A detailed 10 step guide on How To Sell on Poshmark.
So, you’re interested in becoming a reseller? You’re in the right place! This blog will help you in your reselling journey.
Step 1: Open a Poshmark Account
The first step is to sign up for a Poshmark account. You can do this on either Desktop or by downloading the app. Click here to use my free sign up link and get a sign up bonus!
Tips for starting a new Poshmark account:
- Choose your store name. You can just use your personal name to start if you’re having trouble coming up with something, but I recommend having a think on a catchy store name. For example, I chose Rhonda’s Vintage Goods, named after my dog Rhonda. I liked the ring it had to it. Having a store name helps with branding, and makes your store look more professional. Once you’ve chosen a store name, use the same name for any social media channels you might use eventually to promote your store.
- Create a new email, and use this email for everything business related. I don’t recommend using your personal email, as you need to stay on top of your notifications. It will also help you keep your business more organized. Don’t let your inbox get crowded, make sure to use folders and organize your emails. Use this new email for any social channels you might create for your business.
- Open a business bank account and paypal accounts. It doesn’t have to actually be a real business account you pay fees to the bank for, just open another account so you can keep your finances separate from your personal. This will help you keep track of your spending and revenue, and will help when tax season comes along.
Step 2: Source your items
First, you’re going to need some things to sell. Many people start off with selling things from their own closet, or around their own house. This is the perfect opportunity to finally go through your closet and clear some things out. Look for clothes that are in good condition, no rips, stains or holes. Look for items around your house that people might want. Poshmark has a large selection of categories, from clothes to home goods, kitchen items, electronics and pet goods! You can sell almost anything on there, and they are adding categories frequently. This is a great way to test the waters of reselling without any investment.
If you’re ready to jump head first into the deep end, you can head out into the wild and start sourcing from stores. Just don’t go ahead buying items without doing proper comp research. Doing comp research is the most important skill a reseller can learn, and will save you time and money! Check out my full guide on how to do proper comp research here:
Step 3: Take Great Pictures
Photos are the most important part of your Poshmark listing. Photos are your first impression of your products, and your store, so make sure it is a good one.
Good photos will encourage buyers and bad photos will turn them away. Take a look at the photos below, which sweater would you feel more confident purchasing?
Photos are really what is going to sell your product. You can write the best title and description in the world, but if your photos turn off customers, they aren’t going to buy.
Photo Types:
Plain white background:
Google prioritizes white backgrounds, because it can better recognize the item in the photo. Using a white background means your item is more likely to come up in Googles search results.
There are a couple of ways to take photos this way. I purchased a white background sheet from Amazon, which I hang on the wall and use as my background for photos. My partner built a special table for listing, so we can hang our items or lay them out flat with the white backdrop.
You can also build a whitebox for photos, or purchase one from amazon.
The last and easiest way is of course to use an app! There are many different apps you can use that will delete the background and add white to any photo. So this way you can take your photos with whatever background is easiest for you, and add the white background in with the app later.
Background:
Many sellers take photos with backgrounds, and there is no problem with this, as long as the background looks nice. If you’re taking photos on your nice hardwood floors, but you’re floors are dirty and dusty? Not good. If you’re taking photos on mannequin’s but the floor in the background is messy, this doesn’t inspire confidence in the item.
Modeling the clothes:
Some sellers like to model the clothes they sell. This is 100% not required, but does have it’s benefits. I don’t do this, as I sell clothes of all shapes and sizes, (and I’m too lazy to model the clothes haha) but some sellers chose to source based on their own size/style. So basically they buy things they like, and sell a certain aesthetic of clothes. Click here to read my post about Niching Down on Poshmark.
The benefits of modeling the clothes, is it gives the buyer a really good idea of what the item might look like on them. Some sellers like to take photos in the mirror, some set up a self timer and take it in front of a background. Figure out what works best for you, and always remember whatever background you use, make sure it looks nice. If you are going to model the clothes, make sure to take pictures of different angles so the buyer can see exactly what they are purchasing.
I choose to use a mannequin to display my women’s clothes. I got mine from Facebook marketplace second hand for a good price. You can purchase them off Amazon, but I recommend trying to purchase one second hand first.
