Anonymous P.

If I could give no stars I would. Poshmark has no protection for sellers and terrible customer service relations, for buyers and sellers alike. - One of the ironies is the how they are making tons of money off our hard work, yet... they aren't doing a thing to protect us. Is there not incentive there, or have they myopically missed that? As a buyer, I have received many damaged items, not as described, and they can take weeks to arrive. Also, many items are old, used and smell terrible. It's not a fun way to shop. The amount of times I had good experiences were rare and didn't outweigh the bad.
Therefore, as a seller, I work literally as hard as I can and always give quite the opposite service, even more than a name brand store (truly!), as I want to honestly give the best, most refreshing experience for people as possible. I work hard to always give: 100% brand new items, extensive & accurate measurements in multiple dimensions, sizing charts, clear and accurate, color-adjusted photos, descriptions for every item, shipping always in 1 day, perfectly and lovingly packaged items, according to industry standards, professionally designed flyers, responses to inquiries within minutes to no more than an hour, always polite responses even if folks are very rude (this is just enough), and usually sell the brand new! Items for 40-60% off. I also ask the buyers to ask questions, check their size, and use the size charts before ordering. And, I have a Terms of Use Agreement. Now, guess what! Haha. Still, still, still! Some buyers make orders by mistake or order the wrong size, and then claim we weren't accurate! I do truly understand we all make mistakes and that's ok! Also, I want to make it clear here, I'm not upset about legitimate reviews, or when someone doesn't know which size to choose. That's totally fine! It's part of shopping to try different sizes. - That's why we offer refunds with the return shipping costs included all at our expense: D (We just send cash back to the address, as that's our only viable option now). We gladly tell all of this to customers so they can shop with confidence and peace of mind. It just makes sense! Ahh, ok, - Instead, what I'm taking about here is quite important to know and be warned about! The issues I'm presenting have happened just too many times to too many people with no recourse or proper care from PM.
I'm first warning about when buyers order something by their mistake (either because they didn't read the listing or size chart, or they changed their mind), and the only way they think they can get an official return is to inaccurately claim the item was, 'not as described' (it's the only section on the review form that will most justifiably allow for a negative score). In reality, they really just want to be invective. What's quite terrible, is this scheme unfortunately works EVERY time because PM does nothing, literally nothing about this (See below)! What? Oh my goodness. These reviews really hurt our sales! They change real people's lives, ok! I'm using this money to pay my health insurance. These incorrect and invective grades are truly unfair, damaging and only exist simply because after receiving the item, the buyer was (1) not willing to spend a half minute to check back on the listing to see it did match, before going forth and unnecessarily slandering us with a negative review, (2) don't want to admit they were wrong, and/or MOST IMPORTANTLY, (3) are AFRAID they will loose the item/ not officially get their money back... because PM doesn't officially offer returns if the item matches the description (which for us, it always does), so, of course they try to be inaccurate and/ or lie and say it doesn't match: D. Many buyers are afraid of the return outside PM. I can understand this precaution here, so, I believe, it's really incumbent on PM to allow for approved returns by the seller to avoid some of these potential loophole scams.
Therefore, as I said, unfortunately, PM not offering returns creates huge issues like this and more! Secondly, here's another common example to beware of: Sometimes, upon receiving an item, the customer damages the item, then subsequently claims it arrived that way because PM oftentimes approves the refund for the buyer and punishes the seller by retaining the review. Nice! I'm not giving out new ideas here. These happen all the time and appear in many reviews. It's not fun when it happens to you. Just you wait! And, it's one thing to have these issues, but then it's another to be aware of them and to do nothing at all, even after so many people have repeatedly asked for rational changes, (like asking for fixing illegitimate/ predatory reviews, in spite of contradicting evidence, adding reviews of customers as well, changing the review process/ qualifications, etc.; See below). Like I said, the lack of returns causes many implications. I really can't continue to work this hard to slavishly suffer to give the buyer everything possible and to pay for PM, only to later suffer at the buyer's hand for their own mistakes and/or sabotage they blame on us, and then be slammed even more with no logical recourse whatsoever. This is an absurd system.
