Selling on Poshmark Canada

Hi Everyone!

Today, I’m going to talk about selling clothes on Poshmark.

I started selling in late August. I’ve only sold items that are from my own closet and my family’s. Most items are/were gently used. There are/were a few items that still have tags. If an item is still in good condition, list it! It doesn’t cost anything to list on Poshmark. I’ve sold a number of Forever 21 items that I didn’t think anyone would want. It’s great to give your clothes a second life and they’re going to a new home where they will be worn. Especially if you were planning to donate them, why not make a few dollars?

I live in Canada which unfortunately means that we don’t have access to free boxes from UPS. Also, if you’re a buyer on Poshmark, you have to pay $12.99 for the tracked shipping. Luckily, my mom hoarded all the boxes from my online purchases so I haven’t needed to buy any boxes yet.

Ask family and friends if they have clothes to sell or if they have boxes that they don’t need. If you do ask others if they have clothes to sell, make sure to talk to them in advance about how you will split the earnings. Whether it’s 50/50, 70/30 or 100/0, it’s best to come to an agreement first.

As a seller, if you sell something for $25, you don’t earn $25 because you have to pay taxes on it and Poshmark takes a commission. You’ll earn just over $19 if you haven’t offered any shipping discounts to the buyer. If a sale is under $20, Poshmark takes a flat rate fee of $3.95. Any sale over $20, they take 20% commission. If you offer a discount on shipping to the buyer, you will earn even less.

As a seller, you should:

Have boxes or polymailers, a printer (to print out the pre-paid mailing label), packing tape, tissue paper, scotch tape, bubble wrap or those air pillows to pad anything that’s fragile
Share your own listings
Share other people’s listings and follow other people daily
Add new listings at least once a week. If you’re just starting out, don’t add everything all at once. Add them gradually.
If you’ve had a listing up for a while and nothing is happening, delete it and re-list the item. Maybe you need to add more to your description or lower the price a bit.

For your listings:

Make sure to inspect your clothes thoroughly and write any flaws in the description. BE HONEST because you’re less likely to get a complaint. There are still people out there who might make a complaint even if it’s in your description, but that’s not on you.
Steam your clothes (This isn’t a must, but it does look nicer when your clothes aren’t wrinkly. It shows that you care)
Use natural lighting or lighting that isn’t too cool or too warm so that the colours are accurate.
Write good descriptions – If your item is still available from where you bought it, use the pictures and descriptions from the store’s website.
List your items at a slightly higher price than you expect to sell for. Also, remember the Poshmark fees. If you want $20 for something, you’ll have to list it for $25 or more.
Don’t forget that the buyer has to pay for $12.99 shipping. Say you have a pair of jeans with the tag on. You paid $100 for them. Don’t expect to get that $100 back because 1) You’d have to list them for over $100 because of the Poshmark fees 2) The buyer isn’t going to pay $100+ and $12.99 shipping on top of that. Especially if the jeans are still available in stores.

Optional:

Own a clothes steamer or iron
I like to store my clothes with dryer sheets so that the clothes smell nice and fresh
Buy a fabric shaver. These are great even if you’re not selling clothes. They can make old sweaters look good again. It won’t always make clothes look brand new, but they do work! They have cheaper ones on Amazon, but I just recently bought the House of Wonderful Wonder Lint which is great. It reminds me of a hand mixer for baking. It’s not quite as big, but it’s still bigger than the 1st fabric defuzzer I bought which was $10. The $10 works great as well, but if you want to cover more surface area, the Wonder Lint one is bigger than the usual battery-operated ones.

Congrats, you’ve made a sale!

Package them up nicely (I use tissue paper) and when necessary, I will add brown paper or bubble wrap to pad the items.
Add a little thank you note for the buyer. It doesn’t have to be a fancy ‘Thank You’ note. You could make your own cards or even use blank index cards to thank the buyer for choosing your closet.

At this time, I’ve put my closet on a vacation hold. I would say I’ve been getting at least 5 sales every month since I started selling. It wouldn’t be social distancing if I go out to the post office for a non-essential business. I made the decision to do this, but I understand that many people (especially full-time sellers) are continuing to sell because it’s their main source of income. I had several reasons why I put my closet on a vacation hold:

Just because I’m not selling at the moment doesn’t mean I’m not on Poshmark every day. I still make an effort to share other closet’s listings and follow people. This is the perfect time to continue taking pictures of inventory and writing descriptions for listings to be added. It’s also a great time to go through old listings and re-take pictures if needed.

Some of you may have questions about income taxes in Canada. It’s best to consult with a professional as I am not an expert on the topic. I don’t want to misinform anyone.

If you are thinking of starting a Poshmark closet, you can sign up with my invite code JENC26 and you’ll earn $15 CAD for your first purchase! Once you’ve made the purchase, I will also receive $15 credit for a purchase of my own 🙂