Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Yes, when they make an offer, they have to pay full shipping. When you make an offer to likers, you HAVE to offer a shipping discount–either $1.80 or $6.79 (free to them) as tsatt mentioned.
The annoying thing is that Poshmark takes this discount to the buyer out of your money AFTER fees. Basically you’re paying their 20% commission on money you never receive from the buyer. So it’s better to sell an item for $20 and they pay shipping than it is to sell an item for $27 and you offer free shipping. Buyer pays the same (basically–slight rounding here to $27), but you net less (and Posh makes more) on the free shipping item. I don’t think everyone realizes this.
Hi guys, thanks so much for the podcast and the forum. I was around a little bit a few years ago when I was selling on ebay part-time and posted here a few times under a user name that I’ve since forgotten. I quit selling during very busy career period that included a cross country move, and only recently did I unbox some of my old inventory and start selling again. It’s great to re-join you!
I’ve always sold VERY part time (like less than 100 items listed) along side my pretty mentally taxing full-time career. I often idly fantasize about quitting to resell full-time although I know that’s not realistic for now. I’d definitely worry about replacing my current income, and the length of time that it would take me to ramp up. But I do enjoy it a ton as a hobby and the extra money is going to help me pay off my grad school loans.
I’ve dipped a toe into Poshmark recently (and done a bunch of reading about it) and here’s a few things that you might find helpful:
-the buyer pays flat $6.79 shipping up to 5lbs. A great deal for something heavy like the boots you sold, but makes it harder to sell inexpensive or lightweight items that could go 1st class. I think buyers have a hard time spending $7 shipping on something they might want that’s listed for $10.
-there is a TON of really low-priced stuff on there. Lots of very casual sellers selling out of their closet that don’t mind making a profit of a couple of bucks. (I see lots of things that get sold for $5-$6, meaning after Posh’s flat $2.95 fee on items under $15, those people are only making $2! Crazy!) I think to some degree this pushes prices down, especially for items that are not name-brand hot/trendy pieces. With no listing fee and a very quick listing process, there is really very little barrier to entry.
-Offers are standard and lowball offers are frequent. The fact that someone bought your boots flat out is VERY unusual.
-On Posh you can only officially sell clothes and make-up items. So the non-clothing items you guys have listed could get flagged by other users and removed. Probably no real consequences beyond that, but just FYI.
-Also, in my understanding anything that sells for over $500 goes straight to Poshmark (not the buyer) for authentication. If one of your “non-compliant” items over $500 sold, I think Poshmark would cancel the sale. (I am not certain about this, but they do for compliant items that they can’t authenticate.)
-I think eBay is much better in general, but Poshmark can also be good for trending name brand items. I also look to see how many of an item I’m selling is on ebay vs Posh. I have had decent luck with items where multiples are for sale on eBay, but none are available on Posh. That’s where I focus my cross-listing. In general, I have gotten much higher offers for my cross-listed items on eBay.
