How to Sell Quickly on Poshmark

When I started selling on Poshmark several years ago, I was lucky in that I made several sales shortly after starting my closet. My things sold quickly, so I didn’t experience the struggle of trying to make sales.

I think part of the reason was that there were fewer sellers at the time, so my items didn’t have as much competition. Cue to the present and things are different.

Poshmark has grown and it’s much more competitive to make sales. I get emails and see postings from people every day asking how to sell quickly on Poshmark.

When you’re struggling to get sales, you might get the impression that Poshmark doesn’t work. I recently received an email from a frustrated seller.

She said that it seemed like there were lots of sellers on the app but that no one was buying anything. It may seem that way as a frustrated seller, but believe me, Poshmark works and people are buying goods on there.

PM has 4 million users and is growing. There are PM users out there absolutely rocking sales and making a killing off it. Some even make full-time incomes if you can believe it.

No doubt, they work very hard at it, as much as anyone would work at a regular full-time job.

So how to do they sell quickly on PM? What’s the secret?

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*** On Mercari, you can get $10 when you sign up with the code JENMHM. Amounts vary by promotion.

1 | Sell what people want

Poshmark isn’t much different from a brick-and-mortar store in this respect. If you walked into a department store selling unpopular brands and clothes that are out of style, you’d walk out of there without purchasing anything.

The same is true when people view a closet on PM. It’s hard to sell things that people don’t want.

Things that are in demand sell quickly on Poshmark.

These items are on trend right now. When cold-shoulder tops were popular, top sellers stocked them because they knew those tops would move fast.

Other recent trends this past summer included fruit print clothing and cheeky swimsuits. I saw those items all over retail shops and online.

The items that sell well usually cost a lot at retail.

Sellers are offering items that are popular and cost a lot because Poshmark offers it for less. A new pair of Lululemon leggings can easily cost $98 or more.

That’s pricey for someone on a budget. Poshmark buyers want a deal - same item but cheaper.

Poshmark is targeting more male buyers and sellers.

More and more men are using the app to both buy and sell. In fact, men’s sales are growing faster than women’s sales.

They want clothes too! If you’re able to find in-demand men’s clothes that they want to buy, you’ve opened yourself up to a whole new audience.

As a side note, I know there are people out there who like out-of-style and odd-ball clothing. You might find a buyer for your item, but it will likely sit for a while waiting for that buyer to come along.

How do you find out what people want?

An easy way to find out what to sell is to read the Poshmark Blog.

PM does trend reports (sometimes live) and regular posts on what’s trending. This summer, Poshmark shared some of the most in-demand men’s items.

These were t-shirts, swim trunks, sunglasses, and loafers. Brands included Supreme, RVCA, Chubbies, Ray-Ban, Persol, Cole Haan, and Sperry.

PM wants you to be a successful seller. That’s more money in your pocket and more money in their pocket.

You’ll continue selling on Poshmark and have all the good feels about the company while the company keeps running.

These are a few other ways to find out what people want.

Identify top selling brands (e.g., Kate Spade and Free People). I look at what’s selling at popular stores and online shops.
Look at what celebrities are wearing.
Look at what trends and styles are popular.
Sell for the current season and upcoming season (e.g., holiday dresses).

2 | Use keywords in listings

This sounds easy enough but not everyone does it. I love using Google when I search for information online. Google uses its algorithm to find me the best results.

The writers of the resulting articles have also done a good job in using keywords so that their posts will show up in Google searches, also known as search engine optimization (SEO).

The same is true for Poshmark listings.

The best listings have the brand name and style name in their titles.

It pays to list the style name if you can find it, even if it takes a few more minutes of your time to search for it.

Potential buyers who know they want “Lululemon Run Inspire crops” will search for that term. They may get deterred searching using the term “Lululemon pants” because they know there will be hundreds or thousands of results, many of them not what they want to buy.

Use keywords in listings so the items come up in Google searches too.