Make sure the clothes look nice
If you’re taking photos of something, make sure the clothes look good! Don’t take a picture of a wrinkly shirt on a hanger, give it a quick steam (buy a clothes steamer) and make it look nice! Don’t just throw a shirt onto the floor and take a picture of it all crinkled. Straighten and flatten it out.
If you have a unique item, make sure to take up close pictures of the details. Close up photos can be good for showing fabric as well.
Poshmark has now added video feature to their platform, so you can take a video of your item and upload that to the listing as well! This is great for showing things that are difficult to photograph, and another step in adding confidence for your buyer.
Tip: Diclose any flaws or imperfections
If the item has any flaws, disclose them in the listing description, as well as take photos to show the flaw to the buyer. I always photograph any flaws or imperfections on items. This is really important to disclose and display as much as possible. While you might be thinking that nobody will buy it if you show the imperfections, you are going to have a bigger problem if they do buy it and find the imperfection that you did not tell them about. Flaws may lower your selling price, but not disclosing them will put you at risk of bad reviews and returns.
I’ve listed and sold many items that had imperfections, and many of them I’ve gotten good reviews from. People will still buy and be happy with their item, as long as they know exactly what they are getting. You may not get as much money for it if it didn’t have the flaw, but it’s better than providing a full refund and dealing with a return case because of undisclosed flaws.
Sometimes it can be hard to photograph flaws or stains. In this case I recommend editing the photo and using the pen to draw a circle around it. That way the customer knows exactly where and what the flaw looks like.
Find a system that works for you. While you don’t want to spend too much time taking photos, you want to make sure you are providing quality photos in your listing. As long as the photographs give the buyer a clear vision of what they are purchasing, that is all that really matters.
Step 4: Take Measurements
Trust me when I say you want to take measurements of your items right away, because if you don’t, you will be asked for them. My only real exception to this is small children’s clothes. A size 5 in kids is pretty much universal, whereas adult sizing varies wildly. Never assume the size tag will be enough. After you’ve stored your item away, someone will ask you for the measurements, and you’ll have to pull the item out later on and measure it, and store it away again. Then, that person will probably ghost you. Welcome to the life of a reseller!
I take photos of my measuring tape over the item, so they can see the measurements for themselves, as well as including them in the listing. This is important not only to save you time in the long run, but this will entice impulse buyers. Picture a buyer, scrolling through the Poshmark app, and they find your item, and fall in love with it! They scroll down, see the measurements in the photos and description, and they know right away, this item will totally fit me! They hit the purchase button, and boom you’ve got yourself a sale.
Alternatively, they scroll down and don’t see the measurements. Now, they have to comment and ask for the measurements and then await your reply, which by then they could have easily changed their mind about the purchase, or bought something else. And if they can’t be bothered to comment, they will scroll past until something else catches their interest.
So this, my dear friend, is why it is so important to include measurements in every listing, right away. Make it apart of your reseller flow, and integral step in your listing process.
Step 5: Write a good title:
A good title should be detailed and descriptive! Titles are the first step in optimizing our Poshmark listings. This is the first thing that search engines will scan, so you should use important key words here.
Take a look at the Poshmark listings below. Which title has a greater chance of being found in the search results? Why?
Search engines like Poshmark and Google are always trying to give searchers the best results possible for their search query.
If someone is searching for a vans crop top sweater, listing #1 is going to have a better chance to appear in those search results, because we’ve added those keywords to the title.
While listing #2 has vans sweater in the title, without any other keywords to help determine if it fits the search query or not, it will likely be buried in the search results. The more keywords in our title that match a search query, the more likely we are to rank for that search.
The more descriptive keywords we can put into the title, the easier it is for the search engine to decide that our listing is appropriate.
What not to do: Keyword stuffing
While using keywords is important, only use keywords that apply to your listing.
Keyword stuffing (putting keywords that don’t apply in order to get more search results) is not a good practice, and won’t help you in the long run. The point of keywords is to help potential buyers who are searching for those terms find what they are looking for. If your item pops up but doesn’t match what they are looking for, they aren’t going to buy it.
