My, how the mighty fall. And by the mighty, I mean me. Poshmark was one of the first motivators I found to declutter and to side hustle online, and now I’m wondering if I should give up selling on Poshmark entirely. When I first started selling on Poshmark, an $8 sale for a leather belt was a joyous occasion. Eventually, I was thrilled to cross $500 in sales. Then, $1,000.
And now? An $8 sale is back to being exciting.
It’s true that Poshmark has changed considerably over the past few years. The platform both looks and functions differently. More importantly, there have been other significant changes in terms of what can be sold on the platform (men’s clothes, kid’s clothes, oh my!) and a huge increase in number of sellers. Often times, supply seems to outpace demand.
With the start of the new year, I haven’t created any new listings on Poshmark. Does that mean my plan is to give up on Poshmark altogether? I might go that route eventually, but here’s why I’m not throwing in the towel just yet.
The Beginning of the Year is a Bad Time for Reselling
If you’re wondering if you should give up on Poshmark, the first thing that you need to consider is timing. Specifically, if it’s the start of a new year. While many people are motivated to sell and resell at the flip of the calendar, it turns out that the beginning of the year poses some selling challenges.
All Shopped Out
Religion aside, the holidays are often celebrated with a huge uptick in consumerism. Simply put, many people shopped until they dropped over the past few months. Of course, people aren’t actively looking for my gently used (and super cute!) riding boots when they just scored a brand new pair from their grandma, husband, or Santa himself.
It’s Time to Organize
At the start of the year, many people are inspired to get more organized. It’s true that often translates into spending more money than you ever thought possible at places like The Container Store. (Tangentially, I will argue that if you really want to get organized, you likely don’t need to buy much of anything at all. Ask me how I know.)
No matter how people try to address their organizational needs, there’s a simple truth. It’s much easier to get organized if you can also stop the flow of things into your home.
If I keep shopping for shoes as I’m trying to organize my shoe closet (not that I, ever in my life, had a closet dedicated solely to shoes…errrm), it’s hard to make any real inroads. That means that for someone focused on getting organized, they might dial back their shopping. At least temporarily.
Unless they’re on the same path that I was on. In that case, that path is so deeply entrenched in consumerism that it defies all logic. If that’s the case, the only thing that’s going to slow them down is a shelf collapse. Again, not that I would know.
Trying Out Minimalism
In addition to getting organized, many people (myself included!) use the start of the year to tackle decluttering projects or to experiment with minimalism.
I still don’t think I would call myself a minimalist. However, I do know enough about decluttering to know that, like organizing, it’s hard to make progress if you don’t stem the tide. This is another big explanation for why there is a huge surge in listing on Poshmark and other resell sites at the start of the year. It’s easy for your listing to get lost in the shuffle surge.
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New Year, New Me?
Budgeting, tracking expenses, savings challenges, and no-spend months. Think about how prevalent these recommendations are. Personal finance experts and people in general often tout these as financial cleanses to ring in the new year.
While I certainly wish people the best, I also know that realistically, resolutions fail more than they succeed. While some people aren’t spending or shopping much in January, I would expect many to find their way back to Poshmark eventually. After all, it is a fantastic tool for scoring heavily discounted designer items. That’s a win for our wallets and the environment.
How Can I Troubleshoot a Sales Slump on Poshmark?
I’ve written at length about Poshmark before. In short, I think the biggest way to troubleshoot a selling slump at the start of the year is to simply wait it out. You might also consider lowering your prices or accepting offers, even lowball ones.
If you’r really curious, you can read more here:
- $500 in Sales & Five Things I’ve Learned on Poshmark
- Troubleshooting a Slump on Poshmark
- Why My View on What to Do with Low Ball Poshmark Offers is Changing
The first post in this list in particular has a really active comments section that might even be more valuable than the post itself.
What Are Some Poshmark Alternatives?
While I haven’t given up entirely on Poshmark, I have absolutely started exploring alternatives, especially local options.
For me, I’ve had a lot of success with rehoming things using Freecycle. That’s simply when I’m looking to get them out of my possession and save them from a landfill.
Alternatively, I am also spending an increased amount of time on OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace. OfferUp is incredibly active in our area, especially for kids’ items and home goods. That means that I’ve had success selling those items; additionally, my listing of designer bags and shoes seem to really stand out. Facebook Marketplace is OK, but I would say specific to my area, there’s a lot more supply than demand. It’s definitely a buyer’s market, and I think that’s true for most of the second-hand market in general, not just Poshmark or Facebook Marketplace.
Final Thoughts on Giving Up on Poshmark
I’m not ready to give up on Poshmark yet. However, I am content to direct my energy to other places right now. In the next month or two, I’ll put up a few more listings as a trial of sorts. In the meantime, I’m going to direct my energy into decluttering and maintaining other side hustle income streams.
