How to Host a Poshmark Party
Being a Poshmark community member comes with some nice perks including being a Poshmark Party host. After waiting months and months to host a party, I was elated when I got the email stating it was my turn. I’ve attended hundreds of Poshmark parties as a regular user, but I didn’t know much about hosting.
I actually wasn’t as prepared as I could’ve been to host my first time around. I’ve since hosted three more parties. Now I have some tips to share with you so that you can be ready when it’s your turn or decide if hosting is even right for you.
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What’s a Poshmark Party?
Poshmark parties are virtual gatherings on the Poshmark platform. They take place four times a day at 9 AM, 12 PM, 4 PM, and 7 PM Pacific Time. Add three hours for Eastern Time. Each party has a theme:
Brand party – An example is Preppy: J. Crew, Kate Spade, Vineyard Vines & More Party.
Category party – Best in Tops, Best in Jeans, Makeup, etc.
Department party – Men’s, Plus Size, Petites, Kids, etc.
Style party – Summer Staples, Fall Vibes, Athleisure, Work Wear, Girl Boss, Date Night, etc.
Tip: Some parties like the style parties are very broad so you can share just about anything to them. Some parties are not like the Preppy: J. Crew, Kate Spade, Vineyard Vines & More Party.
How do you find out what the “more” is? Go to the party details and you’ll see all the brands allowed to the party.
View more brands that can be shared to the party by clicking “View party details” on the party homepage (desktop view).
Why join a Poshmark party?
Any Poshmark user can join a party. You’ll be taken to the page to view the listings shared to the party. You can also share your own listings to the party. That’s all there is to it. There are no hoops to jump through to join.
There are two main purposes for attending parties:
Share your listings to the party. Users see your items and share them to their followers. Hopefully you’ll get more likes, which is good for making an Offer to Likers later down the road. Maybe someone will even make an offer or buy your item.
Share other people’s listings from the party to your followers. The idea is that the person will see you’ve shared their item and reciprocate by sharing one of yours.
Either way, the goal is to get more exposure for your items. There’s more activity on the app during parties. If you’re involved, there’s more chance of your items being shared and viewed.
Note though that your listings will be shared only once to a party. It doesn’t matter if you click on a listing repeatedly. It will only show up once in the party feed.
The listing will be shown to your followers any subsequent time you share it. If another user shares your listing to the party after it’s already been shared there, it will be shown to their followers.
Why host a Poshmark party?
People have many reasons for hosting parties. I’ll share with you why I did it.
More exposure for your closet and items. Your profile picture will be at the top of the party page. You’ll get tons of new followers to your closet. You’ll have tons of people sharing your items. All of that may lead to more sales.
Be an active community member. Poshmark is all about being social. What better way to do that than to help host a party? You’re right in the thick of activity as a party host.
You get to be a stylist for a day. When you share listings to the party as a host, every one of your listings goes into a special showcase called Host Picks. You curate what people see. It’s a unique and fun way to publicize items that you think should be seen.
Guest hosts are show at the top of the main showroom. Clicking on their photos will bring you to their closets.
These are the showrooms of the party. Your picks would go in the Host Picks Showroom.
What’s the criteria to be a host?
According to Poshmark, you have to meet certain requirements to be a host:
Be a Poshmark Ambassador – You have to meet additional criteria to be a Poshmark Ambassador. You can read about the benefits of being a Poshmark Ambassador from my experience being one. Many people become an ambassador within a few months of starting on Poshmark as long as they’re active buyers and sellers.
Be in good standing – Just read Poshmark’s rules and follow them.
Be active on the platform – PM wants to see that you’re engaged in the community. You have to share at least 100 lifetime new Poshmark user listings, have at least 7500 lifetime shares of other people’s items, and have shared more than 500 community listings in the past 30 days.
You can check your statistics for total shares and new Poshers shared by looking at your “My Posh Stats” page on the app.
I don’t think any of these requirements are difficult to achieve within a few months of starting on Poshmark as long as you’re active on it. If you’re really active, you can achieve it within a few weeks.
Poshmark also says that they like hosts to have personality, which they describe as good photos in their own closets. To be honest, I’ve seen sellers with average photos and unremarkable closets. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Most Poshmark users are not professional photographers or sellers, nor do they stock their closets with unique or luxury goods. It’s enough to have decent cover photos and sell typical mall brands to be selected as a host.
