How to Avoid Poshmark Scams
I recently spoke to a new Poshmark seller who wanted to list expensive jewelry for sale but was worried about being scammed out of them. I shared with her some of the common scams I see on Poshmark and how to avoid them. Read on to find out more about those scams and what you can do to protect yourself too.
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Examples of Poshmark scams
1 | Off-Poshmark transactions
If you browse Poshmark enough, you’ll see comments in listings asking the seller to email or text or connect via PayPal. Once you start talking to the person, she may want to send you a check or money order instead of buying through Poshmark. She may offer more than the item is worth to entice you to sell it.
You’re nearly guaranteed to lose your money and/or your item if you do this. Scammers target new Poshmark users who don’t know any better.
Taking the transaction off Poshmark also invalidates any protection Poshmark could provide you. Not only that, you risk getting a warning or suspended from using Poshmark because it is against their terms to do off-Poshmark transactions.
Often these comments get automatically caught and taken down by Poshmark. I couldn’t even find one in the new listings to take a screenshot for this post.
What to do:
Ignore the comment. You don’t have to respond and explain anything to the person.
Mark the comment as spam and it will be removed.
2 | Using or wearing an item and returning it during the acceptance window
This is a scam as old as returns have been allowed. You’ve probably heard of people taking advantage of stores like Nordstrom accepting returns for any reason.
People would buy dresses, wear them for an occasion, and then return them. The same thing happens on Poshmark and other marketplaces. This may be more common for high-end or dressy items like gowns and heels than everyday clothes.
Ways to avoid use & return cases:
Ship the item so it arrives on Monday. The buyer will have to accept the item within three days or the transaction will finalize before Friday. The buyer is stuck with the item if she wants to use it on the weekend, which is when events are most likely to happen.
Put an invisible mark, a zip tie, or an attachment of some sort on the item. The attachment is obvious so has to be removed to use the item. If the buyer wants to return it, she needs to return it with the attachment on it.
I’ve heard of people finding their buyers on social media and finding pictures of the buyer wearing the item at an event. This seems a bit extreme to me, but if it proves your case, it might be worth considering.
3 | Ruining an item to force a return
In this scenario, the buyer does not want or like an item and ruins the item, then opens a claim stating she received a damaged item. The buyer does this because Poshmark doesn’t allow returns for fit or buyer’s remorse.
It’s difficult for Poshmark to know who is telling the truth in these cases. The seller could have accidentally overlooked damage. If it’s a fragile item, the item could have gotten damaged in transit. Or the buyer could have damaged the item.
These cases can go in favor of the buyer or the seller. I’ve seen both honest sellers and honest buyers on the winning and losing end of these cases.
Ways to help your case:
Take lots of pictures documenting the condition of the item before sending it, even if those pictures were not part of the original listing.
Video record the item’s condition and your packaging. Poshmark doesn’t accept video in their cases, but you could try sending the video to Poshmark Support. Sometimes just the mention of having a recording or having sent it in is enough for a buyer to back off in the case.
If you receive the item back in worse condition than you sent it, you can open a counter case requesting Poshmark reimburse you for the item. Poshmark is most likely to send you a standard response and give you $15 Poshmark credit.
4 | Selling counterfeit goods
I can’t believe how many counterfeit goods I see on Poshmark. Look up items like Louis Vuitton and Chanel purses and Apple AirPods, and you’ll see lots of fake items for sale.
You’ll see them in the sold listings too, meaning that unsuspecting buyers have purchased them. I hope they recognized that they were being scammed and got their money back.
Poshmark removes some items that are reported as counterfeit, but sometimes obvious counterfeit items will remain up for sale for a long time.
Even if Poshmark were to take down all the counterfeit items on the marketplace one day, the scammers would be back making new accounts and listings the next day. That’s why you have to be extra careful when purchasing items that are often counterfeited.
Some ways to avoid counterfeit items:
Check a seller’s profile before purchasing. A seller with lots of high-end goods at cheap prices is a big red flag. Also, don’t buy lucrative items and luxury items from new users with accounts opened just this month and no feedback. If you want to buy those items, buy from sellers with established closets and lots of positive feedback.
Search the available and sold listings for that item. Ignoring stock photos, do you see the same unique picture for many of the items? That’s an indication that the listing may be mass replicated and fake.
Educate yourself to recognize the signs that the item you want may be fake like the stitching and date stamps on purses and luxury clothing.
Remember the adage that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Example #1:
A few weeks ago I was browsing Catbird jewelry on Poshmark and came across a popular ring that sells for about $700-1000 listed for less than $500. I wondered how the seller could sell it at such a low price.
When I looked further, this person had only two listings in her closet and both were for Catbird jewelry. The other listing had a comment from another Poshmark user who was upset that her listing had been copied.
I also wrote to the seller to get some details about the ring and never heard back. All the signs pointed to a scammer.
