17 Tips for Selling on Poshmark You’ve Never Heard

by Erin Schollaert

Updated

Poshmark is quickly establishing itself as one of the top sites anyone can start making a living on.

If you have fabulous clothes in your closet or an eye for fantastic deals in a thrift market or second-hand store: you can make your financial dreams come true.

Many seem lost in starting, though, and seek out tips for selling on Poshmark.

If you’re unsure how to sell on Poshmark and make the most money possible: these are some tips that not everyone knows.

1. Your Lighting Matters More Than Camera

sunset-sky

Many think that their main problem with product photos is their camera and that they need to update to a better one: but save your money.

One of the best Poshmark seller tips out there is to learn how to take photos in better lighting.

In fact, this is also one of the most effective Mercari selling tips as well.

The best lighting you can get is indirect sunlight earlier in the morning when it casts a clear or light blue hue.

This makes the clothes look cleaner, and the pictures come out better.

2. Post Regularly in Smaller Increments

Although you may feel like your best bet is to get as many items into the shop as possible when you start, don’t fall for this.

Posting slowly and incrementally over time, five pieces a day when you start, will give you the chance to build an audience slowly.

Listing consistently is one of of the easiest ways how to sell fast on eBay and other marketplaces.

This is also good for social media, where you will want to post about what you’re selling. Posting five a day will keep people from feeling like they’re being spammed.

3. Short But Precise Titles

Don’t fill your titles with dozens of buzzwords in the hopes that you’ll come up in a search easier: this will make your account look fake or like you’re trying to scam people.

Some the best websites to sell stuff will even have character limits to ensure sellers don’t make their titles too long.

Instead, keep it short, simple, and honest.

Tactics for Success

  • The first ten words and last ten words of your description are the most important places to put your keywords. Although your title helps: if you clutter it, you will scare shoppers away.
  • Honesty is more important than getting a lot of keywords crammed into your listing, be direct and explain what the item is. You can romanticize it some: but don’t lie.

4. Don’t Keep It Just On Poshmark

Poshmark might be where your shop is: but it doesn’t have to be the only place you talk about what you’re selling.

Instagram and Twitter both allow you to schedule posts now, which means if you post five items a day, you should scatter those five posts throughout the day when most people are online.

Certain things to resell for profit will even sell better on some platforms vs others, so best to cover all your bases.

These can be outfit pictures with information on where to buy it or even a story about the brand and why this item caught your eye.

5. Add Details Like Whether the Fit is True to the Size

clothing-measurements

One problem a lot of people have when shopping online is that they can’t try on anything they buy until they’ve already paid for it.

If you want to show your shoppers that you’re interested in getting them the best items possible, let them know whether the sizing is larger or smaller than expected with the label.

Taking measurements during the listing process can make it simpler to package clothes to sell, since you already have the needed shipping dimensions.

If you can’t try on the clothing because it’s not your size, try to find reviews from other people online.

6. Offer a Bundle Discount

When someone buys your items, you want to inspire them to buy even more. A great way to do this is to offer bundle discounts.

These discounts give customers the chance to save a percentage by purchasing more items, allowing you to make a larger scale.

Trends on the Rise

Over 90% of shoppers say they use a coupon or discount code throughout the year. Buy-more-pay-less deals often increase the number of sales because many equate lost savings as lost money, even if they have to spend more to get it.

7. Don’t Forget to Hold During Vacation

Put your shop into vacation mode when you’re not around to ship out packages or answer messages.

This means that shoppers will be told there will be a longer wait time to talk to you or to have items shipped out, and you won’t have to keep checking your phone while you’re trying to enjoy your vacation.

8. Create A Template for Your Shop

The best way to make your shop feel like one unified business is to allow each of your posts to look similar and related.

You can do this by shooting all of your pictures in one day; another is to use a similar filter over every image, so they all have the same hue.

Your information section of each listing should have a similar layout so that customers know what to expect.

