TheRealReal.com

Twice I purchased items from this business, a handbag and a suede jacketBoth on final saleThe company states you can re-consign final sale itemsI had the items for a few months but never wore themI was waiting to have several items to send in for consignment at one timeThe company said they would not accept either of these items (two different occasions) because of excessive weaI never used either item and they were in exactly the same condition as purchased which was listed as very good condition on their website when I purchased

My first experience with this company in 2014 was plain awful, as they send me a very obviously fake Balenciaga Motorcycle bag, and were not only unsympathetic about it, but were downright hard to get a hold of, did not want to refund my money even after I emailed them MANY photos and a detailed list of why it was a fake. They finally agreed to take the bag back, but wanted me to pay return shipping. I called them again and pleaded my case, and it was then the man on the phone admitted to being an authenticator for Balenciaga and could see the bag was a fake. I sent the bag back to them, and a few weeks later I saw it re-listed on their site for some other poor unsuspecting buyer. The bag is still on the site as a "recently sold".
Against my better judgement, for for past two years I have casually started to buy things again from their site that I knew weren't as likely to be duplicated, or clothing items that I would see were priced much lower than other stores. To my dismay, often the items came with false information; heavily soiled or smelling of smoke, a different color as listed, and a few times they had to cancel orders because they "lost" an item. I unfortunately let my love of a good deal get the best of me, and purchased a "Vintage Chanel Flap", which I use in quotation marks because when it arrived, it was clearly a fake. Not the size as listed, not even leather, nothing about the interior, labels, or hardware was remotely real. Even an untrained eye could tell how poorly it was constructed, but the photos they had online were few and not of any detail.
I contacted them the minute I looked at the bag, and they agreed to look into the matter, have their "Chanel Authenticator" look into it and call me back. Well, here we are weeks later, and still no call. Still no "whoops! We're sorry for trying to dupe you AGAIN" and to add insult to injury, they didn't refund my card the full amount of what I paid because they didn't factor the tax correctly. Being out even one dime after dealing with this very poorly-run company makes my skin crawl.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/10/07) */
Dear Revdex.com
Thank you for forwarding the concern about pricing from one of our consignors. We make every effort to ensure that consignors are aware of our pricing policy. Consignors must sign and accept the terms and...

conditions that The RealReal operates under prior to consigning with us - this agreement outlines some of the efforts we may take to generate sales on their behalf. As the consignor indicated, she consigned two items with us. The first item sold in April, four months after it had been consigned, and the dress sold in July, after ten months. Both were included in a standard sale for old items.
At any time, a consignor may request the return of an item, and as long as it has not sold, we will return it. We never received a request to have the dress returned. We asked the consignor to forward the e-mail she said she sent asking for the dress to be returned, and she declined to forward it. She also requested the receipt for the sale of the dress, which contains confidential buyer information which we treat carefully and do not disclose to consignors, just as we do not share consignor information with buyers.
The RealReal confirms that the dress in question was sold for $168 and that the consignor was paid her agreed upon commission for the dress.
Sincerely,
The RealReal
Consignor Relations

Dear Revdex.com,
 
Thank you for bringing this client’s concerns to our attention. We are working with our consignment team to see why the items the client tried to reconsign with us were rejected. Since this complaint was filed we have been in contact with the client and are working on a...

resolution.
 
Sincerely,
The RealReal Customer Service

They're uncooperative awful bias and [redacted] I ordered a item never received over $300 the had me calling back for 3 days stated the item was delivered to a security booth in many vicinity stated on fed ex website left st door and says they can't refund me I must contact my bank!!!!!! I already heard they're authenticity is questionable

This review isn't for The RealReal's physical location nor for their office. This review is going to be based on their online consignment service ([redacted]).
A few months ago, March to be specific, I ordered their free "Luxury Consignment Kit" so I could package my valuable clothing and ship it back to them at no cost. It took a few weeks to receive their free Luxury Consignment Kit (shipping time is about the same as thredUP's free "Clean Out Kit") and it came as a large brown box. Inside the box were instructions on what was accepted and other minor documents.
Once I read all of the instructions and documents that came with the kit, I started to fill the entire box up with valuable clothing. It took some hours to sort out which clothing were good and bad, so I could meet their requirements. After I packed all the clothing that I could into the box, I taped it up and used their pre-paid USPS shipping label to return the box back to them.
I received a confirmation email from The RealReal after USPS successfully picked up my 40-50 pound package from my home. That was on March 29. Near the end of April, I started to wonder if they were going to finish processing my package, because I also shipped a package for thredUP on the same day I shipped the package for The RealReal. I gave it no thought until mid of May where I started to panic. It's been passed a month and a half and I haven't received any sort of notification from The RealReal of where my package was located.
I sent an email to their customer support and their Consignor Relations Specialist told me my package hasn't even left my state yet. What? I told them that I used their pre-paid USPS shipping label that was provided. And told them I even gotten a confirmation email that they knew my package was picked up from USPS. The Consignor Relations Specialist was barely of any help and kept asking me if I used their shipping label or not and what type of clothing I packaged. I even sent them photos that I took of the package before even shipping it out. To this day, we're still emailing back and forth.
In the end, my package is lost out there and will never be in the hands of The RealReal. They failed to have the common decency to even notify me when they didn't see my package at their warehouse. Their customer support is not very helpful and they take nearly forever to respond back. Moral lesson, don't use The RealReal's consignment service unless you want your valuable clothing lost somewhere out there. Instead, go use a reliable consignment service like thredUP or just donate your clothing to [redacted].

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/08/20) */
Dear Revdex.com,
Thank you for forwarding this customer's concerns.
Our return process requires a return authorization prior to sending the return in, which as the customer acknowledges, she did not obtain. By the time...

the customer contacted us, it was out of our stated return time frame and then she informed us that she had disputed the charge with her credit card company. We should have offered to refund her when she first contacted us, and The RealReal apologizes that she did not receive that courtesy at that time. We spoke with the customer after this complaint was delivered to us and have issued her refund.
We have tried to make our return policy as clear as possible, but will use this opportunity to see if improvements could be made to convey the policy.
The RealReal strives to offer a seamless shopping experience and we are sorry to see that we did not meet this customer's expectations. Please convey our apologies.
Sincerely,
The RealReal Customer Service

[redacted]
From: [redacted]] Sent: Friday, June 23, 2017 4:24 PMTo: info <[redacted]>Subject: Re: You have a New Message from Revdex.com Serving San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Coastal California, Complaint #[redacted]
 
Hello,
 
What is the process...

of withdrawing a complaint? The business reached out to me and they will be sending a refund in 3 weeks.
 
Thank you,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/10/09) */
Dear Revdex.com,
Thank you for sharing the concerns of this consumer. I assure you that all of our merchandise goes through a thorough authentication process by trained experts. We stand by our authentication process and...

work with customers directly should they have concerns.
Sincerely,
The RealReal Customer Service

Dear Revdex.com, 
 
Thank you for bringing this customer complaint to our attention.  
 
As we make clear on our site and at the time of purchase, and as has been clearly and repeatedly communicated to Complainant, The RealReal, Inc’s (TRR) policy on returns allows that...

purchases can be returned when the customer completes what is called an online RMA, associated with each item purchased: 
 
Within 14 days of the ship date and then
Physically returns the item within 21 days of shipment
With the tags attached   
Unfortunately, the Complainant has a long history of abuse of our Returns policy. She consistently failed to complete the RMA associated with each individual item, sent them more than 21 days from shipment and nearly always without the TRR tags.
 
We are a purely consignment business. Where an individual item is sold, TRR then issues a commission to the consignor and owner of the item, that is paid monthly. Our policy on returns allows us to manage to timely paying our consignors for items sold while still allowing the benefit of a reasonable and fully disseminated returns policy to our customers. Complainant’s repeated failure to follow policy resulted in TRR having paid the commission on the item and then having it returned. TRR nonetheless continued to allow numerous out of policy returns by Complainant, despite having already paid the consignor.
 