Have you ever searched for clothing online and a Poshmark listing comes up?

That seller did a good job of using keywords in their listing so that Google was able to find it.

I’ve sold a few things to people by using the right keywords in my listing titles and descriptions. These people weren’t even Poshmark users, but Google showed them my listing and they made a temporary account in order to buy the item.

I like to put keywords and describe items in the description boxes too. Give the viewer what you can to make them more confident buying from you.

Add the name brand and style name to your listing title.

Write the title or a description with keywords people would use to search for the item.

3 | Increase your number of listings for sale

Poshmark is all about numbers: shares, profit, dropping prices, shipping costs, followers, and more. In buying and selling, there’s no getting around dealing with numbers.

When it comes to closet size, more listings is better for sales.

Poshmark recommends having at least 10 available listings in your closet. I think 10 is far too few.

If you walk into a random store with 10 clothing items, how likely are you to buy one of them? If you walk into a store with 100 or more items that are trendy and in-demand, you’re more likely to find something you want to buy.

That’s why it’s worth it to spend time growing your closet. Some people have relatively few items (<100) and still make lots of sales for a good profit, but that more are.

Most top sellers have hundreds and even thousands of listings available for sale.

They may sell men’s clothes and household goods too to tap into growing markets on Poshmark.

4 | Price items smartly

Pricing isn’t a one-and-done deal. I wish it were as easy as listing all shirts for $10 and all pants for $20, but it’s not.

You can sell quickly on Poshmark by underpricing everything. I’ve seen closets completely sold out because items were priced low.

Your items will sell, but you’re leaving money on the table. Most sellers don’t want to underprice their items, particularly if they’re selling as a full-time business or side hustle.

You can price your items smartly by looking at how much that item has sold for in past sales.

What’s the market price for the item new and used?

Then offer your item at that price plus extra to provide wiggle room for negotiation. I like to price things 20-30% higher than I’d like to sell an item for.

You might see that a sweater you’re looking to sell previously sold for roughly $50. I would list the item for $60-$65.

If you’re looking for an even quicker sale, you might want to list your item below the market price. Say you find everyone else selling a Kate Spade purse for $100. You might list yours at $90.

If potential buyers are negotiating with you, that’s a good thing.

That means they want what you have and hopefully are willing to pay within the ballpark of your initial price. You’re not leaving money on the table.

You’re not pricing so high that people are ignoring your listing. You’re getting people to bite at your listing.

You’ll get lowball offers on PM too. That’s the nature of a second-hand marketplace where people want incredible deals. I continue to negotiate with potential buyers to see if I can bring their initial offer up to an amount I’m happy about.

5 | Professional looking listings

I don’t want to scare anyone by saying that you have to be a professional photographer with a fancy camera and all the fixings of a photo studio. It’s not true.

You can take great pictures at home with good lighting and your cell phone.

Some people do beautiful flat lays where the item is folded and styled nicely. A blouse that’s for sale might be shown with some pants and boots or jewelry to give the viewer an idea of how to wear it.

If that’s too much to do or you don’t know how, don’t worry. I think that simple sells.

You can show just the one item that’s for sale in a basic flat lay.

Or try hanging it or putting it on a body form if that works better for you. Some items look better hung while others look better flat.

Take your pictures where there is enough light.

It can be natural or come from artificial lights. Aim for accuracy showing what you’re selling - color, texture, flaws.

Edit your photos if you don’t have great lighting.

I have a place with suboptimal space and lighting that makes it hard to take pictures. I run pictures through a photo editing app to brighten and crop them when I need to.

Some popular free and paid editing apps are Snapseed, PicTapGo, and FotoFuze.

From time to time, I retake pictures of items that aren’t selling well. This gives them a new look and gets new people to look at them. I’ve had several items sell better once relisted with better pictures.

Here’s one item I relisted with a better background and heels as props.

Then give enough detail about the item.

You want a potential buyer to be confident about the item to purchase it (or at least negotiate the price) on the spot.

