Are you asking yourself where to sell used clothing online?

Maybe you want to make some extra money and heard about selling on Poshmark and eBay…

What if I told you that the platform designed for used clothing, actually SUCKS!

Before you all cry, it only sucks if you want to become 110% serious about your business & growth. If that isn’t you & you simply want to make an extra $200 a month while spending precious time making packages cute, go for it.

Two types of online sellers:
1. Poshmark & Etsy – Focus on being cute, avoid basic business concepts
2. eBay & Amazon – Optimized for growth, longevity & heavy data-driven

Who do you think makes more money out of those two?
I promise you it isn’t Cathy who spend 10 minutes packing 1 item that she sold that week.

Maybe you are lost already & have NO idea what I’m even talking about…

We sell used clothing for a full time living from home & teach others how to do the same!

If you are new, we suggest taking our FREE COURSE to start your money-making journey! 

Now let’s get into this!

What are the worst parts of selling on Poshmark?

• Sharing your closet/items
• Lack of sales tools
• Limited customer base

The number one reason I tell people Poshmark sucks is because of the “sharing” feature.

It requires SO much effort on the seller’s part to get their items seen. Wanna know the worst part? Anyone that makes real money on Poshmark uses a bot to share their closet, you must do this to compete. (disclaimer… bots can get your account banned, not our problem if you decide to use one and get banned!)

You are NOT a business if you have to constantly be sharing & liking items to sell them. That is INSANE! The reason Posh does this is simple, so you spend more time on the platform.

More time on platform = more money for Poshmark

Lack of sales tools

Poshmark is not set up for a real business to run a full-time operation on.

Again, before everyone gets all butthurt: I know there are tons of people that make GREAT money on Poshmark.
MOST people don’t make great money there.

Anyone who is really into making money knows that data is KING. You need to know what is happening at all times so you can grow. Again, if you are just selling online for fun or to be cute, you won’t understand this.

I NEED to know about my business. Knowing how many customers are clicking on my ad and actually buying is important. Understanding my service metrics & how I can better serve my customers is easy to learn on eBay, Poshmark seems to avoid ALL of that.

Running sales & marketing is just part of doing business online, again Poshmark isn’t set up well for that at all. You would think, for one of the most competitive categories on earth to sell in (clothing), the app designed for it would include basic marketing features.

Limited customer base

Poshmark is geared towards one demographic… women who are social & cheap.

Sorry to say, but both of those are a huge waste of my time. I don’t want to talk to you about how “cute” my item is or tell you a story.

Lowball offers on Poshmark are so bad that it’s almost comedic. You really get some STUPID people on there. I have never had worse customers in my life than those on Poshmark. 

I don’t want to sell only to social women, I want to sell to EVERYONE! That is why eBay is amazing, sure women still shop there, but so do men!

Though Poshmark is mostly used for clothes, you can sell other soft goods there as well. Still laughable when you compare how many items you can sell on other marketplaces like eBay, Mercari, & Facebook Marketplace.

Stop limiting yourself!!!

What are the worst parts of selling on eBay?

• High competition
• Older platform (tech) / hurdles
• “Heavy” – publicly traded

Lots of sellers = heavy competition 

Now, this is both a blessing & a curse. 

Competition means there are buyers, but it also means you MUST stand out. Be better than everyone else, work harder to get your products seen!

Selling used clothing on eBay is SO competitive, but we still manage to make it a full time living. Don’t make excuses because you don’t know enough.

For the search term “Nike hoodie mens” there are OVER 16,000 results for active listings!

That is ALOT of competition if you plan on selling Nike hoodies for men. How do we beat other sellers to increase our sales?

• Better titles
• Free & fast shipping
• Cheap prices

If you are still charging people for shipping & not just rolling it into your cost, come on… it’s 2020!

Making customers do addition is NOT how to sell stuff online! What I mean by this…

Your ad: $28.73 item price + $7.25 for shipping

My ad: $34.99 w/ free shipping

You made them do math & charged them more. I made their life easy & charged them a couple of bucks less.

