Lecia P.

Poshmark really needs to get their act together. They allow too many lazy sellers to leave out even the most basic details about their item and often times only upload one really poorly lite image that tells you little to nothing about the item.
My first few times I bought something I got burned bc i neglected to ask if it came from a non-smoking environment or if it had any damaged so my first order I received reeked of Fabreeze and cigarettes! And it had two stains on it as well! Luckily this seller agreed to take it back even though it was curious that she said she didn't even realize there were stains on it and she didn't intend to sell me a damaged item... yet the stains were in plain sight so I don't get how she did not see them.
I had someone else sell me a hoodie that I forgot to ask if there were any flaws and when the hoodie arrived they kangaroo pocket stitching on both sides had come undone and needed to be we stitched I gave them a poor rating but I did not want to go through the trouble of demanding a refund bc it was something I could easily stitch myself. I was just annoyed that they did not mention it because I probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise.
From that point on I figured it was best to make sure I ask certain questions about items. Some sellers had the nerve to be annoyed when you asked a question but I didn't care bc I had been burned more than once and I refuse to wait until an item arrived at my door to find out that there was something wrong with it.

I developed a 4-5 part "questionnaire" I posted to a listing i was interested in.
I asked the following questions:
Is it from a smoke-free environment?
Are there any flaws like stains, spots, snags pilling?
Does the zipper work?
Bust measurement?
Sleeve measurement?
Waist measurement
Depending on the item I would ask all these questions and I would find sellers who would then after the fact say "oh yeah, it's got a spot here or there's a small hole here or the seam is loose/ torn here..."! What! So why wasn't that included in the listing?
Some buyers had the nerve to get offended that I even dared ask them if their item was flawed or came from a smoking environment. I've even been blocked by offended sellers which confused me bc there were so many reviews out there of people getting items that were damaged or not as described so I didn't understand why they couldn't understand that I was simply protecting myself as a buyer!
Sometimes sellers would give me measurements i asked for & the measurements would show that the item probably was washed and shrunk or defectively constructed. Even though I know how certain brands fit I can't say for sure how the owner cared for it so I had to ask about sleeve length and bust etc bc those things can change drastically If an item is incorrectly laundered.
Some sellers would say they can't give me the measurememts and still expect me to buy the item! Some sellers admit to flaws after you SPECIFICALLY ASK.
For example I've had experience that sometimes a handbag can be in perfect condition on the inside but the material will start to peel around the handles or the corners I had it happen to a couple of my Guess handbags and so when I was shopping for a good condition Guess bag I would always ask that question and sure enough time and again I ask for photographs of the handle & the corners and they would say "oh oh yeah there's some peeling, it's kind of minor."and I want to yell "why didn't you effin say that when you listed the item! I don't want a handbag that's peeling!"
Why did you photograph it only from an angle that makes your bag look awesome? Were you going to tell a potential seller about it or just ship it that way?
I shouldn't have to ask if the interior of a handbag is stained or damaged. I should not have to ask you if the handles are peeling or if the zipper works of if the zipper pull tab is missing! How am I going to open the bag if it's missing!
Pre-owned does NOT necessarily mean that there's anything wrong with it. I've got tons of handbags in absolute perfect condition that I don't use anymore and I just want to get rid of them so I list them for a song! My loss is someone else's gain when I'm just trying to empty out my closet!
If there was something wrong with it, it would be ethical of me to photograph those flaws and not just pretend that the bag is simply pre-owned and not mentioning any obvious wear and tear.
I've had dozens of items that I ended up not buying simply because when I ask these questions suddenly they admit to a flaw im not willing to accept.
Poshmark does not hold them accountable. I think every time a major flaw is left out of an item listing and Poshmark has to generate a return then they should penalize The seller. And after they have a certain number of repeat offenses their account should be suspended until they learn to accurately list their closet items. Its really that simple. If that's too much work for you then you don't need to be selling on posh nobody wants to buy an item and have it be less than what your pictures and your listing shows and then you want to blame the by your for not asking how fair and ethical is that? You couldnt get away with buying something on macys.com or target.com and it's damaged and Target doesn't think they need to tell you that it's damaged or dinged. They wait for you get it and then say "oh yeah, we didn't think that was a big deal"? No! That would not be acceptable. So why do people think just bc their second hand goods that they can leave out pertinent information and get away with it? Why? Because Posh allows them to.
Until sellers realize that they're being rated on how often their listings are inaccurate then they will continue to bamboozle their buyers and likewise with scamming buyers, Posh needs to initiate a program that keeps track of how often a buyer opens a case and they need to look at each of those cases and see if there's a pattern in those instances and ban or suspend these buyers.

