24 Things to Do When Your Poshmark Items Aren’t Selling
Updated 5/29/21
Just about everyone who has sold online has faced the dreaded sales slump. You know what I mean. No “cha-ching” notification of a sale or offer from eBay. No email from Poshmark saying, “Good news! Your item was purchased.”
In fact, an item hasn’t left your hands in days. You wonder what’s going on. Does the platform have a glitch and my listings aren’t showing up? Are everyone else’s sales slow too?
What can I do to get back on track? I want to make sales!
I completely understand how you feel. This summer was slow for me. Instead of running my mind in circles wondering why I was in a slump, I decided to write some tips on what to do when your items aren’t selling.
Hang on to these tips if your sales are great now so that you can tackle a slump in the future.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may receive compensation when you click on a product link or purchase an item linked on this site. Click here for details.
** If you don’t have a Poshmark account, you can receive a free $10 bonus when you sign up with my code SFGIRL2015.
** On Mercari, you can get $10 when you sign up with the code JENMHM. The amount may vary by promotion.
Here are 20+ things to do when your items just aren’t selling. (Updated 5/2020)
1) Wait out the slow times
There’s a season for everything. That’s true for selling online too.
General trends point to summer as a common time for a slowdown in sales. People go on vacation and spend time off the internet enjoying summer activities or time with the children.
Sales pick up again in the fall as people gear up for the holidays. Patience can do wonders for waiting out a slow period.
2) Double check item prices
One of the biggest reason for slow sales is that items are priced too high. How do you know if your prices are too high?
Check other listings of the same item, particularly sold listings. You’ll see that sold listings are often sold for much less than available listings because prices are inflated at the start.
You might find that available listings are selling for an average of $50, while sold items went for $30. This is normal with all the sales and negotiations that go on on second-hand sites.
It’s okay to keep your prices higher than average if you want. You never know when someone will buy it at your listed price. Just know that it means you’ll be less likely or take longer to make sales.
If lowering your prices to the average sold prices will cause you losses, then consider how much you’re spending to obtain the item. It’s likely too much.
The Lululemon tank above retails for $64. The listing on the left is for $50. I looked at the last 10 sold listings for this item (used) and the average was $24.90.
3) Review what you’re selling
Are you selling something that’s in demand? Then, are you selling on the right platform?
Poshmark users are mostly women. I would venture to say most of the women on there are looking for fashionable, in-season clothing and accessories.
You’ll find a wider variety of users on eBay because eBay sells all sorts of items, even antiques and cars. If you sell handmade items, Etsy may be your marketplace. Sell your items on the platform with the most potential buyers.
As for the products themselves, consider if it’s worth it to sell what you have or to move on to selling another item. I find selling thrifted clothes to be good for light profits, but it would be difficult to replace my day job doing it.
Clothes are not the most optimal item to resell if you want to make big money. If you can identify other things that may sell well and can get your hands on them (e.g., high-end sneakers and onion goggles), it may be worth doing that.
If you plan to stick with what you have (I’m sticking with clothing), check that your items are in good condition. Buyers are more likely to buy things that are in good condition or new instead of things with half a life left in them.
4) Try selling a new category/market of items
Poshmark now allows a much wider variety of items for sale. Try a new market or category. Even Poshmark says that this will help you make more sales based on the data I saw at Poshmark 2020.
If you’re used to selling only women’s clothing and accessories, try branching out into men’s items. That’s not a far stretch, but more and more men are shopping on the platform.
I recently listed several KLM Delft miniature houses to the Poshmark home market (a rarity for me) and several of them sold as a bundle. That was my best sale for the entire month!
5) Make offers to likers
You can offer discounts to people who like your items. When this feature first came out, a lot of people felt it was pushy. It’s the norm now so go ahead and use it.
When you see that sometime has liked your item, make an offer even if it’s small. You’re required to offer discounted shipping as well. Use the feature frequently (say, every day) and you’ll likely find yourself with more sales.
6) Offer discounts on bundles
Poshmark has a feature that allows potential buyers to bundle items.
When you see that someone has bundled a few of your items, offer them a discount! Even a small discount lets them know you’re present and willing to negotiate.
