the ones it accepts, ships them to buyers, and credits the seller with earnings when an item sells. A deceased seller's account can involve physical items still in ThredUp's warehouse (which the seller owns until they sell, but which become ThredUp's property when their listing window runs out unless reclaimed), seller earnings that convert to a ThredUp e-gift card after one year, and the bag, sale, and payout records the estate needs for its inventory and tax filings. ThredUp does not publish a deceased-account or estate process.

When a ThredUp account holder dies, their balance may be transferred to a designated person at thredUP Inc.'s sole discretion. A transfer is not guaranteed, and satisfactory documentation is required before processing any request.

What happens at death

ThredUp publishes no deceased-account or estate-succession process. A scan of all 97 articles in its help centre and of its Terms of Use, Seller Terms, Gift Card Terms, and Privacy Policy found no reference to death, a deceased user, an estate, an executor, or an heir. The Terms of Use say that ThredUp "may terminate these Terms immediately without notice" if a user "assign[s] or transfer[s] (or attempt[s] the same) any rights granted to you under these Terms," and that credit earned from sold items is "non-transferable." Any estate request is therefore reviewed individually by ThredUp. What makes ThredUp different from a peer-to-peer marketplace is that it holds the seller's physical items. Under the Seller Terms the seller "will continue to own and have title to each item of Property that we have accepted until that item is "sold"," but items "immediately and irrevocably become the Property of ThredUp at the expiration of the listing window and will not be returned" unless the seller reclaims them during the final seven days of the listing window ($5.99 per item plus return shipping) or elected a return service when ordering the bag. The listing-window length itself is not stated in the Seller Terms or the help centre. Unaccepted items from a Standard Clean Out become ThredUp's property immediately and are reused or recycled. Seller earnings stay in the account for one year; earnings not cashed out within that year are converted into an e-gift card that can be used only on ThredUp.

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