The RealReal reported record results across three major metrics in the third quarter of 2026. Gross merchandise value (GMV), revenue and orders all reached record highs in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Q3 GMV reached $641.5 million, up 23% year over year. Total revenue was $206.1 million, up 19%. In the same period, orders grew 15% to 1.02 million, the strongest quarterly order growth since 2022. For the first time, The RealReal exited a third quarter with positive year-to-date operating cash flow, which had historically been achieved in fiscal fourth quarters.

The RealReal, which is a luxury resale marketplace for fashion, jewelry and home furnishings, ranks No. 36 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the 100 largest marketplaces by third-party GMV.

The RealReal reached new customers in Q3

Trailing 12-month active buyers reached 1.152 million in Q3, up 13% year over year. The RealReal noted that those customers are spending more and shopping more often, too. Active buyers placed 15% more orders in Q3, and average order value (AOV) increased 8% year-over-year to $629. 

“These results point to a resilient customer base buying more across a range of price points,” The RealReal CEO Rati Levesque told investors.

Gen Z is the company’s fastest-growing cohort, with customers up more than 60% over three years.

Levesque attributed that growth to the cohort’s values around trust, authenticity and community, noting that Gen Z is already making up 4 in 10 secondhand purchases across the U.S. according to a 2026 Bank of America report. “We are built to grow with them,” she said on the earnings call.

Supply diversification drives seller growth

The RealReal spent the past year diversifying how it sources inventory, the marketplace shared, and the Q3 results show early payoff. The number of consignors who sold with the company grew double digits, with 44% of new consignors coming from its buyer base. As buyers graduate to sellers, they deepen their engagement with the platform.

“Underlying those results is a fundamental change in how people shop for luxury fashion, and our purpose-built platform is helping to drive it,” Levesque said. “Customers increasingly start their journey with us and engage well beyond the transaction, to discover what to buy, to track what they own, and to decide when to sell.” 

Trust and estate deliveries grew 35% more units year over year. The company expanded its contractor program into new markets, grew its Japanese dropship vendor network to seven suppliers, and said it expects to launch over $100 million in supply through its international dropship channel by year-end.

The new seller experience, which the company iterated on through the summer, is also showing results. Seller sign-up completion rates are up more than 30% with the redesigned experience, which The RealReal plans to extend next year using its Athena AI platform to let customers submit a photo of an item and receive an instant estimate of its resale value.

The RealReal embraces AI

Athena, The RealReal’s proprietary AI platform that automates authentication and operations workflows, continues to expand its coverage. It processed approximately 35% of items at the end of 2025. The company expects it to reach nearly 50% of all items by the end of 2026.

On the buyer side, The RealReal’s conversational AI shopping experience built with Google,  Ask TRR, is live, letting customers describe what they want and receive personalized results. It draws from more than 1 million one-of-a-kind items. Levesque said early adopters are spending 20% more per transaction. The company is also structuring its catalog for agentic commerce, ensuring every item is authenticated, attributed and priced in a machine-readable format so AI agents can find and recommend it.

“We lead when consumers turn to AI to look for pre-owned luxury,” Levesque said.

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