Condition of used gear

[JR1]

Are the "used wear" garments cleaned by REI prior to being sold to a new owner?

[REI-MichelleW]

@JR1 , thank you for your question. No, the used gear items are not cleaned by REI and are sold "as is". 

[Rob6]

Hi @JR1 .  While I'm not an REI employee, and I'm not disagreeing with @REI-MichelleW , I think that an important distinction is what constitutes "gear".  I have purchased many items from the REI Used site, and "hard goods" have occasionally still been slightly dirty. It is my understanding that items such as sleeping bags are professionally sanitized. The amount and nature of any remaing dirt, and/or if it's been sanitized are noted as such in the product descriptions.

[REI-MichelleW]

@Rob6 , thank you so much for your reply to @JR1 . You are correct that the type of gear is an important distinction. The sleeping bags that are purchased through the used gear site on rei.com are professionally sanitized and this is noted in the product description.The gear on that site is carefully selected to be the highest quality used gear. I work in a store location and our used gear is a combination of whatever is returned to us and the conditions can vary to a greater degree since customers are able to view it in person before making a buying decision. We do not sanitize bags or otherwise clean items here at the store level.

[JR1]

Thank you Rob6...I was referring to clothing...Should not have used gear in the subject line, and then garments...I can see I confused others. I was referring to a jacket. 🤷‍♀️ Thank you for your speedy response!

[REI-JenK]

@JR1, as you can see from the answers above, we sell used gear in a few places and we therefore have a few different processes! For clarity:

• For the used products you can see on our website, we clean certain items as necessary, like sleeping bags and garments that show heavy wear. For other used items sold online, as @Rob6 describes, they may/may not be cleaned.
• As @REI-MichelleW mentioned, most used gear we sell in our stores' garage sales are sold 'as is' (and have not been cleaned) - one exception to this would be sleeping bags and pads that are sold in CA are cleaned as required by state laws.

Hope this helps you decide about the jacket you were considering!

[Rob6]

No problem @JR1 !  I guess I should have realized that you were referring to clothing specifically by your use of the word "garment".

For what it's worth, as mentioned, I've gotten a lot of used gear from REI, including hard goods, shoes and clothing.  I even outfitted my daughter for an archaeological trip to Egypt from the Used Gear site.  I have not been disappointed yet!

From my experience, you can feel very confident in what you get.  Just be sure to read the description and condition report so you have realistic expectations.