The RealReal is my favorite site to shop for used designer clothes and shoes — here's how to score great deals and make the most of your free membership

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• The RealReal is a luxury consignment store. You can shop secondhand, authenticated designer goods online or in the app for a fraction of their original price.
• We've purchased Chanel heels, Dior boots, Equipment silk blouses, Hermès ties, and designer dresses on the site, and have had good experiences so far. 
• Typically, you can return items for a refund or credit. If you return the item by bringing it to a physical TRR store, you'll also save yourself the cost of shipping. 
• There's often a 20% off discount with the code "REAL" at checkout, though some designer goods are excluded. 
• Read more: ThredUP rewards you for cleaning out your closet while donating to those in need — here's what it's like to use

A few years ago, I stopped buying fast fashion and mostly new clothing. The incentives for the "fewer, better" methodology of shopping were compelling: more closet space, nicer clothes, a lower carbon footprint, and far better returns on my investments. 

Alongside a Rent the Runway subscription that fills my wardrobe gaps, an integral part of this new practice has been buying secondhand. And, because I don't have the time nor the eye to unearth diamonds in the rough of my local vintage stores, I've found myself frequently using The RealReal. 

What The RealReal is

The RealReal is an online marketplace of luxury consignment goods — from clothing to jewelry to fine art to home decor. It also has brick-and-mortar stores in select cities. You can find everything from Chanel earrings and bags, Rolex watches, Prada boots, Gucci loafers, and Miu Miu sunglasses to J Brand jeans and Reformation sundresses for a fraction of their original price. It also doesn't hurt that the site seems to have a habitual 20% off discount with the code "REAL" — although items like $3,000 designer Chanel bags are typically excluded. 

Membership options

TRR has three memberships — one free and two paid — that award higher-paying members with upgrades and a head start on deals. Free members get TRR's daily curated sales email, while First Look members ($10/month) also get 24-hour advance access to sales, 24-hour advance waitlist notifications, and First Look only promotions. In the top tier, First Look Platinum members ($30/month) get all those perks plus unlimited upgrades to two-day shipping.

The company has an in-house team that inspects luxury items to verify that they're the real deal

To minimize the chances that you're overpaying for an excellent dupe instead of underpaying for a designer bag, the site authenticates everything. According to TRR, a team of more than 100 experts, which includes gemologists, horologists, and luxury brand authenticators, physically inspects thousands of items every day. The RealReal ensures that everything it sells is 100% authentic (you can read about the qualifications of its authenticators here). However, it's important to note that TRR has not always succeeded; one CNBC investigation in 2019 found the company had room to improve where counterfeits are concerned.

It's also worth noting that not every designer has fetched high-end prices because of characteristics that have made their items an inherently better value, like their use of truly superior design and materials. For some items, their cultural currency has not outlived their heyday. But, the promise that you'll find $400 off something that does deserve a designer price is what keeps you scrolling. And the allure of designer goods makes TRR exciting where other secondhand shops can feel exhausting, with too few treasures to warrant the hours of searching that they require. 

In our experience, your scrolling is often rewarded; I bought my boyfriend an Hermès tie for the holidays and myself Dior boots for under $100 each. Senior editor Sally Kaplan bought a pair of strappy Chanel shoes for her wedding on the site. 

In other words, it's not your average secondhand marketplace. If it were a dating app, TRR would be an unpretentious iteration of The League.

TRR is the best presentation of secondhand designer goods that I've found. The common downfalls of both online and brick-and-mortar consignment shops are converted into TRR's strengths.

Where other platforms feel crowded and busy, TRR is clean and legible. Similar to ThredUp and dissimilar to Poshmark, TRR's marketplace is managed by the company and not by individuals. For this reason, there's a useful uniformity to the presentation and categorization of the items.

TRR photos are also well-lit, high-res, and offer potential buyers multiple angles. Clothing isn't so wrinkled that the length of a dress is hard to determine, which I've found elsewhere. 

And, when searching for a brand, shoppers can type in "Rag & Bone" or "Gucci" and find a singular homepage for each designer rather than 15 different landing pages because sellers used a slightly different spelling or capitalization. If shoppers like a specific style but it's out of stock, they can put it on their waitlist and, the next time someone else sends it into TRR, the company will notify them that there's another one available.

The RealReal's app mimics an upscale department store's shopping app

Mostly, though, I'd be remiss not to mention the app. The interface is clean and intuitive like a department store and decidedly unlike a crowded vintage shop that has so many hangers on a rack that you can only see one-third of every item on it. 

The TRR app also offers personalization. You can create a wishlist of items you've "hearted" as well as folders of saved filters; I have one for my favorite designers, and another for everything on the site in my standard sizes. When I'm in need of a particular item, I head to TRR to see if I can get a great deal on something special, high-quality, and normally out of my price range if it weren't pre-owned.

TRR doesn't offer free shipping, so you're incentivized to buy in bulk if there are multiple pieces you like. Returns must be requested within 14 days of the in-store purchase date or the original shipment date of online orders, and all returns must be received by TRR within 21 days. You can drop it off at a store for free, or the site can email you a shipping label to use for a fee of $11.95.

Here's what it's like to shop using TRR, which you can do on a desktop or through their app: