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OfferUp, a top online and mobile marketplace app, announced this morning it’s raising $120 million in a new round of funding led by competing marketplace letgo’s majority investor, OLX Group, and others. As a part of the deal, OfferUp will also be acquiring letgo’s classified business, with OLX Group gaining a 40% stake in the newly combined entity.

Other investors in the new round include existing OfferUp backers Andreessen Horowitz and Warburg Pincus. The funds will be put toward continued growth, product innovation and monetization efforts, OfferUp says.

The round will close with the closing of the acquisition, which is expected to take place sometime in May. To date, OfferUp has raised $380 million.

The acquisition will see two of the largest third-party buying and selling marketplaces — outside of Craigslist, eBay and Facebook Marketplace, of course — become a more significant threat to the incumbents. Together, the new entity will have more than 20 million monthly active users across the U.S. For consumers, the deal means they’ll no longer have to list in as many apps when looking to unload some household items, electronics, furniture or whatever else they want to sell.

“My vision for OfferUp has always been to build a company that helps people connect and prosper,” said Nick Huzar, OfferUp CEO, in a statement about the acquisition. “We’re combining the complementary strengths of OfferUp and letgo in order to deliver an even better buying and selling experience for our communities. OLX Group has unparalleled expertise and clear success with growing online marketplace businesses, so they’ll be a great partner as we continue to build the widest, simplest, and most trustworthy experience for our customers.”

OfferUp also acknowledged that mid-pandemic is an odd time to announce such a deal — especially at a time when the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting its own employees, its partners, and the buying and selling community itself. And this will continue for some time.

However, Huzar positions the deal as one that will allow the business to grow, despite the current state of affairs.

“This news helps us to continue to innovate and grow, in spite of these challenging times, and continue to deliver on that promise,” Huzar noted, in a company blog post.

For now, the OfferUp and letgo apps will remain separate experiences and no disruptions to any sales will be made. Consumers will also be able to download both apps to iOS and Android devices for the time being, too.

But soon, both sets of users will gain access to a larger network of buyers and sellers, along with nationwide shipping options, and trust and safety problems. We understand this will involve allowing users of both sets of apps to see more posts and interact with more buyers and sellers — so some sort of merging of the two networks is at play here. There will be additional changes to improve the user experience for all users in the future, as well, but the company isn’t sharing details on that today.

Letgo is bringing to the table an app with more than 100 million worldwide downloads, so there is a potential to reactivate some of the lapsed users who aren’t currently shopping or selling on its marketplace today. The two apps were often neck-and-neck in terms of their app store category rankings, though on iPhone OfferUp has maintained a slight lead. (See App Store and Google Play charts below.)

However, letgo’s business outside of North America will be separately owned and operated as part of the OLX Group, the companies said.

“Letgo and OfferUp have always shared the same core vision for how large America’s secondhand economy can become — harnessing tech innovation to bring about an extraordinarily positive impact on consumers’ wallets and also on the environment,” said letgo co-founder Alec Oxenford. “Bringing our apps together moves us much closer to that vision,” he added.

Prior to this deal, OfferUp had seen a number of executive departures, including the exit of Engineering lead and VP Peter Wilson in 2017, VP of Product Chloe Harford in 2018, VP of Employee Experience Deb Nielsen in 2018, subsequent VP of Employee Experience Sarah Bilton in 2019, and Chief Experience Officer Jerry Howe in January 2020. CFO Rodrigo Brumana has also left, which was previously unreported. The company’s interim CFO is Chief Growth Officer Ian Fliflet, and OfferUp is actively hiring for a new CFO, we’re told.

Huzar characterizes these changes as part of the challenges with growing a startup and getting the right people into place.

“As the company grows up, so must leaders and so must the culture. I think a lot of times when you’re scaling businesses…you go through evolutions where leaders really need to evolve and change,” he says. “If you look to Bill Carr, for example, our COO, you know he helped build out Amazon Video from nothing to over 2,000 employees. We had nobody in the halls of OfferUp that had seen that scale before,” Huzar added.

There’s some admiration for Amazon’s culture, as well.

“There are clearly things that Amazon has done very well — like their ability to innovate at scale is unbelievable,” Huzar says. “We do think people [who] come out of Amazon have great startup DNA. They’re very scrappy. They dive deep into the business and understand things. They can think big. There’s a lot of value I think from that business that I really appreciate,” he added.

OfferUp also just hired former ChannelAdvisor VP Mark Vandegrift as head of e-commerce this month, as the company focuses on growth and scale.

But not all employees have been on board with these exec shakeups. More than a handful of employee reviews on Glassdoor and chatter on networking app Blind speak to various company culture issues, women being treated inequitably, negative office politics, and attrition — including among senior management.

In addition to the COVID-19 crisis, OfferUp may have needed to merge to scale and compete with the marketplace giants. User growth was slowing, for instance — the userbase was 42 million annual users in 2018 that only grew to 44 million in 2019. Presumably, slower revenue growth had followed. (Huzar declined to speak to current revenue and valuation.)

A combination of OfferUp and letgo could help to strengthen numbers outside of coastal cities, like Seattle, L.A., and Miami, where OfferUp was historically strong. Letgo was stronger in other parts of the country, like the Midwest, Huzar says. OfferUp will also bring its shipping business to letgo, which could be particularly helpful now as people are looking to sell household items for extra cash.

The deal is still subject to regulatory approval. If given, the combined businesses will be operated by OfferUp, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. Huzar will continue to be CEO of OfferUp and chairman of the board. Oxenford, meanwhile, will join the board and serve as a senior advisor to OLX Group and Prosus.

Because the deal is still in the process of closing, the companies can’t speak to any team changes, including potential layoffs as a result of overlapping positions or other redundancies, we’re told.