Step 6: Write A Detailed Description Box
A detailed description box is important for two reason: First, the more details you have about your item, the more confident a shopper is to purchase, and second is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This is what Poshmark & Google are going to read to help them rank your listing. The more details you can add in here, the better your chances of being found.
Details to include in the Poshmark Description Box:
- Brand Name
- Market (Women’s, Men’s, Kids)
- Size
- Color
- Style ( Descriptor Keywords Here)
- Material
- Measurements
- Condition (NWT, NWOT, Excellent, Good, Damage or Flaws, Smoke Free, Pet Free)
-Disclose All Flaws
Step 7: Everything Filled In
Make sure all the details in your listing are filled in correctly. This includes category and subcategory, size, brand, colors, NWT or not and your styling tags. Each of the details needs to be filled in correctly to help Poshmark get your item in front of the right shoppers.
You can include 3 style tags in your listing. You can choose from the pre-loaded tags Poshmark offers, or type in your own keyword you think people might be searching.
Step 8: A Shipping Discount
This one is optional and you can decide for yourself, but I like to fill in an automatic shipping discount on my listings. This means that when a shopper clicks on your item, they will see on the listing that discounted shipping is automatically applied, which might entice them to buy. If they decide to purchase your item full price, they will automatically receive that shipping discount.
I also find it convenient and time saving when sending out offers to likers. I can send out offers a lot quicker, since the shipping discount is already set, I don’t have to choose the discount every time.
Step 9: Share your closet
Unfortunately, Poshmark is not a list it and forget it type of app. They like to make sure their sellers are active in the app, and there are multiple ways they encourage you to engage.
Sharing your closet is an important part of running a Poshmark store. When you share your listings, it increases their visibility in the general search feed because it brings that item to the top of the feed. The Poshmark feeds are automatically set to display the ‘just shared‘ items first. When buyers search for a particular brand or style, the search feed will show them the most recently shared items first. The longer you go without sharing your item, the further down in the search list it goes.
You can manually share your items on the app, or on desktop. Poshmark will advertise and encourage you to share other Poshers closets as well. They want to encourage community between their users. While you should spend some time sharing other people’s closets, it should only be a small percentage. Sharing your own listings should be your priority.
Posh Parties:
You can also share your items into Posh Parties. Poshmark throws 4 Posh Parties every day. Parties are virtual gatherings on the Poshmark platform. Every day, Poshmark holds parties of different themes for Poshers to participate in. Currently, the app is hosting four themed parties per day.
Note that your listings will be shared and will only show up once to a party. It doesn’t matter if you click on a listing repeatedly.
- 9 AM PT. “Brand Party” – This is where the community’s favorite brands are featured. These parties include brands from Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch to Nike, Kate Spade, and more.
- 12 PM PT. “Category Party” – Parties that are specifically around fashion categories like “Best in Handbags”, “Best in Jeans” and “Best in Suits.”
- 4 PM PT. “Department Party” – These are exclusively for more general departments such as Men’s, Kids, Plus Size, and Boutiques.
- 7 PM PT. “Style Party” – Typically focused on styles and trends, such as “Street Style”, “Athleisure Favorites” and “Trend Vibes”.
Virtual Assistants or Sharing Bots?
Many full-time Poshers don’t have the time to share consistently on the platform and will enlist the assistance of a virtual assistant or bot.
While Poshmark has not frowned upon using VA’s, they have stated that bots are not welcome on the platform.
Step 10: Ship Your Sales!
The great thing about Poshmark is that they make shipping so easy! Once you’ve made a sale, you can either download the Shipping Label from your Poshmark account on your computer, or they will send you an email with the PDF shipping label!
From there, all you need to do is print the shipping label, tape it to your package, and drop it off at the post office! One of the biggest advantages of selling on Poshmark is how easy they make the shipping process for sellers. You don’t have to figure anything out on your own, aside from setting the shipping discount and physically packing it.
That is the 10 easy steps to becoming a Poshmark Seller! When you’re ready, come back and ready 10 Tips To More Poshmark Sales!
Read More:
- How Do I Get Paid on Poshmark?
- How to Ship Packages with Poshmark
- How To Research Comps
- Find Your Customers On Poshmark
- How to sell on Poshmark: A 10 Step Guide
