My Best Tips for Making Sales (and Avoiding Bad Buyers) on Poshmark
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I mention Poshmark a lot, especially in my budget posts that recap what I’ve added to my wardrobe every season. I started selling my pre-loved clothes, shoes, and accessories on Poshmark in May 2015 after mainly selling on eBay, and I basically haven’t sold on eBay since. Poshmark makes it so easy; however, I don’t think it’s as easy as the TV commercials make it out to be, and I’ve been figuring things out as I go. So far, I’ve recouped over $2,500 after over four years of selling, and I’m a casual seller that lists items from my own closet, not a thrift store reseller.
I’ve compiled all my best tips for selling your pre-loved clothes on Poshmark as primarily a seller myself, including ways to avoid the scammers and other bad buyers!
First thing’s first: If you don’t have a Poshmark account, you can sign up using my referral code HURRICANEKIMI and receive a $10 credit to use on your first purchase (and I’ll earn a credit, too). Check out my Poshmark closet!
Have more questions? I answered your most frequently asked questions about selling on Poshmark!
Poshmark Guide for Sellers
Top Tips for Listing Your Items on Poshmark
1. Read the FAQ
Before you do anything, you need to know what items are compliant and what items are not. I have seen people buy and sell noncompliant items, but remember that you will not have Poshmark protection if something goes wrong with the purchase or sale. This list is ALWAYS changing; Poshmark adds new categories fairly regularly!
2. List items seasonally and often
Think shorts and linen items in summer, wool coats and sweaters in winter. List the types of things that you are buying right now in the current season. That said, anything could sell at any time of year, so if you really want to list a summery item in winter, go for it! You never know. Winter in Florida and Hawaii is different than winter in the midwest, ha! One things folks highly recommend is listing one new item every day to consistently drive traffic to your closet as people see your new listings.
3. Take clear, true-color photos
And photograph on a neutral background. Up to 16 photos and 2 videos can be included in each listing, so capture all of the details, including the brand tag, size, and any flaws. I typically lightly edit my photos to make sure the color is true to my eye. (I use the A Color Story app, but Poshmark has some in-app filters that are good, too.) I also include a photo of me wearing the item if I have one available so people can see how it looks on a body.
4. Don’t steal photos from blogs
If you don’t have a photo of your item on a body and can’t/don’t want to model it yourself, you might be tempted to steal photos from a blog. (This happens to me quite often!) Please don’t do this unless you receive permission from the blogger. It’s so obnoxious to see obviously stolen images, and it’s even worse when they’re not credited back to the blogger. Not only is it theft, it’s rude and also disingenuous to potential buyers.
5. Include as many details as possible
Things like condition (be honest!), how it fits, if the color is off in the photos (or which photo is closest to true color if it’s a difficult color to photograph), etc. Some people swear by adding measurements. If you have them, add them! I added them to some of my listings, but they aren’t selling any faster than my items without measurements. Potential buyers may ask for them, so make sure you can measure and respond. (Though 95% of the time, in my experience, if someone asks for the measurements, they won’t end up buying the item.) If you do add measurements, I recommend using the word “approximate” to describe them to reduce the chances of a buyer opening a case against you and claiming your measurements are wrong. Some sellers upload photos showing the measurements which can help, too.
6. Check comps
Search for your exact item in the sold listings and make note of the condition and price so you know what price you can expect to get for your item, and price your item accordingly.
7. Set your price slightly high
This will allow some room for negotiations. The vast majority of my sales are from buyers sending offers. I usually price higher than I think I’ll get, then drop the price a few times to see if someone will bite. Read more on that below! (Also, be honest about the original price if you know it or can find it easily. Don’t inflate it to make it seem like your price is a better deal!)
8. Relist using the “Copy Listing” feature
This is one of the best new features on Poshmark! If you go into your listing to edit it, you’ll see a button at the bottom that says “Copy Listing” (next to “Delete Listing”). After your item has been listed for 60 days, you can relist it using that feature and your item will show up under the “Just In” listings (as opposed to the “Just Shared”), which is the default when users are browsing a particular brand!
TIP: On the original listing, increase the price (if you’ve dropped it a few times) and save it BEFORE copying it. This is to allow for negotiations on the relisted item. (Sometimes you’ll get lucky and someone will buy the item at a higher price!) Also take the time to update photos and any information if needed. Don’t forget to remove “COPY” from the title and delete the old listing! (Yes, you’ll lose any likers when you relist, but if they really wanted the item they would have purchased it already. Don’t get hung up on them!)
Top Tips for Selling Your Items on Poshmark
1. Share your own items (and often!)
Poshmark is kind of like another social media platform; they tell you to follow people and share their items and build your “network”…but the best thing you can do to make sales is to share your own items—and often. Sharing puts your items at the top of the list when people are searching for things, and more eyes on your items = more sales.