If you don’t want to be the first to make an offer, leave a warm comment suggesting that he or she make an offer. Sometimes I prefer to have the potential buyer make the first offer so that I can gauge what they want to pay and counteroffer that.
If I make the first offer and it’s lower than what the potential buyer was actually thinking, I’m going to lose out on potential profit.
7) Offer discounted shipping
I know I mentioned you have to offer discounted shipping on private offers to likers. In other instances, you can offer discounted shipping as another incentive to purchase.
For high priced items and large bundles, mark up the price so you can cover the $7+ shipping (as of 5/2020). It’s likely worth it to spend the $7 for the profit you’ll make on that big sale.
For smaller items and individual sales, try building a small buffer into the price of your item to cover the cost of shipping.
You can promote discounted shipping by creating a separate listing announcing it, adding the info in an item’s pictures or description, or adding it as a comment at the bottom of your listing.
Discounting shipping does have to be formal. It can be as easy as dropping the price of an item by $3 when someone lets you know they want to buy it.
8) Start a conversation…
You might be wondering how starting a conversation this will help increase sales. A potential buyer might have questions about an item or be unsure of how to wear or style it. You can address their questions and concerns by chatting with them.
Let the person know things like:
how much you’ve enjoyed the item
it’s a favorite in your closet but doesn’t fit you anymore
you got lots of compliments on it
it’s great for the upcoming season and things like that
9) And give a compliment
Everyone likes compliments. Once you’ve started a conversation, offer a genuine compliment if it fits the situation. Some things I notice about other people’s closets that you can talk about:
how much you enjoy looking at their closet and photography
their fun looking Meet the Posher photos
that you’ve visited where they live
ask for tips on how they’ve made so many sales
ask for tips on their photography
etc.
You may or may not make a sale, but you’ll be more memorable to potential buyers who may come back to your closet someday. Again, they know you’re present giving good service and making customers happy.
*** By the way, I created this free Poshmark Sales Turnaround Checklist to track your efforts. Find it in the Free Resource Library.
10) Change item cover photos
One of the easiest ways to shake things up is to change the cover photo of your items. You’ll want something that catches people’s eyes.
You don’t have to take every picture of each item over again unless you want to and have the time for it. The easiest thing to do is switch around the order of the pictures you already have.
Some pictures just need a touchup. Run them through an app like Snapseed to edit them and brighten them up. Then repost.
If you know that’s not enough, then focus on taking that first picture over again. You could accessorize an item differently or change the background to a solid color like white.
11) Change how items are displayed
Make more of an impact by changing the way your items are displayed. For clothes, this usually means switching between a flat lay, hanging clothes, putting them on a dress form or mannequin, and modeling them.
I used to do a flat lay with nearly everything I sold because I lived in a small place with no room for much else. I didn’t want to buy a dress form either.
Am I the only one who watched the movie Mannequin as a child? It did a number on me.
Now I do a combination of all four methods for clothing. It’s helped me showcase items better, which makes for more sales.
One thing to note is to have a photo of the actual item you’re selling, especially if it’s used. Some people use stock photos to draw people to their listings.
Stock photos are nice to see, but people really want to see what they going to get in the mail. Many people won’t purchase an item (including new items) without a picture of the actual product in the listing.
12) Review listing titles
In addition to pictures, titles are important because they lead a potential buyer to click on your listing to learn more. Titles directly affect the visibility of your listings in Poshmark, eBay, and Google search results. That’s why they need to be detailed and descriptive including
The item’s brand
The item’s style name (if it has one)
Size
Color(s)
Condition
It’s usually possible to fit all that in the 80 characters that eBay gives you. Poshmark limits titles to 50 characters, so you likely won’t be able to fit all that information. At least write the brand and style name if you know it.
13) Update item descriptions
Review your item descriptions and see if you can improve them at all. Perhaps you can add more detail about the condition. Add additional measurements or state the fabric content if you missed those.
Think about how your items are described on retail sites and try to replicate that. If you have space in the listing, share how you would style it. Let people know that you’re open to offers if you are.
eBay gives plenty of space for descriptions. You can mention that you have over 1000 satisfied buyers and that you offer returns (eBay only) or satisfaction guaranteed. Buyers will then feel more comfortable purchasing from you.
