I Was Not Paid By Croissant To Write This

Real reviews of the app from people who were not paid to talk about it.

Last week, out of nowhere, the sky opened up, and Croissants rained down on me like manna from the heavens. Unfortunately, none of them were actually edible.

They all just looked like this:

First, they flooded my Instagram feed. Then, a few people started raving about them on TikTok. But the real downpour hit my email inbox, delivered straight from Substack.

This is the kind of Croissant I’m talking about.

Everyone was buzzing with excitement: You can buy things, and then this company will buy them back from you a year later! Huge news for enthusiastic online shoppers. From their website:

“Croissant is the first platform to offer you Guaranteed Resale prices while you shop, and we call them Guaranteed Buybacks™. Buy an item with Croissant and we’ll buy it back. Sell in one click and get paid out instantly. No fees. No pressure to sell. Just money back for your apparel and accessories, if you want it.”

The gist: install the plug-in on your Chrome browser or download the app on your phone, and Croissant becomes your shopping buddy online. As you browse, it’ll give you a little nudge, showing how much they’d buy back the item you’re eyeing if you decide to sell it to them within about a year. No strings attached.

The buyback price is what Croissant will purchase the item from you for if you decide to sell it to them within the period.

Sounds great, right? Resale can be a hassle, and sometimes clothes that you buy online just don’t work out. It seems like a no-brainer. But after seeing enough glowing reviews about Croissant, you’ll start to notice every single one of them is an ad. Some disclosures are clear, others subtly baked in, and some are just missing altogether.

I wanted to find reviews from people who weren’t paid by the company, but searching for “Croissant” on reddit mostly brought up recipes. When I scoured Instagram for Croissant tags, it just led me down a rabbit hole of more endless sponsored content.

And when I tried searching for reviews on TikTok, well... I was really out of luck.

An Emergency Calorie Situation….found the name of my memoir #hanger

Croissant and its cronies paint it as a win for everyone: consumers get better quality clothes and save money, while the environment benefits from the circular resale economy.

But I have questions. So, I decided to dig into the service, share my (unsponsored) perspective, and talk to others who have used the app without any ties to the company.

Let’s find out what’s really inside this Croissant, shall we?

Is that chocolate in the center or….?