TRR finally reasonably refused to accept the out of policy returns and the items were sent back to Complainant.  However, to date those items sent back and so not refunded equal in value only approximately $1,000. The balance of the items were either accepted out of policy and refunded, or Complainant still has them.
 
We have reached out to Complainant and her business partner numerous times by email and by telephone to arrange for the return of the items she claims Fed Ex delivered and left in the rain and snow, and offered to cover the cost of shipping the items back. We have yet to hear back from her.  
Once again, we continue to stand ready to receive and inspect all of the items Complainant represents in her complaint were damaged.
 
Thank you,
The RealReal Customer Service Department

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/02/03) */
I don't understand why [redacted] filed this complaint. We had already agree to repair it for her. We picked it at her home on January 26th so that we could take it in for repair and return to her. We cannot sell it on our website, as it...

does not meet our age requirement (it is >10 years old), as we explained to her when we originally returned it to her.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 8, 2015/02/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I filed this complaint before they agreed to take responsibility and fix the bag.

The company is fraud. They lie to cover up 5 other lies. They had my things for 5 months before returning. I have made no less than 10 phone calls, many emails. They said they shipped, which was a lie, said again they had shipped again on specific date which was a lie, it was shipped the next day only after a very strong call, then said it was shipped overnight, a lie, now its ground and may force me to cancel a private sale. Corruption is their middle name.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/29) */
This item had actually been found and sold. She will be paid her commission of $437.50 on her June 15th payment.

Great experience! I was worried after reading some reviews, but I had no problem at all. My bag arrived in 3 days, and was perfect! The description they gave was EXACT, and my bag had no stains, tears, or smells. It is also 100% authentic, as I had it authenticated here. I am very picky, and I would definitely shop with The Real Real again.

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]
From: [redacted]] Sent: Friday, June 23, 2017 4:24 PMTo: info <[redacted]>Subject: Re: You have a New Message from Revdex.com Serving San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Coastal California, Complaint #[redacted]
 
Hello,
 
What is the process of withdrawing a complaint? The business reached out to me and they will be sending a refund in 3 weeks.
 
Thank you,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/12/18) */
12/18/15
Dear Revdex.com,
Thanks you for forwarding this concern.
The earrings were consigned with us in December 2014 and sold in February 2015. Our records show that the consignor did contact us on 2/27/15 to ask about...

the earrings and the price they sold at. We informed her at that time that the earrings had been featured in 14 different sales and because they had not sold, had been discounted by 25%. This is a normal part of the consignment process.
Our goal is to get the top dollar for the consignor, so we list it initially at the best price and then incrementally reduce and/or offer discounts until the item is sold. Most of our inventory sells within a few days, so an item that is two months old is usually discounted.
We have a consignor agreement that stipulates that as part of an effort to sell an item, we will offer discounts to customers or reduce the selling price. We make an effort to explain this to consignors, but sometimes that is not fully understood.
If it took the consignor almost 9 months to find a comparable item for sale at a higher price, then the price it sold for was pretty good. And just because an item is listed at a price does not mean someone will buy it at that price - so it is possible that the item she found would not sell for what it is listed at.
Sincerely,
The RealReal Consignor Relations
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/12/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This company did not put these earrings on sale during the most valuable of selling times: prior to Valentine's Day: I checked every day. I believe the company has an obligation to do everything possible to sell product they accept from consignors at the highest possible price before discounting the item, which was not the case in my situation. To have an item for over 75 days and only place it on sale for 14 days out of 75 is not even a "reasonable" effort to try and sell them. No, it did not take my nine months to find the earrings on First Dibs: I went there to find the earrings to include them with my Revdex.com complaint and found them immediately & each listing had the exact same earrings at $4000.00 or above. I remain totally dissatisfied with the manner in which the Real Real handled this sale. I would accept nothing less than $1500.00 from the company.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2016/01/04) */
Good afternoon - as stated in our initial response, this item was featured in 14 different sales prior to discounting it. Most of our items sell within a few days and are only featured in 1-2 sales. The 14 featured sales started on 12/14/14 and continued every 3-4 days until 2/20/15 when it was discounted and finally sold. The earrings were available for purchase on the website for the entire time and could have been purchased at any time during that period - this is in addition to the 14 featured sales.
We have a vested interest to sell consignor's items at the highest possible price. After 14 featured sales, it is clear that the price was not acceptable to buyers until it was reduced by 25%.
We believe the price the item sold at was fair and reasonable and within market value.

