Side money experiment: selling on Poshmark
August 29, 2016
Background: 2 years ago November, J. Money and I had a quick chat that spawned this post on earning side money and then I started tracking our earnings publicly because it’s always more fun that way. PiC is our resident Craigslister and I’m the resident Try Anything Once-er.
One of my challenges in the Great Wardrobe Curation has been getting rid of clothes that need to exit stage left. They normally still have plenty of wear in them, don’t fit quite right but aren’t worth the cost of tailoring, or that I can’t tolerate wearing any longer, like heels. It doesn’t make sense to keep them and getting both space and money back would be double the fun.
With plenty of encouragement from Penny to give it a try, even with my decidedly unfancy wardrobe, and armed with her quick tutorial, I quickly made up an account on Poshmark and listed a handful of shoes. One pair of heels I’ll hold on to, for faking professionalism until I get better flats, but most of them can go.
At first it didn’t seem like it was meant to be. It took 4 hours to download the app. First, I never remember my Apple ID so downloading isn’t the breeze that it was from my Android. I mean, sure, security but sometimes you just want to be able to get your darn free app! Then it wanted 3 hours to think about downloading. Awesome.
Once the app was running, it was pretty simple to start listing things. They encourage you to list 10-12 items to start but in reality there was no requirement to do that so it seemed like the perfect way to tiptoe into selling a few things at a time. I just can’t commit to a huge overhaul in one go.
I created an account (I loathe creating usernames) and started snapping pictures. It only took 20 minutes to list four items, and most of that time was spent looking up the information and coming up with useful descriptions.
It was easiest to start with shoes since I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. There was immediate beginner’s luck with a rash of sales, and three sales and three weeks later, I’m still waiting for more real nibbles.
What I learned
Most people want to negotiate so set your prices a little higher than you’re willing to sell for. That way you can compromise more.
You don’t need to bargain in the comments, your potential buyers have the ability to make an offer which you can ignore (it expires in 24 hours), counteroffer, or decline. If you decline outright, Poshmark will send you an email suggesting that you counteroffer so that there’s dialogue. Declining the offer means that attempt at a sale is over.
USPS ships you free shipping envelopes and boxes, as Penny had pointed out in her very helpful post. They’re really slow, though, and only ship in packages of 10 items each, so if you’re not dropping by the post office to pick up a box or two, it’s a bit of a commitment.
I’m incredibly impatient. I sold three items in the first 4 days of selling using existing packaging and then it’s been all quiet. After the first sales, I ordered a few basic shipping supplies from USPS and now I have STUFF sitting around the house, waiting to be used. I knew I should have waited!
You’re encouraged to package your sold items nicely. This means wrapping things in tissue paper, and adding a note for your buyer. As an inveterate recycler, I dug into my abundant stash of used tissue paper, sealed them up with thank you labels from one of my last labeling projects, and shipped in repurposed Amazon boxes while waiting for the USPS shipping materials. All were accepted by the buyers quickly and happily.
Speaking of acceptance, the buyers have 3 days after the package delivery to officially accept your shipped product or to file a report if they feel it didn’t match the selling description. You should be really specific about your items to make sure that your buyers know what they’re getting. I take pictures of any possible flaws for the item profile to be sure.
As a seller, you’re given a week to ship, but they like you to ship sooner. I didn’t have a problem with shipping within 2 days since I’m selling such low volume.
Total earned: $37
I won’t say this is a flop, it’s only been a few weeks, even if it feels longer. The early success certainly raised my expectations unrealistically – I always knew that I didn’t have a ton of saleable items but it was worth the try. Other than the Poshmark fee which I wouldn’t have paid if I didn’t make money myself, and some time obsessing over pictures and listings, I didn’t lose anything.
The more your selling stats improve, the more sales you’ll make. It was really slow going for me for probably four or five months. Now, I can churn out $50-$100 a month if I stay motivated and keep listening. I do donate regularly, though! Because I value less clutter more than the $5 or $10.
*keep listing š
Thanks for the encouragement! I have 3 five-star reviews so that’s nice but nary a nibble since. I’ll give it a few more months though.
poshmark is really good for trendy pieces – but other stuff i list on ebay. my really old clothes i just donate to charity. i don’t make a lot of money on poshmark, but i do get rid of a lot of stuff and make probably $20/month (LOL) and it’s nice to not have to buy envelopes because you can just order the USPS priority mail ones online and they are shipped free to your house.
That’s a nice regular bit of pocket money!
I’ve never heard of Poshmark so I had to look it up. Glad you had some success with it. I have some nice shoes I want to sell, but I think I’ll either just put them up on CL, Nextdoor, or take them to a local consignment shop. They’re good quality shoes, but not “trendy” so I doubt they’d sell on a trendy site/app.
FWIW, I had listed a pair of Sanuks and Crocs and I don’t know if they’re trendy, but those two went quickly! I didn’t know that Nextdoor had selling options but that makes sense.
I had never heard of it either. But that’s probably mostly because I’m a guy so I’m not their target audience haha. Anyways, I always love reading stories about people’s side hustles so great read Revanche!
Such a helpful post! There’s an awkward learning curve involved in trying out any new “side-hustle” – and you’ve spelled it all out here – including the irritating parts. So many people have a history of out-of-control clothing purchases. Anyone trying to overcome that habit could make great use of Poshmark.
I have heard that some people use this to justify buying clothes for trying on because if it doesn’t work out, they’ll just resell it. I’m not sure if that’s just making the problem worse š
I like Poshmark as a buyer but as a seller it is such a pain. The app is horrendous for listing and I didn’t even bother wrapping things nicely (and was super creeped out when people would write thank you notes to me in my bags– “I can’t handle the responsibility of your emotional labor!”).
How funny, I’ve gotten cute thank you notes from sellers of various things (Etsy and other small businesses) and didn’t consider that emotional labor. I felt like it was the written equivalent of being a cashier and saying thanks, have a nice day! (Sincerely)
I could wish for a few improvements in the app.
Some of those notes I got were super personal and detailed. I probably also disliked them because I prefer anonymity, don’t like a lot of packaging anyway, and some people put glitter (!) in their cards which was just like ugh whyyyy.
GLITTER?? Oh no no, that’s terrible!
I see what you mean, I like the nice “thanks for your business!” notes and wrapping in a protective layer of tissue but don’t go overboard.