Read more about Poshmark’s requirements here.
How to apply
There are two ways to apply to be a host. The first is the online application, which you can find here.
The form has three choices for types of parties to host. Only three of the four daily parties open to guest hosts. The first party of the day (brand-themed) is not open for guest hosting.
Check all three options! They each have a different waitlist. You may get through one list much faster than another. Check them all so that you can host sooner.
I was initially worried that I wouldn’t be available to host during one of the times. I work full-time and it would be hard for me to host a party in the middle of the day. Don’t worry! You don’t have to attend a party for the full two hours.
You only need to attend a party long enough to share 50 listings at a minimum. If you have the listings that you want to share chosen ahead of time, it should only take about 3-5 minutes. Then you’re done with your hosting duties.
The second way to apply is to email hosting@poshmark.com. I can’t say if one way is better than another. I’ve only used the form and was eventually chosen to host after a few months. If you applied through either means and have been waiting a long time, you can always contact Poshmark to see what your place is on the waitlist.
Pre-party preparation
You don’t have to do any preparation for the party except read over the guidelines Poshmark sends you. If you’re up for it, you can do more as I’ve outlined here.
1 ) Create a listing with information about the party you’re hosting.
I wanted to bring more attention to the fact that I was going to be hosting in the days leading up to the party. I posted this sign in my Poshmark closet.
If you’re wondering how to make your own, you can do it free in Canva. They have templates pre-made for you. You change the wording and download the picture.
I have some premade signs and templates available in the Free Resource Library. You’ll need a Canva account (free) to access them because I made them on Canva too.
Once you have this listing up in your closet and share it, you’ll find that TONS of people come and comment on the listing. They want you to look over their closets and pick an item from their closet to be a host pick. They’ll tag all their friends and share lists of people they promote.
It’s overwhelming and you’ll likely find like I did that you can’t look at everyone’s closet. There’s just not enough time to spend hours sifting through closets with hundreds of items that don’t fit the theme for a few that do. Even then, the items might not appeal to you so that you want to pick them as your host picks.
To counter this, I asked people to send me one listing that fits the theme by tagging me. You’ll find that people will bundle items for you. Both these ways make it easy to see items that fit the theme.
One thing I noticed later is that I had tons of bundles made for me. People would send me offers on them many days or weeks later. I’d get notifications and be confused for a minute because I didn’t remember making those bundles.
I had one person make a bundle of about 22 items and send me an offer on it later. You can imagine how much time it took to remove all those bundles.
If you’re not bothered by all of that, then this is a great way to drum up publicity and find possible host picks.
2) Share the listing you’re hosting everywhere you can.
I posted my listing to IG and emailed From Pennies to Plenty email subscribers to let them know. This is an easy way to get your followers and fans of your closet involved. I had a lot of readers send me their listings, which I was happy to share if I thought it was a good fit for the party.
3) Keep an eye out for listings you like.
You be notified of the theme of the party you’re hosting about a week before the party. I had to keep a special eye out for items that fit the theme during that week because they were not items I paid particular attention to or stocked in my closet. I “liked” every item I came across that I thought might be a good fit for the party.
I have a few reasons why I prefer to find listings ahead of the party. One was that I could take my time finding things I really wanted to showcase. Then I wouldn’t feel stressed to select 50-100 listings during the party.
What if I didn’t find that many things that I wanted to pick during the party? I couldn’t spend two hours on Poshmark for each party either. I probably spent 30 focused minutes maximum at each party.
I wanted to make sure I had between 50-100 hundred listings chosen, even if that meant choosing some ahead of time. It also helped me to keep track of how many items I shared. Don’t go over 100!
The other major reason for choosing and at least some items added time is that you can look at the closet of the sellers and make sure they are compliant. I don’t care to enforce rules myself because that’s not my purpose as a seller, but it is one of the responsibilities of the host.
I remember one seller asked me to pick one of her listings. When I went to her closet, the first listing was something ridiculous like baby wipes or something else very obviously non-compliant.
If I had chosen her item and Poshmark saw that she has a non-compliant closet, I don’t think that would’ve reflected well on me as a host. What if Poshmark saw that and wouldn’t select me to host again because of it?
