Ro Y.

I have made a few substantial sales through eBay but they are not seller friendly. I've had situations where someone puts in a bid but never end up paying for it and eBay still charges me selling fees upfront until it gets resolved by opening up a case. And the annoying part is if you want to request a refund on your credit balance, you have to call the customer service number where you wait for ages for someone to pick up. I don't know why they make the selling process so difficult and convoluted. It's like they have something against sellers. I know a lot of fraud happens on eBay but buyers are just as likely to be fraudulent as sellers.

I've tried many resell apps like eBay, Vinted, Tradesy, etc but none of them gave me more sales than Poshmark. I've been a Poshmark user for almost 3 years now and I can see both sides of the positive and negative reviews I've read here. Like what some reviewers said, if you follow the Poshmark guidelines and be a little more "street smart", you'll save yourself and avoid a lot of the troubles. I only bought a handful of items from Poshmark (both designers and non-designer items) and it has been a mix bag in terms of expectations but nothing too extreme where I was scammed or buyer never shipped the item. Here are some tips for buyers:
1. Do not take every photo for granted. Ask questions even if the pictures of the item taken appear to be flawless. Ask seller to model the item for you if possible to ensure the item is really theirs. Stock photos do not count.

2. Go the seller's About page and read their past transaction history. Although you can only see the seller's positive "Love" notes, you can also sort the seller's closet availability listing by Sold items to see if there are any negative feedback on items that did not get Love notes. However, not all buyers are required to send Love notes to the sellers so even if an item did not get a Love note, it does not necessarily mean it was a negative transaction.

3. If price is too good to be true especially for designer items, then you know you should avoid. Some listings do have key words to suggest that it is not authentic such as "Price reflects authenticity." Ask for serial numbers and receipts, if possible.

4. Sometimes, you can gauge a seller's age by the way they describe the items or the type of clothes they sell. Think brands like Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle, etc. And super short shortz. If you have issues dealing with younger sellers, that's one way to vet them out.

I'm more of a seller on Poshmark than buyer so here are my selling tips:

1. Take photo of item either in natural lighting or against a white backdrop. I usually hang my items behind my white closet door so they stand out. #Nofilters.

2. I know it's a lot of work but try your best to model your items. It does sell faster and you avoid having to do it later when requested by a buyer.

3. Before figuring out how much you want to list an item for, think about how much you really want to earn after all the possible negotiations and the 20% fee deduction. I always list my items higher so there's room to negotiate with potential buyers. If you can, try to stay away from posting your answers to questions from buyers like "What's your lowest?". Instead, just say "I accept reasonable offers" or "I take offers via the Offer Button."

4. Be descriptive. The more you describe your item, the more genuine your listing appears. Add a little personal story behind your item if you can.

5. Don't get too overworked or offended by lowballers. You can just simply ignore them. I also ignore those people who ask for trades. Remember, Poshmark does not protect trade transactions. So trade at your own risk.

6. Package your items nicely. I'm not saying you need to spend on fancy wrapping paper but at a minimum use tissue paper. Show some love!

It used to be Lowballers that irk me on Poshmark. But nowadays, it's users who claim they are a designer authenticater. I've ran into couple of situations where I posted Coach and Dooney and Bourke items and had random users claiming my items are "fake" when they couldn't prove it. They claim to work for the designer company for 20+ years so they know what's real vs fake. But they never pointed out what made them think my items are "fake", so clearly, they are just trolling on Poshmark.

I've only sold a handful of items at Mercari but at snail pace. I guess the only appealing thing is they don't take any commissions but I don't there's enough foot traffic on this app. I've tried sharing my Mercari listings via other social media but hasn't gained much attention either. You can pretty much sell anything on Mercari, which is almost like eBay minus the auction feature. At one point, I got really annoyed at them when they decided to use FedEx only as their ship carrier. But I guess do to complaints, they now have both USPS and FedEx shipping options. It's a pretty easy app to use but it just doesn't get enough attention.