Tactics for Success

  • One of the best ways to make a template is to use a free photo editing app on your phone and create a base setting that will automatically edit every photo.
  • If you prefer to edit on your computer, you can use Photoshop or the free program Gimp to edit photos. Create an overlay layer, and then design whatever filter you want to cover every image with, even if it’s just a soft hue of pink, to set your listings apart.

9. Join Posh Parties

posh-stories

Posh parties are a fun real-time virtual shopping event where users can meet up in the app to shop, share, and sell items within the app.

This allows the app to feel more like social media and will enable you to connect more personally with shoppers than you could by simply listing your items.

10. Beautify Your Shipping and Delivery

Shoppers love to receive packages that feel thoughtfully packaged and shipped: so make sure to put in an effort when it comes to your packaging.

Some do this by adding tissue paper and twine around clothing to make it feel like a gift, and others add things like freebies or polaroids of the items with the package to make it feel cute and like you got a piece of a collection.

Trends on the Rise

Almost two-thirds of American shoppers say they’re more willing to make a repeat purchases of a luxury item if it was sent in premium packaging. Another 42% say they want sustainable packaging, using mostly paper products that can be recycled or reused.

11. Kindly Request Reviews

Reviews are what will make or break your shop, so make sure to ask for reviews nicely after a purchase has been delivered.

You can do this by either including a card in the package asking for a review or by emailing them to thank them for their purchase and asking to review if they liked the item.

Shoppers look at reviews before anything else.

12. Interact and Answer Questions

When people leave reviews or ask questions about items, respond quickly and professionally.

If someone has to wait more than six hours, they may change their mind on an object and buy something else instead.

This could be a loss for your company: so avoid ignoring messages.

13. Know Your Niche

Everyone on Poshmark is trying to set up their own business and sell their goods.

Unfortunately for you, that creates a lot of competition, especially for clothing. Make a niche for yourself if you want to make your brand stand out so that you don’t have to compete as much.

If your niche is beat-up band shirts from the ’80s, great! Don’t post all clothing you come across and expect a recognizable brand or style to be born from it.

14. Continue to Look for Cheap Deals to Resell

In your daily life, make sure to stop by thrift stores and second-hand shops often and get to know which brands you have the easiest time selling.

This will help you build an inventory that you can continue to sell for profit.

Although many start this type of shop just pulling out of their closet, you can make an entire business from reselling when you buy for cheap.

15. Consider Repairing Any Problems

If you notice any jeans have a seam coming loose, or you have a bag that’s starting to pill, take the time to repair these.

Even if they’re not incredibly noticeable, they can hurt your item’s ability to sell: or can come back to haunt you when customers post reviews and say they’re disappointed that the items were damaged.

This will be dangerous for your brand in the long run.

16. Dress Outfits Instead of Just Single Items

When you post pictures of your items, make sure that you include more than just the item.

Although you should have some images of details of the piece alone, your main photos should be of it in an outfit or ensemble of other things you’re selling.

This will allow you to link those in your description so that if someone likes the full outfit, they can click through and buy all of it.

17. Consider Naming Collections

When you find specific items you adore, consider setting up a collection. These would be items that look alike and you think would sell well as a collection.

For example, this could mean that you label all clothing with dreamy moon and star patterns as a Luna collection so that people who are looking for those specific items will find them and be more likely to buy them.

Wrapping Up

When you’re finally selling, it might be tempting to think of Poshmark the way you feel about eBay: but don’t cut yourself short.

Your Poshmark shop is a full store that you work hard to curate and create a brand for, be proud of yourself, and continue making sales!

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Erin is a business teacher and mother of three. When she’s not in the classroom or fulfilling her obligations as an A+ hockey and lacrosse mom, she’s working on her latest article.

About the Author

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Erin is a business teacher and mother of three. When she’s not in the classroom or fulfilling her obligations as an A+ hockey and lacrosse mom, she’s working on her latest article.