All of that can be avoided by picking listings ahead of time and screening closets to make sure that the sellers are compliant.
4) Read the email with party rules.
This is important because you’ll want to be a good host and be chosen to host again. The email will tell you the following:
All closets including your own should be compliant. That includes selling only authentic goods, keeping all communication and sales inside Poshmark, and not promoting any other marketplaces.
Share between 50-100 listings at the party. This includes your own and other users’ listings.
Share 5-10 of your own listings.
Share 3 listings per user at maximum.
Listings must be available. Don’t share unavailable listings.
PM recommends that you select at least a quarter of your host picks from new closets. I think they do this to encourage new users to become engaged on the platform. A lot of people sign up and never get past signing up or posting a few listings.
Having a host pick positively reinforces their joining and may motivate them to do more on Poshmark. It brings new previously unseen listings to parties as well.
I didn’t do this. I’d much rather pick an item from the closet of an established seller. They’ve already invested more time and energy into Poshmark. They’re more likely to know rules and follow them.
Many, many seasoned sellers have never had a host pick. I think I’ve had two chosen by others in all my years on Poshmark. I like seeing those sellers get host picks. Just my two cents here.
5) Create a message for your host picks.
Some hosts getting fancy with their messages letting users know that their item has been chosen. Take a look at the example below. I quickly realized after hosting my first party that I should have prepared a cute comment for the listings that I chose.
Now I would create something ahead of time and keep it on my phone or computer. Then I would copy and paste it to listings during the party. The user whose listing you chose will automatically receive a form email or notification from Poshmark about your pick. But this is a pretty fun way to let the person know too.
During the party
You’ll have tons of people commenting and tagging you in the hours leading up to the party. Lots of people will share your listings before and during the party too. You might want to turn off your text and/or email notifications if it bothers you.
I would’ve loved to have been able to pick every single item that was sent to me and answer every single person who wrote to me, but I couldn’t keep up with them. And then during the party, I was only allowed to share 100 listings, which is really not much at all.
During the party, every listing you share will automatically go to the host pick showroom. You’ll want to share only 50-100 listings to stay in line with the guidelines.
I don’t know if you can share after 100 listings and have them go to the general feed. I haven’t tried though because I didn’t want to test the rules!
My personal approach to selecting items was to pick a variety of items that other shoppers would like. When I hosted the Best in Shoes party, I chose a variety of shoes in different styles, colors, sizes, and prices. They were all new or in good condition. I picked many shoes that I wouldn’t have worn or purchased for myself but thought that a lot of people would like and potentially buy.
After the party & effect on sales
The level of activity on your account dies down pretty quickly after the party is over. I continued on with my day and set some time aside later to try to return all the shares I had received that day.
You might be wondering if all the effort was worth it. Did hosting help me make more sales?
I didn’t experience any change in sales after each of the three times I hosted. I made one small sale the day after one party. I make sales regularly so I can’t attribute that to a party. I could say that I didn’t make sales because I don’t have many items that match the themes of the party, for example, shoes or plus-size items, but I don’t think that’s the reason.
My experience is normal for most party hosts from what I’ve seen and heard. It’s understandable too. People engage in your closet to share your items so that you’ll share theirs back in and out of the party. They’re not there to browse and shop your closet.
The other thing is that people tag you in their listings or bundle their listings for you. They don’t ever have to actually enter your closet to look at your items to engage with you. I don’t think of hosting as a reliable way to make sales. I don’t expect to make sales off of hosting in the future either.
I’ve had readers tell me that they’re not interested in hosting if it won’t lead to sales. It might lead to more likes and shares and then maybe more sales down the road. More than likely though, it won’t.
It’s okay if you don’t feel hosting is for you. I actually think it’s really smart not to do it if you have limited time to spend on Poshmark.
Final thoughts
Being a Poshmark party host probably won’t make you more sales. There are better things you can do to improve sales like sharing your own listings frequently, taking great pictures of your items, and writing thorough descriptions. But I’ve enjoyed hosting every time that I’ve done it. If you enjoy using Poshmark, I think you’ll like it too.
What has been your experience as a Poshmark party host? What recommendations would you give?
