Poshmark Seller Tips for a Profitable Q4
Welcome to October and the fourth quarter! The end of the year is in sight.
For many sellers, the fourth quarter is the most profitable quarter of the year. More people are online browsing and shopping for themselves and others for the holidays.
Sellers can do a little more to help themselves make sales too. With that in mind, here are several Poshmark seller tips for a profitable Q4 and Christmas.
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***If you don’t have a Poshmark account, you can receive a free $10 bonus when you sign up with my code SFGIRL2015. Amount varies by promotion.***
***On Mercari, you can get $10 when you sign up with the code JENMHM.
1 | Sell what people want to buy
The best way to make Poshmark sales is to sell what people want to buy. There’s no secret here. Around this time of year, people want cold-weather items like sweaters, coats, boots. They’re looking for dresses and shoes to wear to holiday parties.
It’s become easier to list more items that people might want to wear or gift since the introduction of several new markets like men’s watches and kicks.
Poshmark said it’s going to add many more markets soon. Hopefully that includes electronics and things of that sort because those are popular for the holidays.
Not sure where to get these items? Take a look at your closet first. Do you have cold-weather wear or holiday wear from past years still in good condition but just sitting in your closet? Or gifts you’ve received in the past that can be regifted?
Besides your closet, check out this post on 19 places to get clothes to sell on Poshmark for ideas of where to find inventory for the season.
2 | List all your unlisted items
I have a money pile. Do you have a money pile? I don’t mean a mound of cash piling up on the floor. I mean an ever-growing pile of unlisted items that could be making you money.
I know a lot of sellers (including me) love sourcing more than listing. That leads to having lots of items sitting around the house unlisted. You could have the best items ever, but they can’t make money if they’re not up for sale.
This is the time to get things listed, especially if you have seasonal items like costumes, new items, or holiday-themed items.
Consider also if you have a small closet with only a few items listed. For most sellers, this is not enough to support consistent or highly profitable sales.
Listing more of the right items leads to more sales. So put up your unlisted items and grow that closet!
If you have a hard time getting items listed, try these to help you get it done:
Take one of your sourcing days and list items instead
Get help listing items
Delegate chores and use the time to list
Set aside 15 or 30 minutes a day to list a few items at a time
Batch the work (e.g., take all the measurements at once, then all the pictures, etc.)
Multi-task listing while watching a movie or listening to a podcast
Wake up a little earlier or sleep a little later to get listings up
Give yourself a small reward for meeting a listing goal
3 | Be open to low prices
I get a lot of low offers on things that don’t lead to sales no matter the time of year. That’s the reality of being on Poshmark, which allows potential buyers to make offers on everything across the board.
Around this time of year, I take a look at what’s been sitting for a long time. If it hasn’t sold in several months, it might be worth letting it go for cheap, even if that means only making a few dollars or breaking even.
I don’t suggest accepting offers if you honestly think the item will sell for more if given more time. But you know which items have been sitting for a long time.
If you just want to get rid of those items, be open to whatever offers you get or drop prices to get them sold. Sometimes sold at a low price is better than not sold at all.
It’s a good feeling to see your balance grow too. That money may be enough to cover other expenses for the quarter like hosting dinners or travel. Then look forward to a new year with a fresh start to your closet.
4 | Look at what sold well Q4 last year
If you have a lot of inventory, it can be hard to know what sold well and when off the top of your head. Poshmark takes the guesswork out of this by using the My Sales Report tool. You can access this on both the website and app.
On the website, go to “Order Activity” and “My Sales Report”. Select the date range you want, likely a custom date range for last year’s Q4. Once you download the report, you can look at the data in several ways.
My preference is to filter by brand so that I can quickly scroll and see what brands sold the best for me last Q4. You might be more interested in the category that sold well (e.g., purses, shoes, and dresses).
Of course, we know that trends change. What was popular last year may not be popular this year. It’s likely though that you have some strong selling brands, categories, and items that may sell well again this year.