I win & you talk shit

Older platform / Publicly traded company

In our last blog post about marketplaces, we mentioned that eBay was the old dog of the bunch.

While this is GREAT for stability & predictability, it isn’t so great when you want to do major updates, quickly.

That is the single biggest problem when it comes to using eBay to sell used or new stuff online, it is old and clunky.

What I mean by this is that while other apps like Poshmark & Mercari have come out with some cool changes, eBay just takes its time. 

They have to do this, it is a HUGE publicly traded company, with that comes investors and all that nonsense which we won’t dive deep into here.

We have to trade a bit of growth and cool factor to have the amazing stability that eBay has earned over the past 20 years!

Why starting on Poshmark is actually GREAT for new sellers!

• Easy to sell
• Shipping labels aren’t stressful

It is so easy to list & ship items on Poshmark!

Our first experience with Poshmark & actually how our 6 figure eBay business started was all because of this app & selling stuff from my closet.

I listed a jacket & within 30 minutes it had sold. I was hooked.

Listing on Poshmark takes under a minute & you are done, this is the reason why anyone new should start here. There are no excuses, if you cannot figure out Poshmark, good luck surviving the next 40 years of your life.

Shipping labels aren’t a headache

When first starting your online sales journey, shipping will be the most stressful thing when it comes to selling used stuff online. 

So many types of packages, mailers, & other supplies to buy. Knowing what flat-rate mailers ship for what price may drive you crazy at first.

That’s why Poshmark is good (&bad), they don’t let you have those options. You pick the weight & that is it. For a new seller, this is SO vital!

Your first worry shouldn’t be about optimizing your shipping procedures, it should be learning all you can about sourcing the kinds of inventory that actually sells!

Want a really quick overview of the most common shipping supplies we use?
Check out this post we wrote with some awesome links to free shipping supplies!

How selling on eBay has helped our business 

• Learn a lot more about business
• Expanded inventory selection
• Worldwide shipping

Learn a ton of sales information

Again, if you are just selling online to have fun, this won’t make sense to you.
On the other hand, if you are trying to build a legit business & make REAL money, you most likely will love this part!

Knowing the terminology is a great start, but understanding graphs & sales data is what will grow you. eBay is a great step in that direction, though some resources are still limited, you can really learn a lot about how eCommerce operates on a larger scale level.

Using this information will only help you become more proficient in selling online which equals MORE MONEY!

Sell all sorts of inventory

We sell used clothes for a full time living from home, but that hasn’t always been the case.

Our journey has been filled with over 7000 unique items in the past several years, in pretty much every selling category you can think of!

If you wanna just sell boutique stuff to women, stay on Poshmark, if you have any interest in growing your business, start expanding into other categories.

I once knew these folks back in Utah that owned a vintage store. ALL they bought was vintage & would pass up on anything modern, even if it was worth money.

That is SO STUPID, I get it, you like vintage, but come on…

Can you not just buy the modern item as well & just sell it on another platform? Why are you limiting yourself to only old crap that 1% of the population wants?

Worldwide shipping

FUN FACT: People in EVERY country wear clothing

So why the HELL are you limiting yourselves to just America? That is so dated & the telltale signs of a new seller.

Poshmark, Mercari, & Facebook Marketplace are great but this is their biggest weakness.

The ability to ship to people in other countries boosts your sales potential SO MUCH! You know how Americans think it’s cool when things are made in Italy or other fancy places?
Other countries really like American brands.

Shipping worldwide is SO EASY on eBay, just use their Global Shipping Program to avoid ANY headaches.

All you do is pack your item as normal, but instead of shipping to the customer directly, you ship to a warehouse in Kentucky.

From there, eBay takes over and handles the final leg of international shipping. Your customer handles the customs non-sense, so really YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE TO NOT SHIP INTERNATIONAL

Conclusion 

Not everyone wants to have a large scale online business

Some just want to make friends while selling cute outfits online. Though the information about maybe in your face & very direct, it is honest & real.

If it offended you, maybe take a step back and look at your business. 

Nothing here was posted as theory, this is all 110% real stuff that we have experienced ourselves in the several years of re-selling used items online.