Example #2:
This person is selling Apple Airpods. There are many signs that this may be a scam.
The listing pictures shows multiple of the item, so it’s not likely her own picture.
The listing had all stock photos of Airpods.
The user opened their account this month (November 2021).
The user has no other listings and no feedback as a buyer or seller.
A Google reverse image search of the cover photo pulled up several past Poshmark listings using the same photo. Those listings had been removed.
While this seller could be legitimate, signs point to a scam and you’d be better off buying it from an established seller or another site even if it costs more.
Example #3
In another listing for Airpods shown below, the description is teeming with red flags:
2-day shipping? That’s not guaranteed. Any seasoned Poshmark seller knows this and would not write this. USPS Priority mail is 1 to 3 days depending on location.
“Thank you for your attention!” is odd. Some sellers may say thank you for your interest.
“please don’t buy if you don’t really like it”. That’s strange to say, and you wouldn’t find that in a normal listing. Of course, who’s going to buy if they don’t really like the item? Poshmark only uses USPS Priority mail so it doesn’t matter if you like or dislike the mail service.
5 | Changing the address on the shipping label
You purchase an item on Poshmark. The seller uses a program to edit the shipping label to a location near your address. The seller puts whatever they want in the package. It’s likely something of little or no value like a pair of socks or filler paper. Whatever it is, it’s not the item you ordered.
The package gets delivered to the wrong address but in your zip code so it looks legitimate. USPS shows it was delivered, but you never receive the package. The seller gets their funds because tracking shows the item was delivered.
How to avoid shipping label changes:
There’s not much you can do to keep this from happening to you except perhaps shopping from established closets.
I wouldn’t worry about this too much though because as the buyer, you would be covered by Poshmark’s buyer protection policy and receive a refund. Poshmark would eat the cost unless they could recoup the money from the scammer.
Additional tips for safer buying and selling
1 | Read Poshmark’s buyer protection policy
Poshmark has Posh Protect for buyers. Knowing what’s acceptable and not acceptable as a buyer will help you if you need to open a case as a buyer or you have a case open against you as a seller.
2 | Review the seller’s profile
As mentioned above, this is a good way to screen sellers.
Check when they started on Poshmark.
Check what they’ve sold in the past and their feedback. If they have lots of the same luxury item, it’s likely fake.
Ask questions about the item or even ask for more pictures if you’re unsure.
If they have an external link posted in their profile, take a look at their social media or website.
3 | Review the item pictures and description
Look closely at the item pictures and description for anything that seems off. Sometimes sellers will write a one-line description like “brand new never been used”.
While the seller could be legitimate, you’d hope for a more professional sounding description if you’re going to drop hundreds of dollars on an item, so spend more time verifying the item before you purchase.
4 | Pay $500 for Posh Authenticate
You may want high-priced purchases to be at least $500 so the items go through Posh Authenticate. For example, you might make an offer for $500 on a $600 item, or an item is listed for $480 and would still be considered a good price if you paid $500 for it. You discuss with the seller buying it for $500. At $500, shipping would be free too.
The item would be sent to Poshmark Headquarters to be inspected and verified authentic before being sent on to you. You can rest easier knowing the item you receive was deemed real.
5 | Cash out frequently
Some sellers stress that Poshmark is not a bank, so you don’t want your money sitting around in the account. Poshmark accounts do get hacked and hackers transfer the money to themselves or make unauthorized purchases.
Therefore, it’s wise to cash out your earnings frequently. Some sellers cash out when they meet a goal like $100. Others cash out each week or once a month. I like to cash out at least once a month but often more frequently depending on how sales are going.
6 | Pay with PayPal
PayPal provides a higher level of protection than Poshmark. PayPal offers 180 days of buyer protection as compared to Poshmark’s 3 days (the acceptance window)
That means you can dispute a purchase anytime up to 180 days after purchase. For people who buy jewelry or luxury items, this is enough time for the item to be authenticated if needed.
I’ve heard of people buying jewelry marked sterling silver or gold. When they later took it to be appraised, it turns out the jewelry was not those metals and was worth much less. If you paid with PayPal, you can still open a dispute as long as it’s within 180 days.
Another option is to file a dispute with your credit card company if you used a credit card to pay for your purchase. I’m unsure how successful buyers are in winning the disputes filed with their credit card company, but in my experience from selling on eBay, PayPal often favors the buyer in disputes.
Wrap Up
Most people buy and sell on Poshmark without a hitch. I haven’t been scammed in over 6 years of buying and selling on the platform. Scams are a part of Poshmark and other online marketplaces, but you don’t have to miss out on the benefits of them because of fear of being scammed. You can avoid most of them by being aware of the most common scams and using the tips above.
Have you encountered scams on Poshmark? What did you do when you saw or experienced them?
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