5 | Cross-list to other platforms
Poshmark’s markets are growing but not fast enough to maximize sales this holiday season.
First, cross-list your items to other platforms like eBay, Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, or any other of many selling platforms.
Don’t have enough time? Cross-list your best items that you think will sell well and leave the others behind.
Electronics, household items, and toys are hot sellers around the holidays. Poshmark doesn’t allow for some of these. If you already have these items or access to them, put them up elsewhere online.
6 | Share your listings!
One of the major components of Poshmark success in sharing items, both your own and other people’s. That’s how your items will get seen. When you share your listings, it disperses to the feed of all your followers, who will hopefully like, share, and/or buy what they see.
Share your listings regularly throughout the day. Go ahead and make offers for people who have liked your items. You can even bundle items for likers and make offers that way without having to discount shipping.
If you’re limited in time, focus on sharing your items and mainly your best items. Share the top ten items from your closet rather than all 200 focusing on the ones that have the most appeal and are therefore most likely to sell.
7 | Hire help
Since sharing can be time-consuming, consider whether it’s worth your time to hire help running your Poshmark business. Many people with large closets but little available time have their children, spouse/partner, other family help. There’s always the option to outsource work by paying for assistance too.
They can help you
Share listings
Cross-list items
Take pictures or measurements of items
Package and ship items
Assistance services have become very popular lately with many individuals and multi-person companies offering sharing and cross-listing help. A Google search or search of Instagram or Poshmark itself will bring up these services, where you can compare prices and offerings.
Many sellers have found success with hiring assistants. They likely had in-demand items to begin with and just needed more exposure to get them sold.
But if you’ve ever shared hundreds or thousands of your items and not made a sale, you know that there’s no guarantee that paying for thousands of shares will lead to sales either. That said, it may be worth a try, especially during this fourth quarter.
8 | Order all your shipping supplies now
Poshmark makes shipping easy by using USPS, which offers lots of free shipping supplies. You can even order them to be shipped to you at home. USPS online offers more variety of boxes and supplies than the typical post office has on hand too.
Be sure to order supplies early because they can take a long time to arrive during the busy season. USPS also ships items at different times. One set of boxes may arrive in a week while another set of boxes will arrive several weeks later.
You don’t want to run out and have to go pay for some, which eats into your profits. Stock up now!
9 | Organize your Poshmark routine
The holidays can overwhelm even the most calm and patient person. There are more demands on your time and resources. It’s easy to let the Poshmark business slide.
That’s when routines and schedules will help you get more done. Some examples of these:
Set aside a specific time each day to get listings done (e.g., 8-8:30 PM)
List when the children are napping or before your partner gets home
Make post office runs on MWF instead of every day
Try USPS pick-up from your home or office. Use your office’s mailroom to ship items.
Set up a shipping station in your house with all your supplies out and in order. Have it ready to use at any time.
10 | Edit your listings
Do you know you have a great product that’s not selling? Take new photos. Relist it at a higher price. Add more features to the description. Drop the price and make offers to likers to get your item sold.
Since you’re crunched on time, I don’t recommend doing this for every item you have unless you have a small closet. Do it for your most high-end, new, and popular items that are most likely to sell.
11 | Become an affiliate
Another option is to become an affiliate. The Poshmark affiliate program allows you to participate in social media campaigns in exchange for cash or credit.
It doesn’t take long to take a picture for Instagram. It may take longer if you choose YouTube as your platform because you have to make a video. Nonetheless, you can earn $5-10 (usually in credit) and sometimes more depending on how many followers you have. The money adds up quickly!
I’ve done a few of these social media campaigns. The cash or credit was deposited into my PM account within a few days of posting. You can then use the money to purchase inventory to resell or buy gifts for the holidays.
The fourth quarter can seem like an uphill climb as an online seller. You’re supposed to ramp up your business while you have other demands upon you for the holidays.
Give these tips a try to gain back some of the time, energy, and resources that will help you make more sales this holiday season.
What tips do you have for a profitable Q4 and Christmas?