14) Double check your newsfeed
I once missed a few questions and comments from people because I didn’t receive or see the notifications that came to phone. The first thing I did was double check that my notifications were on.
Now I manually double check my newsfeed at least once a day to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. Poshmark splits the news feed so that you can now see likes, shares, offers, bundles, comments, and more all separate from each other in your news feed.
f you have a really busy feed such as when you’re hosting a party or you haven’t been on PM for a day or two, it’s easy to miss something important like a question from a potential buyer or a bundle you can make an offer on.
Don’t be one of those sellers with unanswered questions in their listings! Catch all the opportunities you can to answer questions, make offers, and so forth starting with those noted in your feed.
15) Relist items as new listings
You might worry that making a new listing for your item will cause you to lose your “likes” and your “watching” count, but if those people didn’t buy at your current or even sale price, then those numbers don’t mean anything.
When you make a new listing on Poshmark, your item is featured at the top of that brand’s listings. Your item will be featured in the feed of Poshers who follow that brand.
I’ve also read that on eBay, creating a new listing versus relisting an old one affects its ranking in the listings. I’m not 100% sure about that. Still, you have nothing to lose if the item is not selling at the price you want.
Poshmark has a “relist” feature. If you relist an item within 60 days, it will not show up as new. It will just update the listing if you changed anything, but it won’t bring it to the top of a search filtered by “just in”.
I use Vendoo for relisting on Poshmark and cross-listing to multiple marketplaces. You can read my full Vendoo review and List Perfectly review. List Perfectly offers ability to relist as well.
16) List more items
If you’re a smaller seller, you’re less likely to sell and make big profits unless you lower prices below market value or you have something high in demand. That’s why Poshmark recommends having at least 10 items in your closet.
There are PM sellers who sell tens or hundreds of items each week. How? They have lots of listings, I’m taking over 1000 listings in their closets or shops.
If you want to make more frequent sales, then more often than not, you need to have more items for people to buy.
Take advantage of listing promotions. Poshmark has a Love It or List It challenge. eBay provides 250 free listings a month and often has promotions allowing more listings for free.
Mercari has had a few promotions too. I’ve seen promotions such as listing a certain number of items on given days to earn a discount off your next purchase (e.g., list two items and get $5 off your next purchase).
17) Fill out your Meet the Posher profile
No matter where you sell, it’s important to let buyers know you’re established on a platform (or getting there) and committed to your guyers. There’s the Meet the Posher profile or About section of Poshmark is the place for that.
You can add pictures and write a description just as you would for an item you’re selling. A lot of people personalize it to themselves by adding pictures of themselves and their families and describing what they like.
I recommend aiming for a combination of both showcasing yourself and what you do for your customers.
To make it more customer-focused, add in pictures, graphics, and info of what you offer your buyers too. It could be pointing out that you do same-day shipping, that you have over 500 sales, that you’re a 5-star seller, or even a behind-the-scenes look at how you run your Poshmark business.
18) Hold a closet sale
Many Poshmark sellers will hold a sale when they need to move goods because they’ve lost their jobs, they’ve moving, or simply facing slow to no sales.
I’ve seen several sellers offer a “pay what you want” sale. They’ve fielded hundreds of offers, accepted when the prices were right, and counter offered when the prices were too low.
I’ve offered a “3 for $25” sale in my closet to move inventory. I put that in the titles of my clothes that were on sale and shared away. Guess what? It led to more sales!
You may have to settle for less profit because of lower prices, but hopefully you haven’t cut prices too much and you’re still making money or breaking even.
19) Aim for Poshmark Ambassador status
Aim to be a top seller on whatever platform you use. On Poshmark, it’s called Poshmark Ambassador status. It requires you meet certain criteria like number of items sold, shipping within a certain number of days, number of community shares, and such.
The benefit is that you can state that you’re an Ambassador, which is social proof that you’re a reliable seller on the platform. There are a few other perks too like getting an email newsletter with the latest PM news.