Sellers should be held to a higher standard of Integrity that way buyers won't be able to complain that their items were not as described. Buyers would not be able to get away with lying about the condition of an item if Posh took more time to rate their buyers & sellers alike.
I've learned to be cautious as a buyer. I've had a few terrible items that I was able to return and I bought some amazing stuff on Posh I love but every time I ship I get nervous that I'm going to come across that scammer and Posh is not going to do anything to protect me. It seems like there are hundreds if not thousands of complaints of Posh allowing scammers both buyers and sellers to get away with murder!
And it seems they don't care to improve how they monitor for fraudulent transactions.
They're making millions and they're not willing to invested in their customer service.

Some of my best experiences have been with amazon.com!
I love the fact that as I established myself with this online business I started getting my return refunds to me the same day I shipped a return back! Even when I first started returning items it would only take about a full budiness week before my refund showed up on my account which wasn't too bad either!
I've gotten Great Deals On various things that have really made my life easier. I love the fact that I have access to bulk items on almost anything! Now I've become addicted to comparison shopping in the stores like Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Ulta, etc for my beauty supplies essential oils. I go on to amazon.com and see if I can get it for better price and oftentimes I can! Especially when it comes to hard-to-find items like essential oils, shipping boxes, shipping supplies, certain discontinued fragrances/ perfumes, cosmetics, etc. these items are almost always cheaper on Amazon!

I love that the return procedure is easy too. I can drop off my returns at my local Staples that has a UPS drop off on site.
I love the fact that even though I refuse to pay for Prime which is $99 a year they still have thousands of items that offer free shipping with a minimum purchase so if there are several items I plan on buying and they all offer free shipping with a minimum I usually end up getting free shipping anyway so for me it's always great!
Sometimes I wait until I need a couple of things that allows me to meet the minimum and then I get free shipping without spending $99 a year which I'm sure pays for itself in the long run for consistent. But I'm one of those people that just never knows when I'm going to be shopping on Amazon! Sometimes I shop every 3 months sometimes I find something i love every month and sometimes I can go 6 months without making a purchase! Especially if I buy a lot at one time I might only shop 3-4 times a year so on average paying $33 for free shipping kind of doesn't work out for me BUT if you're someone who constantly shops then the $99 is probably worth it!

The only criticism I have of Amazon is that I wish they would get rid of those overseas Chinese based businesses that sell clothing that are so far off the u.s. sizing that every other review i read is negative about buyes ending up having to return the item because it fit horribly or was made from super cheap material.
Often times the return cost was so much it paid to just keep the item! Which is very disappointing so I always have to check to see if the sizing is US or a Chinese conversion chart because that right away is a red flag for me!
If they got rid of those sellers I think it help. They don't need subpar cheap items being sold through their site you can only hurt them in the long run bc I've heard plenty of people who were thinking they were getting this amazing bargain and great fashion ended up with this super cheap stuff plus arriving from overseas sometimes takes weeks! And when the item finally arrives and it's two and three sizes too small.
I've only bought one item that I knew was not from a us-based manufacturer. I decided to take a chance because I had been looking for this item and of course when I got it not only was it super small but it was defective because there was no button hole for the button! Which was hilarious and proof positive to me that I need to stay away from those companies!
But other than that great experience every time