Updated 3/25/20, 4:00 PM ET with additional quotes and background, following Huzar interview. 

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Over the years, I’ve had great success buying and selling on OfferUp, and today I’m going to share my top 10 OfferUp tips with you! These tips will help you to sell your items faster and make more money in the process.

Selling on OfferUp is a great way to make some extra money. We’ve sold all kinds of things—home decor, baby gear, furniture, camping equipment, a Blentec blender, snow shoes— you name it!

Our small apartment has limited storage space, so unwanted items are promptly donated or sold.

It’s always nice to declutter your home, clean out your closets, and bring in some extra cash!

Why Use OfferUp?

Personally, I like using the OfferUp app because it’s fast and easy—and not as creepy as Craigslist!

Buyers and sellers have profile pictures and ratings (based on past purchases and sales), so it’s somewhat less anonymous. That alone makes me feel safer, both as a buyer and a seller.

Plus, it’s super easy and convenient to have a conversation right in the app. I don’t have to give out my phone number or email address to anyone!

10 OfferUp Tips to Sell Faster & Make More Money

When you take the time to present your items nicely, market them well, and communicate effectively with potential buyers, you greatly increase the odds of selling your stuff. Plus, you’ll make more money in the process!

1. Before You Sell

Before you start the listing process, spend a few minutes cleaning up the items you want to sell.

Wash clothes, wipe down dirty equipment, repair broken items (if possible), and touch-up scuffed furniture with fresh paint.

2. Photograph Like a Pro

Good pictures make all the difference when selling online! I can’t tell you how many listings I’ve passed by simply because of poor photo quality.

When the details and condition of an item aren’t clear right away, it’s usually not worth the hassle of trying to investigate further.

Do not photograph your items in a dimly lit room. Instead, place your items near a window—or, better yet—take them outside! Make sure the background is as clean and uncluttered as possible, and make sure the image is sharp.

Take pictures at multiple angles to see which ones look best. Also, take pictures of the entire item, as well as close-up detail shots.

Be sure to edit your pictures before uploading them to OfferUp. Adjusting the brightness, contrast, sharpness, and saturation will go a long way. This should only take a couple of minutes, and will help your items to stand out.

Make sure to upload several photos—not just one. This is especially important for bigger-ticket items.

Of all my OfferUp tips, improving your images will probably make the biggest difference! These tips will increase your buyers’ confidence, both in you as the seller and in the item for sale.

3. Create a Smart Title & Description

Use strong keywords in both your title and description. Include important information, such as the brand, size, model, and color. Good keywords will help potential buyers find your listings!

Be honest and accurate in your wording, and describe your items properly.

4. Price it Right

When deciding how much to sell your item for, I recommend first doing a quick OfferUp search. Then check Craigslist and eBay to make sure you’re pricing your item correctly.

If I see that most people are asking $25-$30 for a particular item, I’ll usually price mine a couple of dollars less (especially if there are several already listed for sale).

This helps my items to sell more quickly. I’d rather sell it in a few weeks, than wait a few months before someone bites.

5. Communication is Key

Respond to messages from buyers as quickly as you can! Be clear and courteous with your wording.

I like to use complete sentences, good grammar, and even smiley faces when appropriate! When you communicate effectively, you’re telling your buyers that you are trustworthy.

Sometimes, buyers will stop responding to your messages, which is incredibly frustrating (especially when they’ve already told you where and when they want to meet)! When that happens, just shrug it off and move on.

6. Know How to Negotiate

If someone offers you less money than you feel your item is worth, you can always counter. Try to find a happy medium.

When a buyer sends me lowball offer, I try countering with something reasonable. If they continue offering me unreasonable numbers, I just send them the lowest price I’m willing to accept.

“Thank you for your offer, but the lowest price I’m currently able to accept is $50.”

Sometimes, it’s worth accepting an offer that’s a bit low in order to sell an item more quickly. Buyers can be fickle, and coordinating can take a few days, so I like to jump on sales whenever I can!

7. First Come, First Served

Some buyers will not be considerate of your time, and will not keep their word. I’ve experienced this firsthand.

I have a rule: The first person to give me money for an item gets it!

In the past, buyers have asked me to hold items until a certain date. I would agree, and end up turning down other potential buyers while I waited. Then, the original buyer would change their mind and wouldn’t follow through with the purchase.

Talk about frustrating!

So now, if someone comes along, ready to meet with cash in hand, they’re the one I’m doing business with!

8. Confirm Before You Go

Before you leave your house to meet someone, send them a quick message to confirm the place and time. This is especially important if you agreed to meet a few days prior.

(I like to add reminders to my Apple calendar so that I don’t forget to meet my OfferUp buyers.)

And don’t forget to let someone know if you’re running a few minutes late. Be courteous!

9. Choose a Convenient Meeting Place

When choosing a location to meet buyers, I don’t drive long distances in case they flake out on me. Plus, the farther I drive, the more time and gas money I’m spending.

Instead, I have buyers drive to a location that’s convenient for me—especially if I’m selling a small item. The bigger the item, the farther I’m willing to drive.

10. Be Wise

Be wise about where and when you’re meeting someone.

I prefer to meet in front of a large store during the day, when there’s lots of light and plenty of people around. The safest place to meet is up by the entrance of a store, but parking lots can work, too.

Oftentimes, I’ll send my husband to meet a buyer (especially in the evening).

Share Your Best OfferUp Tips!

I learned most these OfferUp tips and tricks through trial and error. They’ve helped me to develop the system I use today for selling on OfferUp, and have successfully made me some extra money!

Have you tried making extra money using OfferUp? What are your best OfferUp tips?