20) Join social media to promote your closet
Promoting yourself and your listings wherever and whenever you can. In my case, I have this blog to promote my Poshmark closet.
I also have an Instagram account (@frompenniestoplenty) where I share about my experience selling. I place a link to my closet in my Instagram profile.
You can promote even further:
Show the hot items you get while thrift shopping. Some viewers will want to buy it from you right there off IG because they love the brands and pieces you found.
Take styled photos or pictures of yourself modeling items. Write that you’re selling those items in your Poshmark closet.
On IG, show items your selling in your IG Stories. Keep them up for longer than 24 hours by making them highlights.
Offer discounts to your social media followers.
Poshmark also recommends sharing your listings to Pinterest, Twitter, and other platforms stating that it increases the chances of a sale.
21) Promote your sale on social media
I mentioned above that I’ve seen sellers promote their sales on IG and they’ve gotten tons of offers and sales from it. On IG, there are a few keys to getting attention:
Build your number of followers. This is true on any social media platform.
Use the right hashtags and lots of them. I would use #poshmark and #poshmarksale along with many other relevant hashtags so that people who aren’t my followers notice I’m having a sale too.
Make the sale a really good one! I mentioned above a “pay what you want” sale. That’s hard to resist! People will at least take a look at your closet.
22) Share your own items
If you’re going to share items on Poshmark, your time is best spent sharing your own items.
I don’t mean that you should ignore the community. Absolutely be a good member and share other people’s listings too. But if you have limited time and really need to make sales, focus first on sharing your listings to your followers and to relevant parties.
Related posts:
23) Ask for a closet critique
It can be hard to open yourself up to criticism, even if it’s constructive. Think of a closet critique as being in the best interest of your business.
You can ask people on Facebook groups or other users on platforms if they would be willing to look at your listings and provide some feedback. I recommend getting a few critiques and looking for common recommendations between them.
You don’t have to agree with everything or do everything that’s suggested. This might help you to see that one thing you’re missing that makes a big difference to your sales.
24) Try new marketplaces
There are so many platforms and marketplaces out there. I use Poshmark, eBay, Mercari, and Facebook Marketplace.
There are many others out there such as Tradesy, The RealReal, Etsy, Depop, local Facebook Groups, Craigslist, and Nextdoor.
Each platform has different user demographics and may appeal more to you based on what you’re selling. Consider who’s likely to buy your goods and choose accordingly.
TheRealReal is known for very high-end luxury goods. Depop is known for more vintage and streetwear.
You may find some platforms are easier or more fun to use and stick to them. As I mentioned above, I use Vendoo to cross-list quickly. to multiple marketplaces. List Perfectly and a few other companies do the same thing too.
Should you give up selling on Poshmark?
A commenter asked if she should quit selling on Poshmark because she wasn’t making any sales.
That comment hurt my heart a bit because I want everyone to succeed at selling. I know how hard you work to sell and how badly you want it. It’s why you’re reading this post.
This is a common feeling among new sellers and even seasoned sellers from time to time because selling online takes work. You have to learn what sells, research prices, take good pictures, negotiate with buyers, and do it over and over again.
I have heard from people who decided to close their closets because they were working too hard, not making enough money, or had other things going on in life. They thanked me for my advice but shared that they were quitting. Reselling is not for everyone and may not be for you.
If you feel like giving up, ask yourself if you’ve given it a good enough try to your standards. Did you implement the above suggestions?
If you’re still not getting what you want out of selling, it’s okay to stop doing it and move on to something else more fulfilling and profitable.
While I hope you keep selling and achieve the success you want, you know yourself best and how much time and effort you can give to something.
Wrap up
I like to compare my experience selling online to being on a roller coaster. Sometimes it’s fast and exciting, while other times it’s slow moving and I’m just waiting for the good parts.
Although it’s important to accept that sales will vary from time to time, it never hurts to try to improve them in whatever way you can.
I’m in the process of implementing a few of the above strategies right now. My sales have picked up, so I’m happy about that.
Now I’d love to hear from you!
What are some of the ways that you beat sales slumps? Have you tried any of the above strategies and did they work for you? What other strategies would you recommend?