So Tell Me…Are you going to give up on Poshmark? Have you ever tried it? Do you feel like reselling is changing?
Oh my gosh, I love Poshmark! It’s still relatively new to Canada so I haven’t noticed the same kind of fatigue as you on the platform. The number one thing that will keep me on Poshmark longer than other re-selling sites is that they deal with the shipping for you. Because of where I live, and the massive country I find myself in, shipping used to make a not insignificant dent in my profit on other sites like eBay or Depop. Good luck to your poshing in the future! (That’s what they call it right?)
Yes! Poshmark makes shipping incredibly easy, and I LOVE IT!
I do think that in another month or two, things will get moving again on the platform. But it is dramatically different than it used to be here. Not necessarily in a bad way, though. That first post I write gets 50-100 hits a day, though, and you can feel the desperation in some people. I want to keep saying, “Patience, grasshopper!” 😀
Omg… I think the way it has changed is allowing to sell ALL items now! In the beginning it felt like it was elite for just us women & some of the clothes look like trash.. just saying. But for the most part, I really enjoy listing due to the fact of ease & simple way that the “whole” process of it is. When starting out I didn’t want to buy anything but now that I’m curious how others package due to what I want to receive when buying and I gotta say that I’ve been REALLY disappointed!!! I would have liked to receive a “thank you” card. Can’t even get that anymore.
I really agree, Margie. There are just SO MANY things for sale on the app now. It definitely means it’s important to be patient.
I’ve just recently started to buy a bit. I’ve had a lot of luck with good prices on toddler clothes, so I’m very happy about that!
When you buy something from Walmart they don’t say thank you btw.
POSHMARK MINUS 20% MINUS 10% OFFER TO LIKERS MINUS DISCOUNTED SHIPPING. $50 YOU’RE LUCKY TO GET $25.
I like using Poshmark, but glad I don’t have to depend on it. There are definitely sales slumps. It really helped me downsize my closet over the last couple of years, providing extra cash for travel. I’m sticking with it for now.
Agree! I think it’s very useful, and I’m also really bummed when I see people give up after such a short amount of time.
I’ve never sold anything on Poshmark, though I have sold on ebay, but I feel like it rarely ends up being worth my time and effort. I wear a lot of hand-me-downs and thrift store finds and by the time I am getting rid of something, it’s scarcely worthy of donation, let alone selling. But that’s awesome you’ve been able to make so much. Even if you don’t make as much, anything that helps you declutter while earning a little extra must be nice! And I love the idea of something getting used instead of possibly ending up in a landfill.
I love your comment.
My sales took a serious nose dive after Poshmark raised their shipping rate. I also think that once they added Home goods it hurt the app too. Very sad =(
Yes! That shipping rate increase makes it tricky for sure!
I have to admit that being relatively new to Poshmark, that HIGH shipping rate has been the deal breaker for me!! I typically go to EBay to find the same item and HAVE been successful a couple of times at finding the very same item only with free shipping – which deal would you take?
I bought a pair of Birkinstock sandals the other week and they came in the package ina cute little tote bag and with a knit beanie cap added in! No note though. But I’ve gotten candy, a headband, a little B&BW hand sanitizer…all kinds of little gifts and sweet notes in great wrapping. Makes me a little intimidated about how to do packaging.
That’s really cute! I usually just use tissue and write out a thank you card. I figure the best thing I can do as a seller is overcommunicate, so that’s my main focus.
I just started selling on Poshmark and I thought the premise was simple compared to say Etsy. I’m doing it to declutter my closet so I’m not overly concerned about timing. Other sellers have been very helpful so I have a sense of neighborhood.
Yup! This is my exact strategy too. I would take a totally different approach if I was looking to make a business out of it. Just want the clutter out of my closet and not in the landfill!
My CLOSET was deleted over 2 weeks ago, for no reason. I sent numerous messages to poshmark and received numerous generic messages.
What would you do?
Sell somewhere else, I guess! I’m not sure what else you can do if you haven’t heard back from them 🙁 That’s a big bummer. Sorry!
My daughter’s first experience with Poshmark was her last. After posting several items, her first potential sale ended up coming from a scammer who was relentless to the point that we are still considering involving the Police for several crimes committed by these scammers.
Needless to say, she deleted her account immediately.
Unfortunately, her experience was not a good one.
Oh no! That’s really frightening. I’m sorry to hear that 🙁
I’m not a seller however I tried to purchase a $200 pair of Jordans and they never sent them and I chose to be refunded. I have since then tried to be purchase another pair and have still not got a response from the seller. That’s my experience with Postmark thus far. Just saying and I know that’s not sympathetic to your view.
Oh, I certainly don’t have a “side” when it comes to Posh. Lately, I buy more than I sell. Even as a seller, I value buyer protections. I would never ever want to mislead someone. And I know the USPS is another headache entirely right now!