So you may be wondering, what exactly happens when contacting PM? Haha. This is where it gets really fun. When reaching out to PM to resolve these types of predatory or clearly inaccurate reviews, or issues (any seemingly resolvable issue that unfairly impacts sales), what does PM do? PM rarely replies! Haha. And, if they do, then it's almost always with an auto-generated response. This is the extent to what they have sent me: 'Reviews make it fair for everyone so buyers know if they can trust sellers! Reviews reflect shopper's experiences, and how well you served them,' and, 'The reviews give a way to fairly compare sellers to other sellers." haha. No, it's not fair at all. If you wanted it to be fair, you'd take out the inaccurate and predatory reviews. Haha. That's my whole point (and many other's after reading the same problems). And, honestly, just to note here, I'm not being hyperbolic, besides the amount of items offered, I'd truly like to see if J. Crew even offers the same service we do. Really! I'm serious. Shipping in just 1 day, 40-60% off beautiful, high-quality, brand new items, measurements in all directions, not just a standard grading chart, and the same quality, beautiful professional photographs, which we do have permission to use!, unlike 90% of people on PM. - Also, do you think it's hard to compete with those stolen photographs? Do you think PM will do anything to stop the plagiarism? Just consider, how much money do you think they are making off them, and are they liable?: D That's a good one to think about; Seriously! - And, yet, we are marked down only because of spiteful, dishonest buyers who want $20 back, or just want to ruin our day and our status? We are a little company on Poshmark for Pete's sake! We don't have 1000's of reviews. These reviews have large consequences on our sales. And Poshmark doesn't do anything. Nothing.
Only once, after writing in multiple times, did an actual human write back on this type of case. They said something to the following effect: 'We know it's frustrating, but PM can't remove these reviews, and alluded to how even if the reviews are inaccurate, it doesn't matter.' Hmm that's interesting. No protection? No recourse when we were wronged? And we suffer sales? Honestly, why? I'm really wondering... why? Truly, how hard would it be to take down wrong reviews when we have the evidence? It's mind boggling?
I'm not just writing here to warm you, I'm also giving ideas for PM to improve; some of the same ideas I've shared with PM, but they didn't listen (to my knowledge they didn't even read them), and I was being absurdly polite. I'm a little tired of it all now. So, here are some ideas for you. It would be great if you shared them with PM and others as well. Maybe if more of us chime in they will move (albeit languidly), to do something for once: Here are some ideas to share: (1) These types of inaccurate and/ or predatory/ spiteful reviews that impact our sales could and should be removed when: we clearly have receipts of sale showing the accurate descriptions and photo documentation. (2) Additionally, these and other outlier reviews (possibly 10%) should be automatically removed in general, every set period (monthly, quarterly?), as there are so many irrational and dishonest people out there! Lands! What is with people? Can you try to read the whole, short, listing next time? Is that too hard for you? Oooh (3) And, here's a final idea for now. For each transaction, we could: (a) Review the customer, which is a very common and logical process (like on eBay or Uber); that would be hilarious to see if they think that's fair, and even (b) review PM on each transaction. Haha! I bet PM would like that: D Oh ya! Haha. I wonder what their auto-generated response would say to that idea? I wonder how much money they would loose. Hmm. Hahaahaa.
I would truly stay clear of PM for these and MANY other reasons. They have had some of the most moronic and unjust customer service bots/ staff (the same thing in my mind) I've ever worked with, and the whole system is a sham that takes 20% of our hard work, for literally doing nothing but hosting (with tons of unresolved bugs, by the way, tons!), and no protection. What a stupid program and what an immoral, impotent bunch of staff. I truly hope it goes out of business to teach the lazy, crooked owners (they could change, ya know) they can't get away with it forever, and to protect more honest people from loosing money, wasting their time and getting hurt. Sounds really fun, huh! Ya, it's been a blast!