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In the first four months of starting a Poshmark store, I grew my store from $0 to $1700 per month profit after 4 months. After 2 years, I scaled my store so that it generates a full-time income for me.
It has not been easy, and has required countless hours thrifting and sourcing inventory, organizing my listings, and of course sharing the listings and participating in the Poshmark community. If anyone tells you succeeding on Poshmark is easy, they aren’t giving you the full picture. Succeeding on Poshmark takes time, hard work, constant adaptation (and a bit of luck also helps).
If you’re ready to put the work in, success is in reach. Here are some of the best practices I’ve employed to go from zero profits on Poshmark to a full-time income.
1. Take great photos.
Shopping online isn’t the same as being in a store where you can examine the merchandise more closely, which is why including images of your merchandise is important. Keep in mind, though, images that are blurry or fail to show the product in more detail can cause you to lose a sale. By following these tips, you should get good quality photos that are more likely to bring in sales:
- Place merchandise in an area with good, natural lighting.
- Make sure the light is behind what your photographing.
- Take photos during the daytime hours.
- Keep the camera’s lens clean with a soft microfiber cloth.
- White backgrounds are best.
- Avoid using the flash if at all possible.
- When you snap the photo, be sure it comes out clear. If it’s not clear, re-take it.
- If the item you’re selling has any flaws such as stains, discoloration, wear, tears, or etc. photograph those as well, so the buyer knows exactly what they’re getting. This saves you from losing out on a sale due to the buyer requesting a refund.
- Get close-up shots of labels, hardware, serial or date codes for luxury items.
- Avoid using zoom on your camera. Instead, move closer to what you’re taking a picture of.
- Use a mobile tripod to ensure the camera is steady.
- If you have the time, photos of yourself or someone else wearing the clothing helps bring in sales. If you don’t want to show the person’s face, use a photo program to crop it out. Also, it’s even better if you make sure the model is the right size for the clothing you’re selling. This gives potential buyers a better idea of what it might look like on them. For instance, if you’re selling a 3X shirt, photograph a person who wears that size.
2. Write good descriptions.
Again, as with images, people can’t physically examine the merchandise, which is why you should be as detailed as possible when writing out your descriptions.
- Include brand names, sizes, and if there are any flaws such as tears, stains, or discoloration, mention those.
- Include measurements. If you have quite a bit of stuff to add to your closet, this can be time consuming, so if you don’t want to mess with measurements, at least be willing to provide them if someone asks.
- Suggest styles, such as what other pieces the item would go well with.
3. Keep up with the trends.
This is a must if you’re going to be a Poshmark clothing reseller. Styles change often. What’s currently in style this month may not be the next. You just never know. Here are a few tips to help you discover what’s currently in demand:
- Keep up with the Poshmark blog, especially their data reports.
- Visit the websites of popular stores, and use their search and search filters to discover their top selling brands. Do the same on Poshmark.
- Google Trends is a great research tool as well.
- Keep up with your own Poshmark closet. As time goes on, you’ll learn which of your styles and brands sell best.
4. Don’t overprice your merchandise.
Although everyone comes in search of a deal, pricing too low gives the impression that your merchandise isn’t in good shape, so Poshers usually don’t buy. If the price is too high, they definitely won’t buy. The fear of under and over pricing may cause you to struggle in this area, but hopefully these few tips will help you overcome that struggle:
- First and foremost, figure up Poshmark’s cut of the sale to ensure that you make a fair profit. Currently, Poshmark takes a flat fee of $2.95 for merchandise under $15 and 20% for anything above $15.
- Potential Posh buyers usually negotiate on price, so set the price anywhere from 10 to 20% higher than what you really want to sell it for. If you have an item that’s new with the tags still attached (NWT), shoot for 60% of the retail price listed on the tag.
- Utilize Poshmark’s search feature to see what other Poshmark clothing resellers’ prices are on brands that are the same and styles that are also the same or similar. Narrow the search by selecting to view merchandise that has already sold.
- If you take the time to do a little research to determine the retail price of the clothing piece(s) you’re listing, you can set the price at 40% of the retail price for used merchandise. A good way to find the retail price is to check the brand’s website. If you can’t find the exact item on the brand’s site, look for things that are similar to at least get a basic idea of what it retails for.
5. Sell as Much as you can.
The bigger your Poshmark closet the better. Try to list a minimum of 10 items a week. If you can put up 100 items, that would be even better.
6. Be active in the Poshmark community.
You can’t just add merchandise to your closet and wait for sales to come. In order to be a successful Poshmark clothing reseller, you will have to spend time being active in the Poshmark community. Ways to be active include:
- Participating in Posh Parties.
- Liking, sharing, re-sharing, and commenting. These activities keeps your listings at the top.
- Responding as soon as you can to potential buyers who ask questions about something you’ve listed.
7. Follow the right people.
Look for others who wear the same size as you and share the same brand and style interests, and then follow them. Do this by using the search feature and narrowing the search with the filters. Narrow the search by brands, styles, and sizes that are the same as what you sell. Follow the sellers so you can share their closet and comment on their listings.
By browsing the listings from your narrowed search and looking for those who commented and liked the listings, you’ll discover potential buyers to follow, too.
[Thanks to this other article with other suggestions for Poshmark tips for the inspiration for this particular tidbit]
8. Offer savings to potential buyers.
Everyone loves saving money! Here are some savings suggestions to attract Posh buyers and help boost your sales:
- Offer bundle discounts so potential buyers can save on more than one piece of clothing, as well as on shipping.
- Have occasional closet clear outs with discounts. A great time for these is during the end of a season to get rid of clothes going out of season.
- Contact people who like your merchandise and offer them a discount on something they’ve liked.
- Pick a day of the week and make it a sale day. Most people are paid on Thursday or Friday, so aim for one of these days.
When offering discounts, keep in mind that anytime you reduce the price of your listing by 10% or more, every Posher who liked the item will receive notification in their Poshmark newsfeed that you discounted that piece of clothing.
9. Don’t delay when it comes to shipping.
When an order comes in, ship it out as soon as you can. Noone likes to wait a long time to receive something they’ve ordered, so if you’re a Poshmark clothing reseller that doesn’t delay when it comes to shipping, the chances of you gaining repeat customers is great!
10. Promote your closet.
If you haven’t already, set up a Facebook page, join Twitter, and sign up for an Instagram account. Use these other social networks to promote your Poshmark closet. Share your listings on all your social network accounts, and also use those accounts to share tips and hacks related to fashion.
11. Use a Poshmark Sharing Tool
The best way to get your listings in front of more people is to share your closet. When you share an item in your closet, it gets boosted to the top of the feed for all of your followers. This means that more people see your listing, which means you will sell your items faster.
The thing is, it’s best to share all of your items multiple times per day. But this can often be very time consuming, especially when you have a large closet. I have multiple hundred items in my inventory, and sharing my whole closet 3-4 times per day could take an hour or more.
I started looking for solutions. There are tools out there that can share your closet for you automatically. I’ve tried out all of the top ones and found ClosetPilot to be the best one. I recommend giving it a try. I also made a review of ClosetPilot that you may be interested in reading.