If they have to ask questions about the item, you may miss the impulse buy or offer. The person may shy away from the sale after some time has passed, forget about the item, or decide not to ask you about it at all.

Those professional listings describe the condition of an item, which is so important when you’re selling something used. They list flaws if there are any, sizing, and special details.

What would you want to know about this item to convince you to buy it? Even better, what you would be upset that the seller didn’t disclose about this item before selling it to you?

If you are looking for some items to make business life easier, these are 24 must-haves for the online reseller. I use several of these to help me list, store, and ship items as professionally as I can.

6 | Be an active member of the PM community

Sorry if you thought selling was passive. It is if you want it to be, but you’re not likely to make lots of sales or quick sales.

If you want to maximize your potential for sales, you have to be active on Poshmark.

What does that involve? At least a few things:

Sharing your own items. You can share your items to your followers, to individual people, and to online parties. Top sellers will tell you that they share their own items thousands of times a month.
Sharing other users’ items. You don’t have to share other people’s items, but it’s a key part of being a good Posher.
Respond to questions ASAP. This lets potential buyers know you’re active on the app and serious about selling.

There are other ways to be active on Poshmark. These include welcoming new users, hosting Poshmark parties, and commenting on other people’s listings.

In my opinion, none of these are as important as the three things above. If you’re already on Poshmark, you probably know that sharing listings can be time-consuming.

I don’t advocate working on Poshmark so much that your quality of life suffers for it. Hours upon hours of time on Poshmark (or any side hustle) can cause you undue stress, loss of sleep, and unhappiness.

But sharing items is a key way to promote your items.

Full-time resellers will likely tell you that they spend lots of time on their business. They may spend 60-80 hours a week on the Poshmark app as well as other aspects of selling online such as sourcing items, cleaning items, photographing and listing items, packaging sales, and shipping sales.

While you don’t have to pull 60- to 80-hour weeks, know that being an active part of the Poshmark community will help you make faster sales than if you’re not.

7 | Use promotional features

Selling on Poshmark is rarely a list-it-and-leave-it deal. Top sellers make more and faster sales by taking advantage of promotional features provided through Poshmark or on their own.

Poshmark offers several promotional features to help you make sales.

Bundling is when a potential buyer puts together items from your closet into a virtual bundle. The benefit of this is that you can negotiate the total price of the bundle instead of each item individually.
The buyer also saves on shipping costs by having items packaged together in one box for mailing.
Offer to Likers is when you offer people who have “liked” your item a special discounted price. Instead of waiting for potential buyers to come to you with their offers, you can offer them an item at a discounted price and cover part of their shipping cost.
Closet Clear Out is a promotion in which you lower the price of an item by at least 10% off the historic lowest price given that the item is $10 or above and the item will automatically receive discounted shipping.
The cost of shipping varies but is usually lowered to $3.99 or $4.99. While it’s only a few dollars off the price of regular shipping, it feels like a deal. The discount is only good for a limited time, which gives a sense of urgency to the sale.

Once in a while I come across a surprise – a great closet with lots of in-demand items at reasonable prices but few sales. I remember one woman’s closet with lots of Lilly Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines clothing.

At first, I was surprised that some of her listings were still available for sale given how popular those brands are and her relatively low prices.

I wasn’t surprised anymore after I scrolled to the top of her profile and saw a low number of shares. She wasn’t very active on PM so her listings got lost in the sea of all the other listings out there.

I hear and see people asking all the time how to make sales on Poshmark. Some people are trying to get their first sale. Others are trying to get on a roll.

Still, others are asking how to just sell quickly. No one wants to wait around to make a sale. I don’t either.

Despite talk of secrets tricks and tactics, I think selling on Poshmark isn’t a matter of secrets but a matter of smart hustling.

Selling on Poshmark is rarely a case of set it and forget it. It’s a combination of all of the above factors to help you make the sales you want.

What has sold quickly for you on Poshmark? What do you think are key factors in selling quickly?