Thank you,
The RealReal Consignor Relations
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 15, 2016/01/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
When this company indicates that most of their items "sell within a few days" they are not referring to fine jewelry items, which always take longer to sell than other accessories that are not as expensive or clothing and shoes. They definitely did not have these earrings for sale the entire week prior to Valentine's Dat, as I checked every single day; they are not being honest. They did not sell these earrings at the highest possible price, nor did they attempt to sell these items at the most opportune times when potential buyers of such items might be buying, no matter what they say. Of course they would sell at a ridiculously low price when their value was so much higher: every piece of fine jewelry on their site would. To discount an item to 25% of it's value is not fair to the seller, especially when they did not make a true attempt to sell the items at the highest possible price or at the best possible selling time for such items. This company is not being honest and rather than go back and forth again since they refuse to tell the truth I suggest we demand a settlement of $1000.00 for me to resolve the matter due to their unfair and dishonest selling practice. I am confident either an employee or friend of the company got these earrings. Or else The Real Real can find me another pair exactly like these and I shall return the $ they gave me for the sale price of mine as another possible resolution to the issue.

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/11/03) */
Dear Revdex.com,
Thank you for forwarding this consignor's concern. For certain items valued at a qualifying amount, we allow consignors to request approval of the price prior to listing the item on our site. When the consignor...

submitted her items, she did not request price approval, so it was listed for sale once it had been appraised.
She did e-mail us and request the item be returned on 10/7 and on 10/8, but it sold before we could pull it from the site. We worked with the consignor to find an acceptable selling price, but the ring was returned by the buyer and we were able to send it back to the consignor as she had requested.
Sincerely,
The RealReal Customer Service

Dear Revdex.com,
Thank you for sharing this customer’s concern with us. We make every effort to describe the item thoroughly and take pictures of each and every individual item because we want customers to know what they are purchasing. This is usually enough, but on occasion what the...

customer receives does not match what they expect. In those situations we work with the customer to understand the differences and find a resolution.
We have been in contact with the customer and are confident we will agree to a suitable resolution.
Sincerely,
The RealReal Customer Service

Awful customer service, unresponsive and irresponsible. Rude management. You can never speak with a manger (even though their supervisors tell you that you'd have to speak with a manger) because they are always "in a meeting." They will give you the run around intentionally to avoid a resolution until you give up and it goes away for them. Do not use their services! You are at risk of losing your items and money! It took 2 attempts for them to finally get my address correct (They shipped items to a different location and it took 1 week to retrieve my items). They do NOT place a value on shipments, so if it gets lost, you can't provide [redacted] with a receipt and get your money back. The Real Real will only reimburse as if the item sells (but in my case, I wanted my items back because I was dissatisfied with the pricing and wanted to sell my items elsewhere). They dragged the case out for 3 weeks and I did not get a solid resolution out of it-frequent phone calls and emails and even then the representative I was stuck with STILL got it all wrong. She got the tracking number wrong (so she was tracking down a package that was already deliver awhile back) and she couldn't do simple math for the price breakdown of the items that they lost. They don't take responsibility, they cheat by not placing value price on shipments so they don't have to pay in full, even if it's their fault. [redacted] specifically told me that had they placed an item value to the box, [redacted] would have reimbursed me if I had valid receipts (which I did). The Real Real tried to claim responsibility for speaking with [redacted] about the lost package, which is FALSE. Support your local consignment stores and sell with them instead of the Real Real. ANYTHING is better than the Real Real. Stay away!