First of all I have been selling on eBay for years and I finally added Poshmark to my resources about six months ago and I heard about mercari right through posh buyers who a few had asked me if I sold on this site bc their fees are cheaper & the shipping is cheaper bc they have more options unlike posh that has one ship rate regardless of the price or weight!(anything under 5 lbs). So a
4 oz. Hat costs the same to ship as a coat that weights 4 lbs! Its ridiculous. With eBay I can weigh it down to the penny and save my buyers a lot of money where is Posh doesn't seem to be invested in making sure that they stay out of the responsibility of shipping the item. Yes it's really convenient to just print a label and slap it on and item but it also means that items that really should be shipped cheaper dont because of their one flat rate which is why I was driven to check out this site... BIG MISTAKE!
One day I decided to finally take a look at the site and it seemed pretty okay... just okay but i figured it was another source to sell my items so why not! So I spent a day-and-a-half listing over 200 items and then one day after that was all done I saw an awesome item I wanted to purchase.
Mind you I had gotten Dirt Cheap Ralph Lauren on Poshmark that was in excellent to perfect condition so I didn't think it was impossible for this really cute Ralph Lauren sweatshirt to only be $16! I purchase the item and I ended up going out of town about two days after I made the purchase. I returned home about 10 days later. I had contacted the seller and told them that I wasn't ignoring their request for a rating but I simply had not been home to pick up the item and the seller said no problem!
When I finally got home i went to pick up my package. When I got the package it was a large bubble wrap package. The package itself was a little beat up and there was one small Nick in the package but when I open the package there were five holes on the front of the shirt & four holes on the back! And I immediately contact the seller and said "your item is damaged. Why would you sell me an item that has obvious holes in the front & the back?"
Granted her listing had only had one photo and it appeared to be in good light but bc it was a camo print you can easily not see it cause that's the point of camo right? Lol!
She said when she shipped the item it was not damaged then we started going back and forth and I contacted support and explained. They told me to send them photos of the packaging and the item.
I sent them all the info with great close ups of the holes and they almost immediately responded that same day that the item was "as the seller described" and that the case will be closed! WHAT!
I responded to customer service with "but you SEE these holes!; how can anyone see this many holes in a sweatshirt and say the item was as described?"
I was speechless that mercari was run by a bunch of idiots! I know that the item had arrived more than three days ago but they weren't using that as the excuse to not accept the return. They were actually saying the item was "as described" which was inconceivable to me!
They said they would give me a one-time courtesy credit for the item but I was so pissed I really didn't want it! But they immediately told me that the case was closed and there's nothing I can do about it. The seller continued to insist i was a scammer ( which i get bc it does happen) but I was the one calling her a scammer bc I just don't see how there was any way a shirt could have that many holes in it and not have left her possession that way! It wasn't like the package arrived with holes and rips and tears in it so how could it not be her fault? I tooked at her profile *after the fact* which I should have done it before... but there were no red flags even if I had looked at it prior so I just got scammed!
And the funny thing is you can't review their sellers after 3 days when they release the funds if you don't review. I guarantee you that there are plenty of terrible sellers whose who dodged a bullet with getting a bad review because the buyer might have waited more than 3 days to open their package or receive the package Etc. She claimed she has an excellent rating as a seller and that I was the scammer trying to get a free sweatshirt which is hilarious considering I work for the company and I could get Ralph Lauren anytime I want it but it was a slightly older item that I had missed the opportunity to buy when it was in the stores and I was super excited to be able to get it even if it was second hand because it appeared to be in great condition!
But I got scammed & im so pissed about it!
So here I am with a sweatshirt with a ton of holes in the front and the back and I'm trying to figure out if there is a way I can salvage the shirt so that the holes are not obvious. If we were one whole it would not be a problem but five holes in the front and four holes in the back! That's a tall order to repair & im not a seamstress!
Funny thing is a few days later I was really looking at the sweatshirt and trying to figure out what made the holes bc they are perfectly spaced apart on the front as well as being perfectly spaced on the back... and it occurred to me that it looked like a cat or dog had gotten their claws into the sweatshirt and caused these symmetrical holes! There was no other explanation other than after she took the photo at some point the shirt got damaged.if the sweatshirt was ever without holes when she listed it ill never know. I just know I'm out $20 and I'm really disgusted with this site!

After spending a day-and-a-half uploading 200 items I made all my listings inactive.

And what other people have been saying about this site is true! It's a swap meet for cheap skate people & scammers! I think the site is frequented by a lot by lot of young teenagers who have no standards or intentions of running their listings with integrity and they sell cheap stuff as well as damage stuff and they know how to scam the system.
Until this site stops them from doing so I will not be selling on here. I can't afford to sell some of my high end Ralph Lauren, Lucky Brand and Free People items on their site only to have one of these scammers tell me that it arrived damaged or they never got it etc.
I noticed alot of the items sold on here don't meet the standards of Posh or Ebay anyway. Its overun by snot nosed little teenyboppers, tweens & young adults looking to make a quick Buck off of the stuff they no longer want or can't use or damaged or knockoffs.
I've also noticed some of those overseas china based businesses selling their tacky fake jewelry & clothes for ridiculous prices!
Mercari is not worth the stress of weeding out the scammers. I'll stick to Ebay & Posh!

Also when I went to give her a poor review they had already given her one & it blocks me from reviewing her! What a scam! A support team is allowed to substitute their own review for the actual buyer! What bull$hit!