Run While You Still Can - Anonymous employee The RealReal Employee Review

1.0
30 Jan 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

My fellow co-workers are the only thing that keeps me going in this place. They are amazing, hardworking, genuine, and creative people.

Cons

Oh boy where to start. Working at TheRealReal is like having all the life sucked out of you. There is absolutely ZERO work/life balance here as there is REQUIRED overtime, not just once a month as they tell you in the interview, but practically every day. Getting to leave at your scheduled end time is a damn miracle. The pay is abysmal for northern NJ so you feel like you need to work overtime to survive. You only get one 30 min break for the entire time you're there, which is unethical. The work itself is "easy" as in you don't really need prior experience, but it is HARD work. It's very physically intense and you will be mentally and physically exhausted by the end of your shift. The expectations for this job are positively ridiculous. The managers work you to the bone and push their employees so hard that I've witnessed several of my coworkers have breakdowns at work. The minimum quota they have in your contract is a joke as the managers will set up their own daily goals for you to hit instead, which can be up to twice as high. You are not allowed to leave until you hit these goals, even if you've been there for 10+ hours with only 1 thirty min break. There is no separation between "sick time", PTO, or vacation time, which I had never experienced before, as even as a part-time retail employee I had separate sick days. Upper management is unapproachable and treats their workers like children. They will micromanage you and if you dare ask questions or speak up about anything they will talk down and belittle you. HR is a different beast. One of my coworkers had a fellow employee make degrading and sexual remarks to her and when she went to HR they asked what she had done to provoke him. UNBELIEVABLE. After that incident, I have refused to talk to HR about anything as I can see they truly have no respect for the employees of this company. These are just some of the reasons this company has so many 1 star reviews and such a high turnover rate. I will not be surprised if this company goes under sooner rather then later.

Explore other reviews about The RealReal

5.0
8 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Overall, the receiving team is very sweet and engaging. They try to help you when you need it or ask for it.

Cons

When you don't reach your goal, they do get on you/

2.0
13 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay and commission can be good, but the structure is unnecessarily convoluted and not as generous as it seems, and you will have no work/life balance if you want to actually make consistently high commission. If you have a true passion for luxury and fashion, you do get a lot of opportunities to handle and interact with special/rare items, and depending on store location you can meet a lot of interesting industry people and celebrities, especially during Fashion Weeks

Cons

Poor and unsupportive management with extremely unrealistic demands and expectations; you will get virtually no training, but are immediately expected to know how to do everything. The overall company culture is just unpleasant and very cliquey, and there's constant employee turnover. The online customer service system is terrible, so you will frequently have to handle customer issues that have nothing to do with you/your sales.

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