I share at least three times a day, once during each “party”. (I always share to the party if I can, but I don’t think sharing to them necessarily leads to more sales. Sharing to the party still pushes your items to the top of the “Just Shared” lists if people are searching outside of the party.) I aim to share my entire closet five to six times per day. It takes about two minutes to share my whole closet each time, and it’s even faster with the new “bulk share” feature. Sharing other peoples’ items will sometimes result in them sharing your items in return, but I honestly think sharing yourself is the best way to go.
2. Counteroffer, don’t decline offers
I declined offers when I first started on Posh, and I cringe at how many sales I lost because of that! The vast majority of my sales are because someone made an offer. Sometimes I accept, sometimes I counter. (Sometimes I ignore offers if they offer way below my list price and I don’t feel like we’ll compromise. I’ll also ignore offers from people who repeatedly offer low.) This is why you price slightly high—to allow for offers. BE REALISTIC ABOUT THE PRICE!
3. Strategically drop the price
The best time to drop the price of your items is during Closet Clear Out (CCO), a promotion that Poshmark does about twice a week to encourage sales. Buyers receive reduced shipping for six hours if you drop the price at least 10% from the lowest historical price within the past 90 days. CCO happens at least once a week, so I don’t drop the price every week, but when I do want to drop prices, I drop them to coincide with CCO to entice buyers. I think I’ve made two sales from CCO out of 150+ sales, so it’s definitely not the most lucrative selling method for me personally. If I get offers on CCO day, sometimes I’ll drop the price to the buyer’s offer (or my counteroffer) so they get discounted shipping.
4. Relist your items
If they’ve been sitting around for a while or if you’re at your lowest price, relist ‘em! Poshmark makes it really easy now with the “Copy Listing” feature I wrote more about above. I used to not relist items; I’d collect dozens of “likes” on my items and still no one would make an offer. I recently started relisting items if they’ve been up for at least a couple of months. I’ve sold quite a few things since relisting them (and some for a higher price than the lowest price I had it at before relisting).
5. Vet your [potential] buyer
I recommend doing this before accepting an offer or shipping to try to avoid problematic buyers. I usually check their love notes and Meet the Posher listing (or random listings if they have any) to see if they made any petty complaints or if other people left negative comments (i.e. if they are leaving negative ratings, filing claims, placing then canceling orders, etc.). If you cannot see the buyer’s profile, don’t fret! They probably found your item on Google and created a guest account to make the purchase. I’ve had no issues shipping to guest users so far, but you usually have to wait the full three days before payment is released.
6. Ship sales quickly
I know we individual sellers can’t compete with Amazon Prime, but if you can get your item out the next day, that goes a long way to please your buyer and perhaps entice them to leave a nice love note for others to see and/or bring them back to your closet. Poshmark also recommends wrapping the item like a gift and writing a thank you card, but that’s overkill in my opinion. I usually just wrap the item for protection and include a little thank you note. If I have a spare plastic bag laying around, I’ll put a delicate garment (like silk) in it so it’s protected from any moisture. I mostly reuse the packaging I receive when I place online orders, but you can also order boxes for free from USPS. (You ARE allowed to use Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes, but USPS might throw a fit so I’d recommend the regular Priority Mail boxes.)
Other Things to Know About Poshmark
If someone comments on a listing asking you to contact them via email, don’t email them. Don’t even respond. It’s a scam, and you won’t be protected by Poshmark. You can tap the flag under the comment, mark it as spam, and the comment will be deleted. Comments you leave on your own listings will stay there forever (unless you delete/relist).
If someone adds just one item to a bundle and doesn’t make an offer, they’re usually waiting to see if you’ll send an offer to them. The best part about sending an offer to a single-item bundle is you don’t need to send a shipping discount like you would with an Offer to Likers (a promo that requires at least a 10% price drop and shipping discount to the “likers”)! Sometimes I send offers, sometimes I don’t. It depends on the item.
Only use the Poshmark-provided USPS shipping label, which is generated automatically and emailed to you when you make a sale. You’re not protected if you ship via a different method and may not receive your earnings. If a buyer tells you to ship to a different address, don’t, unless they update their address through Poshmark prior to you shipping the package. You’ll get a new label from Poshmark if their address is updated.
Not all buyers will rate and leave “love notes”. Don’t take it personally! And if someone rates less than five stars and leaves a note, no one can see it. Only love notes left with five-star ratings are shown on your profile. If someone leaves a dishonest love note, you can remove it from your profile (I’ve only had one of these so far). (If you make a purchase, always rate five stars unless there was a serious issue, and if something wasn’t described, open a case.)
I hope this helps! Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or check out my answers to the most frequently asked questions about selling on Poshmark! 🤗 A great additional resource is the Poshmark subreddit. I’ve learned so much from it! If you want to search the subreddit for anything in particular, don’t use the Reddit search because it sucks and doesn’t work. Instead, go to Google and search for your question + “site:reddit.com/r/poshmark”!
Don’t forget: If you don’t yet have an account on Poshmark, you can sign up using my referral code HURRICANEKIMI and receive a credit to use on your first purchase (and I’ll earn a credit, too). You can currently earn a $10 credit. Check out my Poshmark closet! Happy Poshing!
This post was updated in May 2022.